Dog in a hoodie
Mary and I often go in the mornings
Today she sat inside my hoodie for a while as it was raining.
We were sat on the Promenade when the boy pointed at her,
This happens a lot when you look like one of those 1930 dog toys on wheels
Only the boy wasn't pointing at Mary, he was pointing out my psoriasis scabby knees to his suddenly embarrassed mother.
I pulled up both short legs so he could have a better look and stuck my tongue out playfully
I would have flipped him the finger but he only looked about seven
Not quite Sitges
'Exorex'- on prescription, it really works. The sea water would be great for those knees too!
ReplyDeleteIt's only on my knees , it'll improve
DeleteHi John, Hoodies make wonderful dog carriers. Our Jack Russell, Missy when she was a wee pup has travelled in style in OHs hoodie (well for the first six months at least). Even if she is too big for his hoodie these days she insists that you carry her so that she can get a better oversight on what is going on. Wouldn't be without them. Hope it was a good walk and you managed to get your thoughts into some semblance of order. Walking is good for that especially when you have quiet and unconditional loving company. That's the best bit. Take care. Tricia
ReplyDeleteNever mind the walking dead..that's months away! Are you going to see Mama Mia? Out now!!
ReplyDeleteIt looks dreadful
DeleteNooo ... it looks brilliant 😁
DeleteMark Kermode said it's a must see!! and then he said he'd seen Splash a hundred times!! mmm
DeleteCouldn't believe how much he went on about Splash! Good prog though and looking forward to his take on 'heist' genre.
DeleteIn the pub, Ted said to a guy ‘What have you done to your knees?’ I looked down and saw he, like you had psoriasis. I said nothing, thinking all the while it makes a change for me not to be the one opening my mouth and putting my foot in it! He honestly thought he had been kneeling on rough ground.
ReplyDeleteWearing shorts must be bliss, letting the air get to your skin and not having the chafing of trousers probably does a power of good.
LX
I have psoriasis. Before it was diagnosed I told everyone I had housewives knee. Everyone thought it hysterical because they knew how much I hated housework!! X
ReplyDeleteIt should read housemaids knee
DeleteI tell everyone it's poison ivy--just easier.
DeleteOne person I know I told that I had leprosy
DeleteI jusr cannot imagine ever trying to zip Tess inside a hoodie - wriggling would be an understatement.
ReplyDeleteNo rain here.
ReplyDeleteJohn you do know that you're supposed to be the mature one in this situation right? Lol
ReplyDelete;p... pppttttbllllpt!
Really?
DeleteNo ... you might be growing older but you should never grow up 😃🙃😉
DeleteNot quite Sitges but a lovely sandy beach.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYa look like you could use a little manscaping thar pardner!
ReplyDeleteKids can be so innocent and embarrassing at the same time. It was sweet of you to defuse the situation. Of course, you are a sweet man.
Years ago, my friend took her five year old son to the bank with her. With his thumb in his mouth and neepie (skanky piece of slip)up his nose (sort of) he pointed at the teller and yelled "Miss Piggy!" She was horrified but told me that the woman did indeed look like Miss Piggy. One should always bring a muzzle when taking a kid out in public :)
She a booked in for a groom very soon
DeleteI was just making an (un)funny about her looking like your chest hair is overflowing. She is a gorgeous lady.
DeleteI was in the supermarket with my then 3 year old son. I was looking intently at the supplements reading all the info... son was in trolley seat... I heard quietly 'Mummy" I said just wait a minute hun, again I heard more insistently "MUMMY" I again said just a minute hun... I then heard "MUMMY. WHY IS THAT LADY SO FAT".. next to me I had failed to notice a very very obese woman who now looked like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her!... Note to self... do not.. at your peril.. ignore an insistent child!!!
DeleteJo in Auckland, NZ
Have raised a couple, I can tell you kids around that age have no filter between thought and speech. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not. They learn, for good or bad, from the adults around them.
ReplyDeleteShould Fish More, hi,
Deletethey certainly learn for "bad, from the adults around them." Children are innocents. They see the world unadulterated till adults come along.
I remember sitting in LHR departure lounge, with the Angel who was about three or four at the time. He looked at a lady sitting about a meter or so away across us. He lifted his little finger, pointed at her and said, in wonderment: "Mama, that lady is black". She was. No disputing it. Still, I whispered at him: "You don't say that." Which was pretty idiotic of me - after all if a black child pointed at me saying his mum: That woman is white would I blink? No. Facts are facts.
