My Cleveroli :-)

Cleveroli... Well Rivi said "enough of Zev and Bigs it is her time to blog again". And what a day she had on Saturday. Rivi went to collect an award at The Agility Club, as she had come second in the large grade 3 category. Its her first big bit of crystal. The photo is really naff, but Rivi is a bit like me, not comfortable posing for the camera indoors and acutally not outdoors either. Zev and Mister Big have yet to pass on their all round posing skills. Also her pale eyes mean with our current photo taking skills she all ways end up with 'glowing' eyes. I tried the 'eye fix' to touch up and that was even worse.

Its weird but some think trophies are all about winning and in a way they are, but for me when I look at it I see a a reminder of the journey, the fun and the sheer joy of running a course with my Rivioli.

She was very well behaved at the event and funny as she was the only dog to notice a large mirror where the photos were being taken and she just could not stop staring at the reflections. Well that is my Rivioli very aware of the environment ;-)

Zev caught on video by OBay Shelties :-)

Well, I just had to link to this video that OBay Shelties had done of Zev at training whilst on the birthday celebration. He is so full on and passionate, and luvs his cool kong and doing his agility.  I could wax lyrical all night about my perfect wild man....and I could dance all night.....see the OBay Blog for videos of his great litter mates.

An OBay Weekend :-)

What a special treat for Zev and I really enjoyed it too. Due to the some of the OBay girls celebrating 1st birthdays, we got to go down for the weekend. See the OBay blog for pictures and notes. I was so pleased with Zev it is the first time we have stayed away without the others with him. He was the perfect gentleman apart from getting me up at 2am in the morning, just to check that he was not missing any action!!!!!!!!!!! Ohhhhh me and 2am in the morning are not a well made match at all. He let his hair fly with the customary “wall of death” around the lounge as he got very excited playing with Itz and Zaz. The training session was good for us,  I really liked the way Johanna set the session and gave explanations about the reasons for tackling a sequence of obstacles. That meant I could relax, enjoy and think ‘game on’ to trying a different way to handle a sequence. As someone who loves the speed and freer style of some handling combinations external to the UK, it was an opportunity to be seized. It would have been great to have done it all again with Rivi, Johanna I need a large dog training session – pretty please. There was that many dogs in the house that afternoon, and it fantastic how much laughter and fun was generated just by watching all the shelties having a great time.


To the OBay Gang, thank you for a fabulous time. Needless to say Zev was also very excited to be back home with the others. The photo shows him luring Big into a chase game, before rain stopped play…..

Dirty Dancing - A weekend in London

What a fabulous weekend, did the girly thing, went to London for theatre, food and a real chilled time. Marc kindly stayed home and looked after the guys. Actually he did one better than that he dropped me off and picked me up. What a fabulous hubby he is. Well, Dirty Dancing was just so good, how they brought the film/story to life in what must be London's cutest and also very grand theatre, the revolving stage, went up and down and round. The actors - I take my hat off to them, not only are they singing and dancing, their doing it on a stage that constantly moves. It was great, for those hours the rest of the world just slipped away.

Sometimes you see a play/book/film and then when you see another version it is not as good. Not the case here at all, it was so well done. This show lived up to all preconceived ideas. All the audience was wildly cheering, clapping and jigging about. It was just so fun.

Then off to Covent Garden, and eating at the Cafe Des Amis http://www.cafedesamis.co.uk/

Which whilst only offering one vegetarian option for starters and main, they were the best I have had in a restaurant. The service was lovely and dessert mango tart was a perfect finish. Proper food, with flavour and very well cooked, the restaurant itself is both a comfortable and stylish place. It’s a different and great world there in London’s theatre land. So a pact was made for us girls to descend on Jo at least once a year, and go to see a stage show and to eat. Another life to live…weeeheee.

Then back on the tube and we stayed at Jo's to be greeted by Jigs, who is so cool. .He goes everywhere with her on the tubes. A true dog about town. She says friends now come round just to have a cuddle with him. Totally understandable.

Did I miss my guys or what? When Marc picked me up, he brought Zev and Big and they did their first stroll around London and went off lead in Finsbury Park. Needless to say Zev and Big took it all in their stride and got lots of admiring glances and smiles and "oh how cute". Then we hurried back to the rest of the guys at home, its great to go out and do different stuff, but at the same time, I can’t wait to get back home and be reunited with all the guys.

