A rambling narrative about my life and my passion, dog rescue.
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We are just finishing up with the fifth "canicule" (heatwave) of the summer here in France. The north of France has fared better than much of the country, but this has been the hottest summer on record. It has also been very dry. I'm seeing shrubs wilted in the heat. I've also encountered numerous tree branches or even entire trees breaking off and falling, apparently from just being so dry that…
We arrived in Lille a year ago on the first of August. We didn't know then that we were in the middle of the French national vacation month. It seemed like a busy city, certainly compared to what we were used to. It wasn't until the end of August and the beginning of September that we realized how many people actually lived here. Many restaurants, bars, and stores close down for a week or more and…
All is well, but I'm back home after a night in a hospital followed by an angioscopy procedure this morning. The diagnosis is that I have a somewhat larger than normal heart, which consequently works somewhat less than optimally, but no coronary heart disease. When we first got here Clay got us set up with a primary care physician. After taking my family history he recommended a consultation with…
It's been one year since we arrived at CDG airport in Paris, with a few bags of clothing and personal items, and Bailey in her crate. We kept that airline crate and it has become Bailey's den. We got a big piece of wood to lay on the top making it into a very useful table that lives on my side of the bedroom. I've since learned that crating is not common in France, but Bailey loves her crate,…
Our one year anniversary in France is rapidly approaching. One of the first things we did upon arrival last August was take Bailey to a vet. It was actually a requirement, within a week of arrival, and we had found the vet and scheduled the appointment on our scouting trip in April, 2025, well before our actual move. It's been almost a year since that initial vet visit so we scheduled Bailey's…
Just some recent pictures. The weather has been much better lately but very dry, we really need some rain. The wildflowers continue to thrive, however. A momma Coot and two babies swimming through duckweed. Another concert at the cathedral. A scene outside our very local brewery down the street. Their friend was taking their picture standing behind them. I took this from inside the bar looking…
Clay often joked that I always claimed that our foster dogs were "about two years old." There's some truth to that. We usually didn't know a rescue dog's true age and rescue organizations and foster homes are prone to underestimating a dog's age simply because older dogs are more difficult to adopt. Old habits are hard to break, I guess, because I've been telling everyone that Bailey is about two…
We spent a few days in Belgium last week with our friends Jan and Paul, former neighbors from Virginia. They flew to Amsterdam and spent a few days there and then met us in Brussels. We spent one night there and then two in Bruges followed by two more in Ghent before returning with them to Lille for a couple more days. We had travelled with them in Belgium previously so it was fun to return to…
Yesterday was my birthday and today is the 4th of July, but more significant than either of those events is the fact that we've now been in France for 11 months and will soon be hitting the one year mark. This is still the best decision we've made since getting together. Street scene in Lille, looking down the street from Le Capsule. Pictures of Bailey, just because she's pretty. Our recent Le…
When I walked the trails at Pleasant Grove back in Virginia, the woods in the summertime had a particular smell, especially on hot days following rain. The air was heavy (because it was summer in Virginia) and it reminded me of the smell of a stale humidor, thick odor clinging to the earth like the smell of smoke emanating from damp wood. Recently I have been noticing a particular smell in the…