Anyway, his reply: "But, Mama, she IS black". At which point black woman winked at me and smiled at the (white) Angel, him complete of long blond locks and blue eyes.
U
It's when they shout FAT you have to worry
DeleteBack when the oldest (43 not)was around 3-4 we were on a bus. An elderly woman next to us had enough makeup, including pancake, to tart up the entire bus. Little Kate tugged at my sleeve and asked "Daddy, why is that woman dressed like a clown?".
DeleteNope, but it will do.
ReplyDeleteFound another lanyard plus last years Walking dead badge. I will send them off to Wales after the confusion is over.
Oh be still my beating heart.. the new trailer looks exciting
DeleteYour autoimmune levels are very low right now, John. You need a stress-free life. Relax and sunshine (Vitimin D). It could also be lack of vitimin B12. You are probably not absorbing it. I have to do B12 injections every 2 weeks, because of my illnes and I have had great improvement on my psoriasis. Ask your doctor for blood test for B12 and folic acid count. Your psoriasis is a sign of internal health and no skin cream will really help John. It is dog-bites- tail situation, because the more you feel uncomfortable for the psoriasis the more you stress. I hope you will get through this all and for the very best.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria xx
Thanks for this. It doesn't bother me at all and I am sure it will eventually die away
DeleteIsn't psoriasis a chronic autoimmune condition? Incurable? Wading in the salt water might treat/ soothe the current flare up. And some Rx creams also can help with symptoms if not the disease. note first comment for one.
DeleteThat's what's so wonderful about children. They aren't embarrassed. They just state what they see.
ReplyDeleteA year or so ago, on leaving the eye clinic and waiting at the bus stop, a little girl (maybe about five or six) pointed at me and asked: "What's that round your eyes?" I had no idea. So I asked her mother. Well, she said, looks as if you have been shedding yellow and orange tears. She also lent me her pocket mirror. Indeed. And it wasn't even Halloween. Had completed forgotten what certain eye drops do to you. Still, John, as conversation openers (with children) go you can't beat a bit of sporting something unusual. No, not in a raincoat.
U
Who needs Sitges when you have this almost to yourself and Mary.
ReplyDeleteJimbo it was lovely andhomo free
DeleteIn all the time I have visited "Going Gently", I never knew you suffered from psoriasis. Small children can be so tactless.
ReplyDeleteIt only started last year
DeleteStress!...I never had eczema until my sister died 4 years ago...my left hand flared up something terrible... itched like nothing I have ever experienced before!!!!
DeleteJo in Auckland, NZ
I have bad eczema on my left palm and fingers, when little kids see it and ask me what happened. I hold their hand with it or touch their arm and I tell them it is flesh eating virus.....its quite funny....sorry. Lee Anne {Sydney} a new follower
ReplyDeleteNow that's an idea x
DeleteI am so envious of the fact you can just zip off to the beach, I miss living by the ocean but I am a desert dweller at heart.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful photo of you and Mary. She has the most beautiful hair.
cheers, parsnip
Like Maureen o hara
DeleteI would love to be at that beach even in the rain. Sorry to hear you have psoriasis John.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really a problem m it'll go
DeleteI think I would struggle to get Rick in my hoodie.
ReplyDeleteI traveled all through British Columbia one December with my long-haired Chihuahua tucked inside my down jacket. It helped keep her calm and me warm. That was in the early 80's. My husband recently passed away and it's nice to think back on memories like that. We would have been married 42 years on July 4, but missed it by about 5 days.
ReplyDeleteGood job you didn't own a bulldog
DeleteNice to see you still have your spirit. I never questioned that would be in jeopardy. Lovely spot though. The beach is good for the soul.
ReplyDeleteWe sat at anew cafe on the beach . I had a coffee and Mary had half a sausage sandwich
ReplyDeleteDamned kids!
ReplyDeleteMy older sister had psoriasis and in the 50's and 60's was subjected to many experimental treatments. The only time during childhood I remember it clearing up was when we made our annual pilgrimage to Crimdon Dean (Co. Durham?) and spent every day on the beach and in the salt water. Afterward, my Dad arranged with a mate to deliver a huge jug of salt water to our council house where it took up residence in our tiny bathroom. She used it religiously but once it was empty, the psoriasis scabs came back. On a side note, our family's application for emigration to New Zealand was denied because of her psoriasis. They wanted no genetic health issues coming into NZ. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteMary is such a sweet litle thing...she makes your hoodie look good. Does sun help your knees?
