The three pups at 9 weeks old.

The terrible trio are now living in the kitchen along with the rest of the gang.

The top row of the collage shows all 3 pups, starting with the dog pup on the left, followed by the 2 bitch pups. Try to work out the rest of the photos for yourself!

I remember my first portable radio.

Here we are listening to the radio while on holiday at the caravan, probably in the late 1950s. This was a novelty for us as this was the first time we could take a radio with us and the cars then didn't have one installed! It was quite a substantial piece of equipment made of solid polished wood and weighing quite heavily.

I remember the excitement of opening this big parcel one Christmas and finding it. I immediately carted it off up to my bedroom for private listening. Previously, the only wireless, as we called it, was in the kitchen and was powered by an acid filled accumulator which had to be taken away to be charged every so often and it also had a table knife blade behind one of the tuning dials. Apparently this had some essential function, but don't ask me what it was!

"Portable" is probably a bit of a euphemism as it took me all my time to carry my new radio, with its large dry battery, up the two flights of stairs to my private quarters but it was wonderful being able to listen to the Hit Parade on Radio Luxembourg which was never allowed downstairs!

Things in the radio world have certainly moved on quite a bit since then.

For more memories take a look at this site.

My very local world after the rains.

The above collage shows our very local River Earn, Perthshire, Scotland, in full flood mode. Bad as this looks, it is nothing compared to what some areas of Britain, viz. Cumbria and Dumfries have experienced over the past week of torrential rain, described in the newspapers as "of biblical proportions" and it is expected, now that the worst is over and the floods slowly recede, to be quite some time for the clean/clear up to be complete. There was one fatality, when a policeman was swept to his death when the bridge, on which he was standing, was brought down with the strength of the current. In this area the worst we experienced were a few closed roads for a short time.

One of the photographs, taken in the car park of a farm shop, states that the River Earn is 400 yards in the direction of the arrow.......I think not! (click to enlarge)

This collection of 4 photos shows the flooded football pitches on the South Inch, a large park-like area on the way into Perth from the south.

No football matches last Saturday!

To us here in UK this all seems worrying but it is nothing to the type of conditions that some countries experience on a fairly regular basis. All I can say is, "Thank goodness I live here", where very seldom is it VERY wet, VERY dry,VERY hot or VERY cold...just sort of temperate.

To view photos from all parts of the globe click here.

Vanquished!

We returned from Arbroath minus the shiny trophy. Mo failed to do what Swallow had done last year and a Miniature Schnauzer puppy was declared Best in Show and went off home with the pristine silverware...there's always next year!

The Day of Reckoning.

To-morrow is THE day, the day for one of our prize possessions to be returned...the Best In Show Cup which Swallow won last year at the Dundee Canine Club Limit Show. We've had a full year to have it inscribed with her name and keep it clean, but, as usual...procrastination..(there's plenty time!) Over a week ago I took it to the engraver and he was quite pessimistic about having it ready on time as he had so much work in hand due to clubs presenting trophies at Christmas time. However he came up trumps and had it ready today for tomorrow's show. Never again will I give a puppy a long name as it cost me a small fortune due to the number of letters in her official name.

It's looking good now all polished up---all these antiques programmes keep telling us not to over-polish silver or brass--no chance of that here!

The Cup, newly polished.

..and Swallow, looking quite pleased with the end result.

My Skywatch Photo.

Up, up and away..........off into the blue. An aircraft rises into the blue sky from Heathrow, London, bound for some long-haul destination, on a sunny November afternoon.

To see more skies from around the world, or, to add your own, visit the Skywatch site.

My annual trip south.

Windsor Castle.

Leafy Berkshire.

The entrance.....no......exit gate (NB the "No Entry" signs!) from Sandhurst Military Academy, viewed through the wet windscreen, as we stopped at traffic lights.

"Pyatshaw, Pyatshaw, where have you been?"

