Travels, Dogs & Life

Number 5

2011-12-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

Another one done, but this had 2 missing pieces, not sure if we lost hem, they were always missing, or the dogs took them? This is of Niagra Falls

Jigsaw Season

2011-12-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

Winter is our Jigsaw season and we have just done #4 - this was very interesting.... until we got to the green at the bottom and then it was very laborious, just trying each piece until you found the right place

Happy Christmas

2011-12-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

David and I hope that all our friends around the world have a great holiday, and hope to see you in the next year.

Once in a lifetime trip…on Amtrak!

2011-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

We decided to go from Vancouver (Washington) to Vancouver (Canada) last weekend, to see something of Vancouver and to spend a bit of time with some friends. As the weather can be cold, rainy and generally miserable at this time of the year – we thought that we would take a train up to Canada, to avoid possibly making the entire trip driving on I-5 in the rain. So the plans were made and we booked business class seats to Canada (is there any other way to travel, except business class!) We checked out the local station a couple of days before the trip, so we knew where to park etc. The station is small, neat and cozy. You can see pictures in the album link, at the end.

So with a leisurely start (3pm) we got on the train, and it was really quite comfortable and we had 4 stops on the trip to Seattle and although we left about 15 minutes late, we made the 3 hour trip to Seattle in about 3 hours (about the same time as it takes to drive) – but a lot less stressful. Unfortunately it soon got dark and so there was not much to see, thank goodness for iPods and audio books.

There was a ½ hour stop in Seattle and then we headed North to Canada. The drive would be expected to take about 2 ½ hours – this train took 5 hours!!! We just crawled along and many times stopped. We finally arrived in Vancouver BC, at 11.30pm. This ceased being a lot of fun, but a long drawn out affair – on the plus side my book was gripping and the seats comfortable and the ½ bottle of wine (which was surprisingly good) that we had shared earlier in the trip, a distant memory.
We took a taxi to our hotel – Marriott Pinnacle, and crashed.

Friday morning: After sleeping in we decided as although it was not raining, it was windy and chilly that we would take the “Hop On- Hop Off” bus around Vancouver city (but only hop off, once or twice.

The total trip took 2 ½ hours and gave us a great look at the city, with an encapsulated history lesson – we said that we have to come back and see it again, when the weather is more conducive to walking around a bit more.

Our first hop off was at Granville Island, full of stores and a market, with all sorts of wonderful fruits, vegetables and wondrous meats and fish. We then got back on the bus and got to see some more of the city, before getting off in the Gastown area, where we decided to do a wine and cheese tasting – at “Salt”, which was very good. Then we got back on the bus and went back to the hotel to relax for a while, before heading out to a really nice Italian meal.

On Saturday our friends collected us and took us to their home where we had an enjoyable day talking and relaxing, but they did have about 4” SNOW – yuk!

On Sunday we headed for home, we had purchased tickets from Bellingham down to Seattle on the bus (as the only train left, at an ungodly hour of the morning) the bus left at 2.40pm and took us to Seattle, where we connected to the Train, which took us back to Vancouver, WA. The bus, was like all long distance busses, did the job and was not super comfortable. We were supposed to have a ½ wait in Seattle station (which has definitely seen better days) however it soon became an hour – apparently Amtrak, has a problem being on time. The trip home was the same as the one up and we got home around 9pm.

It was an experience, and probably our first and last trip with Amtrak.

But we will return to Vancouver BC

Link to more pictures of the trip

Back Home

2011-11-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Got home after an interesting day of flying. Read a book, watched a couple of movies and got some power walking into the day also. As in Houston and LA, I had to get to the commuter terminals, and did not have much time between flights.
Anyway I added 6217 miles to my account. And with the flying plans I have for the rest of the year, I will now be over the 100,000 actual miles flown in 2011. Actually I have flown more than this, but some were on award tickets (and these don't count towards my "bum in seat" miles, needed to maintain status.
Had some interesting companions on the flights - one person was also doing a mileage run - they were going from Denver to Guadalajara and back through LA - so, See - I am not the only slightly crazy one!

Just 2 more legs

2011-11-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Have flown to Houston , Waco then back to Houston - quick pause in lounge to check email, then on to LA

Mileage Run

2011-11-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

in order to maintain my 1K status on United Airlines (and all the perks and benefits that this gives me) I am spending the day flying around, for the sole purpose of acquiring miles for my account.
I got up at 3.45am and have completed leg 1 from Portland to Denver - only 5 more legs..
Crazy I know, but the good news is all my complimentary upgrades to 1st class have cleared!

Argh...it hurt

2011-10-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

I was just getting ready to "pooper scoop" tonight - I picked up the scoops and - OUCH - I got stung, by a yellow jacket, which was lurking on the handle. As my epi-pen was out of date I headed off to Urgent care - nobody else was there, so I got seen immediately, they were impressed with the reaction from the sting, just 10 minutes after the injury! I am normally super cautious, but this was totally unexpected - anyway several hours later, following medication, icepacks and a shot, things are under control. I was stung on my little finger and so far only 1/2 my hand is inflamed...we will see what tomorrow brings

Would like to hear from others on Primadonna

2011-09-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

I would be interested in making contact with other disappointed/disgruntled passengers on the Primadonna - send me a personal email to lhiltz@earthlink.net
I had posted a status report on the Facebook page of Viking, but they removed any reference to the grounding - apparently they only allow positive comments!l

Oh, its good to be home...

2011-09-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

The dogs were very pleased to see us, the puppies have grown up a bit. And our bed felt so good to crash in, when we finally got home - after flying from Frankfurt to LAX, to SFO then onto Portland. The weather is still superb at home. Lots of sun and nice and warm. Obviously hot while we were away, which meant the grass did not grow, so no mowing required.

Homeward bound

2011-09-18T11:03:00.001-07:00

Overnighting in Munich (it's Octoberfest!!) however we are not downtown but in the lovely small village of Freising which has a Marriott! We went to the local Hofbrauhaus, and had some wonderful pumpkin soup ( served in a pumpkin) sorry camera was charging at hotel, followed by duck and Red cabbage (me) and suckling pig for David - fortunately they had 1/2 portions - very good and wonderful local atmosphere.

I now have a cold, so flying is not fun ( I have earplanes with me) and one ear is blocked up and I can't hear

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Location:Alois-Steine,Freising,Germany

Some pictures from yesterday's 'adventure'!!

2011-09-17T21:34:00.001-07:00

The approach of rescue ferry

A view of the few chairs on the deck

Tying up to Primadonna, see the deck where we spent our trip

David, dressed to leave the ship

Ah, they realized we needed more chairs

Farewell Primadonna

Our ' Luxury' cruise

And to those who commented- I am not expecting ANY compensation, as they would not give 12 euro per room for free wifi. However I have a Boingo account and that covered me and so have excellent Internet at long last

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Location:Calea Victoriei,Bucharest,Romania

From 727 to 651

2011-09-17T12:06:00.001-07:00

These were the kilometer marks that marked the start and finish on our rescue boat. Which was a car ferry, minus ALL the comforts... No chairs (so they took some plastic ones off the Viking ship. No shelter on a dirty metal deck, so Viking supplied umbrellas. And finally NO toilets on the 3 hour journey.
Now on to a 4 hour bus ride to Bucharest
What a trip - first class price, 4th class treatment

Location:Romania

Still stuck

2011-09-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

After a second night on the sandbank we show no signs of moving. Supposedly plans are being made to get us to Bucharest.

