Catching up with friends in New York

With all of our busy lives, we have not been able to organise a get together for  6 years, so we were very excited to be meeting up again at last.

We met our American friends on a cruise to Alaska, when we all found ourselves sitting at the same table for dinner each evening.  We hit it off, and have been keeping in touch via Facebook, emails and the occasional short visit. 

Jeanette and Erlinda have since had a little girl, Gabriella, who we had not seen in real life, until now. They live in the Hudson Valley, a beautiful part of New York, and we were staying with them as well as our other friends from Long Beach, California, Sally and Janet, as well as Ellen.

We visited the Hudson Valley wine region, having a few wine tasting stops along the way.  The wine at each winery was very different. 

We went to our first ever baseball game with the New York Yankees, at the Yankees stadium in the Bronx. Here we are doing the Bronx sign. 

Sally and Janet came with us to Philadelphia for a few days, we got to see the Liberty Bell, Liberty Hall and learnt about American history and the beginnings of a new nation.  We kept a low profile in Philadelphia as the English were definitely the 'baddies' in this part of American history!

We went to Lancaster, Amish country with the girls and the last part of our trip Tracy and I went to Washington DC, to follow the progress of the first settlers to their current governmental capital.  It was such a fantastic trip, not only catching up with our dear friends, but seeing some fabulous places and having some fantastic experiences.  An extra bonus was the food we experienced in all of the locations

we visited.

What an amazing trip.  Thank you all guys for so many great memories.

Discovering Geneva

Tracy was sent to Geneva to sit for a new client.  She looked after a lovely Jack Russell who loved walks, so she got to explore the very affluent town in great detail.

The United Nations and the Red Cross employ a large number of  people here, including American and British citizens.  Our name was soon passed around amongst friends and colleagues and we now have a number of clients in this most beautiful neck of the woods.

On this occasion, Tracy was situated  in the city of Geneva which has a lovely lake, bordered by France and Switzerland.

French is the most common spoken language here, but as there have been a number of cultural influences over the years, the street names are a mixture of German, French and Italian.

We are both back there in February 2013 so hope to explore a bit more together then.

Easy Mucking out in France

On a pet sit in South West France recently, we were introduced to a brilliant product.   We were looking after two horses who, because of health issues, had to be stabled most of the day.  Their bedding was called Aquamax, bedding  which is a "highly absorbent equine bedding manufactured solely from Pine white wood fibre sourced from sustainable sources. "

It was so easy to muck out, and took so little time.  It is amazing to watch the small pellets transform into a sand-like substance when water is added to it. 

bedding after it has been watered.

All you need is a sifting 'fork'

Unlike other woods, Pine contains natural agents which remove the smell of ammonia from urine; works as a natural antiseptic; and produces a light, fluffy bed. 

Once the bed is down, all you have to do is skip out the droppings and then scuff through the bed with your feet, so that the wet patches get absorbed by the dry.  The bed is then levelled out and job done.  There is no smell of ammonia, and there is no dust.

Having used straw and shavings for bedding, we found this a much better product.  We were looking after a mare and a gelding, one very tidy and one who mixed up the droppings in the bedding very efficiently.  I only had a wheel barrow each of waste per day, which also greatly reduced the muck heap.

I would certainly advise anyone to give it a go.  

Link to the website and youtube clip on how it works
 www.aquamax.co.uk02
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCO38NuWKXM

Newcastle Emlyn

From 2 labs to 5!  3 black, one yellow and a brown.  We had sunshine and showers which made the lawn grow very quickly.

Very good family of labs.

 A new location for us, we were sitting in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales.  This is a lovely market town, still with a working livestock market place.  The town was a thriving, vibrant place with every shop you could need.

Bridge at the end of the Town

We were delighted to find a shop selling organic products, and goods to satisfy our vegetarian needs.  There are two lovely bakers and to our surprise, even a vegetarian cafe!  This is called the Riverside Health Shop and Cafe.  www.riversidehealthshopandcafe.co.uk

What a find.  It was such a delight to find a town, supplying all of our needs without having to resort to a supermarket.

There is a castle, with a resident dragon, and a lovely river meandering through with swans.

Link to the town and surrounding attractions.
http://www.newcastle-emlyn.com

Walking in the Cotswolds

We were lucky with the weather for a sit in the Cotswolds.  We were sitting for a couple of very well behaved labs,  and after having little or old dogs to look after recently, it was nice to be able to step out and take advantage of the many footpaths and byways which crisscross this part of the country.

The byways were used by lots of dog walkers and horse riders as well as pony and traps.  The countryside is stunning with 360 degree views of  fields and unspoilt landscape.

We picked out a route that conveniently took us past a lovely little village pub The Craven Arms in Brockhampton which had a garden.  The dogs were very good and just sat down watching the world go by, we were very proud of them.  There were foals in the next field to watch.  We walked past some chocolate box cottages, cooled down in bubbling streams and enjoyed the sunshine.

Diamond Jubilee Weekend

Is it over yet!

What a weekend!   We have both been on different sits, Tracy in Pewsey, Wiltshire, and Della in Ludlow, Shropshire. 

We have both watched the celebrations on the TV for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  We are feeling worn out we dread to think how the Queen is feeling.

It was good to see the country come together, and interesting to look at the archive film and photos of the last 60 years of the Queen's reign.  I think we have reached our limit though now and are going to pack our Union Jack flags away until the next time.

Dyfed ducks

So many eggs

 It was lovely to spend the first sit back from hot and dry Australia, in the lush green hills of Wales.  The Spring lambs were bouncing about and the Daffodils and forsythia added a splash of yellow to complement the green.

This was a new sit for us, and we soon made friends with the ponies, cats, and dog, as well as a family of ducks.

Ladies having lunch

Reginald, a true gentleman

The ducks were very interesting to watch, we love ducks for their 'chatty' ways, how they mutter away to each other, keeping in close contact.

Reginald had his ladies well looked after.  He was a true gentleman, letting them eat first and only approaching the trough when they had all finished.

One day a couple of wild mallards flew onto their pond, which sent Reggie into a spin, making sure his ladies were safe.

We helped him by clapping our hands and shooing the two imposters away.

The ducks produced 3 to 4 eggs a day.  They had a duck house to sleep in at night, so the eggs were easy to find.  One night they stayed out on the pond, and the next day, although we searched hard, we didn't find any eggs, although the magpies did.

We washed and dated the eggs with a pencil and then set about thinking up recipes to use the eggs. 

We were quite surprised at the reaction we got from friends and family when we told them that we were eating duck eggs.  We had comments from disgust at eating them, to unaware that they could be eaten.  They are just like big chicken eggs.  I would say they are creamier than chicken eggs and definitely more filling. 

They were lovely in baking, I made some welsh cakes and a sponge, as well as omelet and a frittata.  With any recipe I substituted one duck egg for 2 chicken eggs.

They all had their own characters, and we were sure they spent all day thinking of ways to test us.

Thank you Reggie and girls for your lovely eggs and the pleasure of watching your little family waddle about  your daily routine.