2008

 November 14th - Guinness-day 1

 
 County Donegal in Ireland is famous for its beauty, so we decided to take a weekend break in November  Driving through Northern Ireland and into Donegal we were quite surprised to see snow on the mountains  
 Ireland likes roundabouts with a theme: this is Polaris - Northern Star  Tea time at The Belfray Inn, where new owners were settling in.Previously being nightclubowners the entertainment brochure had some pictures that bore witness to that fact.  We found the location and ambitions a bit our of sync as this place is in the middle of nowhere, however on returning Sunday we found the place full for Sunday lunch and had to wait for a table
   We are soooo lucky!!!!!!!!!! Even without planning ahead we managed to catch a Ploughing match en route.  The donkeys were doing great: straight lines and no complaining about the heavy, wet soil
 Destination reached: Rathmullan House with gardens all the way down to the beach  Even though it was a blustery day - we braved it and went for a walk on the beach of Lough Swilly  the hotel had a very homely atmosphere with open logfires and some fantastic food - all locally sourced or homegrown. But as for photos of that: we simply didn't think that far - we just relaxed!
   Mermaid in red(!)  Well, the fun at the beach was limited to the images on the wall
     
   Downtown Rathmullan - a house with doors and windows painted on to make it look a bit nicer  
 there were lots of shells on the beach -  including oystershells  
 After a relaxing morning with a buffet to die for and newspaper read by the fire we headed up along the coast to Portsalon  Before we got that far we managed a view of the beach from the hillls (mountains...whatever, it was high up)  
   this guy got a surprise on turning back from his walk; the beach had been split by the incoming tide so he had to walk through the water barelegged - he claimed he now felt very much "alive"!!  We, on the other hand, stayed warmly wrapped up.
   and at Sarahs Restaurant we had coffee although a suggestion of hot whiskey did sound tempting (whiskey, sugar, lemon, whole cloves and hot water).  
 fish farms or "Marine Harvesting"    
 next stop Fanad Head on the coast of the Atlantic Sea    Again the seaspray was spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed the feel and sound of the waves crashing in.
     
     
Going back we got stuck in a massive trafficjam in a tiny village - we expected the local Christmas Fair or something along those lines - it was, however, a funeral, Irsh style. Everybody turns up to express their sympathy.  I will leave you with a last few images of the scenery - no comment necessary :o)  
     
 We collected Guinness from the breeder (Copperbirch owned by - Keith Mathews) on November 14th      
 why have they put a dog in the oven - that's not nice!    
     
     

 Guinness - day 2

 
      pee time - see you!
 Day 3  Poul just came home for ½day to say hello  Day 4  - a Kong (toy stuffed with food bits) is a great invention
 chilling on my legs - a favourite spot just before falling asleep!  Sorry to all of you - but there's minimal time to send emails.....it's all pee&poop here at Maison Woodall.  Caroline and Bill - themselves parents to labradorcrosses - came to visit and were totally bowled over
 A first visit to Pouls office - everyone decided that she was adorable and should be the new office mascot  Dianes lap proved the perfect place to relax  

 Well, this is not an unhappy dog - but the garden is clearly not a place to be enjoyed for other reasons than eating grass with roots and earth attached. Maybe to pull the odd leaves or thin branches off plants.

But the main reason for being there is not popular.....though it would allow both of us to get indoors where we clearly prefer to be!

But certain functions are preferred to perform on carpets....

  I'm just toooo cute!!!!!!!!!

 Poul in a rare handy moment making gates to stop Guinness going outside the garden exploring on her own. Not that there's much danger of that right now - she absolutely hates the outdoors.

BUT she has discovered the blessings of toiletting outside - has even gone to the door a few times when she needed to "go". What a clever dog.

 This ferocious animal has just caught a chicken (soft & fluffy variety).

She is now 14 weeks old and half the size of her classmate at puppyschool who's 13 weeks. Definitely a delicate and feminie little dog!

    
 Lunch on Day 13 - the food has to be rolled out of the rubbertoys.  This seems to be the best way for Guinness to eat

 otherwise she gets too distracted by other things and doesn't finish her meal.      

     Guinness and Harry relaxing after the effort.
 Poul came home after a few days in Holland and was given a warm welcome!    And Guinness got a pre-christmas present brought by special delivery from Pepsi in Wassenaar.
     She definitely felt like Christmas had come early! A big Thank you to Pepsi!!