Mutiny amongst the passengers may be the next step, good humor is evaporating...this is our first Viking River Cruise and LAST, as the company has
Not done much for us, since getting stranded

Now a2 hour ferry ride followed by 3 hour bus Ride

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Next stop

2011-09-16T01:24:00.001-07:00

We actually passed through a more scenic area of the Danube this afternoon

We then had a brief 1 hour stop at the border crossing of Donji Milanovac, we were allowed to disembark and walk into the small town, on the park was this

Now you have to imagine a flotilla a people carrying iPads and laptops walking into this tiny town, that at 4pm was enjoying siesta, and wandering around searching for unsecured Wifi and when found, sharing the news. This resulted in a large group of people standing in a patch of shade being reconnected with the www again
Then heading back to the ship

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Oops

2011-09-15T22:02:00.001-07:00

At 11pm last night we ran aground!! And are still stuck this morning, so guess we find out the new plans in 1/2 hour..,

Here we are, a little to close to shore, to be fair due to hot summer water levels are low

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Bulgaria

2011-09-15T05:27:00.001-07:00

So we took off on our tour bus on about an hour's trip to Belogradschik. The trip was through a maInly rural area, not very wealthy and in most cases the houses were not well maintained, and the city also looked very tired and run down. Not on the 'must return to' list! The fort and rocks, seen below were unique and involved a strenuous climb up a couple of hundred steps (which burnt off some of the calories we have consumed)

Then back to the ship for lunch

Followed by a foray into town for a good Wifi signal

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A new country - Bulgaria

2011-09-15T03:11:00.001-07:00

Lost an hour, due to time change. About to take the tour bus to Belogradshick.

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Location:Vidin

Yesterday Mexican today Ancient Roman

2011-09-14T02:49:00.001-07:00

What does the title mean? Well it reflects the best chance I have of WiFi. Today we arrived in Kostolac our last stop in Serbia. We were taken to the archaeological dig of Viminacium. Which was a military stronghold in the 4th century. Someone has poured serious money into this site as a Roman villa (of a VERY grand style) has been constructed, supposedly in an authentic recreation. It is supposed to become a resort, opening next year. But it's sort of on the middle of a flat plain with not much around, except 3 coal burning Powerplants

The following are pictures of the reconstruction, starting with the exterior

The above fresco featured some sort of sporting dog, then in the picture below of the mosaic floor tiles, you can see the prototype of the 'Golden Arches'

As always a gift shop was included on the tour - the free local red wine was awful but free Wifi was great! (the ship is full of frustrated people as the promised wifi is mostly non functional and when it does work the download speed is 0.08 Mbps) I have learnt to type everything up in advance and just upload and retrieve email when an opportunity presents itself.
Back to the gift shop, we were given piece of Roman pottery with a saying on it
Here is David's - most appropriate (sorry I cannot rotate it)

We also got to see an excavated roman bath, then back to the ship for what is supposed to be an afternoon of scenic sailing

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Belgrade

2011-09-13T07:58:00.001-07:00

New church in Belgrade

Inside the church

Downtown Belgrade

View from boat looking at Belgrade

Mainly pictures this time, sitting in a quayside Mexican restaurant!! Using their WiFi...

Croatia

2011-09-13T04:20:00.001-07:00

We woke up in Vukovar. This small town on the Danube had been almost flattened during the war in the late 90's. The most spectacular sight was the severely damaged water tower, still standing and left as a reminder to all. We were driven by bus to the nearby town of Osijek

where we saw a small church and tried some locally made plum brandy (a small sample and that was enough, as it really had no taste, just pure alcohol.) a stroll around the town followed, the highlight being the stop at a cafe, which had wifi!!! Where email was downloaded in a flash, unlike on board.
Then a lazy afternoon on board listening to my audiobook - 'only time will tell' by Geoffrey Archer.
The weather has been hot (high 80's) and not much shade on deck but A/C is good on board.

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Location:Vukovar

Kalosca, Hungary

2011-09-11T03:51:00.001-07:00

I am going to attempt to upload a short video, taken last night from the upper deck just before we sailed. But first a couple of pictures - the Budapest castle

Then the chain bridge

And now the video

YouTube Video

Sunday:
This mornings tour was to the Punza horsemanship show. I took some pictures but they are on my real camera and I have no way to upload them, probably not until I get home. On the farm we also saw some Mangalica - the curly coated Hungarian pigs - very different!
And then a trip to the Paprika house

And paprika growing

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Argh... no Internet

2011-09-10T13:25:00.001-07:00

The cruise ship promised free internet... Well I guess you get what you pay for! Can get Facebook but not pick up email, not sure why the difference. So will post when I can. We took a hop on/ Hop off tour of Budapest this morning then checked in to the ship. Had a lazy afternoon, followed by a meet and greet, then dinner. We were supposed to go to a Hungarian folkLoric Evening but instead sat outside and watched a firework display and some sort of marathon run from the upper deck. The weather is superb with a wonderful 70 degrees at 10pm,so farewell Budapest......

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Budapest Day 2

2011-09-09T07:55:00.001-07:00

This Morning started with a sightseeing tour, by bus - first stop was Heroes Square

Followed by a drive along Andrassy boulevard (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) Then we drove past several magnificent buildings - parliament, opera house before crossing the Danube and going up to the castle area on the Buda side. Up to now we had stayed on the more commercial Pest side of the river. We went into the Matthias church (undergoing restoration)

Inside the church

In this castle area is a Hilton hotel, where we were originally scheduled to stay, but the cruise company moved us.... Maybe because they are having a wine festival on during our stay! What excellent planning.
Your admission ticket bought you a glass and a carrier for your glass, that you hung around your neck, so your hands were free. You can see David, ready to go

We tried to taste Hungarian wines that we were not familiar with. As it was warm, we only tried whites. I think our new favorite is Furmint, a dry white wine, grown mainly in the NE corner of Hungary. The wine festival was held in the castle grounds, lots of walking on uneven cobblestones! But all sorts of wonderful statues, our favorite was this hunting one, complete with dead stag and bloodhounds

Then here are some pictures of the vendors and their booths

Then we sat down on a bench and looked down to the Danube, and saw our cruise ship moored, we embark tomorrow, it's the one on the far side.

And this is the view down the Danube

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Location:Hungary

Missed this photo

2011-09-08T12:27:00.001-07:00

The view from our room, looking down

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Perhaps I should add food to the blog title!!

2011-09-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

Arrived in Budapest in the early afternoon, after sleeping soundly until 9am in Frankfurt.
Checked into our lovely hotel, The Corinthia

This is the lobby
And then we are on the 4th floor looking down on this area.

The hotel has its own Spa, may have time to try it. Much of the drive in from the airport was through parts of town that were less than elegant. But when driving to dinner this evening we passed through a much more upmarket area (with all the designer label stores) but also some areas in need of upgrading. We accepted the recommendation of the concierge for dinner (as our choice was fully booked) he sent us to Dio

Great meal - I had a fresh green salad with grilled goats cheese, followed by duck breast accompanied with sour cherries & blackberries and a sweetcorn fritter. David had Hungarian goulash soup and then a pork tenderloin, which he said melted in the mouth, we had a local Hungarian white

Which was lovely. Then we indulged and shared a poppyseed bread pudding, followed by complimentary peach schnapps... A taxi back to the hotel, quick update to blog and then an early night, so we are ready to explore Budapest tomorrow. It's supposed to be 72 and partly cloudy- perfect sightseeing weather.

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Location:Budapest

Seen at the airport

2011-09-08T02:38:00.001-07:00

Sitting in the lounge and the big new A380 went past ......

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Rheingau Wine Festival

2011-09-07T11:15:00.001-07:00

After checking in to the Sheraton at the Frankfurt airport, we showered and changed and took the train downtown to look at the Riesling Wine festival.

There were wine stalls from lots of different vineyards lining the pedestrian mall with some food vendors amongst them.

We like dry whites and so we sampled several different ones, and learnt to ask for "Riesling Qualitatswein Trocken" or "Riesling Kabinett Trocken" the latter being a slightly better wine. After sharing several generous pours, we thought some food would be a good idea... Although there were several sorts of pretzels available, we decided on a flat bread sort of pizza... And here was where we had some language misunderstanding... We ordered the mediterrean one ( which according to the board- in English - was chevre cheese, pepperoni and red peppers)

Well apparently pepperoni in Germany are slightly hot peppers not a type of salami - but it was still good. Then we had a really good chilled carrot soup with chopped ginger. Yummy. Then back to the train and our hotel for a good nights sleep before moving on to Budapest.

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Location:Frankfurt

Off to europe

2011-09-06T19:10:00.001-07:00

Well after a leisurely start to the day (we had a 2pm departure) to Chicago and am currently sitting in the red carpet lounge awaiting the 10.30 pm flight on Lufthansa to Frankfurt. We are leaving home at the wrong time - summer has finally arrived, it was 90 today. The forecast for Frankfurt is rain :-(
However we are only there overnight before heading to Budapest, where the weather is supposed to be in the 80's- perfect for sightseeing.

