Snow and sun and travel

Saturday started and ended with snow. We awoke to find a dusting of snow on the ground and cars. It wasn't enough that anyone needed to shovel but it was sort of pretty. When Bailey and I went out on our first walk I found that the snow had a rather strange texture. It was dry, and it wasn't flaky. It looked like tiny styrofoam beads. In spite of the snowy start, it was actually a rather sunny day, until late afternoon that is, when we were out on our second walk and it started to snow again. 

Saturday evening we went to another concert at the cathedral, this one a Ukrainian trio consisting of two violins and an accordion. This is the second or third small ensemble that we've heard that included an accordion. I think it's actually an underused and underrated instrument in the U.S. where it seems to be mostly associated with polka bands and Lawrence Welk. It's actually a very versatile instrument and perfect as part of a small ensemble because of the rich orchestral sounds it can produce. It provides a lot of accompaniment to a pair of violins from a single instrument. The group was very good. 

We got there early enough to get seats in the center portion of the cathedral under the heat lamps. We had dressed warmly, everyone does, but it felt like we were being cooked when they switched on those lights. I've not seen those in other churches, but in a cavernous, unheated structure with what is probably a mostly elderly congregation, I'm sure it helps. 

Sunday morning continued our cold streak, and there may have been more snow overnight, more of the dry, beady stuff, but still just enough to barely cover concrete surfaces. There were a lot of people out walking, as always, and we found a good group of dogs and their owners in the playing field. I am getting to know several of them, or at least their dogs. Today we met a German Shorthaired Pointer, a little younger than Bailey, and one of the few dogs we've met who is actually faster than her. His owner spoke English well enough that we were able to have a good chat. She was intrigued by our move to France, and to Lille in particular, but like all the Lillois we've met, she was gracious, friendly, and welcoming. 

The weather for the coming week looks to be cold and wet so this appears to be good timing for our upcoming visit back to the states. We leave here Tuesday, January 6th, returning to France on Monday the 12th. We have a lot to do in the short time we are there but we will be at Decipher Brewing for happy hour and evening on Friday, January 9th, ~5:30 - 8:30 p.m.  If anyone in the Charlottesville area wants to stop by and say hello we'd love to see you.

It wasn't deep, but snow was covering the cobblestones Saturday morning.

On the backside of the Citadel where the sun doesn't shine, the water has partially frozen.

I was enjoying the splotchy pattern of the snow on the ice.

More of that dry snow with the look of styrofoam on Saturday later afternoon.

Concert at the cathedral Saturday evening.

The Christmas market is gone but the city lights are still up for now.

Sunday morning walk

2025: Endings and beginnings

Here we are at the end of the year. It's been a big one. Not so many foster dogs in this year's end-of-the-year round up, but they are still worth mentioning and remembering. In reviewing the blog since the beginning of January I realize that we were already in the process of moving back then. Clay flew out on New Years Eve to Porto and then to Lille on his scouting trip. Our decision was made and we were in downsizing mode so we didn't take in any fosters after the first of the year. 

The end of a dog's stay in foster care is the beginning of their new life. The end of our involvement in foster care was also the beginning of our new life. I miss many aspects of our former life, being a multi-dog household, rescue family and friends, etc., but I have no regrets. We needed to make a change and it was time. The past year was tough in many ways but I'm looking forward, not backward, and I remained excited about what lies ahead. 

But, having said that, here's a look back at our final fosters from 2025. 

Norman, now living it up as a Canadian citizen.

Storm, Elektra, and Rogue. These were the final three of Marvel's pups that we still had at the beginning of the year.

Storm

Elektra

Rogue

Bear was the best puppy-sitter we ever had. He was great with them and they adored him. 

He has a great new home with two people who love him.

Gus is one of those dogs that I don't remember much about. That means that he was an easy foster and he got adopted quickly. 

SweetTart has a great new home where many of my garden pieces now live.

Ted wasn't my foster originally, and he wasn't with us when he got adopted, but we had him for a while during his stay in foster care. He loved the time playing in the pasture with the other dogs. 

Ted gets two pictures because black dogs are tough to photograph but they look so good in a field of yellow buttercups.

Woody was our final adoption and it was his final placement after two prior, failed attempts.

It's fitting that our final placement was a shepherd because the first dog to appear on this blog was a shepherd and we fostered more of them than anything else over the 25 years we were involved in rescue, see https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/2008/11/samson-gsd-with-pneumonia.html. 

