au revoir my sweet Ben

My best pal, dear sweet Ben

 went to sleep for the very last time today, 

life in Normandy will never be the same without him.

Grateful for Ben's reprieve.

If you've visited my blog at all over the past four + years you will probably have met Mr Ben, my English Cocker spaniel, and know that he is a very important part of my life.
Today I'm posting even more photographs of Ben, photographs that just two days ago I thought I would never get the chance to take.
You see in the wee small hours of Friday morning Ben suffered a massive seizure.
As the Senior Partner steered us through the dark, deserted roads to the emergency veterinary clinic in Bayeux I tried to prepare myself to say goodbye.
Matty, Ben's favourite medic, was on duty that night and he suggested that the reason for the seizure and the smaller episodes that have been occurring recently would suggest that Ben has a brain tumor but the clinic did not have the scanner needed to confirm that diagnosis.
We would have to go to Paris for that.
He administered an anti inflammatory and a mild sedative and we decided to leave Ben at the clinic for the rest of the night.
As you can imagine, back home, we didn't get much sleep. when we returned to the clinic at 10.00 am imagine our amazement when Matty brought Ben out to us in reception.
Bright and alert (Ben, not Matty who had been on call throughout the night!) he was ready to come home with us.
We decided not to go to Paris for the scan but did take with us some medication that apparently aerate's the blood, allowing the brain to function better, which Ben will take for 12 days.
After that he'll have a check up to assess the situation.
Since being home, Ben is more or less back to his normal self.

Ready to go home now!

His appetite is good and, as these photographs show, well up for a Sunday walk through our beautiful Normandy countryside with us today.
This is what we are giving thanks for this weekend.

Linking this post to Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday

where the letter B is in the spotlight this week.

Sunday Walk - Happy Birthday Mr Ben!

Yesterday, 15th September, Mr Ben celebrated his 12th birthday, that makes him 64 human years old according to the Pedigree Dog Age Calculator, and a Senior Citizen!
If you'd like to know how old your pampered pooch is, in human years, click here.
So, today we went for a fairly long amble through the countryside and I stopped to take photographs, along the way, to remember this special weekend by.
He kept up very well despite being somewhat deaf and with restricted eyesight, although a couple of times he did get turned around and started heading back to the car.

The bramble bushes are quite heavily laden with blackberries but it will be a few weeks yet until they are ripe enough to pick, making bramble jelly is a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the kitchen.
The maize which around here is grown as cattle fodder will be harvested soon, many of the fields around our house have already been done.
In the corner of the maize field I spotted an abandoned piece of ancient farm equipment rusting and moldering away quietly.
Hunting season is in full swing and we encountered a group during the walk, without mishap.
When we arrived home I was surprised to see another group stalking the field next door where the cows graze, shortly afterwards whilst preparing lunch I heard a single shot which seemed to come from field behind the house.
Not sure who was in the group and I thought the field had a sign like the one pictured below, but maybe they had permission from our neighbour to be in there?

Private - no hunting

It's always a good feeling to know that Fleur is on guard on days like these!

Joining Mary @ thelittleredhouse for Mosaic Monday after many months of being awol

 Click on the link below to see who else is taking part this week.

and Our World Tuesday

Isn't she lovely?

I believe it was Woody Allen who said
"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans".
Well, yesterday we hadn't planned on adding to our small family of Mr Ben, Mr B & me but then God laughed and now we are four.
O.K.maybe we were tempting fate by taking a drive over to Caen to visit the Chiot Expo taking place at the large exposition centre.

45 different breeds on show but how likely was it that one of the hundreds of wriggly little furballs, competing for our attention, would capture a heart?

Can you hear God laughing now?

This is our new addition, a female pedigree Berger Allemand a.k.a. German Shepherd a.k.a Alsatian, almost five months old, born on the 14th October 2010.

The breeder had not previously named her that honour went to the new owners, us, and so in keeping with the "one letter per year" system and F being the letter for 2010 we decided to name her Fleur.
Fleur de L'Ange Quentin to be precise!