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Recent travels and shows

2011-08-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of July we had our big shows in Portland and the Beagle Specialty, which brought in friends from near and far. Our new puppy was the only dog we showed, but she had a great weekend and we are happy with the results. She is almost a champion., but will now sit at home and mature.

August saw me judging in Racine, WI and I took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather and sit on the dock at the Marina, one of the evenings and relax.

I returned from Wisconsin, did some washing, re-packed and headed for Hawaii, with David, this time to judge shows there. We arrived a day early and relaxed....this was the view as we had breakfast

and in the evening we tried some new cocktails

My new favorite cocktail - Ginger Lychee Caipirissima - this cocktail was inspired by the Brazillian tradition of the Caipirinha with muddled Lychee fruit, spicy ginger syrup and fine rum...delicious!

David had a kiwi martini with lychee vodka, he said it was good but different, but he did not think he would have it again!
Then 2 pretty warm days of judging and then a relaxing last day on Waikiki and a final dinner, beachside. We watched the sun set, before taking our red eye flight home

Home foe a couple of weeks and then off again....

Our new Addition

2011-07-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

We have added a new whippet to our household - her name is "Secret". She has settled in well and loves our beagle puppy K2, who is about the same age. They play rough games together , all day.
I find I do not post to my blog as often these days. But here is a quick recap of the past 6 months....

In March we went to Crufts and met up with friends old and new, and enjoyed the company of our friends Oksana and Oleg, who were making their first trip to Crufts. We introduced them to a couple of good English Pubs!
April saw us in Australia, for my father's 90th Birthday celebrations - and he is doing great, and we had a an enjoyable visit, transiting through Japan (just after their Tsunami)

May - we had a litter of 5 puppies from Sophie, this was a dual sired litter, so we will have to DNA everyone, to see who is the sire of each puppy.
June saw us away judging in Colorado, and spending my birthday at a nice restaurants, with friends.
July - I went off judging to Southern California.

Whats planned for the rest of the year? We have a cruise down the Danube from Budapest to Bucharest in a bit - which should be very interesting - as we have never been to this part of Eastern Europe before.

Farewell, Lily

2011-01-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Rest in Peace Lily

Aust Ch Sporting Fields Foreign Affair (Am Ch Surrey Hill's Firing Line x Sportingfield Charmed One) 17 March 1995 - 27 January 2011) - almost 16 years old...
Lily was a very well traveled Whippet, she was born in Virginia, traveled to Australia with us and then returned back to the USA where she ruled over the Beagles, for many a year - our heart is broken, at her departure.

Happy Christmas

2010-12-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Wishing our friends, all over the world a very Happy Christmas, from both of us here at home - where we have NO snow - yeah!

Gosh, has it been that long?

2010-12-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Its been over a month since I wrote to my blog - I guess I use Facebook more and more these days, but some people only read my blog - so here is a recap of what has been going on in our lives in that time.
We went to Australia at the beginning of November, to visit my parents for a week or so. Unfortunately on the way over, our upgrades did not clear on United and so we were relegated to the "back of the bus" and boy is that a long flight (14 hours from San Francisco to Sydney) plus you have to add on the flight from Portland to SFO as well as the Australian domestic flight from Sydney to Coolangatta (great word that!) about 24 hours in transit in total - and we finally arrived at my parents apartment around noon - so still had several hours to stay up, before heading to bed.
During our stay with my parents we were able to squeeze in a dog show in Brisbane, and also enjoyed some of the local seasonal fruits (mangoes, Lychee's etc) and several of the wonderful fresh (SweetLip, John Dory, Barramundi, and lots of fresh prawns and Morton Bay Bugs - a type of local crayfish) The weather was unseasonably cool and although we walked along the beachfront most days, it was never hot (so much for Global warming!)
After that we headed for Melbourne, where we were judging a dog show - however on the morning we were to leave (at 6am) I realized I had lost my Australian passport - I was able to get on the plane with my US drivers licence and upon arrival in Melbourne attempted to replace my lost passport. This I discovered is not easy, especially when all your ID proving documents are in the USA - I was able to get a longstanding friend - thanks Ray - to sign that I was, who I said I was, and after 2 days at the passport office finally got a "limited, 1 year" passport issued to me. To turn this into a real passport, valid for 10 years, I have to appear in person in the embassy in Washington DC, with proof of ID - fortunately I have a judging assignment in January, in the area, so will do it then.
Having wasted a lot of time getting the replacement paperwork done, we were finally able to head to the Yarra Valley wine area and enjoy a day or so wine tasting and relaxing. On the Thursday night we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at a highly rated restaurant - well highly rated by others, not us after our experience. We booked for 7pm dinner and arrived to find 2 other couples in the restaurant - not busy, but then it was mid week and a fairly pricey set menu. By 7.30 we had still not received our wine, that arrived about 8 pm, along with some bread and the appetizer arrived about 8.15 - it was really boring waiting - and all we had to do was look out the window at the grassy area, where there were some bunnies cavorting around - this was a bit weird as the appetizer was rabbit tortellini...fortunately by the time it arrived, it was dark outside and we could no longer see the rabbits! By the time the meal was complete it was about 10pm, and needless to say we had not enjoyed the evening and the tip reflected this!
On Friday it was time to drive to Morwell where we were to judge a dog show, we took the scenic route and passed by a country property my parents had owned in the mid 60's, which was then, way out in the country, now its in the middle of the outer suburbs...
The dog show was very enjoyable - except on Saturday when it rained most of the day (David was not judging this day so he stayed dry) I discovered my raincoat was not even water-resistant (let alone waterproof!) I was drowned - but at least it was a warm rain! I gave a Saluki the group. On Saturday night, while we were in bed, the heavens opened, but miraculously by Sunday morning it was sunny and dry (and the football ground on which we were judging had perfect drainage) I even got a little sunburnt!! David judged the hounds this day and put up a lovely young deerhound, which was not there the day I judged.

After the show, we drove back to Melbourne and spoilt ourselves at the Marriott in the city, and had a great Italian dinner in Carlton (famous for great Italian food - and it did not disappoint.) Let me say it was amazing how expensive Australia has gotten, with the US dollar being almost on par with the Australian $, did not help - but we estimated than since our last visit 12 months ago, prices had gone up 25% - its now just as expensive as Scandinavia - no bargains in Australia, any more.
Home flight was better as we were upgraded to business class - yeah! We were than just home long enough to say hi to the dogs, do some washing, before heading out to Paso Robles to judge. It seems the rainy weather was following us - as again Saturday was very wet - and again David was not judging this day (see a pattern here?) however, I really cant complain, as I was inside all day! The next day was drizzly but not horrible and the last day was dry but cool - or cold (for California)
We then came home and relaxed and had a quiet Thanksgiving.......

Its time to head south

2010-10-30T20:05:00.001-07:00

This past month has been spent judging and showing.I have been in Boise Idaho (where I was miserable with a bad case of the 'flu) followed by a couple of days at home, trying to get over the 'flu, then a drive to California for Del Valle and the Beagle Specialty then I spend a few days at home before heading to Australia to visit my parents. I am so ready for Sun, Mango's and reef fish...
We had a show today and Sophie won a group 2 - a nice start to the weekend

I have been busy

2010-10-09T16:00:00.000-07:00

Annica and I traveled back from Vancouver - gosh was it almost 2 weeks ago... the time has gone by in a blur.
Anyway we stopped in Everett and visited the Boeing Future of Flight and spent a fascinating morning there touring the factory - its well worth the visit if you are passing through.

Then we went to Pike Place Market in Seattle - could not miss the flying Salmon show (although business was a bit slow and so not many fish being thrown) We had lunch there and then drove home.
The rest of the stay in Vancouver/Portland area saw us shopping, visiting the Columbia Gorge and Multnomah Falls and the Bonneville Dam and hatchery, Powells bookstore and more shopping.

Then it was time to get ready for the National Beagle Specialty being hosted in Vancouver, just 12 miles from home. With only one dog to show, it was a fairly relaxing show with lots of time to socialize with friends. The weather was perfect, with NO rain - yeah!
One week later, all the visitors have headed home and we are relaxing at home.

