Autumn has arrived!

Last week had superb weather - up in the 80's - summer's last fling. Then this past weekend we drove out to shows in Eastern Washington (Richland Kennel Club) we just showed Herbie and in fact he was the only Beagle entered at the whole show! Its a superb showsite, held in a beautiful park alongside the Columbia river - parking was beside your EZ Up, close to rings - which makes it so easy. We came home with a Group 1 and a group 4 - and enjoyed a meal with friends - so a pleasant weekend. Today the weather has turned chilly (down to 60, as a high for the day)
and rain is predicted for the next couple of days. Sounds like getting out of town is a good idea so that's what we are doing - Europe here we come! See you all at the world Show on October 9th.

A Windy Day

Whilst the weather was superb today (for the last day of summer) it was in the high 80's, we did have a very strong Easterly wind which is unusual for us, and always brings warm winds. As it was warm I decided to go for a ride along the Columbia river - was that ever a mistake!! I was riding into the wind and despite being in the lowest gear, I was hardly moving....so I only went about 2 miles before turning around and "sailing" back to my parked car.
The picture above is of a windsurfer in Hood river, about an hours drive to the east of us, and it's always windy there and so is a great Windsurfing location (or so they tell me, that's not my sport) I bet there were lots of people out on the river today.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer - mid 90's - summer does not want to leave and I am happy for it to stay a bit longer!

Off again....

Tomorrow I am off to Los Angeles. I am judging for 2 days down there, but will be home on Sunday evening. The weather is supposed to be in the mid 80's (its been in the mid 70's here this week.)
Today we met up with Carrie and Larry, who were in Portland, delivering a puppy to its new home. We decided to have lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (seems to be my favorite place this summer) It was gorgeous though, sitting outside on the banks of the Columbia river, in the sun enjoying a bucket of mussels in garlic - although I have to say the chef was a bit heavy handed with the garlic - there will be a cloud of garlic around me all night!

Life just moves along

Nothing too exciting has been happening over the last week or so. Its been quiet and the most exciting thing was my pampering session yesterday with a foot reflexology session at the mall, for 1/2 hour. Very enjoyable. Genuine Chinese practitioners - nobody spoke English, so not easy to communicate, if the pressure was too strong! But I enjoyed it and so may have to visit this place in Singapore, when we make our annual trip down to Australia, later this year.
Bath Culture Foot Therapy which come highly recommended.
Our trip to Australia this year will include a stop in Darwin (in the far North) this is somewhere we have never been before, so looking forward to it.
On the other hand, our trip to Europe and the world show is coming up soon. Got a bit of a nasty surprise the other day, went online to check something and discovered that one of the budget airlines I had booked - to fly from Vienna to Brussels, has gone out of business (Skyeurope) - at least that's what their website said. Fortunately I had paid with a credit card and the CC company will reimburse me for the fare, but I did have to scramble a bit to find a replacement flight. But mission accomplished and now hopefully everything is firmly booked now.

Ah....Home

After a weekend away in Iowa, it was nice to come home for a while. David had also been away - at the Hound shows in Washington, where Herbie won a Group 2 on Saturday.
This evening we had a leisurely dinner of Swordfish and salad accompanied by a glass of German Reisling, and just relaxed in each others company.
The puppies have grown (now 10 weeks old) must take pictures tomorrow - they are looking promising.
My flight home was long as my first leg was 2 1/2 hours late leaving so its been a loong day.

Des Moines, Iowa

On Thursday morning I flew out to Des Moines, Iowa - where I judged a Doberman Specialty on Friday afternoon. I did not start judging until 4pm, so got up at a leisurely hour and headed to the mall to go shopping - my favorite store Dillards, was there, and they were running lots of great sales. Success, lots of good deals! Still got to the showsite in time to judge the lovely entry and then enjoy a nice dinner.
Saturday and Sunday were busier, with full days of judging. Good company on the panel and so, the weekend come to an end. I hear that I have missed some rainy weather back home...its been sunny and high 70's each day here (we were inside, in a climate controlled building.)
I fly home tomorrow, and get to catch up with David for a few days, as we seem to have been going in opposite directions for the last 10 days or so.
And to those who have asked, he is back home and doing great.