And then there were three!

Nellie

No no....it's not a baby. Put that thought away, please.

Three means another dog. When you have two, what's three. We got an email from our dear friend Patty a few weeks ago, she runs a non-profit called Northstar Foundation. They raise and place golden retrievers with children who have autism, asperger's syndrome, muscular dystrophy, loss of a loved one, illness, etc.... It's an amazing foundation and we have volunteered as "puppy raisers" a few times. Our golden Dashell is from Northstar and we also raised Bingo who went to a little boy here in Los Angeles. It's very rewarding. Patty told us she had a 4 month old golden named Nellie. Nellie was not going to go to a family, she will be a PR dog for the foundation here in Los Angeles and will also be bred since her lineage and temperament are excellent. Patty was raising a few other pups for some families and needed a home to raise Nellie. Three pups was a bit too much for her to handle and since she is in Connecticut and most of her placements are in Los Angeles she wanted her out here.

She asked if we would be interested in co-owning Nellie. She'd be raised by us, live with us, but would be inseminated here in Los Angeles and then go back to Connecticut to have and whelp her pups (for 3 months). It was a very easy decision to help raise her, but we didn't think we'd be interest in co-owning her. We have 2 dogs already and a third is just too much. Patty took us up on our offer to help raise her for 3 months and 2 weeks ago Patty flew her out here and she came home with us.

All I can say is "it was love at first sight". She's the most calm, relaxed, sweet pup I have ever been around. When Dashell was her age he was crazy. He's 5 1/2 and he's still a bit of a punk. But Nellie is a dream puppy. She's just amazing, does everything she is told, lays at my feet, sleeps next to my bed, follows me to every room and has already learned sit, down, stay and we are working on "turn around". Right now she's still here for only 4 months. Did I say 4, I meant 3. See, already I'm putting on another month. If she was difficult it would be easy to say only 3 months. But she's so wonderful I could see us keeping her (did I just type that?). Dashell is her Uncle, his sister Rosie is her Mom. We'll see what happens in a few months. Right now she's at the studio with us everyday and all the kids love her and she's having fun with her Uncle and I just love having her around. Stella on the other hand has her skirt in a bit of a bundle, she's a female and the alpha...so having another girl around makes her a bit pissed. She's been giving her the stink eye since she arrived, but she's coming around.

I'll keep you posted. She might stay or she might leave. We'll see.

Who wants to go for a walk?

WE DO...WE DO!!!

Happy for an hour walk (once a week)

When I was in Los Angeles I was a volunteer with "Love on 4 Paws".  When Augie(0ur pug) was alive he was my companion and we would visit sick children at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.  They loved dogs there and would welcome them on the beds if the kids were OK with it.  We did that for 3 years and loved every minute of it.  At the end Augie would be in the wagon because he was old and it was hard for him to walk around for 3 hours.  After Augie retired, Dashell and I would visit the kids and it was so rewarding and wonderful to make a sick child smile.  They all loved the dogs.

We were also volunteers with NorthStar Foundation, we are puppy raisers for them.  Fun and rewarding and amazing to see the dog move to become the partner of an autistic child.

So when I came here I knew I wanted to volunteer and knew that it would be with animals. Through 2 lovely women, who will be our dog sitters while we are away (they also make/deliver amazing indian food) I found the Les Cheins de Figeac rescue.  I donated a large bag of dog food and we are sponsoring 2 dogs each month (for 10.00).  We decided to go up (it's only 30 minutes from our house) each week and help walk the dogs.  They have about 140 dogs at the rescue, they are all in very good condition and their living conditions are very clean and humane too.  They will never put a dog down, but some of these dogs have lived their whole lives at the refuge.  The dogs don't get much exercise unless they have volunteer walkers.  It's great to help and something we'll do every week.  

We went up and met Michelle, who runs/started the shelter and she is amazing.  She loves dogs and takes very good care of them.  Nicci, who has volunteered for almost 5 years was my contact and we met her up there to walk some of the dogs.  We spent 2 hours there and each dog got a 1 hour walk, so we made 6 dogs very happy.  Most of these dogs only get walked once a week which is very sad.

