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A Fun Little Nature-Themed Happening. AKA: Too Much Anthropomorphising

Was looking for that Victorian painting of the man holding a letter and crying, while a big dog rests its chin on his knee. Can find lots of others but not that one, grr!

My curiosity was piqued so I've just been doing some internet searching but nope, can't find anything like that...

... are you sure it exists in this universe? :D


I did find this chap and his dog though... the little dog looks happy enough but the chap looks slightly terrified.
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My curiosity was piqued so I've just been doing some internet searching but nope, can't find anything like that...

... are you sure it exists in this universe? :D


I did find this chap and his dog though... the little dog looks happy enough but the chap looks slightly terrified.
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There's a nice one called 'Sympathy' with a dog snuggling up to a little girl who's sitting on the stairs in disgrace.

The one I wanted is a real Victorian weepie, where a bloke who looks like a gamekeeper sits in total misery covering his face and the dog does the soulful eyes bit.
 
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When I used to take my kids for a day out at Rhyl on the train the highlight of one visit was the sight of a dead sheep on the beach.

A dead sheep on a beach. Had it washed up there, like a whale? I'm having difficulty getting my head around the idea of a sheep on a beach.

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When I used to take my kids for a day out at Rhyl on the train the highlight of one visit was the sight of a dead sheep on the beach. They were bloody FASCINATED. Had to bribe them with ice cream to get them away from it.*

I often pass the area now and always think of that ghoulish little interlude.

*For anyone who knows the area it's the Blue Bridge end. Back in the day that beach stank exactly like the sluice on the Stroke Rehab Unit where I used to work. It's all been developed now and smells no longer.
Son with autism has a thing about seals. He's always been obsessed by them. We were glad he stayed at home the time we went to Filey the day after a storm and the entire Brigg was STREWN with dead seals. It was so fascinating I photo'd loads of them and then was most put out when he refused to look at my seal photos...

Another time I saw someone who must be the dead seal picker-upper removing a dead seal pup from the beach. There were some horrified kids watching. Have to admit I'd have loved that as a kid. I think I was a goth before goths were invented.
 
Son with autism has a thing about seals. He's always been obsessed by them. We were glad he stayed at home the time we went to Filey the day after a storm and the entire Brigg was STREWN with dead seals. It was so fascinating I photo'd loads of them and then was most put out when he refused to look at my seal photos...

Another time I saw someone who must be the dead seal picker-upper removing a dead seal pup from the beach. There were some horrified kids watching. Have to admit I'd have loved that as a kid. I think I was a goth before goths were invented.

I was the Proto-Goth, nicknamed Morticia at college!

We were at Colwyn Bay a couple of months ago when seals were being released to the wild after rehab. It was wonderful to watch. They kept swimming out then coming back, then venturing a little further, and further, then disappearing for a bit...

Your lad would LOVE that!
 
I was the Proto-Goth, nicknamed Morticia at college!

We were at Colwyn Bay a couple of months ago when seals were being released to the wild after rehab. It was wonderful to watch. They kept swimming out then coming back, then venturing a little further, and further, then disappearing for a bit...

Your lad would LOVE that!
Oh he would adore that. I think he's found his soulmate - hs fiancee was also obsessed by seals as a kid. I dread to think how many seal related items they own, between them!
 
Oh he would adore that. I think he's found his soulmate - hs fiancee was also obsessed by seals as a kid. I dread to think how many seal related items they own, between them!
I bet if you looked up your nearest seal rescue place or whatever they're called you could find out when a release is happening.

We watched from the prom, no need to get close.

The seals arrived in HUGE pet carriers!
 
I bet if you looked up your nearest seal rescue place or whatever they're called you could find out when a release is happening.

We watched from the prom, no need to get close.

The seals arrived in HUGE pet carriers!

@escargot did you see the picture I posted above? Was it the one you were looking for? I'm on tenterhooks here! :)



Uh - this was in their Xmas calendar?

I guess so! Not very christmassy I thought when I saw it. :)
 
@escargot did you see the picture I posted above? Was it the one you were looking for? I'm on tenterhooks here! :)





I guess so! Not very christmassy I thought when I saw it. :)

YES! Well found. 's'funny, in my memory the dog is standing on the right and the man is holding a letter, plus I remember him as a gamekeeper and not a poacher.

Apart from those minor quibbles I was spot-on.

Well, there's a dog.
 
I bet if you looked up your nearest seal rescue place or whatever they're called you could find out when a release is happening.

