Brenda’s Friends - images from 2010

I visited Mum for a fortnight in August 2010. She had recently moved a Depression-era house in Athol, Massachusetts, USA with her husband, Michael.

On that first visit, the inside of the house felt unfinished. Empty spaces shaped for the placement of a desk were reserved alongside furniture transferred from their previous house. Mum had a knack for imposing her order on any space and it was strange to visit when her daily routine hadn't yet shaped the way the pantry was stocked or the dishes stacked.

When these pictures were made, Marilla was 16 years old, blind, deaf and arthritic. Her yelps sharpened as dawn approached each morning of my visit.

Mum bought Marilla on a shopping trip with my grandmother. When we talk over breakfast that morning, Mum refers to Marilla as a living link to her former life in the house where she raised a family and where her own mother last knew her.

Marilla was the first dog I knew from a puppy. We played a simple game where I would hide under a blanket and she barked, snarled and went wild until I snatched her up in the blanket and rubbed her belly.

Mum took loving care of Marilla to the very end. When I saw her brush and stroke her fur, I saw Mum touching our past.

Early every morning, often before daybreak, Mum would drive to Tully Lake, just along the road from where she lived, have some coffee from a thermos and walk her dogs.

Although Marilla was too frail to frolic, Sundance thoroughly enjoyed splashing about in the water.

On my first visit, this was where we started our day.