I've been to London to see the Queen"

Well not quite. I was visiting one of my daughters, son-in-law and 3 grandchildren who live in Bracknell in Berkshire and when paying a visit to Legoland we had a lovely view of Windsor Castle.

Legoland was largely closed for the season, all except for the pricey souvenir shops and a cinema showing short 4D children's films. We did, however, manage to see some of the figures, animals and objects made from the plastic blocks. Luckily, this and the car parking was free and it was fine wandering about the almost deserted tourist attraction.

My World----Kelso, Scotland.

I have just come home after spending two nights with a friend who lives in Kelso and took these photos on a rather cold, raw, misty morning.

Kelso, in the Borders, is unique, in Scotland, in having a French-style, cobbled town square fed by four cobbled streets...a minefield for wearers of high-heeled shoes to traverse! When I was first married, well over 40 years ago, we lived fairly close to here and did our banking in the town. Then, when driving across the square, everyone took their own route and at times it could resemble "dodgems" but now routes are marked out with flower tubs.

In the collage the photos in the top row show, from left to right,

(a) the row of elegant buildings on the north side of the square, (b) the well kept gates and lodges leading to the William Adams designed Floors Castle, home of the Duke of Roxburgh and used as the film location of the birthplace of Tarzan! and (c) the view up the northward leading cobbled street from the Square.

Middle right photo shows the Town Hall in the Square and bottom right is a view to one of the churches down a side street.

The left hand bottom photo shows the remains of the 12th century reformed Benedictine abbey which suffered much in the on-going wars between Scotland and England and now not a lot is left standing.

The town stands near the confluence of the rivers Teviot and the famous salmon fishing river Tweed. There are two bridges over the Tweed, one being of recent origin and the other over two hundred years old. An earlier bridge was swept away in a flood. This later bridge was built by John Rennie who later built Waterloo Bridge over the Thames in London.

Kelso is also famed for its Ram Sales, held every September and its Racecourse.

It is twinned with Kelso in Washington, USA and Orchies in France.

For other folks' "worlds" look here.

My Skywatch Photo

The rising sun tints the sky to the north over the Moray Firth and The Black Isle in the north of Scotland.

For more World Skies visit this site.

Autumn--fading!

Winter approaches. One day the trees are covered in golden leaves, the next there are virtually none left. These photographs were taken earlier in the week when I was out with the dogs. It was the day after "the rain".

They show the trees, some now stripped almost bare, the lovely yellow Silver Birch, one of my favourite trees with its silvery bark, windfall pears which nobody gathers so I suppose offers food to whatever wildlife, views across the Tay/Earn valley and a Suffolk tup staring at me staring at him.

I remember my first trip abroad.

This is me collecting my cruise ticket and toasting my success in a national newspaper competition, the prize being a Caribbean cruise for 2 for 18 days. This all happened about 20 years ago---note the massive "Deirdre Barlow" specs! Someone from the newspaper phoned me to tell me I'd won and I rushed out to the farm steading to tell Chic, but no one was about so back to the house to phone my mother. I remember her words very well; "That's wonderful but do you know this is the expensive time to phone. I'll phone you back after 6pm!"

Chic took a bit of persuading to accompany me as he was not a "holiday" person but capitulated in the end.

We had never been abroad so had no passports and had never been on a plane and Chic still had to be persuaded to leave his bonnet behind--"We're not cruising with that!"

It turned out to be the most wonderful experience, with a week cruising the eastern Caribbean on the Crown Princess, then back to Fort Lauderdale in Florida and transfering to the sister ship, Regal Princess, for a week in the western Caribbean and a visit to Mexico. I did feel a bit unwell on the return from Mexico as there was a terrific gale blowing and even that massive ship with its modern stabilisers was extremely unstable. Chic turned out to be an extremely good sailor.

There were lots of courses served at the meals, But even I, eventually, had to cut them down to 3 and after dinner each night we had wonderful shows in the theatre.

Every morning we'd wake up to a new shoreline in a different island and we'd have a shore trip during the day. I think my favourite must have been St. Johns in the Virgin Islands.

