Back home

We are back in France after a week in the states. It was a good trip and an interesting experience. I wasn't sure how it would feel. I felt like I did after a trip back to Kansas — it was someplace that I used to live but it wasn't home any more. 

We had a good trip, got a lot of stuff done that we needed, some shopping, some business, and saw a lot of friends, which was really nice.  

We flew into Dulles and rented a car to drive to Charlottesville. We pulled into the first 7-11 we passed and picked up a Big Gulp and some junk food, the real American experience. Over the next few days we hit up Costco and Target for some over-the-counter meds that aren't readily available here. We finished packing a pallet of household goods, the few that we kept, and arranged for its shipment to us over here. The best part of the visit was actually visiting with family, friends, and many of their dogs. We got to see several former fosters, including four of Della's puppies, which is always nice. 

The visit back to the states also made us realize that we are very happy with the move that we've made. Not everything is perfect here and there will always be things, and people, that we miss, but we are happy to be away and to have started something new. 

I was reminded once again how difficult it is to step away from rescue work. My phone rang one day while we in Virginia. I didn't recognize the number but I answered it anyway and immediately recognized the voice. It was the woman I refer to as my "doggie dealer" from southwest Virginia who has brought me so many dogs over the years, including most recently, my baby girl Bailey. It was an all too familiar story - a friend of hers had a young, female shepherd she need to rehome. The dog wasn't doing well with the cats in the home and the woman was dealing with a medical problem in the home while trying to keep dog and cats apart. Good dog, bad situation. Unfortunately, all I could do for this one was to share the pictures and refer the woman to other rescues. 

Meeting up with Killian the first day we were back.

He still remembers Clay and I, and he likes having his butt scratched.

On the flight over, United Airline's television entertainment offerings included an edited version of their broadcast of Puppy Bowl XX, included some Green Dogs pups and people. 

We dropped by our neighbors' house Wednesday morning. They have two of our former fosters, Duvel (one of Della's 12-pack) and Chester. Both boys are very sweet and were happy to see us.

Duvel

Chester

Just a little further down the road is the home of two other former fosters, both Danes. MoDean (formerly Allagash) was part of the 12-pack. Rorschach (formerly Galaxy), came into rescue along with a number of other Great Danes that we seized as part of a hoarding case. Many of them were related.

Rorschach

Rorschach and MoDean

MoDean is a big boy.

Friday evening Clay and I went to Decipher Brewing and invited any and all local friends to drop by to say hello. Many did and it was very nice evening. And of course it included a few of our former foster dogs.

Maze is another one of Della's pups, and her personality is very much like Della.

Rocco is a former foster and is just as nice as he is handsome.

This is not a great picture of Greta (black dogs are always touch to photograph). 

Greta was a pretty short-term foster from back in 2021, she came in April and was adopted out in May.

A short term and easy foster, very unusual for a female shepherd especially.

This pretty girl wasn't a former foster, Bridgette actually came from Caring for Creatures but she belongs to some friends of ours and she was there Friday evening. She and Maze really wanted to play.

There were a lot of people from Clay's beer world and my dog world who came by to say hello and we really enjoyed seeing them all. We had another, smaller gathering at Patch Brewing on Sunday afternoon and really enjoyed that as well. The flight home was long but uneventful. We got back to Lille on Tuesday morning. Bailey's boarding kennel is closed on Tuesdays we we'll get her back on Wednesday. The kennel has posted pictures and/or videos of her and all the dogs at the facility every day, usually pictures of them running and playing. I know she is happy there but I also know she will be happy to be back home tomorrow.

This is the girl I was contacted about who is needing a new, cat-free home.

If anyone is looking for a one year old female shepherd, please let me know.

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.