The world from my window

My poor baby girl is feeling a little bit sorry for herself. And it's not surprising, really. Artemis, my lovely, comical, gentle Korthals Griffon, has had to go to the vet's for a biopsy on a lump on her head. She looks like Frankenstein's Dog.  At the moment, I am keeping her away from mirrors. She's been poorly for a little while now, although she still has a good appetite and can run for England across the fields when she wants to.  But obviously not while she's recovering from her operation. We need to get to the bottom of her mystery illness. It's causing her quite a few problems. She's just not herself.  I want my old dog back. Fingers crossed the outcome is not as serious as it could be. At the moment, she's sleeping in her bed, getting over the general anesthetic and the discomfort of her stitches, itchy skin and headache. I'll tell her you're thinking about her. That's about it. Love Maddie x

The dog and I both have colds. She's listless and lethargic and has a runny nose. It hurts my head when I cough. What a pair we make. I'm fed up with this darned virus. I had it for three weeks before Christmas and then for five days a few weeks ago when I should have been enjoying the Caribbean sunshine. And now I've got it again. I had to Google 'can dogs catch cold?' And yes, they can. I'm reluctant to take her to the vet because I've spent so much money lately on pills and potions for her sore skin and gunky ears that I'm in danger of becoming the Imelda Marcos of animal medication. So I'm following the advice I've found on the internet about treating dogs with colds. And it seems to be working.  I've been keeping her warm and dry and limited the time spent outside during cold weather, which actually suits me fine because I'm doing the same. But we ventured out into the sunshine today, me with my new, red wellies on af...

Artemis the Dog should have been called Chewy, really. Not as in Chewbacca , although she looks very like a Wookie. But Chewy as in, well, chewy . These were my best boots. Lovely.  Now look at them, along with Mr Grigg's best shoes. At eighteen months, she's still a puppy. 'They take a long time to mature, Korthals Griffons,' says the dog trainer. 'How long?' I ask. 'Oh, about ten years.' Even here, perched in our eyrie on our Greek village (cue excuse to show photos of Agios Magikades), she is still up to her old tricks. After an encounter with a pair of my grand-daughter's beautiful golden butterfly sandals... ...we've improvised a storage place for shoes. It's one of the door grilles, which we point out to everyone who comes to stay. When things are out of her reach, she just can't be bothered. She'll sit in the plateia, the locals making a fuss of her. 'Artemi, Artemi,' they...

We've just had a photo session, Mr Grigg and me, here in the kitchen. It's usually me behind the camera - I've never been much of a one for inflicting my fisog on the world. Invariably, pictures of me on the web are of tea cups, tiki masks and Fra Newbery's painting The Spirit of Bridport . I also use this one a lot.  I like it. I took it. But I'm not in it.  'Smile girls,' I yelled from afar. 'Jump up and down a bit.' So they did.  It's one of my favourite pictures. But, over the last few months, it's me who's had to be the subject of the photographs.  'Can you send me a nice photo of you by the sea?' the feature writer at Good Housekeeping said to me last summer. 'Do you really need it?' I said. 'Can't you use a picture of the Greek village we lived in, or a back view of me?' 'Well, not really,' she said. 'It's a two page feature and it's all about y...

It's Broadchurch tonight. It's funny to see our Dorset coastline in all its glory. Week after week after week. Those cliffs at West Bay are a towering presence in this popular television series, which is gripping the nation with all its twists and turns. Through the magic of television, we even saw East Cliff looming up on the skyline in a shot filmed at Clevedon, on the other side of the south west peninsula. The whole series, whether you like it or not, is a great advert for this part of the world. In real life, though, you have to keep away from the foot of the cliffs. They're unstable and pieces could - and do - fall at any time. So we kept to the shore when we introduced Artemis, a ten-month-old Korthals Griffon , to the ocean for the very first time yesterday.       The verdict? She says she likes it. She'll be back. That's about it. Love Maddie x