Everywhere in this region is very beautiful, lush and green.

Before the trip started we were told to use our credit card on board ship. We didn't have one but it was soon acquired. Imagine my horror when we were about to board the plane for Miami from London when I discovered that I'd left the damned thing at home. I phoned the travel agent who had arranged our trip and he told us not to worry(!)--he would arrange for payment of our on board expenses (which were a minimum) and he would bill us when we arrived home.

I took dozens of photographs, in slide form, and have now bought a scanner which converts them to digital images. Right now it is not working too well---it might be due to my "slow" laptop.Some day I hope to be able to post some of them.

We had dipped into a world a million miles from our own!

Other recall their memories on this site.

My World--after the rain.

This corner of this field is always badly affected by floodwater after heavy rain and we have had quite a bit of that in recent days. The potato crop has only in the past few weeks been lifted from here, so in that
respect, the farmer was lucky.

In an attempt to save the young barley crop a tractor driven pump has been operating, the problem being that this valley is very flat and getting rid of the water is difficult. The JCB has been set across the road to stop vehicular access to the house and farm beyond the bridge as the drainage pipe crosses the road.

The young barley peeping now above the floodwater.

On the other side of the road, beyond the glaur (mud) is another temporary "lake".

To see pictures and stories from around the world look here.

Banff, Moray and Nairn Open Show.

Mo.

Tass.

I travelled up the 145 miles to Lossiemouth on Saturday to the Open show with 4 dogs. People say I must be daft, and they could be right, but I reckon the dog people up there have to travel at least similar distances to atttend shows and many a lot farther. My day started with the alarm at 4am and setting off at 5.---I always have breakfast before setting out! It was dark for more than half the journey but I was greeted with a beautiful sunrise as I approached the town.

All the dogs did well with Spencer, slightly lower in Vintage than usual with a 3rd place and Swallow with a 2nd in Open Papillon but my stars of the day were Tass (Ch. Pyatshaw Silver Tassie) who won Best Veteran in Show out of an entry of 30 (20 present) and Mo (Pyatshaw Ravel) who ended up Reserve Best in Show out of an entry of 310 dogs in all.

I then went on to visit George, son of Tass, who now lives with a lovely couple in Lossiemouth and looking happy and well and finally made home at 8 30pm. What a day!

Skywatch photo.

Rain clouds gather above a stormy sea at the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. This photo was taken by my son in law when he and my daughter and their young son emigrated to Australia at the end of March 2008. They landed in Melbourne and drove up to Adelaide via The Great Ocean Road during a storm with gale force winds....not exactly the Australia they had imagined. It did change!

To see more skies from around the world click here.

Eyes and ears!

What big eyes you've got!

....and what big ears YOU'VE got!

I remember the Sunday School Trip.

This old photo taken by me in the early '50s shows my mother on the right, my friend Isabel at the back with her mother wearing the light coloured coat and another woman with her two daughters and we were on the Sunday School summer trip, (or picnic) to the beach! From the outfits, it appears to have been pretty cold, with overcoats and scarf in evidence. Notice how, then, every self respecting woman wore a hat, even to the beach! They are huddled in the dunes between those big concrete blocks, put there to prevent the enemy landing on our beaches during the 2nd World War. There was probably a biting easterly wind blowing in from the North Sea as this was Leven beach in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland.

We used to look forward to the trip as we travelled by private hired double decker bus and we children would rush to bag an upstairs seat so that we could hang our streamers out of the windows and sing songs at the top of our voices.

When I think back, it was not that well organised as we were left to our own devices for the afternoon so I don't think there would have been much in the way of swimming or beach games on this particular trip. How did we put in the time? I do not remember!

For more memories click here.

CONGRATULATIONS, DAD.

At the weekend show, Midland Counties Championship Show, held at Stafford, the Dog Challenge Certificate and Best of Breed was won by Adnamashan Time After Time, aka Joseph, who happens to be the sire of Tina's pups. Unfortunately, his owner, Mrs. Angela Skelton, was taken ill before the group judging so he did not take part in that. I have since heard that she was not kept in hospital overnight so we all hope she is now feeling much better.