Canada

2010-09-27T21:44:00.001-07:00

After judging on the weekend in Washington, on Sunday evening I headed for Canada to collect Annica and bring her back to WA to attend the National specialty. My trip through Seattle was easy ( traffic wise) but the wait at the border was about 50 minutes.
Today Annica and I toured Vancouver but it was a bit damp and drizzly however we saw the main things and had great time. Tomorrow we head for Seattle...

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Lazy Sunday

2010-09-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

What to do on a lovely sunny day? We had read about a local railway line Chelatchie Railway that would be making one of its few runs on Sunday from a town nearby - so of we headed to Yacolt, from where the train makes its run – however when we got there, there were only a handful of people waiting to get on itso we changed our mind - it had been a very pretty drive.
So… plan B.
There are a couple of vineyards in our area (what area these days does not have some?) so we decided to go to the one closes to home – The Rusty Grape – somehow, not the name I would have chosen – not the best mind picture – but nevertheless, it was time to test it.
My goodness what a surprise, they have built a really nice tasting room, and patio where they show movies outside during the summer, and have music concerts occasionally and also hold special events. The wine was nothing outstanding, but overall an enjoyable afternoon.

It's been a while

2010-08-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Somehow I seem to have left updating my blog to the end of the pile these days. What with Facebook and email and working on upgrades to 2 websites I manage, as well as having spent a whole week at a judges institute...time has flown by.

Many will remember at the beginning of our summer, which started very slowly and really has not progressed too fast (unlike the rest of the US and the world it seems) I planted some upside down tomato plants - well eventually they blossomed, and bore fruit and now just this last week, have started to go orange (just 3 of them!) so we still have a way to go - and I still have blossoms on the plant, which I am sure will never bear fruit, before the first frost. Anyway, we may have a few tomato's, soon... the yellow flowers are Marigolds, which I am told keep undesirable bugs away.

Pictures from Waukesha

2010-08-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the BEST part of my ring - the other pictures I took, did not really show how bad it was...

Ouch!!

2010-08-01T19:15:00.001-07:00

I am in Wisconsin judging. I arrived here Thursday as I was judging specialties for min pins on Friday. Minpins were in the morning and I had some lovely dogs- in the afternoon it was old English sheepdogs - now, the fairgrounds had had a lot of rain in the past few days and so I had a ring full of straw and this was not ideal for hairy dogs, however the temperatures were mild and the clouds kept it pleasant.
Now saturday was a different story - we had more rain overnight and this was the day i had the ring from h**l, most of the ring was mud covered with straw - not ideal for an entry of over 50 white dogs (Samoyeds!)
but we persevered. Early in the morning the bugs were bad (Mosquitos) but later in the day a wasp went up my skirt and stung me... And as those who know me well are aware, I am allergic but in the middle of the ring there is not much I can do - other than take some benadryl.
24 hours later my thigh (where I was stung) is swollen to the size of a diner plate and is hot and itchy, and so it will remain for another week or so.
Today - Sunday was very sunny, humid and HOT. More good dogs and a beagle goes Best in Show, a good day.
I will happy to return to the moderate temperatures of home tomorrow

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It's warmed up

2010-07-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

Super warm day here - summer finally arrived... it was 93 today (33.8 C) expected to be warm then down to the 80's for the next week - we all appreciate the air-conditioning!! But its not humid, so really quite bearable and there was a fairly strong warm breeze. And after our slow start to summer, its a change to have t-shirts on.

I think summer is finally here....

2010-06-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

We finally seem to have our summer - the days have been in the high 70's and low 80's and no rain. The summer fruits are appearing and I bought some beautiful sweet Rainier Cherries today. We had a dog show last weekend with our new girl - Sophie and she won a group placement. A good start. This week we have been catching up on mowing - the grass has been going crazy. No shows this weekend, so just time to laze around and enjoy the weather.

My recent travels

2010-06-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in my latest postings, the only excuse - not enough hours in the day for travel and posting and judging....
After Canada I headed out to Louisiana, I went in early so that I could spend some time with my friend Alyce and get to see her new house (she moved in about 6 weeks ago) Its a fantastic property Alyce, I love it and it will be a great home for you and the Beagles. While in Lake Charles we went sightseeing. I was really surprised at how big the Lake is.
We also ate very well - Alyce's sister joined us and we wnt to a local Crawfish restaurant where they had live Zydeco music and wonderful Crawfish.
Apparently I was so capable at peeling the Crawfish, Alyce made me an "honorary Cajun"!! The great food theme continued over the weekend at the show, with the most wonderful home cooked Judges Lunches...yummy! Fortunately the show was in an lovely air-conditioned facility as it was 93 degrees and VERY humid, but we were all oblivious to this until we walked outside - then POW, it really hit you.
But it was a great weekend, but boy its good to be home for a while and to sleep in my own bed - nothing beats HOME

Almost out of Canada

2010-06-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

I just had a few breeds to judge today and only about an hour scheduled judging and a start time of 9.30 AM for me.
Now I was the lucky judge as we had torrential rain overnight and many of the judges started at 8.00 when it was still teeming. By the time I got to the grounds it had stopped raining and then I discovered I was inside! Who knew there was an inside ring... The building could have housed all the rings, instead all the rest were outside under water. I asked the superintendant why the did not move inside and he said they only do that if the weather is really bad!!
Oh well - such is the life of a dog show judge.

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Ah...life is good tonight

2010-06-05T18:15:00.001-07:00

I have checked into the Marriott Courtyard hotel and have all the modern conveniences I enjoy - which includes my own ensuite bathroom - no more walking down the hall.
Last night the club took all the judges on a relaxing river cruise from 6.30pm - trouble was it was a liitle boring, with only weeds and camp grounds to look at! Oh no, I forgot the one water skier who took a tumble beside the boat when he was showing off. The onboard catered dinner... Well what can I say, other than it was not in the same league as the lovely breakfast we had at the B & B.
Tonight, Saturday, we ate at the B&B where some of the other judges are staying and it was quite good.
We have been fortunate that it has only rained overnight and although humid there has been a breeze and cloud cover.

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It's Thursday...so it's Toronto

2010-06-03T13:23:00.001-07:00

After arriving here at 12.30am this morning I headed for the hotel and had a great nights sleep. Got up this morning and took a leisurely trip South, checking out a shopping mall or 2 on the way.
I travelled about 1 1/4 hours to the rustic town of Caledonia (where the show will be held this weekend)
Along the way I was amused by some road signs - I am easily amused- the wild lion park was next door to the nudist resort...
I found the showsite and then continued for another 30 minutes south along a scenic river parkeay ( this means undulating green countryside) to the quaint (circa 1906) B&B where the kennel club has me staying. It has some modern conveniences (wireless Internet) but bathrooms are shared with the other 3 males judges!
However it's not raining today but it's humid even though there is cloud cover.
So I am now off to the best restaurant in town - specialty pizza and wings...

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Southern california

2010-06-01T08:23:00.001-07:00

Just spent a great weekend in LA judging at the Mission Circuit. The dogs were top quality and super supportive exhibitors - it's been a while since I have heard so many people cheering for fellow competitors- good to hear
The weather was super in the mid 80's. Company was enjoyable and we shared several meals with friends.
So this morning we fly home to I believe, rainy Washington... Then tomorrow I leave for Canada

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Planting time

2010-05-25T09:36:00.001-07:00

I decided to try growing tomatoes and strawberries at home this year - using the upside down method - so I bought the plants and the dirt etc and the holder...and ran into problem #1, the holder is not strong enough, nor stable enough to support the containers - so had to hang them from the garage (see photo above) as a very temporary solution until I find something more substantial today.

Utah

2010-05-22T19:47:00.001-07:00

This weekend I am judging a show in Logan Utah. It's a super showsite (or it would be if the weather was good) but the weather gods were not smiling on us today - the overnight temperature was 30 degrees and a predicted high of 46 today. So as we started this morning it was raining and then we had hail then it stopped for a while and the sun came out - then it all repeated, but eventually the sun won out and it was actually a nice day. Tomorrow is predicted to be nicer........

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Pictures from Poland

2010-05-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

All the pictures in the album below were taken by Erik's new owner - Kate, or a friend- I never even needed to power my camera up!
As you can see we had good company and lots of food... It's back to salads for us for the next few weeks.