ReplyDeleteI've had psoriasis for two and a half decades now, a relatively mild case,just persistent. Recently my right knee totally cleared and I feel strangely lopsided! My younger son once stared with fascination at a handsome older gentleman walking towards us with wonderfully bushy white eyebrows and he wiggled them at us and said 'something you don't see every day huh son?!' It was perfect. My whole afternoon was colored by his good mood.
ReplyDeleteYou have been in my thoughts. Will keep you there.
ReplyDeleteYou are a tease . . .
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a Milwaukee bus ride back in the sixties when my then three year old said, “how come he is all brown?”
Kid gems!
BTW . . . Love your Mary doggy, she is a love!
You are lucky to have a mild case of psoriasis. My brother has it fairly severely but the worst is that his son has it along with the accompanying arthritis. He is on a biologic now and doing much better.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for your admirable self-restraint :) It must be the calming effect of the ocean!
Children who wonder why folks are black or brown have not been taught well. I gave my children story books of people, animals, and locations in the world so they be familiar with most but not all. They learn to identify culture, dress, skin color early on. Once in Cleveland, Higbee's, I was asked do I want a white Santa or a black Santa Clause? I said I didn't care which one we saw (I'm Native American). They sent us to a white Santa. BTW the only problem with the animal books...my daughter thought a fly was a bird, her turb in the toilet bowl was a fish, etc. My son thought a lizard was an alligator and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe wonders of phonics...my children were reading at three years old while I was still learning by repetitive sounding out 'cat, dog,' etc. at their age by memory from Dick & Jane books. My granddaughter on the other hand learned from story books & nature walks so would be more familiar with animals in their real form (those that we could readily find)...a real lizard, bird, snake, etc.
DeleteRita, I take it that your comment, since - as far as I am aware - none of John's other readers offered the same anecdote as I did, is addressing me.
Delete"... have not been taught well". Ok. So a three and a half year old wondering why there are people of a different colour "aren't taught WELL". Geez, thanks. Let's try and keep political correctness out of the kindergarten.
Your "children were reading at three years old". Yes, so was I (age five - in front of an attentive audience). Until my mother, tactfully, pointed out that I was holding the book upside down. I knew the stories by heart. My career at bullshitting thus caught short.
Not sure what your point is but I am sure that when I find "a real lizard, bird, snake" it'll come to me.
U
I think I was around ten before I saw my black person.
ReplyDeleteI remember thinking how beautiful her skin looked. It shone !
My children went to school with black children and I fondly remember my daughter wanting her "very bestest friend " to come home with her for lunch.
DeleteOf course I said yes, she came home with a beautiful little black girl and the two of them had the bestest lunch and continued to for quite a few years.
We are white but my husband was Jewish. If it isn't color that ignorant people have to remark on, it'll be religion. This I know.
It looks like a beautiful, healing spot. And excellent company too.
ReplyDeleteI love that part of the beach John. What new cafe has opened? I was last there in April but am travelling down in September so will look for it. I'm actually passing through a week on Monday but won't have time as it is only a flying visit x
ReplyDeleteIt's a small new structure past the old pier right on the prom
DeleteLooks like a delightful place to get away for a few minutes. An opportunity to help a child understand the world, the human condition.
ReplyDeleteI have not been here for a bid. I read with profound sadness about your life changes. You will be fine - not today, nor tomorrow, but this pain too shall pass.
ReplyDeleteWhere were all the people?
ReplyDeletelooks breezy .
ReplyDeleteYou've been on my mind a lot this week John, I hope your week ahead has some good things and I wish I could say something that might help.xxx
ReplyDeleteSounds like an ideal place to sit and relax; the seaside can be very calming (unfortunately we're 60 miles away from the coast). Mary must be a very comforting and lovely companion to take with you, I expect Winnie would be a tad too demanding? (Lovely girl that she is).
ReplyDeleteI took my two dogs today to meet my new little doggy friend.They met him & they got on fine so I'm hoping to collect him next week. He is similar colour to Mary & I think a coat similar texture but it's been cut very short due to neglect .I'm not sure if he will allow me to tuck him in my jumper.I picked my Top dog once & he struggled & threw his head back into my face & I got a huge black eye immediately-Bless him x
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete