A Delightful Day with the Dogs

It's mid-November! You know what that means, don't you?

 The air is brisk; the leaves have nearly all fallen; and it's once again time for the dogs!  Lots of them,  congregated in one location, within easy driving distance, for the purpose of competing in the Purina National Dog Show.

Marty and I experienced the excitement of this competition several years ago when it was actually held nearby, and ever since then, we've put it on the calendar to enjoy if we happen to be in town. 

We've been driving the turnpike quite frequently as of late, but as luck would have it, this weekend we had a reprieve, and so we headed out early to the Oaks Expo Center to see just what kind of fun was in store for us today.

And we certainly were NOT disappointed.  (Before you read any further, rest assured that there are NO spoilers in this blog.) 

We were entertained by a dog jumping for a frisbee

and another jumping through hoops.

But the best part of the day was spent walking through the expo center, meeting the dogs and their handlers.  You just can't beat it for entertainment.  The dogs are generally friendly, and most are eager for a pet or two.

This Cairn Terrier was itching for a pet.

And this dachshund had the softest coat that I've ever felt. 

This basset hound was eager for some attention.

So much so that he took the opportunity to jump on Marty and give him a kiss.

all while his friend looked on, smiling.

It was hard to miss this new breed, the Bergamasco, as there were at least a dozen in attendance.   

There were so many different personalities to check out:

The pug on the pedestal

and the bejeweled silky terrier.

The content Golden Retriever

The worried afghan 

as well as the Borzoi who wasn't so eager to get powdered.

Marty made it his mission to capture many of the close up faces. 

Here you see an Airedale.

with a side view.

a beagle

corgi

and another Borzoi (formerly called a Russian Wolfhound)

a long haired dachshund, giving him the eye.

Then, there were the dogs whose eyes were a mystery.

A Hungarian Puli who looked more like a rug than a dog. 

 The Lagotto Romagnolo, another new breed recognized this year.

as well as the Spanish Water dog, very similar to the Portuguese Water dog.

And then, there was the poodle, who looked like she was having a bad hair day.

Was this guy looking at me?  We may never know.

 Although, I think this little fellow was, and when the breeder saw me take this photo

she insisted on an "after" picture so that we could see his cute little face.

By now, it was time to head to the viewing area so that we could watch some of the official competition.  The announcer was all set up and ready to go.

While John Hurley settled in for his live commentary to be heard during the television broadcast on Thanksgiving Day.

The judging of the groups is actually quite long as there are many more dogs that one actually sees on tv.  Here are just a few entertaining highlights from what we saw today. 

A Westie sits tall for the final judging

A Stafforshire Terrier has a grand time showing off 

This little Russel Terrier may be small but he had great personality.

And the basset hound needed his own little table since he is so short to the ground but too heavy to pick up.

And that's it for the sneak preview.  I'm not divulging who won the independent groups that we watched today, and I'm perfectly content to wait until Thanksgiving Day to see who wins the overall competition.  It's another tradition that we all look forward to while the turkey is cooking in the oven.

I hope you've enjoyed our adventure today. But there's one more thing I'd like to share with you, just in case you were wondering:

All I have to say is:  Thank goodness for that!  

I'm sure you agree!

So Much For Romance

Does the title intrigue you?
Well, you'll just have to read on to discover its implication.

In the meantime, I will admit that this morning, we did NOT awake to sunny skies.   In fact, it was overcast and dreary, but we didn't let that dampen our enthusiasm.  We knew how lucky we had been to have the glorious weather for such a long streak.

We had a delightful breakfast at the Arden House where Norry and Jenny were once again gracious hosts and happy to have our business.

Then, we headed out on the road towards North Queensferry, where I had booked a room for our last night's stay.

We decided that we would stop at a few places along the way, the first being Killiecrankie.  Here stands a beautiful wooded gorge that is steeped in history.  In July 1869, the first battle of the Jacobite uprising took place here, with the English falling to the Jacobites in about 3 hours time.

This spot is known as the Soldier's Leap because an English soldier did just that: He leapt across the rapids in order to escape.

That leap took place just behind that large rock formation just about in the middle of this photo.

A huge battle may have taken place here hundreds of years ago, but today, this is all preserved woodland and a tranquil area to walk through.

A retired train trestle, built in 1865, continues to stand near the gorge.  

Here you can see it on the left in the distance:

Isn't that an awesome view?

While Marty was absorbed in the history, I was scoping out the birds at the feeders.

Here you see a Coal tit.

And just look at how beautiful this Great Tit is.

He was feasting on peanuts that have been placed behind that mesh.  I thought that was a pretty clever idea, as the birds seemed to enjoy working the nuts out.

While we were there, we just so happened to run into Red Squirrel's Scottish family.  Marty introduced himself,

And I gave this fella a great big hug.

He was happy to hear that we keep little Red busy in our backyard during the cold winter months.

Moving along, we drove into Pitlochry just as the sun decided to pop out and greet us.

We had been here a few years ago, but it was cold and rainy at the time, and I can honestly admit that the sunshine definitely makes it look much more appealing.

We walked around, briefly, then headed out once again, making a quick stop at the Blair Atholl Distillery.  

After all, we had to get our Whiskey passport stamped!

When would this opportunity come up again?  

Plus, I hear that you can't purchase this particular type of whiskey in the United States.  (Don't you just love all of these practical excuses for stopping here?) 

Once again, I agreed, with the stipulation that we NOT tour the facility.  My wish was granted.

I took a photo of the front to share with you.

Are you wondering what the structure in the front is?  Well, it is a replica of the top part of a Copper Still.  I immediately knew what it was due to the number of distillery tours that I have taken.  but it dawned on me that some of you blog readers might not have any idea of its significance since photos are strictly forbidden on any distillery tours.

Obviously, there is a lot more to the still structure, but you'll have to use your imagination for the rest. 

During our brief stop, I was a bit surprised to see that a wedding was taking place on the grounds. I'm not quite sure what I think about saying wedding vows surrounded by whiskey.   I'll let you make your own judgement on that.

Well, it was time now to head to our hotel in North Queensferry.  We had a wee bit of an issue getting to the place due to a huge diversion, as the Scots call it.  In other words, the main road was all ripped up.  But we managed to find it, check in, and drive back out to attend 5:00 Mass in Inverkeithing, where we had attended with our friends Isobel and Patrick in the past.  (Unfortunately they were away on their own holiday this trip).  

The readings all centered around marriage, which certainly tied into our reason for being here as we were finally celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. And what a lovely trip it has been!

Now, onto the subject of this blog:  Since our friends who own the Roods were on holiday,  I chose the Queensferry hotel as our final destination simply because I envisioned a room overlooking the lovely firth.  

I figured that we would enjoy the sun setting over the Firth of Forth while relaxing on our last night here.  I took advantage of the special rate for Bed, Breakfast and Dinner.  

Well, after finally managing to maneuver the diversion, we arrived at the hotel to find a huge wedding reception taking place.  Lots of kilts and bagpipes, and Scottish dancers.  What fun!

Little boys, dressed in kilts seemed to pop up just about everywhere.  The elevator door opened, and out jumped 3 little boys.  The next trip up we decided to forego the elevator and take the stairs instead. We were on the way up and down came 3 little boys.  

It seemed that there were little boys in kilts around every corner, all with LOTS of pent up energy.   Makes me wonder what happened to the little girls?

In any event, we checked into our room, which is large and actually quite nice.

I headed to the window to take a peek at our "special' view, and here is what I saw:

Are you wondering what that is?

Well, it is the construction for the new firth bridge, which will be a suspension bridge upon completion.  They started working on this years ago, and I was under the impression that it was finished by now.  Obviously, it is not.

Marty did find it fascinating watching the men at work, but I convinced him that dinner was calling us.  We actually did have a fabulous evening meal, which we thoroughly enjoyed since we had nothing since breakfast.

And, I decided to splurge on Sticky Toffee and Date pudding for dessert.

I found it to be well worth the calories.

After dinner we headed up to our room, where we can hear that the wedding reception is still going strong.  

Music from the 70's era is blasting.  Actually, the entire crowd seems to be singing along to "I Love You Baby!" as I write this.  

I think little boys are still running around.  

And, it appears that some of the wedding guest just might be sharing this floor, as there is a lot of LOUD activity going on in the hall.

But I'm not complaining. This has been a spectacular trip and one that I'm sure Marty and I will have fond memories to hold for many years to come. 

And we'll have this Romantic view from our room to add to the collection!

That and shouts of "I love you baby" echoing in our heads!

I hope you enjoyed our adventures.  Thanks for tagging along!

