Sunday 19 August 2012

Dog Days of Summer


We are back from our three week trip to Puerto Rico. It was a wonderful trip that we weren't quite ready to come back from. But now we find ourselves back in England, experiencing some of the hottest days of the year - finally! We may get only two, but they will be lovely! Living through seven English summers now, I have learned that a warm sunny day is not to be squandered. When the sun comes out, drop everything you have going on indoors and run outside!


As for our trip to Puerto Rico, I will have to make a separate post about that soon - another video, perhaps?

old broken teeth!

These last few weeks of summer are especially important to us this year. Isabella starts school the second week of September. Gone will be the days of spontaneous and frequent travel, to be replaced by a more steady and predictable schedule. We will be bound by school breaks to go and see family now, and will be able to accompany Pedro much less on his business trips in Europe.


Spartacus will probably appreciate this reduction in travel though, since he won't have to go to the kennel nearly as often. He is getting old. His allergies continue to be a plague on his skin, and the vet has now recommended continual low doses of the steroid pills he only used to take during the worst period of summer outbreaks - just because he's "an old chap" and ""we should make his last years as comfortable as we can."


 My dog walking has always been inconsistent, but this talk with the vet has added some motivation to get his walks in as much as I can. In fact, last night we were attacked by a loose terrier while walking down the block. Altercations with other dogs is the biggest reason I only walk him when there are fewer dog walkers out - he is very pushy around other dogs, and that usually winds us up in trouble. Last night, the little terrier was taking the most cartoonish bites out of Spartacus's legs, while I did my best to prevent the single chomp that could take that terrier out. I was proud of Spartacus's behavior yesterday, but it certainly hasn't always been the high road with him.

dog groomer's shop

He has though, always been good with Isabella. He avoided her, wisely, when she was in her little ear pulling stage. And now he lets her play house with him, lets her dress him up like a princess, and lets her and her friends put him in the playhouse and play dog groomer. Can you even imagine the cloud of hair floating around the inside of that little house?

Festival of Quilts

In other news, we made a girls trip to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts this week. I've never taken Isabella, but figured this year she was finally old enough to probably enjoy looking at all of the displays and fabrics and notions for sale. It was a big hit for her and her friend Sophia - they absolutely loved looking at the quilts. It certainly helped that some quilts were featured for kids, with characters like Dora, or whimsical unicorns and dragons.

wearing a princess dress and looking at bugs in a microscope - what could be better?

Appropriate to the coming start of school, I also had the good fortune to be able to borrow a microscope from one of my friends. We use it to identify unusual species we pull out of the river during our water quality monitoring. I've got it set up on the dining room table and it has been a hit with all of the kids who come around during the week. We've looked at mayfly larvae, our fingernails, and even the tiniest of one of Isabella's Russian nesting dolls. 

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It's the third beautiful and hot day in a row, so this is me, logging off and running outside to enjoy it! :)