we went to Utah!

So back in October, we went to Utah for a flyball tournament.  This was our first time in Utah at all, and the first time Chris has gone on a road trip with me to go to a tourney, so it was pretty awesome all the way around.  We traveled as part of a group that comprised people from four clubs in the Pacific Northwest, complete with shirts made for the occasion, and we had a great time.

Racing went really well, as we ran a modified A team lineup of Ezri (BC) / Danger (BS) / Sprite (BS) / Bogey (BW), which ran in the low 16's all weekend but sadly did not quite break 16 like we had hoped.  We did get some excellent times that we can use for seed times for UFLI Nationals next year if we want, so that goal was achieved.  We also won Division 1 on both days, despite being the slowest seeded club and racing against the world record holders Touch N Go, and that was pretty exciting!  Our friend Randy was there to judge the tournament, including the new record set by TNG's A team of 14.413, which was pretty amazing to see.

We took the opportunity to take some photos while we were there, of course!  Chris in his kilt and me in my racing skort, along with all three dogs.  The weather was incredible, we were there for the last warm weekend of the year and enjoyed 80F temperatures through our entire stay!

The parking lot behind the barn offered some good scenery, which I took advantage of to get some neat shots of the merles early on Saturday morning.  I loved the red rocks and the bluffs in southern Utah, they were beautiful - I hope to go back and spend time at Zion sometime in the future.

Here's Ezri all blinged out and ready to race - Swarovski crystals on her head, pink wraps on her front feet, and pink and glitter spray in her tail.  She was fantastic!  Martok was very intrigued by the process of putting crystals on Ezri's head, and when I was done with her he presented himself at my feet for the same treatment, so he got one little clear crystal on his forehead - and he was so proud!  He spent the next ten minutes prancing around like a peacock, clearly quite pleased with himself.

Jadzia is retired, of course, but a club there had two dogs get hurt on Saturday and so I offered to let her run with them on Sunday so they wouldn't have to pull.  She had a lot of fun, even as she has clearly embraced retirement and given up on any semblance of a boxturn.  I love my cranky old lady dog!

While we were in Utah, Martok hit his eight-month birthday, and Chris took him out to a different side of the parking lot to take photos for the occasion.  I love this one, he looks so grown up already!

We had a full caravan of five RV's on our trip home, as can be seen in this great shot I took while we were going through the Oregon mountain passes east of Pendleton.  Five trailer rigs made stops a little unwieldy, but we made it work and it was a lot of fun to travel with so many friends!

Sunrise early on the morning we left was glorious.  We were able to outrun the first fall storm that moved in that day, so yay for that!

And of course, it's just one week until Christmas, so here's a night shot of our Christmas tree.  It's so beautiful!  This year we used five strings of lights, two wrapping up the inside of the tree and three around the mid/outer branches, and it's very sparkly because of this.  I hope to spend some time this weekend taking dog/tree shots, so hopefully those will be up soon!

summer vacation at the beach!

Last week was the summer shutdown for my place of work, and so we took off for the Oregon beach as we have done for several years now.  This year we went almost to California and spent the week in Gold Beach, OR at the Turtle Rock RV Resort which is on Hunter Creek.  It was a nice place, with an easy walk under the 101 out to the beach, and the "creek" is more like a small river that's more than wide and deep (and calm!) enough for swimming, even when it was windy and the waves in the ocean were crazy.  Lots of pictures were taken as you might imagine...here is a selection in no particular order.

I always have to have a posed photo, and the large rockpile between the creek and the beach worked out nicely for that purpose this year.

Our friends who have Martok's littermate Sirius came to join us for our last day/night, and the little boys had a great time wrestling and playing biteyface for hours.  I particularly like this lucky shot I got of them chewing on each others faces!

On July 4 we went for a long (5.5 mile) hike up Humbug Mountain, as it was so windy that going to the beach was not fun for anyone.  Martok did really well, although he was definitely tired by the time we were done!  I managed to get this shot of all three of them while we were on our way back down - I didn't move them into this pose or anything, just caught their attention and took a few frames quickly.

While we were on the hike up the mountain, we passed by a small stream which Jadzia promptly used as a cooling bath for her hot self.

Jadzia swimming in the creek by the beach.

Martok running about to fetch his ball right on the edge of the waves.  He didn't have any problem with them, and almost swam a bit during the first day or two, but after the wind picked up on our third day and the waves got bigger he wasn't too interested.  That's fine, he's still rather little after all!

Cold, wet, and freshly bathed puppies are awfully pathetic unless you turn them into a burrito with a towel and snuggle them.  The girls weren't pleased at being left out, though, as you can see in the background of the photo.