Getting to know you

Until 1926, there was no rule in France for naming a dog registered in the LOF. From this year, the S.C.C. decided that all dogs born in the same year would have a name beginning with the same letter, which would simplify the work of dog genealogists. The letter "Z" was excluded because one though that the choice of names beginning with this letter was not big enough in French. One should be aware that for several years after, some breeders didn't follow this new rule.

Her Mum's name is Diana and Daddy's is Chips!

The only change to this system happened in 1972, when the Commission Nationale d’Amélioration Génétique (National Committee for Genetic Improvement) decided to standardize the yearly letters for all animals. Five letters (K, Q, W, X, Y) were removed, for the same reason which had lead to the exclusion of "Z" in 1926, and it was decided that "I" would be used for 1973.

Note: with the use of typewriters, the French Kennel Club decided to use only capital letters for dog names, not including accents and special characters. Today it is still the case, and many letters used in French cannot be used for dog names: À, à, Â, â, Æ, æ, Ç, ç, É, é, È, è, Ê, ê, Ë, ë, Î, î, Ï, ï, Ô, ô, Œ, œ, Ù, ù, Û, û, Ü, ü, Ÿ, ÿ.

Coming home yesterday afternoon after checking out the new location

Here is a table summarizing the dogs' names in France since 1926:

1926 A 1936 K 1946 U 1956 F 1966 P 1976 M 1986 B 1996 M 2006 B
1927 B 1937 L 1947 V 1957 G 1967 Q 1977 N 1987 C 1997 N 2007 C
1928 C 1938 N 1948 W 1958 H 1968 R 1978 O 1988 D 1998 O 2008 D
1929 D 1939 M 1949 X 1959 I 1969 S 1979 P 1989 E 1999 P 2009 E
1930 E 1940 O 1950 Y 1960 J 1970 T 1980 R 1990 F 2000 R 2010 F
1931 F 1941 P 1951 A 1961 K 1971 U 1981 S 1991 G 2001 S
1932 G 1942 Q 1952 B 1962 L 1972 V 1982 T 1992 H 2002 T
1933 H 1943 R 1953 C 1963 M 1973 I 1983 U 1993 I 2003 U
1934 I 1944 S 1954 D 1964 N 1974 J 1984 V 1994 J 2004 V
1935 J 1945 T 1955 E 1965 O 1975 L 1985 A 1995 L 2005 A

(Source Braque de Bourbonnais)

New kid on the block

What more can I say, she's beautiful, intelligent, obedient and ours.

Mr Ben meanwhile remains unconvinced
 that this was a good idea!

Joining Mary @the little red house for Mosaic Monday, click here, or on the sidebar button to see who else is participating this week.

A beach stroll for Outdoor Wednesday

Wednesday has rolled around again and that means that Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer is holding her Outdoor Wednesday party, here.

and.............we are also joining Gina @ The Shabby Chic Cottage for her Beach Party today.

Click here to join in the beachy delights.

These ladies do such a wonderful job hosting these great get togethers so please do pop over & say hello.

At the weekend we loaded up the car with Ben, the cocker spaniel, a snack & some books and headed for the beach at Colleville sur Mer.

I had hoped that the Parisiens, who holiday there during the month of August, would have headed home by then and we would have the beach to ourselves, the way we like it, but sadly no.

We parked the car a short distance from the sea, and after Ben & I had got our feet wet a little bit unloaded the canvas chairs, towels & books and settled down for a good read.

.

After a while I tore myself away from the goings on at Angelfield House and looking up I noticed that there was something going on over at the lifeguard station.

I picked up my camera and mooched over to take a look.

I met a group of people from the "Surfrider Foundation Europe" who were promoting "Initiatives Oceanes", their aim is simple: keep the seas clean.

This is also the base for "char à voile" (sand yachting) and I enjoyed walking around looking at the various yachts "parked" on the sea front.

This very colourful and strange looking yacht transporter caught my eye.

Then is was time to head back to the car and find a restaurant for lunch, but that's another story............................

I hope you have enjoyed our stroll along the beach today, I enjoyed sharing it with you.