Although we probably had more shepherds than anything else over the years, the first dog we foster was Maggie. She was also the mother of the first litter of puppies to be born at our house.

Here are a few posts about Maggie although she proceeded the start of the blog by many years:

https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/2020/03/whats-past-is-prologue-or-how-maggie.html

https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/2008/12/our-first-and-still-favorite-foster.html

https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/2009/03/rescue-anniversary.html

https://vadogrescue.blogspot.com/2011/03/st-maggies-day.html

That's it for this year. I'm not ending the blog, just the rescue chapter of it, at least for now. 

Near end of year

My end of the year blog posts generally include a review of the dogs we've fostered over the past year. I could still do that for this year, and I may, but it will take some time to review all the posts from the year and pull out pictures, and even then I'll probably miss some. For now, I'm just going to go over our past few days.

A nice picture of Bailey in the sun. 

Her head halter broke recently, I've ordered a new one.

We went to another concert, this one at the cathedral and featuring a brass band.

The two standing are soloists performing a piece written for the euphonium. 

I was quite taken by this sculpture in the cathedral. I couldn't find out anything about it but I really liked the lines of the standing figure.

This is a group of building in Vieux Lille.

These next few pictures are from a textile manufacturing museum in Rubaix, which is now a suburb of Lille. This area has been a center for wool processing and weaving since the middle ages. The museum contained looms that spanned the entire era. I can't say that I understood how any of them operated beyond the early ones, but I guess it was a natural progression of technology that performed the same process but faster and more elaborately. The early mechanized machines employed punch cards, essentially like early computer technology. It was fascinating. 

And of course, here's some more pictures of Bailey playing with other dogs.

This guy had short legs but he was fast.

Yesterday evening it was just Bailey and this beautiful German Shepherd Dog in the field. He couldn't really keep up but he gave it a good try and both dogs really enjoyed it.

This morning there was a mist hanging over the field, but no dogs.

We will try again later today.

First Christmas in France

I've posted about many of the Christmas-related activities we've done lately, but here's what we did on Christmas eve and Christmas day. 

Christmas eve we wanted to make sure we had everything we'd want and need because things closed up early if they were open at all. Apparently Christmas eve is the time that most families get together so everything was closed in town. I did my morning and afternoon walks with Bailey as usual. I'm trying to make sure that we are at the big field between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. That seems to be the time we are most assured of finding other dogs who want to play. A lot of people are walking their dogs then because it's the last hour before it gets dark. Sure enough, there were a number of dogs at the field and Bailey had a good run with several of them. 

Another Malinois! She was fast too.

The owner said the big guy was an Alaskan wolf dog. Not sure if that means he's a hybrid or what, but he was very nice. He couldn't keep up with the girls running, however.

All the bars and restaurants seemed to be closed Christmas eve, but our favorite beer bar, La Capsule, was due to be open until 8:00 p.m. The owner gave his staff the day off and worked the place himself. There was decent crowd but we got seats at the bar and enjoyed several beers that we new to us. We came home and cooked a pork loin wrapped in pastry, sort of like beef Wellington but done with pork. Very good. Followed it all up with a good night's sleep.

Christmas morning I cooked a smoked salmon quiche, which we followed up with some cheese, and then ate part of Buche Noel. After that I needed a long walk so Bailey and I headed out, going first to the open field in the hope of finding playmates for her. We usually don't on the morning walk, but today being a holiday there were people out with their dogs who normally aren't there at that time. There were three or four dogs there, all playful, and Bailey had a good run, which we followed up with the longer than normal hike. It was cold morning but that's good walking weather, especially with a clear blue sky.

Bailey's Christmas gift was a stick. It's a piece of wood from an olive tree, hard and non-splintering.

She seemed to like it.

Quiche made with smoked salmon and spinach.

Unexpected morning play with this big guy. The owner said he was a Romanian shepherd. 

(I see quite a few unfamiliar dog breeds here.)

And there was a golden there too.

I had made a big pot of beef and noodle soup yesterday and that really hit the spot after the long walk in the cold. This blog post and photos took up much of the afternoon before our next walk, which will be followed up with dinner at a really good Italian restaurant Christmas evening. There were more eating out options on Christmas day than on Christmas eve. 

Bailey in reindeer antlers I had picked up in Cologne. 

(I waited until the other dogs were gone so she wouldn't be embarrassed.)