We took a great jetboat trip up the Rogue River one day, where we saw all kinds of birds (cormorants, vultures, bald eagles, and more!) and had a lot of fun swirling in the rapids.  I took one of my spindles with me to spin while waiting to reboard after a bathroom break.

Very windy...you can see Ezri's coat blowing in the wind!  Martok's short little puppy coat is pretty much unaffected, though.

As always, Ezri loved swimming in the ocean and had a great time even when she had to fight the waves.  Such a strong and smart girl!

~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, there was a small thread of sadness throughout the week as we took our first vacation without Curzon.  Going to the beach was one of his very favorite things, and he would stick his head out the window as soon as he smelled the salt air and would start dancing around in the backseat until we were there and he could race into the ocean.  I couldn't quite bear to leave him behind, so we took the small cherry box that holds his cremains along with his collar and brought them with us, where they rested in the niche in the wall for the duration of our trip.  I considered taking them out to the beach to take a photo, but ultimately decided against doing so as I don't really want photos of that, I'd rather remember him as he was on the beach himself last year - full of life and cheer after healing from that surgery.  One of my favorite photos of him from the beach last year is below to round off this entry on a happy note.

Such a happy boy to be playing in the cold ocean!  The temperature and waves never bothered him, he was more than willing to fling himself into the ocean after a ball or the suggestion of one...at the slightest provocation (or excuse), really!

trip to Ireland...life is wonderful

As promised, I'm finally making a post of photos about our trip to Ireland back in February.  We decided to go on rather short notice, as Chris was asked to go for work and so I took the opportunity to go with him and take my second international trip.  We spent our time in the city of Cork, in the southeastern part of Ireland, and it was a lovely time even with the limitations of the weather and offseason.

Chris flew out on Monday and I followed on Thursday, each arriving the day after we left, so Saturday and Sunday were our days spent doing touristy things together.  This is the river that flows through the city of Cork, taken from one of the bridges we crossed as we wandered around.

We visited the Cork Butter Museum, where we learned about the butter industry in Ireland and how it changed in the mid-1900s with the advent of Kerrygold and other brands.  This is a display of some of the many individual dairy brands of butter available in the 1800s in Ireland, all of which joined together to make a single high-quality brand of Irish butter for export.  Sadly, no taste testing was available.

Saturday afternoon we took the bus to Middleton, where we toured the Jameson distillery, which was very interesting and very cool.  The copper pot still in this picture is one of the original ones used for decades/centuries before they built the new modern facility, and it's enormous.  While I don't drink alcohol, it was pretty neat to learn about the whiskey making process and the differences between American, Scotch, and Irish whiskeys.  Plus there was a stag party in our tour group, with the groom-to-be dressed in a cow costume and carrying a frilly pink handbag, so that was pretty entertaining.

 

Chris got invited to join the small group at the end of the tour who got to taste all three types of whiskey and thus become official Jameson Whiskey Tasters.  Pretty neat!

On Sunday we took the bus out to visit Blarney Castle, which was lovely and very interesting to walk around and enjoy.  This photo is of the Poison Garden, seen from one of the castle windows above.

The castle watchtower, as seen from one of the arrow slits in the main castle building.  You can see the moat just past the watchtower.

Spinning while I waited for Chris to finish up what he was doing at that point in time, whatever it was.  The portion of the castle visible behind my hand was added on in the 1800s and was more of a manor house than a castle, which was destroyed by fire unfortunately.

We also toured the grounds, including the gardens and the rock fell, as well as walking around some of the mysterious and ancient spots known as the Witch's Kitchen and the Druid's Cave.  This is me walking up the Witch's Steps, where legend has it that if you go up the stairs with your eyes closed and focus on a single wish, the witch will grant it as payment for the firewood she collects every night.  Yes, I made a wish...

This is the cathedral near the hotel where we were staying, which was very beautiful and lovely to walk past every day.  Lots of goldwork to catch the sunlight.

On Monday while Chris was working, I took the train to Cobh (formerly Queenstown) in order to visit the Titanic and Lusitania memorials and go through The Titanic Experience.  The town was gorgeous all on its own, however, and I had a good time looking at the lovely painted houses and doing a bit of shopping in the shops that were open.  I also had an incredible cup of hot chocolate and a scone that morning as I waited for the museum to open, as well as a lovely lunch at the Titanic Cafe after I went through the museum.