The first walk I was paired with UGO.  This is an amazing pointer, he is 4 year old, calm, doesn't pull on the leash, not a barker, very loving, very sweet.  I instantly fell in love with him. I have always wanted a pointer and this guy is wonderful not the typical crazy pointer, which is why he might have been dumped (his owner might have wanted a hunter and he's just not that into it).  But we have 2 dogs and just can't take a 3rd.  This guy just wants a loving home.

UGO - an amazing pointer

Bruce was paired with BROWNIE, who is a french breed.  He's super cute, lovable, doesn't pull on the lead and would be a great dog in any family.

Brownie - sweet and fun

The second walk I got COLL, who is cross between border collie/english setter.  He's beautiful and does pull on the lead.  I brought our "gentle walker" which is sort of like a harness but instead of clipping on the top it clips on the chest and it stops dogs from pulling.  2 of the french volunteers and Michele who runs the rescue had never seen anything like it and thought it was going to hurt him or it was upside down, but we told them it was fine.  Then they saw him walk on the leash and noticed he wasn't pulling anymore.  Yes!  He just needs a good home and someone to work with him, he'd be an amazing dog as he just loves people.

COLL - a beautiful dog

Bruce got ALIX, she's amazing.  She's only 3 but completely off leash trained.  She stays right next to you.  She a bit overweight and need some trimming down, which we'll do with many walks.  She's beautiful and sweet and would make someone a loving companion.

These dogs are available here in France, but they will get pet passports in case someone from England or another country wants them.  None of these dogs were dumped because they are hard to handle, aggressive, crazy dogs.  They are all amazing and just would love a good home and a 2nd chance.

If you could pass the link around to anyone you might know it would be greatly appreciated.

10 Random Things....

Stella 

Dashell

about me?  Nope.  Megan at An American in Provence  tagged me for "10 random things".  I was tagged a few months ago and you can check it out here if you are at all interested.  I decided to have our dogs do 10 random things about themselves, you know, mix things up a bit.  I have had a few requests to do a post or so including them, so here you go.  All you need to know about our kids.  Since Dashell is older, I'll let him go first.

DASHELL - 4 years old, Golden Retriever

1.  I was born in Storrs, Connecticut

2.  I have flown on a plane twice.  The first time I was 4 months old and flew in my "first" mom's (Patty) arms.  The second was in September when I flew to France.

3.  I am a Northstar Foundation dog

4.  I'm a big scardey cat (say for instance a door is 1/2 closed, instead of using my huge schnoz to open it, I'll just cry until you let me in)

5.  I'm a talker...yes, just like my grandfather who they called "the whirler", I sound like Chewbacca (you know the Wookie from Star Wars). I always have to have something in my mouth when you come home so I can "whirl" away

6.  I love kids and I'm a really nice guy (i know that's two but oh well)

7.  My favorite thing to chew is an empty toilet paper roll (I actually eat it)

8.  My favorite toy is my yellow ice cream cone,  Lorette (who is Sophie's mom) actually introduce me to the cone and it's the only toy that I'll play with.  I'm so happy Mom and Dad brought (4) to france with us

9.  I can do many tricks - shake (with left and right), sit, lay down, high five and turn-around

10. I'm a counter-surfer, great trick (i've scored many goodies), although my mom and dad don't think so!

STELLA - 2 1/2, Terrier Mix

1.  I was dumped at a park on/around Thanksgiving Day 2006 by my first owner (when I was only 4 months old)

2.  I was found by my new parents that day (my mom said to my Dad..."I can't leave her" and he said "Do what you have to do")

3.  I look like a drowned rat when I get a bath

4.  I have many nicknames:  Stella V, Stella Vaughn, Vixon, Vicki, Mitzi, ViVi and Venus

5.  I can almost do a flip - I'd be a great circus dog

6.  I am a girl but look like a boy (I have a beard)

7.  I resemble "The Unibomber" Ted Kaczynski  

8.  I really don't like Maillot kitty, especially when she sleeps by Dashell, argh!

9.  I won't eat my kibble unless mom puts in some pasta, rice or scrambled egg (so spoiled)

10. I have a beautiful under bite!

11. I know we were only to do 10...but we had to put this in. We both miss Augie.

Augie - January 1, 1992 - June 27, 2008

Some random shots

Yesterday it snowed! We were at Ben's house picking up a printer in the morning and we almost got snowed in at his house. People had to push our little car up the hill to get out of the village. Took us over an hour to get home (usually a 10 minute drive). We couldnt' even get the car up the drive (which is a dirt path through the meadow), we had to park it on the road and walk up.