4 week old pups.

Here they are metamorphosing from what I call "the guinea pig" stage to something more like a little dog!

They now hear and see well and play around outside the box and are also starting to eat small amounts of solid food.

My World---Abernethy from the top of the Tower.

What better place to view our village than from the top of the Celtic Tower, dating from Pictish times, which stands in the centre of the village. The key for the entrance door, bottom left, can be obtained from the little coffee shop opposite. It can hardly be described as "handy handbag size" but I think this one in the photo is a reproduction. Also the top of the tower is accessed via a very sturdy spiral steel stairway. I was dizzy by the time I reached the top. My aching legs took hours to recover as well.

You can just make out that the old houses, in the centre of the village, have no front gardens but have fairly long, narrow back gardens. The old school has been turned into flats, as has the old Free Church farther to the edge of the village.

To see other parts of the world click here.

The Prodigal Son.

This is Charlie, one of Holly's pups born in June and so now 4 months old. He blotted his copybook with his new owners, whose neighbours complained about his barking. They brought him back to me but when I saw him I thought I would keep him. He is certainly a lively little chap who likes to play and annoy the older dogs but we have been quite firm about the barking and it has certainly not been excessive. Swallow would have nothing to do with him...until tonight when I caught the pair of them playing under the kitchen table..... there has been a breakthrough!

I'm hoping to start his ring training on Wednesday night.

My SkyWatch Photo.

This week's photo shows a cloudy sky above the head of the River Tay estuary, taken from the south bank. It must be low tide, the effect of which can be felt as high up as the city of Perth. At this time the mud flats, frequented by flocks of geese at this time of year and the reed beds, formerly supplying material for roof thatching, can be clearly seen. Believe it or not, smallish cargo boats can still navigate a channel through all of this up to Perth harbour.

For more sky pictures look at the Skywatch Friday site.

October Garden Flowers.

...but for how much longer?

They are Hydrangea, Rose of Sharon, Salvia (Hot Lips) Dahlia, Fuschia, Begonia, Delphinium, another Dahlia and Crocosma.

I remember--The triplet calves.

Whilst raking around in the box of photographs which had come to me after my mother died I found this one. ...my elder brother, Ross with one of his dairy cows which had just calved triplets, a fairly rare occurrence for cows.

Now most grandmothers have hanging on their walls wedding photos and photographs of grandchildren. Well my mother had these, but she also had this one plus several of a grandson, who was into showing, with prize dairy cows and sheep!

For more snippets of memories with photos look here.

My World--Strathearn, Crieff...and the Hairy Coo.

This first set of photographs show the town of Crieff and its surrounding countryside in the wide valley, known as Strathearn, through which the River Earn flows from Loch Earn. Crieff was, in the 17th century, like the crossroads of Scotland as cattle drovers brought their herds here from north, east and west to sell to the buyers from the south. Some years there would be as many as 30,000 cattle grazing in and around the town at the fair, held in the second week of October. To commemorate all this some local people have organised a week of activities, called the Drovers Tryst, one of which is a mountain bike race called "The Hairy Coo".

A few miles farther up Strathearn we reached Loch Earn and the picturesque village of St Fillans, which is a popular holiday spot with sailing on the loch a favourite pastime.

Highland Cattle.(=Hairy Coos)

..and one in close-up.

For more pictures and stories from other corners of the world visit this site.

The day after the show.

Yesterday the Scottish Toydog Society held an Open show at Bonnybridge, near Falkirk. My veterans, (over 7 years), Spencer and Tass did well with Spencer winning Veteran Dog and Tass coming 2nd in Veteran Bitch. Swallow won the Open class and Mo came 2nd in Limit in the breed classes and, although they always enjoy accompanying me to shows, today's outing up the glen must count as one of their favourites, with plenty of exercise and interesting paths to explore.

