One man and his dog

'One man and his dog went to mow a meadow....' flew into my mind when I met Argo in the park. He was being taken for a walk by our lovely clients S and C  for whom we undertook a garden design several years ago.

That is C's foot you can see on the right. Hence the tile of the post, C being the husband of the couple. Why did I think 'One man and his dog'? Well it was a piece of playground doggerel from my youth.)

S and C are admirably lean and fit  and with young Argo on board they are not likely to balloon any time soon. Argo is a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. You can tell he is young by his mammoth paws being too big as yet for his body!

What you see is the briefest of lulls in Argo's headlong intent to race across the acres of lush, open grassland at Ashton Court Park. We had the shortest of talks and then parted. But the encounter reminded me of the garden design we undertook for them a couple of years ago.

And an item within it which was recently completed and they kindly sent these photos of it:

Rest assured our gardens do not usually take 2 years to complete. But we had advised a focal point at the end of their lawn, taking the form of some sort of garden sculpture  or ornament. We are always happy to suss out suitable garden art and have indeed even designed some ourselves. But S and C appreciating the finer things in life intended to enjoy themselves searching out something suitable, perhaps an urn on a pedestal or a statue.  They visited makers and reclamation yards often combining a trip with a lunch at a local hostelry. Fun!

But they never found one they liked enough. So spying this off the peg stone obelisk they had it personalised with this plaque on the front:

You see Argo is the last of a long line of Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs they have had. Scout, who we knew when the garden was being designed, had recently died and so commemoration was rightly in their minds.

But we like that the living (Argo) is there as well as the dead.We also like the dry humour of the first words. And their intent. Firmly believing that pets can teach human beings care, love and responsibility.

Meaning in gardens is a difficult one. You know what we mean. Slogans, poems, quotes and bon mots written carved on stone, incised onto metal etc. So many inscriptions end up being either trite or pretentious.

You also have to be darn sure that the meaning remains of interest to you. This one will! And as you see from their pic it works both meaning wise and visually:

'One man and his dog'? Looking it up I discovered that it is rich in sexual innuendo. And we chanted it regularly as kids! Who knew? But then I grew up in a less sexualised age! Of course kids these days are more sexually aware and more apparently sophisticated, but lessons in love and trust and responsibility are still much needed

R