The people who live in our house, No 6

Back to my occasional series today. This lovely ceramic person is 'Son of Lionel', our foo dog, or fu dog or lion dog. His name is just a bit of whimsical nonsense on our part and I won't bore you with its story. He came home with us from Hong Kong in 2009. He stands 9cm tall.

Foo dogs became popular in Chinese Buddhism. They usually come in pairs made up of one male with a ball and one female with a  cub. They were used in imperial Chinese palaces and tombs. They were thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences and harmful people that might be a threat. We know 'Son of Lionel' is a male because he has a ball in his mouth.

We love Hong Kong but don't believe we will ever revisit it. The last time we were there was in 2019 during the riots. It was so sad to see. The people of Hong Kong are lovely and we wish them well and are concerned for them.