Link to pictures

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Photos

2010-05-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

Perogies

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Poland ( Day 2 - Friday )

2010-05-15T02:33:00.001-07:00

Kate collected David and I and took us to explore the "old Warsaw" which we walked all day and the weather was perfect - a mix of cloud and sun, just perfect for sightseeing. There were lots of beautiful churches and many statues of famous Poles - Marie Curie, Chopin and Copernicus....
In the eveing we went for a typical meal of perogies - filled with various savory fillings - yummy. David sampled some local beer which also got a thumbs up

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Poland (day 1)

2010-05-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

The flight from Seattle to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was great- my standby upgrade to business cleared (which was a good start) my seatmate was a German gentleman who now lives in USA but who had spent his youth, working for the Snowy Mountains Authority in Australia building the huge hydro electric scheme in the 60's. Lots of interesting chatter....
A change of planes and terminals in Frankfurt (and Erik successfully made the transit also) we then flew onto Warsaw where "Kate" - Erik's new owner met us. She had met David an hour earlier when he arrived from Copehhagen, after returning 2 beagles back to Gold Line (Thanks Annette for letting us have Thomas and Susan for a while)
Kate left us at the Marriott to freshen up while she took Erik home to let him run and be fed. A few hours later she collected us and took us to her home, where she had prepared a typical Polish meal. It was great, she took many pictures (I will post links later) Erik had settled in very well.
we then returned to the hotel for a great sleep

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Details, Details....

2010-05-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

The weather has been rather damp and windy and so the grass is growing like crazy and its far too wet to cut it - sure hope it dries off soon, so we can cut it before we go away.
Next week David is taking Thomas and Susan, our 2 Danish beagles (on loan from Gold Line Kennels) back to Annette in Denmark - Thanks Annette, for letting them come to the USA to stay with us. We enjoyed having them. And bit later I am flying to Poland to deliver Thomas' son to his new home - he grew too big to show in the USA, so he is Europe bound.
David and I will then spend a few days in Poland, with Erik's new owner, showing us some of Warsaw.

Lewiston, Idaho

2010-04-21T19:46:00.001-07:00

We are off to Lewiston tomorrow, for a 4 day weekend cluster of shows. With only one dog to show, and late judging times, it should be a very restful few days - might even get to see the Snake river (pictured above)....so watch this space.

Weekend in Georgia

2010-04-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

I headed off to Atlanta last Wednesday for a 4 day weekend of shows - judging. It was held at the Georgia National Fairgrounds - which is a super location for a show - lots of air conditioned buildings, acres of grass and events for everyone - Lure Coursing, Agility, Obedience and Conformation. Great company, great dogs and just a super time was had by all.
We had dinner each night at Henderson Village, which is a collection of 19th century homes and cottages situated on 18 bucolic acres in the heart of Central Georgia and located at what was once a thriving stagecoach intersection.
They have this wonderful restaurant "Langston House" there, where we had a superb meal each night, with different dining companions each evening. The restaurant was full mainly with dog show people each night. Its well worth the trip, if you are in the area.

All the shows were well organized and the North Georgia Hound Show, was very well run and it was my pleasure to judge many lovely hounds - my placements were

Our New Toys

2010-04-08T21:02:00.001-07:00

As regular readers of the Blog will remember, I have expressed dismay with our GPS unit - so we bought a LOWER priced TomTom, to replace the Garmin and you know what, it works better - satellite access is almost instant and not once has it led me astray, I LIKE it.

This week we decided to get a new sink, as I was fed up with the old sink staining and being hard to keep clean, so we got this cast iron sink, which has a low center divider - this makes it look huge. Whilst shopping we saw that you could now get a garbage disposal to use with a septic tank and so we bought that also.
The amazing thing is how quiet to garbage disposal is, you have to really listen to know that it's running. This is not my experience with the ones in many other homes.
So we are very happy with our new purchases.

Videos from Spain

2010-03-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have finally put together some of the video from our trip to Sevilla, Spain.
We spent one afternoon wandering around the Alcazar which is an old palace surrounded by magnificent gardens. You can read more about the Alcazar here

Then I have finally managed to upload the edited video and hopefully everyone will be able to see it. Click here
this is followed by a continuation of our exploration of the grounds and other rooms. I really magnificent palace and so well preserved. Second part - click here

There is more to come - but will leave that for another day...........

Home Again and feeling great!

2010-03-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Its good to be home. Spain and England were wonderful and we really enjoyed the trip. I am just starting to work on sorting out all of the photos from the trip. The pictures actually go quicker than the videos....so we will start with the photos. We have a few from Sevilla and then the rest are from our day tour to the White Village town of Ronda, which took us to a couple of wineries along the way (I don't think they do great wine in this area!) and then some pictures from our walk through Ronda.

An upsetting night

2010-03-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

For David, an unpleasant night as he got food poisoning and suffered! Don't know what caused it as we ate the same thing- except I did not eat the olives....
So while David recouped this AM I took the open air tourist bus around Sevilla and got to see more of this beautiful city.
We then flew back to London this afternoon and are overnighting at the Marriott at the airport before returning home tomorrow.

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Ronda and Tapas

2010-03-17T12:29:00.001-07:00

Last night we went out for Tapas to a recommended bar, which was full of locals and had no English menu - so this challenged us a bit and the Spanish phrase book was working overtime - fortunately we arrived at 7.30 and the kitchen did not open til 8, so this gave us 1/2 hour to work on the menu and everything we ordered was delicious - from the razor clams to the mushroom torte.....
Today we took a personalized tour to one of the "White Villages" - Ronda - this was about 1 1/2 hour drive SE of Sevilla. It was a lovely drive on a super day. Our first stop was a wine tasting at a small boutique winery - the wines were young and I think they still have a way to go before they are top notch. Then we drove on to the outskirts of Ronda and visited vineyard #2, the wines were better here and even included Pinot Noir.
Then in Ronda we went to a Tapas bar for lunch - WOW - stunning food, beatifully cooked and presented. We had salmon ceviche, soy noodles and Iberian ham, asparagus and manchego cheese, Russian potato salad, curried chicken on skewers and a glass of wine ( the best today)
We then walked off lunch in the town, which is spectacularly perched on a hillside (pictures will be posted on my return home)
Late in the day we drove back to Sevilla.

Sevilla, Spain

2010-03-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

This morning we did a guided walking tour of the town with a local, recommended by Rick Steves, she did an excellent job for 2 hours. We then grabbed a coffee and tapas before doing a tour of the Alcazar and the cathedral. Pictures to follow, back to the hotel to pickup email, charge iTouch and relax before heading out on tapas tour.
Tomorrow we have a day tour planned with a tour guide.

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Heathrow airport

2010-03-15T08:51:00.001-07:00

Just had lunch - Spinach salad -nice to have some veggies after the meat and fats overloads of the past few days
On to Sevilla....

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End of 4 days in England

2010-03-14T15:23:00.001-07:00

Beagles were judged on Friday, the entry was about 225. This lovely bitch pictured above was best bitch- we tried, unsuccessfully, to buy her - but understandably her proud breeders would not part with her.
We watched Best in Show tonight and the winner was the veteran Australian bred vizsla a worthy winner
Tomorrow we head to Seville, Spain for a few days vacation. Will hopefully be able to find Wi-fi and blog

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We are packed

2010-03-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well we head off tomorrow to Cruft's dog show, in England. Beagles show on Friday. Carrie is house-sitting for us in our absence - Thanks Carrie! The dogs will all enjoy being spoilt by her.
We look forward to seeing all of our friends from around the world in Birmingham. Swing by the Beagle ring and visit.
After Cruft's we are going to Spain for a few days - watch this blog.....

Not as nice as Yesterday...

2010-03-07T16:55:00.001-08:00

But I am not complaining. The day started nicely and all the dogs were lying on the deck, here is our 14 year old whippet (she demands a soft bed!)
The beagles are happy to just lie on the deck. By the afternoon, we had some sprinkles of rain and its all clouded over. I guess the weather man is trying to prepare us for Europe!