The above collection of photos shows them on the steps, sniffing, chewing "something" and waiting for me to climb the stairs.

The age of innocence.

Tina's little dog pup, at 2 weeks old.

SkyWatch Friday

Blue skies over Abernethy today.

I took this photo over the rooftops of the eastern side of Abernethy from the top of the ancient celtic round tower in the centre of the village.

For more skyscapes from around the world look here.

First frosts.

Brrrr.... this was the first morning we had noticed frost on the cars. Last night was very clear and it eventually turned into a beautiful day, after the chilly start, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The sort of weather that I enjoy, warm enough to sit with a coffee in the garden but not too hot to be fairly energetic (at times!)We'll have to get our more fragile container plants under cover soon. This was always the potato "picking" time and there were many frosted fingers as a result. Some years, however, it has still been fairly mild and the squad would work away in shirt sleeves. All farms with potatoes now lift them with machines so it is much less labour intensive. School children had "potato holidays" to help with this harvest.

Long may this weather continue!

I remember our New Zealand trip.

Thirteen years ago we paid a month's visit to friends in New Zealand. The friends were penpals, whose address I had come across in a newspaper on which I was preparing onions for the stew when I was in my early teens. New Zealand had fascinated me since childhood and now I had a connection. We corresponded for a good few years but eventually it dwindled to about 2 letter exchanges a year. In the late '70s the couple, Roma and Eric, came over and stayed for a month in our cottage at Nethybridge , then again they visited when we were in Glenfarg village, not far from where we now live. Now it was our turn to visit them.

We lived with them for a fortnight, visiting all over the lovely North Island then we set off on our own, travelling by train and bus ..and ferry!...to South Island and hired a car in Christchurch to tour the south and west of that island.

In the photograph above Chic and I are at the bus station in Whangerei, in North Island, ready to leave for the south. You'll notice our perfectly matched, co-ordinated set of luggage!!!! Four holdalls that we could easily carry were all Chic would allow..."You don't need a lot of clothes!" Good job I'm no sophisticate!

We had a wonderful holiday in a most beautiful part of the world, looked after, for the first half, by a very generous couple. Sadly Eric passed away a few years ago but Roma, now almost 90, seems as spry as ever, judging by the writing on her Christmas 2009 card.

Other people share their memories on this site.

My World Tuesday--Balmerino Abbey.

This meme, My World Tuesday, where anyone, worldwide, can post an article and photographs of places of interest in their "world" has certainly made me look more closely at my particular area. Too often we tend to visit places of interest which are farther afield and overlook those on our doorstep. Such was the case with Balmerino Abbey, lying on the south side of the Tay estuary just a few miles east of my village of Abernethy. Driving there this afternoon I stopped to take some photos of the river and there was a plaque on the wall in the parking area at the side of the road telling me that William Wallace, one of our Scottish heroes,in 1298 had fought off the English marauders with the help of local men armed with farm tools, pitchforks and the like(!) at this spot, called Blackearnside...you learn something new everyday!

The village of Balmerino lies at the foot of the hill overlooking Dundee, over the river, and the ruins of the abbey are just at this entrance to the village. Not much is left now and what still stands is in a very fragile state with props and stays to support it and these parts are fenced off for safety. It was built in the 13th century on the instructions of Queen Emengarde, wife of William The Lion and mother of Alexander II, the site being chosen because of religious connections there and also the benign climate of the area.....(must have changed!). if you would like to read more of this interesting place look at this site.

Top photo shows location of Balmerino on south side of River Tay and bottom photo shows remains of the abbey.

Middle photo is the remains of the cellar of the abbots house: middle left the cross standing on the site of the high alter, and burial place of Queen Emengarde at the end of what was the nave: and right is the massive Spanish chestnut tree aged about 400 years.

Top left in this collage is the wooden cross marking the spot of the high alter and the desecrated grave of the founding Queen. The others are of various parts of the standing ruins showing their supports.