Stella loves the snow.

The punk.

The 2nd new pair of boots.  Lucky me!  I wanted something casual (not high heels).  Love em.

Aveyron Update

a beautiful old ruin

This week has flown by.  It's now November, we have been here for 1 month and we have a new president!  The longest we have ever stayed in France is 1 month.   I still feel like I'm on vacation, I don't think about home or worry about the business, because things are going great there.  But I also haven't gotten into a groove yet.  I'm sure that will come soon enough.

It's fall holiday here in France for the schools, so I don't have french class for almost 2 weeks.  I am sad about that, because I'm really enjoying the class.  I go Tuesday from 9-12 and Friday from 9-12, I have 12 other people in the class and we can't speak english, can't bring dictionaries or verb books and our teacher doesn't speak a hint of english.  There is alot that I miss, but it's great. I'm excited to go back on November 7th.

We turned the clocks back here in Europe on Saturday the 25th and I'm happy about that.  It wasn't getting light out until almost 8:30 am.  I'd much rather have it dark earlier in the evening and lighter in the morning.  

On Sunday the 26th, Bruce and I road from Cordes-sur-Ciel to Albi and back.  It's was about 65 degrees and beautiful and sunny and warm and we had a lovely ride.  About 2 hours and we took the backroads so there wasn't much traffic and beautiful views.   We then spent about a hour sitting outside at a café in Cordes...soaking up the sun.  Cordes "on the sky" - so called officially since the twentieth century, because of the way it rises above low lying mists on winter mornings.

The town was founded in 1222 by Raimon VII, Count of Toulouse, during the Occitan re-conquest after the death of Simon de Monfort. Cordes was the first and most important «bastide», built to welcome refugees after the Cathar wars. The town was encircled by two fortification lines closed by powerful fortified gates. Cordes remained the first stronghold of the Albi region for a long time. It became one of the major Cathar centres, and consequently would experience the cruelty of the Papal Inquisition. Following the Cathar period, Cordes experienced exceptional growth. The early bastide spread out beyond its early ramparts and new suburbs were built requiring new fortification lines (5 in all). Within three generations Cordes became a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants. Its prosperity sprang from the textile and leather industries, trading and finance.  Today Cordes is renowned for its luxurious houses and small palaces built by prosperous merchants and noble families between 1280 and 1350. Gothic decorations can be found in the architecture and some façades are decorated with high relief sculptures.

If you like being a tourist, this is the place for you. It is chock-full of people living in chocolate-box picture houses, over 50 resident artists, numerous restaurants, three museums and its own heritage industry. There are also numerous theatrical plays and seasonal festivals (including ones for the asparagus and truffle seasons).  It's a really beautiful village.  Last year Bruce and I bought these etchings from a man in Cordes, his wife draws the pictures (usually small line drawings of the village) and the husband prints them.

beautiful view

Looking up toward Cordes

It rained on Monday...all day and it was cold.  Tuesday we decided to venture out and drive up to Rodez so Bruce could look for another bike.  Yes, he needs another bike, one that he can ride in the rain, in the winter, to the village and not worry about it. Our road bikes are pretty expensive and it's just not practical to use them as commuter bikes.  I bought my commuter bike a couple weeks ago and it's been great.  We also met up with Betty from Cuisine Quotidienne  who lives just outside of Rodez.  It was great to meet her and she took us to a lovely restaurant called Chez Marie.  It's a fomagerie and also a restaurant (lunch only), all of the dishes are built around cheese, how can you go wrong with that.  Lunch was fantastic and Betty is lovely.  It rained all day in Rodez so we actually spent most of the time sitting in the workroom of the local bikeshop, because Bruce bought a Cyclocross bike (which means it's for road and mountain), he's pretty excited.  We also went to the local art supply store and he bought canvas, oil paint, acrylic paint, brushes, etc...so get ready for some pictures of his paintings.  We didn't walk around Rodez much, we'll have to go back when it's not freezing and raining.