The Titanic Experience in Cobh is housed in the original building of the White Star Line offices, where those who boarded the Titanic bought their tickets and waited for the tenders to take them out to the liner, which was moored out of sight in deeper water.  The museum experience was very well done, smaller than the traveling exhibits I've seen before but full of information and presented in an interesting yet respectful manner.  It was an experience to walk the same space that so many had walked who were lost on that fateful voyage, and to see the ruins of the dock and the photos that show how things looked a hundred years ago.

After lunch I walked up the steep hillside to see the cathedral that looks out over the city, which was incredibly beautiful.  I loved the ironwork on this door, so intricate and clearly made by hand with love and attention to detail.  The interior of the cathedral was phenomenal, with an inlaid mosaic floor that had Celtic knotwork flowing throughout the entire building.  I did not see a gift shop, unfortunately, so I have no photos or postcards of the interior, but it's well worth the visit should you ever be in Cobh.

Tuesday I took a bus to Kinsale, noted as a very "foodie" and tourist-friendly town on the seaside just about a half-hour from Cork.  The harbor was full of boats, mostly shuttered for the winter, but still pretty especially with the early-morning sun rising over the harbor.  This was also my one encounter with an automated pay-for-use public toilet, which was interesting yet a brilliant idea.

The city castle in Kinsale is now the home of a winery (IIRC), but as it was February and not tourist season it was still closed for the winter.  The details on the castle were very lovely, especially these windows, and I wish I could have gone inside - maybe next time!

I walked from Kinsale out to Charles Fort, which was a very long walk that was broken up by an interaction with an adorable JRT out for a walk with her papa who jumped right up in my lap as I sat on a bench.  Very different looking dog than Phoebe or other JRTs I've known in the States!  The fort was okay, but very bare without a lot of stuff to look at, but it was interesting to read about the history of the site and the roles it had played in various wars.  This is a traveling apothecary/surgeon chest from the 1800s, which I found pretty neat.

Our last full day in Cork was spent visiting Chris' company worksite there and getting a tour, followed by relaxing and a nice dinner out as we prepared for the long day of travel to go home.  I thoroughly enjoyed our trip, and I hope to visit Ireland again.

from four dogs down to three

 Friends, family, and those who have read my blog know that having Phoebe the JRT in our house has been a challenge for the last five years.  While Phoebe was an amazing flyball dog, a phenomenal ratter, and a great JRT all around, her personality conflicted with my border collie pack and led to several fights (one of which put her in the hospital).  In order to manage the conflict, Phoebe was rarely allowed to wander loose in the house and always under supervision, and she spent most of her time leashed to a piece of furniture in whatever room we were in at the time so that she could not attack the border collies if they pissed her off.

With the advent of Phoebe's retirement and the impending arrival of our new border collie puppy, it was time to find Phoebe a new home where she could be loved and spoiled as an only dog for her retirement.  I put Phoebe up with several rescue groups, including WA/OR JRT rescue, Old Dog Haven, and New Rattitude, in addition to posting at several local companies and at our own vet.  We tried a trial placement with a coworker of mine, which did not work out, and I was starting to despair of finding her a home and worried that I would have to put her to sleep instead.  Luckily, one day in January, I got not one but two inquiries about her within two hours of each other, and the first one panned out and we arranged the adoption of Phoebe to a lovely retired couple in La Grande, OR.

Phoebe with her 2011 Region 7 MVP plaque, her retirement plaque from JCJ, and her retirement blanket which reads "Phoebe - Always A Jet City Jumper."

Phoebe ran in her last flyball tournament a week and a half ago (February 16/17), and on Saturday February 23 my teammate Tami and I drove to Sunnyside WA to meet up with Phoebe's new family.  Having Tami go with me was a very fitting end, as she's the one who discovered Phoebe at the breeder so many years ago and brought her into the Jet City Jumpers flyball club.  We had a smooth trip to Sunnyside where we met up with Phoebe's new family, had a nice lunch at a nearby cafe, and then separated to go to our respective homes.

 

Tami, Phoebe, and me on the handoff day.

 

Phoebe with her new family - she will be so happy!

 Phoebe waiting for us to finish lunch so she could go to her new home - she rode all the way there on her new mom's lap!

Her new family was so excited to bring her home it was amazing.  I am thrilled that they want her so much and they're already happy with her, having settled her in on Sunday and taken her to the vet for a checkup on Monday.  Phoebe will have a fenced half-acre to run and play in, recently checked and reinforced by her new dad, as well as squirrels to watch from the windows, laps to snuggle in, and a bed of people to sleep with.  And best of all, she won't have to deal with any pesky border collies in her life anymore!

