What a place, was "the place! " No, I wasn't able to go there in person, but I did the next best thing. I went there on the Internet. In pictures and prose and music, they brought the whole era and the life of Albert Payson Terhune alive to me, and some of my family. With a charming series of snapshots you see the rambling old estate of Sunnybank, right on pompton lakes, which is as much a part of Terhunes stories as are his prize-winning collies.If you love good writing, and beautiful dogs, then you should go there too. There are excerpts from his wonderful books, and pictures of all the dogs he wrote about,and personal stuff you'll only get from these sites. I still read his books to this day, because they are so insightful, and funny, and touching and they highlight the heroics that only fabulous dogs can do. Terhune was so artful in his presentation of his works, that he never said,"I".
When he was talking about himself, he said,"the master" and his wife was the "Mistress" of the place, of the collies. He nearly always wrote from the dogs point of view. They were the stars. He called himself, foolish, and often the dogs were filled with "wisdom".
Yes. It was a wonderful visit, and I shall be going back again and again.My printer loaded with all fresh ink,and with a new gross of paper to print out pictures,and text, of Sunnybank, of which I have read since I was a child, and still love today, of the dogs, which, when I have had dogs, they were collies, and not a one of them has ever disappointed me, or my expectations. And, of Terhune himself. A grand man, whom I have always loved, down to the ground. If you love dogs, go! You won't be disappointed. If you don't love dogs, go anyway, and when you are done seeing and reading what is there, you just might change your mind.
Oh, by the way. This new thing of guys calling each other "dogs"? I'm not real sure what that is all about, but I think the thing has come full circle, that Terhune wrote" When you call a man a dog, you give the man a great compliment, and do the dog a grave disservice."
OUI?
Comments