On Wednesday it rained again in the morning and was nice in the afternoon, so we jumped on our commuter bikes and road into Villefrance.  We went to the market and had a café at our local hangout called Le Globe and then I wandered into this upscale kitchen supply shop that I've been eyeing since last year.  I spent a good hour just wandering around.  I just love kitchen supply stores.  Then on Thursday morning we woke up to SNOW.  Yes, snow.  Holy crap, it snowed in October.  Bruce hasn't seen snow in about 20 years, I haven't seen snow in maybe 7 or 8.  The flakes were huge and our jaws dropped when we woke up and saw it.  The dogs have never seen snow before.  Dashell loved it, Stella...not too much.  We had to get some vegetables and such so we bundled up and headed over to the Thursday morning market in Villefrance.  By the time we left we were soaked (even with hats, rain jackets) and very cold.  But we figured that we can't just sit here in the house and fester!   

SNOW!

On Friday we saw a break in the clouds and jumped on the bikes and went on  a ride, about 30 miles and it was actually quite warm (well, let me re-phrase that) quite warm for here...i'd say it was around 60.  I cant' believe I'm saying that's warm.  We headed north to an area we had never biked to before, it was of course stunning scenery.  Everywhere we go it's like a painting.

When we got home we decided it was time to go out to dinner, since we haven't been out to dinner since we arrived.  We went into the little village of La Fouillade (about 3 miles from here) and went to "le vieux chene" - translated  "the old oak".  We walked in and it was about 6:45...there wasn't anyone there, except the owner, his wife, his daughter and her little girl.  Of course, we were too early, they don't start serving until 7:15.  So we sat and had some wine and started to talk to them.  Then all of a sudden we start hearing "Paul Weller"....our favorite musician.  We both had to laugh and knew this would be a good place.  The owners Paul and Linda have lived here for about 4 years and they just took over the restaurant/bar/b&b.  They are from Cambridge England and are so nice.  On Friday they have a set "themed" menu and tonight was Italian.  We had soup, pasta with bolagnaise sauce, garlic bread and tiramasu, yummy.  Next Friday is Fish and Chips and the friday after that Curry night.  We stayed until about 10:30 and met some other people who were really nice and ended up at the bar talking with everyone.  Great place and great people.  We were so happy we went out.

Last Saturday was "All Saints Day" here in France, so everything was closed...but that didn't matter because it rained...again!  We had friends over for dinner last night - Jacques and Fabiane.  Lovely night with good friends, good food, good wine and a warm fire.  Perfect.

Sunday it, you guessed it, rained again.  The forecast calls for a couple more day of rain, with clearing here and there and then nice.  Oh please stop raining.  Coming from Los Angeles, where it rains maybe 5 days a year, this is really difficult for us.  On Monday we went shopping for rain boots, because leather boots don't do well in the wet.   These boots ROCK, they were 8 euros and they are dark green farmers boots, so we can put them on and head out with the dogs and our feet don't get soaked.   We have had to have a fire almost every day it's been so cold and if we keep going like that, we'll run out of firewood 1/2 way through the winter.  Everyone has told us that the farmers are saying it's going to be a very cold winter.  Help me!

Tuesday it rained again.  We did venture out because it's only water.  Yesterday was a long day, because we got up at 4:30 am to see the elections unfold and we were so happy that America did the right thing and voted Obama as our new president.  It was a cold and rainy (big surprise) day, so we just stayed in and napped.  Our friends Jacques and Fabrice came over with champagne in their army hats and streamers congratulating us on our victory.  Yes, the french do have a sense of humor.

Jacques and Fabrice

Today, it's freaking raining again.  OMG.  But we are heading out to the open market because we need cheese, veggies, wine, spices, etc...on with the rain boots, rain jackets.  We hope that life here in the Aveyron won't be all rain or we will be bummed out for the winter.  It sure makes you realize how spoiled we are in Los Angeles, you take the no rain and warm weather for granted.