We will miss Phoebe in the flyball lanes and on the barndog course, but will not miss the stress and trouble she brought to the house of border collies.  I hope she has a long and spoiled life with her new family, and even though she's about to turn 14 in May I expect she's got a lot of adventures left to enjoy with them.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

London, part two

Oh dear, it's been almost three weeks since I made my first post about our London trip - and it's already been four weeks since we were there.  How time flies!  Anyway, here's part two of our trip to London last month!

On Wednesday, I spent nearly the entire day at the Tower of London, which is very impressive both physically and historically.  The building above is where the Crown Jewels are stored and displayed, which was well worth the time I spent there - it was my first destination that morning, in order to minimize the crowds that would be there later in the day.  The exhibit is beautifully done, with several holding rooms that show videos about the coronation process throughout the ages, including a loop of the video footage of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1952.  The first room shows the jeweled sword, golden cloak, and coronation gown worn by the Queen, all in glass cases that allow you to walk around and look your fill.  The next room is where the actual Crown Jewels are located, including the scepters, crowns, and rings, and they are in glass cases with slow-moving walkways on both sides.  You can walk back around to take the walkways again if you like, and I went down each side twice - not only are the jewels themselves impressive (including the Cullinan and Koh I Noor diamonds), but the artistry and craft that went into making the items is just phenomenal.  I was particularly impressed with some of the beautiful enamel work that went into the shafts of the scepters - lovely blues and whites, simply gorgeous.  The remainder of the space shows the very impressive gold plate and banquet collection, including a punchbowl that's big enough to hold something like 115 bottles of wine (and is big enough to wash a border collie in!), as well as the collection of the custom built cases that are used to transport the Jewels when they are required for official occasions.  Unfortunately the room was besieged by a large group of ill-behaved and poorly monitored children at that point, which marred my enjoyment of the rest of those items, but it is what it is.  Another display which I found later in the day shows the gem-less frames of several additional historical crowns, which was also quite intriguing and worth finding for a look.

The White Tower is the main building in the center of the Tower of London complex, and is the one that most people associate with the Tower itself.  Its previous uses are many, and now it is a large museum space that displays all kinds of things from suits of armor to keys to torture devices to cannon to guns, and even beyond.  My very favorite display was the incredible dragon sculpture (named Keeper) that was built out of all kinds of things that represent what the Tower has stood for in the history of England.  He was very impressive, especially with all the detail and creativity that went into his creation!

Parts of the Tower have been used as royal apartments throughout history, and parts of them have been restored to what is believed to be accurate representations of what they looked like hundreds of years ago.  The room above was a small personal chapel for the king (Edward III, I believe), and showed the most beautiful handmade and hand-glazed tiles that were made in the same manner as they would have originally been created hundreds of years ago.  The overall effect is very beautiful, and it is always amazing to see the beauty and craftsmanship that was present in the past and is sometimes sadly lacking in the present.

On Thursday I went to visit the British Museum, which is full of amazing artifacts and collections from all around the world.  There is so much to see there that I think I could go visit for several days and see different things on each day!  The Enlightenment Room was a particular favorite of mine, especially the parts that were full of scientific instruments such as the model of the universe shown in the photo above - how amazing it must have been to be part of the age of discovery and learning as the scientific method and the sciences themselves were born!

The Egyptian collections in the building were also amazing, including not only the Rosetta Stone but plenty of funerary items as well as things recovered from archaeological digs from around the world.  The shabti in the photo above are just a few examples of those found in various tombs and crypts, and they were included with a burial so that the deceased would have servants to do whatever work was requested of them in the afterlife.  They were amazing, both in the variety and in the detail that were put into them, in addition to the meaning behind their use.

On Wednesday evening we went out for dinner and wound up wandering around the Piccadilly Circus area for a bit, including going into a toy store that had a large Lego department, where we found the above - a copy of the Imperial crown made out of Lego!

Friday was our last full day in the city, and the only day Chris had away from his work, so we went out in the morning to ride the Eye of London and were rewarded with some amazing weather that allowed photos such as the one above of Big Ben and Parliament.  We also headed out to see Harrod's, but the weather was heavy rain at that point and after a long walk we were both overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff there - there was an opera singer in the stairwell! - that we didn't enjoy it as much as we had hoped.  I would definitely like to visit it again someday, when I'm in a better mood to appreciate it.  Friday night we went out to a lovely little French place near where we were staying for an early celebration of our tenth anniversary, where I had the best steak frites that I've ever had along with a wonderful chocolatey dessert.  Saturday morning saw us take a walk to a quilt shop near our hotel before we headed to Heathrow to fly home to Seattle.

