September 17, 2009 · 2 Comments
What a beautiful walk this morning – sunny and fresh with a crispness that promises cooler days to come.
The sun was throwing strong shadows around and Jessie stood still obligingly, enabling me to catch these shots. Notice how autumnal the ground looks.
First her upper half:
Next the bottom half:
And finally a glimpse of the real thing:
It’s so beautiful here and it’s changing rapidly. The ground is providing Georgie with a damp bed of leaves to roll in at the beginning of each walk – the damper, the better!
Such a contrast to Tuesday which was wet, wet, wet – not many of us around that day but still a treat to be outside in the fresh air. We did get soaked though!
Categories: Autumn · Brighton · East Sussex · English weather · Stanmer Woods · Sussex · The Fall · dog walks · dog walks brighton · english woods · golden retriever · shadows
Tagged: Autumn, autumn dog walk, dog's tail, shadow of dog, shadow of dog's head, shadow of dog's tail
September 4, 2009 · 1 Comment
Wow, has it been that long since my last post!
Well we’re all still here – out and about with the dogs – enjoying the summer and getting used to the idea of autumn.
This morning we’ve been scrumping for blackberries, Georgie and Jessie eating the ones on the lower branches while I’ve been keeping to those above dog height. And as any dog owner knows – dogs seem to love blackberries! Well ours do anyway.
It’s actually coming to the end of the blackberry season.
In Brighton – where it tends to be a little warmer than further north in the UK – we’ve been picking them throughout August. It seems to get earlier and earlier each year.
I read a few entries in a school log book of the 1870s in Norfolk, and the children were picking blackberries in October. So there’s proof if we ever needed it.
When I got home I saw that a couple of apples on our patio were ready for picking so I decided to make a blackberry and apple crumble.
8oz plain flour
3oz butter
3oz sugar
generous layer of stewed apples and fresh blackberries
35 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees
Assume it was delicious – we’ll be having it tonight with some vanilla ice-cream – YUMMY!!
Categories: Autumn · East Sussex · England · blackberries · dogs · recipe
Tagged: apple and blackberry crumble, crumble mix, crumble recipe, dogs eating blackberries
Mark Bassey, Terry Seabrook, Alex Eberhard, Dan Sheppard
The Seven Dials area of Brighton swung to the cool sounds of jazz last night, as Mark Bassey led a fund raiser for
Canine Partners, the charity that matches assistance dogs with people with disabilities.
We were lucky to have two talented and hard-working Canine Partners in the hall – Yukon, owned by Pat and Graham Hewett, and Harley, owned by Moira and Pat Luck. In fact Harley showed a musical talent previously undiscovered and joined in on one of Mark’s solo trombone features! At first I couldn’t work out where the sound was coming from until I realised it was coming up from under Moira’s table!
The raffle was a great success with doggy toys (thank you to Anna) as well as a great selecton of wine, whisky, chocolates, and a host of other goodies.
I had great help from Sara, and her daughter Zoe, Andy and Chris, and Mark’s Mum, Joan. A big thank you to all of you for putting your heart and soul into the evening and helping me so much with the preparations. Also to Lianne and James at West Hill Hall for all you did.
Mark Bassey signing his CD for Jane Bryant, Community Fundraiser for Canine Partners.
Canine Partners is a fantastic charity doing an amazing job. The dogs are trained to assist in as many ways as they can including opening, loading and unloading the washing machine, retrieving items such as keys and mobile phones, responding in an emergency and helping with dressing and undressing. They truly are an inspiration and I often look at our wonderful dogs, Georgie and Jessie, and feel rather sad that we’re not tapping more into their amazing potential.
I’ve already suggested to Mark that we do this again next year and he’s very keen to do a special duo with his new musical canine partner, Harley!
A big thank you to the band, Mark Bassey (trombone), Terry Seabrook (piano), Dan Sheppard (bass) and Alex Eberhard (drums) as well as everyone who made the effort to come and support us.
We had a brilliant and joyful evening and raised £510!
Categories: Brighton · Canine Partners · assistance dogs · dog charity · dogs · jazz · music and dogs · working dogs
Tagged: Canine Partners, fundraiser, jazz, mark bassey, seven dials, westhill hall
We met Ellis last weekend. She is an unbelievable 18 years old and still enjoying sociable walks with her friends. Quite an inspiration I think you’ll agree.