A Beautiful Saturday

2010-03-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

On a spring day, with temperatures that reached 72 degrees, this afternoon, it was time to go for a long bike ride, mow the lawns and generally enjoy the day. This was the view from the end of the driveway - you can see all the trees with blossoms - we have had such a mild winter, everything is flowering.
I just hope the weather can be as nice next week when we head to England for Crufts and follow that up with a few days in Spain (Seville)

It had to end

2010-02-23T13:32:00.001-08:00

The fantastic weather of the past few weeks - today is cloudy and drizzly.
Still I am enjoying a break at Starbuck's and have discovered a new App for my iTouch which enables me to very easily post to my blog using their free Wi-Fi while enjoying my double tall non fat latte.....life is good!

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No Excuses

2010-02-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

(View of Mt Hood taken from Sandy, while we were driving around Oregon this week)

I have been very negligent in updating my blog recently - no particular reason just a combination of things to do, along with superb weather, which have lead us to do many more things during the day and then being glued to the TV watching the Olympics, into the small hours of the morning, for the last week.
Last weekend, we had a dog show and just had Thomas and his son Erik entered. The entry of beagles was tiny (5) - Thomas won the breed both days and got a group placement on Sunday. Erik won a single point, but it was good training for him, if nothing else. The weekend was really enjoyable as we had a chance to have dinner with friends (Tracy & John) who we have not seen since they moved to Idaho and another friend (Kathy) - it was a great restaurant in Albany and superb company.
I took the opportunity to play with my new Flip video camera (just a tiny thing about the size of a cell phone) and it does a respectable job. I wanted to practice before i went to Crufts next month, so I new how it worked.
Sunday was Valentines day - we were done early at the show and so went home and had a nice bottle of wine and a home cooked meal.
This week, in between a lot of driving around greater Portland, collecting and delivering things we have managed to squeeze in some outdoor exercise (bike riding for me and walking for David) - somehow I enjoy this much more than hitting the stationary bike at the gym! And then of course lawn mowing.....
And now its the weekend again - no dog shows this weekend, but the good weather continues - its was 62 degrees today - I LOVE it.

GPS frustrations

2010-01-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

We have owned 2 Garmin GPS and it seems that we are unhappier with the second one, more than we were with the first one. Why? Well the most recent one a Garmin Nuvi 760, seems to take up to 5 minutes to find a satellite connection, even when you are outside with no tall buildings or trees around you and then sometimes takes you places you don't want to go...What do I mean?
Well despite having recently updated the maps (like a month ago - and that's another story - the update successfully brought my computer to its knees, and I had to do a full restore!) I was still lead through the parking lot of a shopping mall to a hotel (despite the shopping mall having been there for at least 10 years.) Then last week in Florida we are on the turnpike with supposedly about 50 miles before our exit, when suddenly I am told to "take ramp on right" and so being a good follower, do as I am told, once on the new expressway I am told to go 3 miles and then "take ramp on right" and in effect do a U turn and go back to the turnpike I was on before .its moments like this that almost cause us to throw the device out the window.
So today we decided to go to Fry's and look at a new GPS, we decided to change brands and selected a Tom Tom with USA and Europe Maps included (handy for future travels) After purchasing it we went out to the car, unpacked it and decided to set it for the nearest Starbucks, before heading home. Well for some mysterious reason it was set on Polish as the base language and no matter what we did it remained with Polish on all the buttons and labels, we were able to change the spoken commands to English, but not the icons. Now the problem with Polish is that it was not even easy to guess what the labels said...so after about 15 minutes of pushing and entering all variations we could think of, we took it back into the store and asked for "expert help" - the bad news was that 1/2 hour later nobody could change it to English, so we asked for and got a full refund. So we will apparently keep on trying to get from A to B, with a minimum of errors with our Nuvi.

More Road Signs

2010-01-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

Seen on someone's travels (but not mine) I got a laugh out of them and so thought I would share...

And I guess the folks in Vancouver BC are a bit confused about what a deer looks like!

Florida

2010-01-27T19:23:00.000-08:00

Having spent 2 days at the dog shows in Portland we flew to Tampa on Saturday as we were both judging on the final day of the 10 day Florida circuit. An early start, through Denver and then on to Tampa and collected the rental car and drove north to Brooksville, where the cluster is held. This group of clubs have purchased their own grounds (and actually had a mortgage burning ceremony the previous day!) The grounds are huge and filled with motor homes and have all sorts of amenities including an ATM. The judges were spoilt with excellent meals, cooked to order breakfasts and lovely tasty lunches, all provided in a tent with artificial grass underfoot and heaters, should they be needed. Fortunately the fact I had taken my raincoat, meant that the weather was lovely and got up to about 65 - there were a couple of sprinkles of rain, but they quickly passed. The quality of the dogs was good and there were not many absentees, either.
On Sunday night we drove to Orlando, as we were planning to spend the day at Disney World, but when we got up on Monday it was rainy and overcast, so we decided to have a lazy day and cruise the outlet malls.Then in the late afternoon we decided to go to Celebration - which is a planned community (built by none other than the Disney corporation in the 1990's) and have a look and have dinner there. It was a very nice area with lots of amenities around a central lake.
On Tuesday we drove around the area and then it was back to Tampa, so we were close to the airport for an early flight out Wednesday morning. We decided to go for a drive to a restaurant, west of Tampa on the Intracoastal waterway - and we chose the Salt Rock Grill and had a great meal of Stone Crab Claws
I followed mine with Grouper and David had Tuna - delicious - we love our seafood! Today was a long day, with lots of airline food...

Last weekend was good!

2010-01-20T16:53:00.001-08:00

We left home on Friday and it was pouring rain, but by the time we had driven to Puyallup Fairgrounds the rain had eased and there was a hint of blue in the sky. We checked into the really bad motel close to the show site (its the last time we will stay here) then went over to the grounds to exercise and feed the dogs. We had 3 dogs were were showing - Thomas, his son Erik (at his first shows) and Susan (Thomas' sister)
On Friday night, our friends from Canada - Jenn and Jan joined us for Dinner at Olive Garden and we had a great time catching up on all the news.
Saturday we were spoilt with afternoon judging, which was really nice. Jenn showed Erik for me and he performed well and won his class.

Erik moving

Susan was WB, but as she needed a major (and the major was in boys) today was not her day to finish. That night we went to a local Italian restaurant and we had a party of 8 - Janet and Jo joined us (they are photographers supreme and took wonderful pictures of the show and the dogs)

Susan's win picture

Sunday we had early judging and this was Susan's day - she is now a Champion -Yeah...she can return to Denmark in glory, later this year.
We had a Monday show - Thomas won the breed and Erik was Reserve Winners dog. So overall a great weekend with superb company.
We have a few shows in Portland this weekend, just Thomas is entered. Then we are off to Florida - Disney, here we come....

Weekend in Palm Springs

2010-01-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

We left Portland under cloudy skies and arrived in Palm Springs to sunny skies and it was the start of a weekend of perfect weather. This is a shot of our hotel - The Embassy Suites in Palm Desert, from our room at dusk on Thursday night. The Hotel has a wonderful Happy Hour (or 2, actually) each night, which is great for socializing and enjoying the company of friends. We found a new Italian restaurant, just near the hotel had a great meal before turning in early, as we had 8am judging.
Friday we had a hound show and we just showed a puppy and despite some challenging behavior from him he won the points - it was a humbling experience - not all Beagles are well behaved, but I have seldom had one who has been quite as out of control as he was - he was happy though! That night we met up with some local friends Jim & Betty, who have one of our beagles and we were taken to their local Mexican restaurant. Very good Margarita's. Saturday was another early start, but the puppy did not win this day or Sunday - oh well - one of 3 was good.
We decided to go on a tour of the San Andreas fault and the Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday afternoon - the tour was in a Hummer - a new experience - and perhaps in retrospect not a wise decision - as it was open air and very windy and by the end of the afternoon, very chilly. The driver was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the area we were going to. Some of the things we saw were interesting and some were a bit exaggerated! The literature indicated we were going to the San Andreas fault and would walk across a bridge over the fault.- Well the bridge was some wooden planks over some water oozing up from the Oasis and as the fault was a mile wide at that point, it was a bridge to nowhere.... just from one dry spot to another (not quite what I had envisioned)

Then the Hummer took us (7 on the tour) up an old Gold Mining trail into the Joshua Tree National park - it did give you an appreciation for the difficult terrain that a Hummer can navigate - but did we need to do it for 2 hours...with only minimally changing scenery - and zero padding on most of the seats - probably not! However I did get some good photos - see below

We flew home on Monday and its back to the rain! But Thursday and Friday should be dry, before what promises to be a wet weekend of dog shows.

