Our big started early yesterday and we had a long drive down island to pick up our new Irish terrier puppy Rhaea ( pronounced ray-uh) Its Welsh Gaelic. All the usual Irish names are very commonly used and we wanted something unique.
She’s the quiet shy one from the litter, but she has a fiery spirit when she wants something or not! She finally fell asleep about 10 pm last night and we went off to bed. Not one peep last night! Not one…. I took her out at 6:30 am and had great success! Followed by lots of praise. Now she’s on a blankie next to ‘Dad’ and sound asleep while we have our morning coffee.
So here’s me (with my hair all wind-blown, too long and suffering from high humidity) holding Rhaea as we picked her up from the gang of siblings…. who were all chewing on my sandals and toes. Sharp little teeth!
I just love this picture of you two.
ReplyDeleteGreat image. Wondering...is there some history to the name?
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a bit of back story.... I do genealogy research for my family tree and discovered that besides most of southern England is home to many of my past relatives, there is also a strong Welsh line starting with my 6 x great grandfather. I also have been an avid historian and study Roman history. We wanted a strong name, not the usual dog names and definitely nothing after any former pet or family member. I think choosing this little girl's name was harder than choosing my children's names! Here's an excerpt of an article that we used to choose her name:
ReplyDeleteMany have pondered the name Rhaeadwr; Welsh dictionaries will tell you it means waterfall, and yet it is two words, dwr meaning water and Rhaea. The Welsh are very good at sticking lots of little words together to ensure you get an accurate description. So we have Rhaea dwr, the water of Rhaea.
Who was Rhaea? Legend has it she dates back to the Roman battles with Carthage. The oracle at Delphi in Greece informed the Roman army commander that if he wished to defeat the army of Carthage he must carry an icon (a carving in black meteorite iron) of Rhea, mother of Zeus and grandmother of Hercules, before the Roman eagle onto the battlefield. This the commander did and the battle was won.
Rhaea became the patron saint of Roman soldiers and we do know that in this little valley, where the Rhaeadwr River begins, there was a Roman settlement and fort. The Romans, partial to wine, also grew grapes in the main valley after the monopoly laws were lifted in AD 240. They called it Tanat after the sort of grape grown here. Even though it is not grown here today, Tanat wine is still produced in Italy.