We watched from the prom, no need to get close.

The seals arrived in HUGE pet carriers!
Thanks, dear Snail. I will see if I can find out who 'does' the seals for Filey... Have also seen seals in the water at Whitby but not very often.
 
YES! Well found. 's'funny, in my memory the dog is standing on the right and the man is holding a letter, plus I remember him as a gamekeeper and not a poacher.

Apart from those minor quibbles I was spot-on.

Well, there's a dog.

Yeyyy! :D

Strangely I did find one with a dog standing on the right and the person was holding a letter or book (can't remember which) but it was a child not a man. So... perhaps you've seen that one as well, at some point, and conflated the two in your mind? Memories are strange beasts though.

(I almost posted that other one but then realised it didn't tick enough boxes so to speak, so kept on looking and found the Liverpool one. Glad I did!)
 
Yeyyy! :D

Strangely I did find one with a dog standing on the right and the person was holding a letter or book (can't remember which) but it was a child not a man. So... perhaps you've seen that one as well, at some point, and conflated the two in your mind? Memories are strange beasts though.

(I almost posted that other one but then realised it didn't tick enough boxes so to speak, so kept on looking and found the Liverpool one. Glad I did!)
Yup, I've mixed up at least two paintings together. This one - 'one with a dog standing on the right and the person was holding a letter or book (can't remember which) but it was a child not a man' could be 'Sympathy' except there's no letter.

Letters, children, broken-hearted adults, faithful dogs - all vital ingredients in Victorian sentimentality. Don't we love'em all.
 
We were at Colwyn Bay a couple of months ago when seals were being “released to the wild after rehab”.

They kept swimming out then coming back, then disappearing...

AKA “Colwyn Bay shark feeding time.”

maximus otter
 
Watering Ms petes garden early am yesterday, I must have disturbed an astonishingly large bumble bee, which clearly thought it hilarious to land on my forearm and settle down. Slightly shaking my arm I expected it to fly off in a huff, but no it settled further down stretched out it's legs and appeared to go to sleep. Turn off hose and go inside, said visitor was not for moving, make cup of tea with one hand and spill sugar over the worktop. It must have smelled the sugar because it lazily crawled off my arm and proceeded to head for the small pile of sugar where it stayed for at least an hour before flying away through the open back door. Cheeky little git.
 
I also seem to remember a picture of a woman with a letter, Scargy. In my memory she's sitting at a table by an open window, reading a letter and crying, with a dog putting its head in her lap. I always thought it was something like 'news from abroad' and represented a loved one dying in a war...

but I may be conflating several similar pictures in my head. In fact, now I can't remember if there was a dog in it at all (but I can't find it by searching, dog or no dog...).
 
I also seem to remember a picture of a woman with a letter, Scargy. In my memory she's sitting at a table by an open window, reading a letter and crying, with a dog putting its head in her lap. I always thought it was something like 'news from abroad' and represented a loved one dying in a war...

but I may be conflating several similar pictures in my head. In fact, now I can't remember if there was a dog in it at all (but I can't find it by searching, dog or no dog...).

Is the one you're looking for anything like these? They're by Charles Burton Barber :
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I also seem to remember a picture of a woman with a letter, Scargy. In my memory she's sitting at a table by an open window, reading a letter and crying, with a dog putting its head in her lap. I always thought it was something like 'news from abroad' and represented a loved one dying in a war...

but I may be conflating several similar pictures in my head. In fact, now I can't remember if there was a dog in it at all (but I can't find it by searching, dog or no dog...).

Was it in a cottage? Next to a big open hearth? Black kettle?

Or was there a pretty girl in a frilly dress sitting on new-looking furniture?
 
Was it in a cottage? Next to a big open hearth? Black kettle?

Or was there a pretty girl in a frilly dress sitting on new-looking furniture?

I think it was beside an open window out on to a cottage garden (possibly with a postman walking away and sort of looking back in through the window)? Woman sitting at a table with a letter in one hand and other hand over her face, with a dog at her knee...

This might be a whole other phenomenon, 'half remembered paintings that aren't at all like the painting you remember'
 
I think it was beside an open window out on to a cottage garden (possibly with a postman walking away and sort of looking back in through the window)? Woman sitting at a table with a letter in one hand and other hand over her face, with a dog at her knee...

This might be a whole other phenomenon, 'half remembered paintings that aren't at all like the painting you remember'

Haha, exactly! Like, what exact examples of Victorian sentimentality were assembled in the particular work we're trying to bring to mind?