Happy New Year

2009-12-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

We are not planning any celebrations - just a quiet night at home

But click here to see a card from us - turn up your sound and enjoy it.

Christmas greetings

2009-12-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

Click to Open the card and then you may have to click on Next to see each picture

Beagle Bells and Darwin (place & the man)

2009-12-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

On a rainy Saturday in December, David and I ventured out into a park in Darwin (Australia) to take some photos of a memorial to Charles Darwin who sailed on the ship HMS Beagle to the Southern hemisphere

The Port of Darwin was sighted by John Lort Stokes in 1839 and was named in Darwin’s honour by his friend and former shipmate John Clements Wickham.

Featuring a series of 10 cast bronze bells and a replica HMS Beagle ship’s bell, cast in brass, the HMS Beagle Ship Bell Chime brings together the separate Eastern and Western bell traditions.

Whilst in Australia, Darwin was amazed at the varietal range of the parrot species, and a selection of these, cast in bronze, from the small Budgerigar to the large Black Cockatoo, are perched on top of each bell.

G# Red Crested Black Cockatoo
A# Galah
C# Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
D# Crimson Rosella
F# Eastern Rosella
G# Red-collared Lorikeet
A# HMS Beagle
C# Night Parrot
D# Cockatiel
F# Budgerigar
G# Wild Budgerigar

David in the rain, with some of the bells.

Random pictures and thoughts on our trip

2009-12-16T09:23:00.001-08:00

At our Hotel in Darwin one of the pillow choices was a Boomerang pillow - only in Australia!
As I mentioned earlier we had lots of rain in Darwin this was because we were actually in a cyclone and whilst I did not get any really good pictures, I did find this link

If you click on the video link in the middle column, it gives you an idea of the weather conditions
The photo above was taken from our hotel window - I took it to show the downspouts (yellow bar in center of picture) is not connected to anything and just sort of floods the street!
On the flight from Singapore to Tokyo I had the continental breakfast of cereal and fruit and was surprised to see my Kellogs Corn Flakes (packaged in Thailand) came complete with tiny instructions on how to eat them!

The Long Trip Home

2009-12-14T16:14:00.001-08:00

The saga of our trip home was as follows...
We left our hotel in Darwin on Sunday afternoon at 3pm local time (which would be 9:30pm Saturday in Portland, just to give you a true concept of the times)It was a short ride to the airport, but this was the only time the shuttle ran, and so we got to the airport at 3.20 to discover that out 6.20pm flight was delayed for several hours. Now Darwin is a small international airport with not many facilities and there was no WiFi and just a bar and a coffee shop, which were all closed by 6:30 and yet our flight was delayed until 9:30 and several others were scheduled to leave after our and some into the early morning hours. Being on a budget carrier Jetstar there was no free meal, just buy on board, even the water is $3. So we made do with the food we had had earlier on in the day. Jetstar also has the most cramped seating I have experienced - so this is the last time I will fly them. We finally arrived in Singapore at midnight Singapore time (4 hour flight) and our next flight out was leaving at 7:30am (be at the airport by 5:30m) So we had this wonderful hotel room at the Crown Plaza at the airport and got to use it for about 4 1/2 hours! The Singapore airport did have some magnificent decorations
Then we flew on United Business from Singapore to Narita and then to Seattle - was able to stretch out and doze some on this leg of the trip, then a couple of hours in Seattle and finally arrived in Portland at noon Monday - that's 38.5 hours - minus the short stop in Singapore. No wonder we are tired.
As we passed through Narita, we spent some time in the United Lounge where they have this wonderful beer machine (now I am not a beer person, but David is and he has not stopped talking about this machine since last year), so this time I took photos. The way it works, is you put your chilled glass on the machine, it tips it back
then fills it, and then returns it to the upright position with just the right amount of froth (edited: David tells me the correct word is head! What do I know about Beer?)

Heading home

2009-12-13T02:37:00.000-08:00

Well we will be leaving Australia if we can ever persuade the plane to go. Our 6.20 pm flight is now supposed to leave around 9.30pm which will make the overnight in Singapore very short as our United flight leaves at 7.20 am.
The stay in Darwin was washout - literally with about 6" rain falling during our stay and many streets flooded etc. We spent a lot of time in our hotel suite
really looking forward to getting home....

Day trip to Byron Bay

2009-12-09T22:51:00.001-08:00

As this was our last full day in Queensland, we decided to take a day trip to Byron Bay, just about an hours drive south of here (quick now the freeway is built (the scenic road we used to drive some 15 years ago, was tedious) It's an area of beautiful beaches and a lot of gorgeous views

We drove up to the lighthouse, which may be the most easterly lighthouse in Australia

There were lots of birds, both feathered and 2 legged
David did a lot of people watching and commented that many of the swim suits were not much bigger than a Band aid

More Drinks

2009-12-08T21:39:00.001-08:00

Today we drove up to Tambourine Mountain - a hillside comunity about an hours drive West of Surfers Paradise. We had lunch at a Fromagerie (cheese factory) and Brew Pub - David sampled the beers below - and enjoyed them - the cheeses were pretty good also.

For a link to a video of the area go here

Drinking in Australia

2009-12-08T03:11:00.002-08:00

Just wanted to share a couple of the most popular drinks we have had here in Australia - remember its summer and its hot - so cool drinks are the order of the day.

VOLTAGE - extreme Coffee is a blend of ice, milk, vanilla, expresso beans and expresso coffee.Then hot expresso shots are poured into the cold, blended mixture to really get you going!

Then there is the Affogato - instead of desert have this - its icecream, with a shot of liquor (usually Franjelico or Amaretto) poured over the icecream, then followed by a shot of hot expresso poured on top - the perfect end to a meal.

Trip to Adelaide

2009-12-05T05:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, the correct answer to the last post, was Adelaide. We went there for a few days. We toured the city the first day and explored both the botanical gardens and the nearby wine center. The wine center was an informational and educational display of wine growing and was very interesting. One of the displays allowed you to select grapes, and process them into wine and evaluate the results - mine was described as worthy of "floor cleaner!!" David's was something to accompany a truly awful meal. So I guess wine making is not in our future, unless we are much better educated! This was not using real grapes, just a computer program... A wander around the Botanic gardens was relaxing and enjoyable. We then stayed right down town at the Hilton and enjoyed a meal at a small Italian restaurant that night before heading out to the Barossa the next day to go wine tasting.
The first winery was Wolf Blass and they had just released a very innovative new package - a plastic wine bottle and the wine in it was quite good, its light to carry and does not break! It come with both red & white wine. We sampled many more wines and drove around the area and took some pictures of the architecture and other sites - see pictures at the end of the blog.

The next day we planned to fly to Kangaroo island and island just off the south of South Australia. It was just a 20 minute flight (but it saved the ferry crossing which can be very rough and I am not the best sailor in the world!) We arrived at the tiny airport collected our Hertz car (after being told that you only get 100 free KM and after that you pay .27 per km and as the island is about 100 KM long and to see anything you need to drive from one end to the other, they know you will exceed the mileage allowed - great revenue raiser. The airport was also planned with great expansion in mind, as it 14km from the nearest town (and that's also where the nearest petrol and accommodation is) - so going in and out of town uses up 28 of your "free" miles! We stayed in Kingscote for the night and the hotel was under renovation, the restaurant was mediocre. I did play the 1c poker machine and won $19...
The next day we drove around the island, visiting a Eucalyptus Farm, a honey farm and the National Park where we saw magnificent rock formations. After a full day of driving (and 300km later) we returned to the airport and headed back to Adelaide. We went a dog show on Saturday morning and then flew back to Queensland.
Enjoy the photos below

Up, Up and Away

2009-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

We are flying on a new airline today - Tiger Airways (they are the low cost version of Singapore airlines) they are taking us to ???? (Guess where and no, its not Singapore, its somewhere in Australia)

This is Coolangatta airport, above

And this is our destination - below - who knows, or wants to guess where it is.