These ruins are now owned by The National Trust for Scotland.

My last outside show of the year.

I have just got round to downloading these photographs from my camera. They were taken at the very picturesque new venue for Perth Open Show, the racecourse next to Scone Palace, once the crowning place of the Scottish monarchs and resting place of the Stone of Scone.
Luckily, the weather turned out fine, in fact, hot, during the afternoon and we were able to watch the remainder of the judging, from our vantage point at the back of the grandstand, in comfort.

The view of the outside rings, with the white building, to the right in the background, where the Toy breeds were judged, before judging began.

The set-up inside our building was quite novel--the bar, unopened(!) ran along one side.

We were a bit concerned when we saw the "weighing in" room--was this to be a new feature of dog shows? ..for the dog, or, worse still, the exhibitors!!!

A view down the racecourse.

Some of the class of junior handlers, all vying for a place in the Richmond Finals next year.

This young handler can barely be seen above her Tibetan Terrier.

After judging was finished we lapped up the glorious sunshine as we watched the outside judging.

We had an uninterrupted view of these rings.

SkyWatch Scene.

A peaceful rural scene in Midlothian, Scotland, before the leaves started to change colour.

Many more SkyWatch photos can be seen here.

I Remember Lassie.

As a puppy.

about 6 months old at the farm in the Borders.

aged about 6-7 years with Julie outside the house near Nethy Bridge , in the Highlands.

Lassie, a Rough Collie bitch was my first, very own dog. As a child I had always been a sucker for Lassie films and had sobbed my way through all of them and now I owned one of these wonderful, beautiful dogs and I couldn't name her anything else other than "Lassie"!

She was the wisest of dogs and always welcomed visitors, no matter how long it had been since she had last seen them and when the children were born she put up with all their nonsense as well.

My husband used to tell of how she would sleep on my side of the bed during the day if I was away from home for any length of time and he was outside. He never found her there: oh no, she always met him in the kitchen but the evidence was on the bed in the shape of a "nest" and sand from her coat!

She could be left to run about the farmyard if we were away and she never strayed, unlike a Samoyed I had in later years who wandered continually and had to be confined.

The only damage she ever did was when she was a puppy and she tore some wallpaper. I think fondly of this when clearing up the debris in the kitchen after my papillon pups are left to their own devices!

She died aged 13 years, while we were living on the farm at Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire.

( the photos are all from scanned slides)

For more "memory" stories look here.

My World photo.

This is the view we get of our valley when returning from the south. When we reach the top of Balmanno Hill we can see the wide flat valley of the River Tay and the confluence with its tributary, the River Earn. The whole of this area is liable to flood after heavy rain, but it is a very fertile part of the country. My village of Abernethy is just off right, at the bottom of this hill.

It's a great place to live, rural but not far from towns. Perth, Dundee, Stirling and Edinburgh can all be reached within an hour and Aberdeen, Glasgow and Inverness are also easily accessible.

Read more of other areas in the world of others by clicking here.

Tass makes a comeback.

Photo by Sue Gray (Gennasus)

Tass wins the Toy Veteran Class at Perth Open Show last Saturday and seemed to enjoy her outing after 2 years out of the ring, after being made up to a champion. She was full of her old bounce and vitality.

.......and we also spotted this...

What not to wear when showing and stacking a very small dog!! The tantalising glimpse of the green pants just "takes the biscuit".

Now where can I park my bike?

To Belfast and back--an anniversary post!

It's exactly a year since I started blogging (and virtually stopped doing much housework or watching television!).

On Saturday night we boarded our "dog" bus to take us to the championship show in Belfast. I tried to get as much sleep as possible on the journey as lack of it makes the show a bit of an endurance test, especially for the older woman! I don't remember much after the first few miles from the Forth Road Bridge, the starting point, until the jolting of the slowing coach awoke me at the ferry port in Stranraer. We were at least a couple of hours too early for our crossing to Ireland but that soon passed as I again managed to sleep until we were aboard the vessel and had to leave the coach and go up to the passenger deck where most of us again stretched out on the seating and closed our eyes for the 2 hour passage.

