Read Fien's book
An example. 14 photos, seven answers, about ten minutes. Yours is made the same way.
FienFien
2019
FienFien
2019
For Fien, who runs the household from a chair by the window.
Fien1- Breed
- Long-haired dachshund
- Born
- 2019
- Lives with
- Joris, Marloes, Teun and Bo
- Loves
- the beach, and the word for it
- Fears
- waves bigger than she is
Fien2Morning, six o'clock, Sundays included.
Fien3The sigh and the duvet
Six o'clock, Sundays included. Fien can't jump on the bed, so she stands next to it and sighs. Once. If nothing happens, she pulls at the duvet until it lands on the floor. Then she waits at the top of the stairs, because she only goes down if someone walks with her. One step at a time, front paws first, she checks over her shoulder that they are still behind her before she takes the last flight, straight to the chair by the window.
Fien4The chair by the window
Officially, Fien sleeps in the basket in the utility room. Really, she sleeps in the wooden chair by the window, chin on the armrest, so she can see the street. Bo gets the basket. It has been hers since the first week, and nobody has managed to change that since.
Fien5
The chair by the window. Hers since the first week.""You'll never move me" she is not thinking, but might as well be. Fien6
The tulips at Keukenhof. She wasn't allowed in and sat in front of them the whole time. Fien7
The roses at grandma's. She sits in the middle and never touches one. Fien8This is the face when someone says the word 'beach'.
Fien9The zip and the word
It isn't the door and it isn't the lead. It's the zip of Joris's coat. Fien can be asleep upstairs, and she is at the door before it's done up. Most days that zip means work, on the bike, and she stands there anyway. On Saturdays it means the beach, and she knows the difference by the bag he picks up. The word does the same job. Spell it out and she still comes running.
Fien10
Under the blossom in the park. She lay down under it and waited for us to come too. Fien11
In Teun's buggy. She thinks that is where she belongs. Fien12
After the ball, into the sea. She never brakes for the wave.
Fien13Bigger than she is
Fien runs into the sea after the ball without a second thought. Then a wave comes, one bigger than she is, and she yelps and runs up the beach as fast as her legs will take her. Twenty seconds later she is back in, chasing the same ball into the same water, as if the wave had never happened at all.
Fien14
Saturday morning on the sofa. Bo yawns, she doesn't. Fien15
Fien and Bo on the cushion that is Bo's. Fien16
Fien17The gull at Dishoek
On the beach at Dishoek, Fien chased a gull with the ball still in her mouth, right up until the gull turned round. She braked so hard she rolled straight over her own ears. Then she picked the ball back up and walked to the water as if that had been the plan all along.
Fien18
Autumn in the woods. She is watching a squirrel she is never going to get. Fien19
After the beach. She sleeps until dinner, whatever happens. Fien20
Teun combs her ears with his own comb. Fien21Who loves her, and how
Teun combs Fien's ears with his own comb. Grandpa Wim comes on Fridays with, as he puts it, nothing on him, and a bag of liver sausage in his inside pocket. And Bo, her brother, sleeps next to her and takes her spot on the cushion the moment she gets up in the night. Each of them shows it differently, and Fien seems to know exactly which is which.
Fien22
Fien23She only goes down if someone walks with her.
Fien24The ear still turns inside out after a run. Someone puts it right, and she shakes it round again. Six o'clock still comes, Sundays included, and she still waits at the top of the stairs for company down.
Fien25Fien, who checks you're still behind her.
Fien26This book was made for Fien, from the words and photos of the people who love Fien.
bookofmypet.com
The book on screen and as a PDF. €6.99, paid after the questions.