Ellis is a Lab-Collie cross and was re-homed by her present family at the age of one. What a beautiful dog.
Categories: Brighton · Sheepcote Valley · dog walks · lab-collie cross · older dogs · veteran dogs
Tagged: 18 year old dog, doggie veteran, ellis the dog, lab-collie cross, older dogs, veteran dog
Thanks to my friend Andy who showed me a new walk in Brighton* yesterday. Here’s Bailey, his Boxer-Mastiff cross, at the start of the walk.
When the weather’s really hot this walk is perfect cause there’s a big pond for the dogs to cool down in 
We also met the handsome Moses, a Lab crossed with a NewFoundland. With a mix like that, it’s obvious he’s going to be a water baby! And look at the great log he found to have fun with!
So for the dogs there was the water to splash in as well as the woods to explore. For the humans there were fantastic views across Brighton as well as the knowledge that your dogs were having a fantastic time. A great walk – thanks Andy. Let’s do it again soon.
*Drive up the Ditchling Road, past the children’s playground and past the entrance to the golf club. On the right you’ll see a height restriction bar. Park in this small car park and walk across the fields towards the woods. There are several paths that lead through to the dew pond and from there you can walk safely in different directions with amazing views of Brighton.
Categories: Brighton · East Sussex · English weather · dew pond · dog walks · dog walks brighton · doggy pals · dogs · dogs playing
Tagged: boxer-mastiff cross, Brighton, brighton views, dew pond wild park, dog walk Brighton, dogs swimming, labrador-newfoundland cross
I met these guys in Rottingdean, a village a few miles outside of Brighton.
Buffalo and Hawk had been helping with the shearing and had been at it for several hours when I met them. The farmer left the boys in his quad bike and had just popped into the village to grab some lunch. Hawk is Buffalo’s son and the dog closest to the camera.
It’s a very busy time for them at the moment and the dogs and the farmer looked in need of a quick lunch break. How I’d love to see these two in action.
Categories: Brighton · East Sussex · Rottingdean · collies · dogs · working collies · working dogs
Tagged: Brighton, East Sussex, farmer, quad bike, Rottingdean, working collies
There’s a dew pond on one of our walks and depending on how the humans are feeling we drop by. As you can see, you have to be prepared for very muddy, wet dogs. They love it and dash around diving in and out of the water. Here’s Jessie with her friends Frankie, Bobby and Holly having lots of fun at the weekend. Georgie tends to do her own thing – usually schmoodling with the humans, eating grass or staring hard at insects. Jump back to the post, “Frankie, new pup in town” to see how much Frankie’s grown!
L-R, Jessie, Bobby and Frankie
Jessie - I recognise the collar - and other(s) going for the tennis ball!
Bobby, Jessie and Frankie - on right
Holly on left, Jessie, Bobby (collie) and Frankie
Categories: dew pond · dog walking · dog walks · doggy pals · dogs · dogs playing
Tagged: dew pond, dog walks, dogs playing, muddy dogs, pond, wet dogs
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Withdean Park, Brighton listening to my friends in Saxshop and enjoying all the dogs that had come along for the Fun Dog Show.
This is Fern, a beautiful Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen/Working Bearded Collie cross that won Best In Show. She’s a delightfully happy dog and still only 5 months old. As you can see her human family were very proud of her. Congratulations
Categories: Brighton · Sussex · best in show · community · cute dogs · fun dog show · music and dogs · pets
Tagged: Brighton, fun dog show, Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen, Grand Basset Griffon Vendéen/Working Bearded Collie cross, Withdean Park
On account of the collapsing Honeysuckle (see Monday’s post) Mark and I visited the garden centre to find a smaller replacement.
And on the way, look who we met!
This is 2 year old Paddy, a Border Terrier I think (hope this is right). Even though it says ‘No Riding Permitted’ on the trolley, it also says ‘Maximum Load 250kg’ – and I’d make a guess that Paddy’s around 10kg? So no problem
He’s a real sweetie and seemed very content in the garden centre trolley.
Thank you to his human family for letting me take some pictures.
Categories: Garden Centre · Sussex · cute dogs · dogs · gardening · gardening with dogs
Tagged: border terrier, dog in garden trolley, dogs, Garden Centre