I loved my week in London, and I hope that I will get to visit again someday!

my first trip abroad...to London!

I was home from my Easter weekend trip to Victoria for just a few days before leaving on the longest trip of my life so far - my first trip abroad to London, England!  My husband needed to go there for work, as he has several people there who report to him, and so I went along for the ride and got to play while he was working during the week.

We spent the day on Sunday with his best friend from high school and her family, wandering about the east side of London.  Much of our day was spent walking along the towpath next to one of the canals, which had all kinds of interesting things to see including a floating bookshop.

We also visited a small harbor museum, had a proper Sunday supper at their favorite pub, wandered through a flower/plant market with lots of "proper cockney accents," and went to high tea at the Four Seasons hotel - which even had a gluten-free version for Chris!  We wrapped up the day with a ferry ride down the river to Waterloo, including passing under the Tower bridge where I took one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

On Monday I was on my own, so armed with my trusty Oyster card to ride the Underground, I headed off to the day's sights - St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.  I climbed all the way to the top of the Golden Gallery at St. Paul's, which is nearly 600 steps from the cathedral floor, and took some wonderful pictures.  One of my favorites is the one below, taken with the fisheye lens attachment I got for my iPhone camera - the weather couldn't have been much better for my visit that day!

Of the two cathedrals, I much preferred St. Paul's to Westminster.  Both are absolutely stunning buildings and both had wonderful tourist/visitor support with self-guided tours, but it was St. Paul's that really stood out to me as being true to its origins and much more "holy" in some ways.  Westminster has been much more the "royalty's cathedral" and as such there are tombs and memorials stuffed everywhere in the building, so much so that it's almost too crowded to walk around in some areas, and that really made the ambiance a bit spoilt for me.  I much preferred the flat plaque memorials in the cloisters, especially the section for scientists (and Edmund Halley, whose memorial is in the shape of a comet!), as that seems like a more appropriate location for such things.

After visiting the two cathedrals, I wandered over to Piccadilly and ended up on Carnaby Street, which is stuffed full of shops both local and international.  There were a few too many American stores for my taste, which I did not visit just on principle, but I found the most whimsical and fun shoe store I've ever seen - Irregular Choice.

I ended up taking home a pair of shoes that I fell in love with, which have little rosettes and trim made of measuring tape plus clear lucite short heels - they're wonderful, and something I can wear.  I was amused by many of the other shoes there, but none were quite able to fit in with my possible uses for them, sadly - I just don't wear crazy clothes or heels.

On Tuesday, I took a tour through Golden Tours that took me to the city of Bath, the village of Ludlow, and then to a sunset after-hours and up close tour of Stonehenge.  Despite storms in London, the sun was out for our time spent in Bath, where the restored Roman Baths are available for touring.  I only had a bit over an hour to go through the tour, and I wish I'd had a bit more time, but it was quite enjoyable nonetheless - and I did drink a bit of the water, and left a coin in the wishing well while I was there.  Before I got on the bus to continue the tour, I bought a tasty beef pasty from a Cornish pasty shop, and then got a very disappointing milkshake from a cookie shop - apparently the British don't make their milkshakes the way Americans do!

Much of our day was spent driving through the rainstorms around southern England, which gave rise to a beautiful rainbow that developed from a short double bow into a full arc over the course of our trip in the morning.

The village of Ludlow was very nice, although again I wish I'd had more than an hour to explore around the village and to see the abbey.  I found and bought a hand-spun and hand-knit hat from local wool, and found some of the most beautiful wool capes that I seriously considered buying.  Both the village and the abbey have been used for some of the filming of Harry Potter in addition to other shows, and the grounds are absolutely lovely.

Finally, we made it to Stonehenge, which was visible from a pretty good distance away and which was deserted now that it was after closing time.  With a quick go-over of the rules (don't touch anything!) and a bit more on the history and theories of the site, our guide turned us loose and we had about an hour to walk around the stones and enjoy the time there.  The weather was cold, sunny, and windy while we were there, which gave me opportunities for some very neat pictures.

Back of one of the standing stones that still has its lintel stone in place.  The sun is setting behind the stone on the left.

Overall view of Stonehenge.

Closeup view of some of the lichen growing on the stones - that's why you're not supposed to touch them, as much of this lichen is very rare and some only grows on these stones.  It was pretty neat to see it, very different from other lichens I've seen.

The setting sun provided plenty of opportunity for shadows and interesting shots - I am particularly proud of this one.  Yes, I'm wearing my new hat for this picture!

That's plenty of stuff for one blog post, I think - I will stop off there at the end of the day Tuesday, and leave the rest for my next post!