Belle

Belle was our Border Collie, given to me by the very good people at the Bellevue Bon Marche on my last day of work there in 1994. She was the most remarkable gift I think I've ever received - thanks so much to all those responsible. Like all good Border Collies, she liked to keep tabs on what was going on around her. She wasn’t exactly nosey, but she was always present. Watching. When we moved to Stevenson in 1997, her world opened up to little creatures – everywhere. She never tried to catch anything; she just watched them. Our Golden Retriever – Sadie – was her best friend, but even Sadie got tired of Belle’s watchful eye, and sometimes she would lash out. I worked from home for 12 years, and Belle spent my work days under my desk at my feet. She was a good, good dog and a beautiful friend.

Early in her life (like immediately), she had started to have seizures. She went to many vets and specialists to try and diagnose what was wrong. All they could come up with was that it was some form of epilepsy. Medication helped the condition, but didn’t entirely stop the seizures (which were scary to watch). Late in life, she kinda grew out of the seizures and we were able to cut way back on that medication. However, at about that same time she was diagnosed as having diabetes. Yup, our cat – Smokey – also had diabetes. So Belle also got two shots a day in the final years of her life. Oh… and she developed cataracts and went deaf. In spite of all of her many ailments, she was happy and content, and ended up living over fifteen and a half years.

The pics were all before the dslr and even cell phones, so they are either film or point and shoot. The music was another thing I had come up with while working on Pat’s final art video (which still isn’t finished by the way). While recording the piece, I decided to use it for Belle’s video.