It didn't really matter that the weather turned out fine after a chilly start as were were judged inside. One judge took his time going over the 2 breeds scheduled before us in our ring before our papillon judge whizzed through our dogs so fast we hardly had time to think or write down the results. We had time for a run for the dogs in a convenient enclosure, a quick look around the stalls, back to load our gear into the coach and we hurtled back to the ferry port in case we missed the gate for our booking, as goodness knows when we would have been able to board another ferry that night due to the huge number of vehicles heading back to Scotland.

This time we ordered a meal for the crossing and the time flew past. Back on the bus it was again lights out and everyone fell asleep till we reached the first dropping off point on the outskirts of Glasgow. That was when I remembered I hadn't phoned Chic to tell him the estimated time of our arrival back at the Forth Bridge to pick me up. Horror of horrors, when I switched on my phone, (it's always off during the show) there were 21 unanswered calls, 13 from Chic and 8 from Carole's husband as she too hadn't switched on her phone. Luckily he had worked out it wouldn't be before 10pm. In fact he had to wait for an hour. "I'm for it," I thought, but he was remarkably calm. I did say that if the boat had gone down with all hands it would have made the TV news!

All in all it was an enjoyable day as I had managed a fair bit of sleep and we came back, Carole and I, with a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th placing, so none of our exhibits had been "thrown out"!

....must book a seat for next year's show.

My SkyWatch photo.

This was sunrise in late September as seen from my back door in Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland at about 7am.

For beautiful photographs of worldwide skies look at this site.

Tina's new pups.

What a difference a few hours make! Mid evening yesterday we had the breakthrough I was hoping for...Tina began licking the pups and even moved over beside them and they finally started feeding unaided. I did spend the night beside them, waking up now and again to check that all was well, which it was. Thank goodness!

A few hours old. The 2 bitches are nearer the camera.

These last 3 photos show a much more relaxed Tina with her pups on Wednesday morning.

Showing her huge ears...hope the pups inherit this trait!

Pups feeding. The dog has more colour on his back than his sisters.

There will be a short break!

There has to be. Tina , the little pale coloured papillon has had her three pups but there had to be a Caesarian section performed on her and I've had a busy day trying to help them to latch on and suck and persuade Tina that they actually belong to her . I think they have all been affected by the anaesthetic...I'm feeling a bit like that myself after spending all last night watching her as she went into labour and with not so much as a short nap today and the prospect of another night on the living room floor next to the "nursery" it looks like I might take longer to recover than expected. The trouble seems to have been caused by the pups being big. Now don't laugh, you owners of bigger breeds of dogs, but these 3 pups each weighed almost 8 ozs., and that is a fair size for a papillon!
See you soon...with photos.

My World---Perth.

Perth, or The Fair City as it is often referred to, lies about 8 miles north of our village and grew around a crossing over the River Tay, the lowest crossing on the river till the ill-fated first Tay railway bridge was built in the late 19th century, at Dundee. There is mention of a bridge at Perth in the 13th century, which was eventually destroyed by floods. Several successive bridges were built but all were lost due to storms, and after one such storm which swept the bridge away in 1621 there was no foot crossing for 150 years. Boats were used to ferry goods across this swift flowing, treacherous part of the river, and, at one time, more than 30 boats were in operation.


Today there are 4 bridges crossing the Tay at Perth. viz. Smeaton's Bridge, usually called Perth Bridge, which was built in 1771 and proved strong enough to withstand the floods and ice floes in the river in winter; the railway bridge; Queens Bridge, just a few hundred yards downstream from Perth Bridge and opened in 1960 ; and finally, just east of the town, stands the modern, high and exposed Friarton Bridge carrying traffic, heading north, to bypass the town and make for Dundee or farther north.


For other posts in this meme look here.

Views of Perth and the bridges.

Carrots.

We know they're up there!

Anticipation.

The object of their desire!