Mister Big joins in with the Big Guys

Yesterday at training saw Bigs start to do courses with Marc, an exciting time for them. At Beacon an FCI style course is set and if you have an inexperience team, they are expected to take a simpler route through the course. As you are expected to be able to train and work things out for yourself. This means that all the levels of dogs with experience handlers at Beacon are accommodated in one session, it also makes you raise your game. Well, with 3 Beacon members at the Worlds this year, there must be something to the method. As it is a sports ground, your dogs have to learn to ignore the football matches that are going on at the same time to! This is agility training at the sharp end, no soft and fluffy perfect set up, just get on and do it, train yourself, train your dog and have a good time in the process.



As you can see Bigs is very cute and very promising. It is early days yet, but I look forward to seeing Marc and Bigs competing next year. We are also grateful to the Vanitonia Breeders for letting us have such a super chappie.

Found it….a place to call home

Well three months later we have found the house, its small, a simple two up two down semi detached, but it has half an acre of garden. Perfect for the guys and us, we will be able to grow vegetables and have chickens! It even has a small grape greenhouse, with a green and red vine. Wings will adore watching chickens. The gusto kids, under Nut’s watchful eye will be able to run around to their hearts content.

We have always wanted to have a place with a good size garden. And as we are now both over forty we were getting to a stage where it would be now or never unless we won the lottery. Damm, why does property and land have to be so expensive in this country?

The place is on the Derbyshire border, whilst another county, it is not much further north than we are now. Which is great for Marc’s job and going to agility shows. We will not need to change agility clubs so a bonus there. So our return to the south has been delayed for a good while, it is not possible to say for good. Marc and I seem to move every 5 years or so, perhaps we are just restless or have a bit of wanderlust in our souls?

The village is in the National Forest, so there will be lots of walks we can do with the guys. The National Forest is a radical and bold vision to restore some forestation to the midlands, which is one of the most deforested regions in the UK. And its quite funny, the trees that are planted are really young – think knee high height. But in years to come it will evolve into a real feature and environmental achievement for the region.

So we should either be in the new place just before or after Christmas subject to contract. This means I can relax, today has been a chilled walking day and the guys are all sound asleep and looking really content and I can have a glass of bubbly to celebrate. To new beginnings :-)

Perhaps Love?

Some question whether love at first sight or instant connections exist. All I know is what I have learnt seen and felt. For me there is no doubt that it exists, and has led my life since meeting Marc, it is 20 years this coming Christmas Eve (I’m almost scared to say that, in case something goes wrong, but Marc said “don’t be daft”). I can still recall the moment when we first met, the conversation and the excitement. How I loved that outfit I wore – sassy cropped fcuk jacket, short skirt and heels and the big hair. In that rather crowded pub that I and girlfriends had gone to because our first choice became so packed it was unbearable. Fate or Destiny; another posting. I can still recall the moment we met, the walk home, the tea and coffee and lending Marc a brother’s jumper to walk home at 4am. The first date – a football match he had promised his younger brother but included me. It was memorable; I got hit by the ball!!!

You can debate if its love, lust, the fusion of mutual chemicals causing the attraction. All I know is that feeling changed my journey. And I have not found anyone that put it any better than in an American drama called Everwood. I luv, this series, it is so well written and acted I am addicted. Best thing since the West Wing, although a different plot, it assumes the followers have some capacity for thought.

The lines go:

By the character Irv: “I left this house because I though the world was calling me to a journey. I couldn’t step a foot away you, Edna. You’re my journey. Wherever you are that’s the adventure, I know that now.”

The cynics may say its all rubbish designed to tug at the heartstrings. But heck, so what if it is, it works for me. So many friends are on their second or third marriage, and I’m still stuck on the 1st. That does not make it right or wrong. Its just love really does come in many forms and sometimes it stays and sometimes sadly it goes. It can stay a lifetime or it can be lost in a blink of an eye...sometimes its brief intensity can be as much as a life time of passion. There is no rhyme or reason to love, it just is. For some finding the love can be a lifetime’s journey, its true. One person I know met the love of his life when he was in his fifties. For some it is overrated, for me its magic; the power it has to make you change your life, your outlook, it provides a place of sanctuary and provides a place to flourish, it gives you the confidence that perhaps was hidden before. Most of all it is someone to share your journey through life, wherever it may take you.

Perhaps Love the song, sums it up in many ways performed by Placideo Domingo and John Denver.