There is, for example, a minor genre of children's illness and death paintings, with variously attendant attentive doctors, weeping parents and lots and lots of pillows which symbolise the child's family's love for them.

Times could be very hard for working people when epidemic diseases might wipe out their family in days. Paintings like these embodied public fears about such perils.

The Wellcome Collection in London is full of such images. I recommend a visit.

Incidentally, you can always tell in a painting whether a sick child being presented for treatment is from a respectable family or not. I bet you can guess how.
 
Funnily enough, on my way to the dental hygienist last month, there was a dad walking his kids to school on the other side of the road, who suddenly stopped, walked back about 5 metres, picked up a snail off the pavement and deposited it on the nearest greenery. I thought it was just extreme Buddhism. I like snails, but wouldn't go out of my way to pick one up. Plus I agree with he previous poster, what if the snail had done with the greenery and just wanted to go somewhere else? Surely he would be hacked off?

Anthropomorphising insects is currently my way of life - I work for a biotech company that sells waxmoth larvae. I always refer to them as "the boys". My colleague pulled me up yesterday saying "At least half of them are girls!" It's amazing how you start assigning purpose to those random movements...

As for arachnaphobia, I was terrified of spiders as a child, but I cured it pretty much instantly on my final teaching practice, when I decided to take the class out for an impromptu bug hunt. As they started saying "Look, miss!" and shoving spiders right under my nose, I realised that any sign of weakness would be my doom. I didn't flinch, just admired the variegated beasties and suggested that they return them to whatever nook in which they had discovered them. Inner Bugmum was screaming and running around flailing her arms about, but Miss just stood there and took it. I've not been that bothered by them since!
 
Funnily enough, on my way to the dental hygienist last month, there was a dad walking his kids to school on the other side of the road, who suddenly stopped, walked back about 5 metres, picked up a snail off the pavement and deposited it on the nearest greenery. I thought it was just extreme Buddhism. I like snails, but wouldn't go out of my way to pick one up. Plus I agree with he previous poster, what if the snail had done with the greenery and just wanted to go somewhere else? Surely he would be hacked off?

Anthropomorphising insects is currently my way of life - I work for a biotech company that sells waxmoth larvae. I always refer to them as "the boys". My colleague pulled me up yesterday saying "At least half of them are girls!" It's amazing how you start assigning purpose to those random movements...

As for arachnaphobia, I was terrified of spiders as a child, but I cured it pretty much instantly on my final teaching practice, when I decided to take the class out for an impromptu bug hunt. As they started saying "Look, miss!" and shoving spiders right under my nose, I realised that any sign of weakness would be my doom. I didn't flinch, just admired the variegated beasties and suggested that they return them to whatever nook in which they had discovered them. Inner Bugmum was screaming and running around flailing her arms about, but Miss just stood there and took it. I've not been that bothered by them since!

I used to work in a school as a science tech (biology). So I had several hundred stick insects in my care. I called them all 'Simon', and sometimes used to say 'ooh look, Simon has escaped!' when we'd find one half way up a classroom wall. The students used to look at me with wide eyes and whisper 'she can tell which is which...' in awestruck tones.
 
I think it was beside an open window out on to a cottage garden (possibly with a postman walking away and sort of looking back in through the window)? Woman sitting at a table with a letter in one hand and other hand over her face, with a dog at her knee...

This might be a whole other phenomenon, 'half remembered paintings that aren't at all like the painting you remember'

I've been periodically trying to find your painting but with no luck so far I'm afraid.
 
There is, for example, a minor genre of children's illness and death paintings, with variously attendant attentive doctors, weeping parents and lots and lots of pillows which symbolise the child's family's love for them.
I'm trying to imagine what it was like living with a print of this hanging on the wall as decoration.
 
Haha, exactly! Like, what exact examples of Victorian sentimentality were assembled in the particular work we're trying to bring to mind?

There is, for example, a minor genre of children's illness and death paintings, with variously attendant attentive doctors, weeping parents and lots and lots of pillows which symbolise the child's family's love for them.

Times could be very hard for working people when epidemic diseases might wipe out their family in days. Paintings like these embodied public fears about such perils.

The Wellcome Collection in London is full of such images. I recommend a visit.

Incidentally, you can always tell in a painting whether a sick child being presented for treatment is from a respectable family or not. I bet you can guess how.
I bookmarked the Wellcome's website a few months ago and also follow their Facebook page. So you can armchair visit them.
 
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