The unusual things you see

2009-11-28T23:47:00.001-08:00

Driving around today we saw this establishment and had to take a photo. I have never seen these 2 businesses combined before...

This is the dog wash part. While I was taking the photos, an employee came over and asked what I was doing - I said taking pictures, and they wanted to know why. I said I thought it was an unusual combined business. He was not pleased?!

Beautiful One Day, Perfect the Next

2009-11-28T02:30:00.000-08:00

This is the slogan for Queensland and it is so true - the weather has been wonderful about 88 F (28 C) each day, with hardly a cloud in the sky and a soft ocean breeze. We have been having a lazy time - a little bit of shopping (but with the Ozzie dollar at .92c US) - there are NO bargains! But basically we are just relaxing.

Surfer's Paradise - ariel view
Board riders

The Beach

The other night there was LOTS of activity as one of the Schoolies had got lost in the surf, and they had all the helicopters up searching for him - and it was just outside my parents apartment - he has not been found, as yet.

One of the parking meter attendants in Surfers Paradise.

Today we decided to go to a country dog show about a 2 hour drive NW of here - held inland, it was very hot there - the show was due to start at 4pm, we arrived at 3pm and took a look around the grounds, which were set up - see picture below
The grounds were very dry with prickly grass and ants abounded. There were only a handful of beagles entered, saw a couple and decided that as the coolest place was our car, that there was not much point hanging around, so we drove back home!
Still we saw some lovely rural views along the way

Schoolies??

2009-11-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

After a hot weekend in Sydney (110 degrees F) and a brief visit to the dog show and visits with friends, we flew to Queensland, to stay with my parents for a week or so. During our visit we have some exciting things planned - Swine Flu shots! - its not flu season here, being summer, so the vaccine is available.

The big news here is that it's Schoolies week - what is this you ask.... it is the Australian tradition of high school graduates (Schoolies) having week long holidays following their final examinations. Queensland's Gold Coast, particularly Surfers Paradise is the largest single venue for this revelry attracting tens of thousands of Schoolies. This brings with it, binge drinking, drugs, sex and arrests in what has become a rite of passage experience. And it actually lasts more than a week as the different states have "their" week, at different times.

We have avoided all this nonsense and are just enjoying the sun, and great weather - 80 degrees, with a cool sea breeze and the wonderful fresh fruit.

Where our travels are taking us.

2009-11-21T02:32:00.001-08:00

For all those guessing, we were in Singapore.

What does the above photo have to do with our trip, well its a Fish Pedicure - Singapore style! Followers of the blog will remember we did this last year also. We enjoyed it so much we returned for another session. Only this time we progressed from the small Turkish Spa Fish to the larger African Spa fish - there are more aggressive and you can definitely feel them nibbling on you (or as David found - really make you feet tickle!) Still they do a great job and our feet are really smooth, now.

Then we flew to Sydney, there was such a strong tailwind that our 7 hour flight took 6 hours. But as a result it was very bumpy.

Saturday saw us at the dog show, but due to the heat there were many absentees and only 6 beagles showed, after watching the breed we left the show and went up to Leura in the Blue Mountains, hoping it would be cooler there, but it wasn't - it was still 100+

Then back to Sydney to catch up with friends (Leanne, Christophe & baby Harry), for a Bar-b-q dinner then back to the hotel to update my blog!

Random sight today - a fast food chicken burger and chicken sausage shop called "Plucked"

Guess where I am #2

2009-11-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

We are heading here in the morning - weather permitting - yes its a Botanic garden - but where? However the rain fell and so we had to go shopping!!

This second picture almost gives it away..... as to guess where I am?

Audiobooks and other things

2009-11-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

I had a long drive up and back to Seattle today and so had a lots of time to listen to the latest audio book I had downloaded and it was really good! The miles and the time (all 6 hours of driving) just flew by - the book was the Chopin Manuscript - it's a thriller, but the unusual part is that it is a unique collaboration among 15 distinguished international thriller writers who came together to create a single audio book with each author contributing a chapter to the ongoing story. If you like this sort of thing - try it - I got it for my iPod. And there is a sequel... Now tomorrow we have a long flight and so I am actually looking forward to listen to the "rest of the story"
The 2 shows this weekend were a success, with Thomas, our Danish boy winning Group 3 one day and Group 4 the other day. So that's it for us, as far as shows go for this year. Now in Australia we were planning to go to a big show in Sydney this weekend, but with very high temperatures expected, it may be called off or just have a very low entry. Will report back soon.

Packing, packing....

2009-11-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

We are off tomorrow to shows in Monroe, WA which has this beautiful Cascade Mountain range as a backdrop. Hopefully it wont be too chilly and will be dry - well we can but hope! Just one dog to show so an easy weekend. Then just one day at home, before we head to Australia.

Back Home

2009-11-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

I arrived home after a weekend in Houston, Texas with a stop in the Denver airport in each direction - and these were the answers to the "where am I" questions...many people guessed correctly.
Saw some very nice dogs and enjoyed the company of friends - so I had a lovely time in Texas.

Which airport am I in?

2009-11-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Which airport features two cast bronze gargoyles, one each, located in the east and west sides of the baggage-claim areas. The gargoyles, roughly the size of a fifth-grade boy, are seated inside suitcases. Historically, gargoyles were placed on buildings to protect the site. These are placed slightly above the travelers’ heads to oversee and ensure that baggage will arrive safely at xxx airport..

Where Am I going

2009-10-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

I am packing my bags to go judging this weekend. I will leave tomorrow and will be leaving wet and windy weather and heading for sunny and temperatures in the high 70's....

This is a statue that I could see...but I actually am more likely to see the inside of a shopping mall...The first of my "guess where I am"? quiz

Weather

2009-10-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left Orlando in 90 degree heat (and 90% humidity) and flew to Denver where there was about 6 of snow on the ground!

The flight that had the plane we were to fly to Portland on, had been delayed somewhere so instead of leaving Denver at 8.55pm we left the gate at 10.25. Then because of the weather we had to get in line to be de-iced...you know how it is when you are at the supermarket and all the lines are going faster than yours...well this was the case at the de-icing station - all lines except ours kept moving along - the pilot kept apologizing for the delay...anyway we finally took off a couple of hours late and arrived (with time changes) back at Portland at 1.30 in the morning and were sound asleep in our own beds at 2am!

Awoke this morning to rain....

It has been suggested to me, that following my blog is sort of like guessing "Where in the world is Lesley?", so with that thought in mind and with upcoming trips, I may post a couple of Where am I?" questions, and see who is good at geography?

Are we crazy? ........Maybe

2009-10-28T13:46:00.001-07:00

David and I are on a mileage run. For those of you are not dedicated
mileage addicts like me... This is where you take a quick inexpensive
trip to a destination far away, solely for the purpose of earning miles.
So yesterday we flew to Orlando and are flying back today. We earned
about 12,000 miles for the trip- and these are the miles that count
for status. We want to maintain our 1K (100,000 "bum in seat" miles)
for this year, because of the wonderful upgrade perks.
We had a free night at the hotel, and went shopping at Dillards and
gave the credit card a workout- now waiting for plane and heading home.

High's and Lows

2009-10-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

On Saturday David showed our Danish boy - Thomas - Ch Gold Line's Global Dark Horse to a group 3, which was a nice start to their show career, following up on some group placements earlier this summer, when I handled him.

Then today we said goodbye to Java, who was 14 1/2 years old. He is shown here a couple of years ago, with one of his favorite toys. Java was not a show dog (due to an injury as a puppy), nor was he a great sire but he was a beautiful beagle with a glorious head. He lost his battle with cancer but for the 10+ years we had him, he had a very good life. He was registered as Bayou Oaks Zydeco (Ch Starbuck's Hang 'em High x Ch Bayou Oaks Chianti)

Some more pictures from our trip to Europe

2009-10-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I have just received the pictures in this posting from our friend Pia, with whom we had dined in Bratislava. This is the restaurant that we dined at - by day and by night (below)
And then this was the most unusual toilet in the men's room - it was a bucket, which doubled as the urinal. No - Pia did not take the photo, she sent her husband, Knud into the toilet to record this unusual arrangement!