Nature At Its Best in the Cairngorms

Yesterday, we decided that if the beautiful weather held out, we would make the trip to the top of Cairngorm Mountain to ride the Funicular to the very top.

So, when we awoke to blue skies once again, we knew what was on the agenda for this morning!
We bid our delightful hosts goodbye, and headed towards the mountain.

The ascent was rather tame in comparison to many of our previous ventures over the years:  no clutching the dashboard while peering over a cliff on this trip.  Just a gentle curving road that eventually ended in a parking lot near the top of the mountain.

The top is well over 3500 ft. in elevation.  Here is a photo taken from the Funicular on the way back down.

The day was definitely clear, but some of the views were hampered by low lying clouds in the distance.  But that didn't take away from the experience.

After spending some time at the top, we headed back down to the car park.  No one is permitted to walk around at the top of the mountain unless one pays for a private guide, so that limited what we could do.

But no worries, we headed back down the hill and turned onto a narrow road that led us to the Loch an Eileen which stands in the Rothiemurchus Forest.  Michael, our B&B host, had suggested we stop if the weather was nice, as the walks around the loch are beautiful.  

We certainly were not disappointed.

When we arrived at the car park, we spotted several people in the woods, with long, telescopic type cameras set up for viewing.  I figured that there must be something very exciting to see, and I asked the man who admitted us to the lot what was of such interest to so many people.

He quietly said, "Squirrels".  I laughed and said that I thought that was pretty funny and that I had expected him to tell me that there was some sort of rare bird in the trees.   He whispered through the window that he, too, thought it was quite silly.  Well, that really had me laughing.

Then, we realized that the photographers that were set up with their fancy cameras were definitely NOT Scottish.  Perhaps this was their first viewing of a Red Squirrel.

Shucks, they could come visit me!  We have squirrel sightings every day!

When we finished our walk in the woods, I had hoped to get some shots of these crazy people to share with you, but they had all moved on by the time we returned to the car park.  For the record, I didn't see one squirrel while we were walking around, which may explain why the photographers were all gone.

We left the park and continued along the road, in search of The Potting Shed, another place that had been recommended by the couple at our previous B&B.  Christine, Michael's wife, was a real hoot, and she eagerly shared information regarding nearby places to visit, but her suggestions always included food.  She was VERY excited about us visiting this place for the cakes.  She explained how the woman who bought the place was European, and she decided to sell tea and cakes.  Christine went on to say how we would need to stop for tea after our hike, and this place would be perfect, and on the way to our next destination.

Now, I ask.......how could we pass on that?

Marty picked Carrot cake and I chose the Lemon Sponge, both with extra cream, at the hostess' suggestion.  With such a bright sunny day in which to enjoy these delights, how could anyone not be happy?

With our sweet tooth satisfied, we headed out along the road towards Kincraig, where Michael had suggested that we stop in to see the Working Sheepdogs.  But we were early, so we decided to park the car and enjoy the beauty of Loch Inch to pass the time.

Just above the loch stands this Scottish church.

All around us was beauty.

When it got close to 4:00, we headed to the farm for the demonstration, passing this wee pony along the way.

When we arrived and parked in the lot, this fella greeted me, and actually tried jumping into the car!

He was extremely friendly and quite entertaining at just a few months old.

There were a couple of pups who were even younger, only 6 weeks old, who were already eager to herd the sheep upon command.  Note the cute little guy in the lower right hand corner.

And here he is, getting them moving.

Neil Ross,  one of two remaining shepherds in this area, demonstrated sheep herding by the dogs as well as how to shear the wool off of a sheep.

This pup was quite content to just cozy in and take a nap in the wool.

After the demonstration, Neil came out with puppies who were just 15 days old.

Very cute, for sure!

We certainly were not disappointed with any of the advice given to us by our previous B&B operators, that's for sure.

We are now in Kingussie, staying at the Arden B&B.  We actually stayed here last year, and enjoyed it so much that I was sure to make reservations for one night this year as well.  

I don't know what I did, but I can tell you that this year's room far exceeds last year's!

Norry greeted us with a dram of whiskey for Marty and a glass of sherry for me, and we settled in for a relaxing evening.

We have one more day before heading home.  Believe it or not, I don't really have anything planned.  But I'm sure we'll find something adventurous to entertain us!

I'll keep you posted!