{"id":1441,"date":"2016-03-02T16:02:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T21:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2016-03-03T07:33:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T12:33:45","slug":"and-along-came-the-musehttpwww-kathleenferrari-comp1441previewtrue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/?p=1441","title":{"rendered":"Along Came The Muse. Enter the Tibetan Terrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

My theory is you shouldn’t apologize for believing in an idea-channeling muse. You should just be sure to feed her.\u201d<\/em> \u2015 Laurie Seidler<\/p>\n

Dogs.<\/p>\n

The dogs of my life. I counted them one day and I came up with eleven. Twelve if you count Teal, the dog who dropped in for a visit and left four years later. As she was the one my husband liked best, I think I do need to count her, too. Twelve dogs who trotted gaily thorough my life strewing joy in their paths, beginning with Teddy who showed up shortly after I learned to walk. More than once we had several living with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I think I like dogs better than I like most people,\u201d I once told my Aunt Joan. She studied me carefully for a minute as if to make sure I hadn\u2019t lost my mind and then said, \u201cWho doesn\u2019t?\u201d So now you can see that I am one of those writers who will always slip in a dog or two.<\/p>\n

Two years ago in September we made the decision to let Grace<\/a>, our English cocker spaniel, go. It was a hard decision but in the end it was kind. \u201cNever, never, never again. No more dogs,\u201d I said, through my heartbroken tears. My husband actually snorted. Really, he snorted.<\/p>\n

We went to Ireland in November and there in Phoenix Park, Dublin we met a dog.<\/p>\n

\"Murphy<\/a>
Murphy the dog from Phoenix Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIs that a miniature sheep dog?\u201d I asked the gentleman at the other end of the lead.<\/p>\n

Clearly affronted, he drew back and told me with no small degree of umbrage, \u201cNo. He is a Tibetan Terrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never having heard of the breed, I asked. \u201cIs he friendly?\u201d<\/p>\n

Disgusted now, the man said, \u201cMurphy, go say hello to the lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

We came back from our trip and I began to hunt\u2026not that I wanted a dog but\u2026there was something about these Tibetan Terriers.<\/p>\n

Some times things happen as they are meant to. In December, I discovered Gamine Tibetan Terriers<\/a> in Blandford, Massachusetts. Cute dogs\u2026very cute dogs. But there\u2019s more. Gamine Tibetan Terriers are neighbors of my husband\u2019s cousin\u2026really. And there\u2019s more. A litter had been born the very day I checked the Gamine website. An unusually large litter so, yes, I could have a puppy.<\/p>\n

And along came The Muse.\"IMG_1303\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Her name is actually Arleigh Burke. Yes, I know it’s a man\u2019s name but we thought we were getting a boy and then suddenly it was The Muse, already exerting her powers.<\/p>\n

My husband retired from the Navy with the rank of commander. All three of our dogs have been named for U.S. Navy admirals: Halsey, Hopper and now, \u00a0Arleigh Burke<\/a>, because, of course, an admiral outranks a commander. Every single time.<\/p>\n

I have loved all my dogs and they each retain a special place in my heart but The Muse is the smartest. She is also pretty cute.<\/p>\n

Her role in my writing process is to show up and inspire.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Muse inspiring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midway through writing Francesca\u2019s Foundli<\/em>ngs, a black and white Tibetan Terrier whose name is Thatch trotted into the pages while I was writing. You will have to read the book to find out more but I credit his appearance completely to the powers of The Muse.<\/p>\n

In Tibet, these dogs were known as \u2018the little people\u201d and believed to bring good luck. We treat The Muse like a little person, one with a lot to say, and she has certainly brought us good luck.<\/p>\n

You will be seeing more of The Muse here on this blog. So stay tuned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Muse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My theory is you shouldn’t apologize for believing in an idea-channeling muse. You should just be sure to feed her.\u201d \u2015 Laurie Seidler Dogs. The dogs of my life. I counted them one day and I came up with eleven. Twelve if you count Teal, the dog who dropped in for a visit and left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,14,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fran-foundlings","category-grace","category-inspiration","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1461,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions\/1461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathleenferrari.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}