Belgian Holiday, part 1, Ghent

We flew into Brussels and immediately hopped a train to Ghent. It's a beautiful town with many medieval buildings still intact. Like several other Belgium cities, Ghent escaped most of the bombing in WWII. The Dutch people who lived there had perfected the science and art of civil engineering and created a network of canals that made Ghent a port city and important trading location.

Ghent is a tourist town, but it's also a university city. Everyone there seems to speak at least three languages, Dutch, French, and English. All we had to do there, and everywhere in Belgium really, is say hello and they would immediately know we were Americans and would converse with us in English. The bus and train stations were a little tricky because the primary language is Dutch, but we got by.

This building on the city square next to the bell tower is a
theater. I suppose it was an opera house originally.

The altar inside the nearest cathedral.

It's a beautiful city. There are cathedrals, of course, but they were not the center of town. In Ghent and elsewhere, the town square was dominated by a municipal building, not a religious one. There was no Henry VIII in Belgium, so the big cathedrals are still Roman Catholic, but they feel more like art museums than churches for the most part. Some of them charge admission for what you actually want to see and they all have gift shops. They do have some serious artwork, the buildings themselves, the ecclesiastical gold and silver crafts, paintings by many old masters, and sculpture galore.

We arrived in Ghent a couple days before the tour actually began so we had time to explore on our own. It's definitely a town I'd return to. We hit a lot of the highlights but barely scratched the surface of all the things we could have seen and done.

I'm not sure what the catholics call this, but
it's functionally the pulpit, where the sermon and
readings would be given, not the altar.

The rivers are now completely controlled and contained as
part of the network of canals. Trading houses lined the river.

The view from the castle.

Wildflower growing from the castle wall. I'd be torn if I was
in charge of maintenance. This sort of thing is very pretty, but
ultimately destructive of the wall. 

We took a boat trip and this is a view of some of the trading
houses from the river.

This is the end of one of the canals, and if I remember correctly, it's the only surviving part of the
old medieval wall that once surrounded the city. 

Making amends to Maya

I was away for two weeks. Before leaving I was busy and didn't have time for a lot of walking. Since coming home I was away one day with another dog at an adoption event and spent most of another day in the garden. Maya keeps track of such things so I knew I'd better start paying off some of my debt to her before I got in any deeper. (She doesn't yet know about my upcoming trip to Kansas.)

I was away from the other dogs for two weeks too, but they don't take it personally the way she does. The way she tells it, I abandoned her for an interminable length of time, causing her no end of grief and worry. The only way to make things right with Maya is by spending time with her, preferably hiking, which we did today.

It was a beautiful day, the kind of day that makes you hate your job. After I finished work I had to make another run to the nursery and to Lowe's for more plants. I took Maya along for the ride, but that clearly wasn't going to satisfy her. We picked up TJ and headed out to the trails for a late afternoon four miler.

There were other people out since it was such a nice day, and no deer, but it was time spent with Maya doing what she loves, what we both love.

A matter of perception

I took Rugger to an adoption event up in northern Virginia today with Promises Animal Rescue. He was good with everyone, friendly with people, especially if they had treats, and good with other dogs. For a while the only other dog there was a seven month old pup. Rugger is about seven years old.

What struck me was that nearly everyone commented about his age, how he must be an old dog, etc. Certainly he is by comparison to the puppy, but I guess I don't really think of Rugger as an old dog. Vince is an old dog, Sparky and Trooper are in senior status too. TJ is older than he seems but he shows his age when hiking uphill, especially in warm weather. Rugger can go as long and as far as I've ever wanted to walk. He doesn't have any disabilities. Neglect from his former owner gave him some hair loss and patches of leathery skin, but he still doesn't fit my perception of an old dog. Maya is probably about six years old. I can't even begin to think of her as an old dog.

He's not so old as to appeal to people who want to take in and save an old dog, to give them the best months or year and the best possible send off. Still, at seven years old, I guess he's past the age of what most people are looking for. But he's also past the age of tearing up the house when left alone. He's past of age of needing to be crated. He's past the age of needing to worry if he will run off if he gets the chance. He's old enough to know better, and he does. Rugger is happy being an only dog but he has learned to live with many others around here. He's definitely looking to form that special shepherd bond with his chosen person. He's loyal to a fault. He thinks whatever his person is doing is the most interesting thing in the world. He wants to be a part of your life, but he's not demanding. He's as happy with a short walk and a long nap as he would be with the opposite.

As a lover of old dogs, I think that the best years of Rugger's life are still ahead of him, not behind. We will continue to search for a person who thinks the same.

Gardening with shepherds

I filled the back of the van with plants from a local nursery.

No rain, decent temperature, and no commitments meant that today was my day to plant the container garden. I had help of course, in the form of three German Shepherds:  Max, Theo, and Rugger.

A stop at Lowe's for some fertilizer resulted
in a few more plants.

This was the starting look.

Max with a tennis ball.

All three dogs hung around pretty close, but
Rugger was in my face much of the time.

Rugger really tried to help, mostly by digging at
the bare dirt and occasionally carrying things off.

I had to watch Rugger closely because I
wouldn't put it past him to dig up some
of the things I had just planted.

Theo wanted to play ball, of course, and we
did, whenever he could find a tennis ball.

The plants don't look like much yet,
but I have faith.

Rugger may be pointing out one I missed.
I didn't have enough plants for every pot, but
I probably got 80% of it done, which isn't bad
for the first day. I will need another nursery run.

Max, with remnants of a tennis ball on the
ground in front of him.

This is a new arrangement for the containers this year, but it was fun to set up and I think it will
look good when everything grows. I'm always optimistic in the spring.

Theo with a ball in his mouth, Max with a stick.

Getting home and cleaning up

Clay and Maya sharing a moment.

We got home around noon on Friday. We had a really good trip and I'll post some pictures from it over the next week or so as I get them edited and remember what they represent.

The dogs were all glad to see us, of course, but none had as much to say as Maya. She hasn't let me out of her sight since we got home and I expect that will continue for a few days. The house was clean when we got home and I had someone cut the grass while we were gone, so things are in good shape. All I really needed to do was bathe a few dogs.

Max and Trooper had been boarded and they smelled like a kennel. They were also beginning to blow their coats, as was TJ, but the one who needed it most was Theo. With 90 degrees, sun, and wind, it was perfect dog washing weather. Theo was great about it, TJ was the worst, Max and Trooper somewhere in between, but they all got done. I'll need to follow it up with a good brushing when they dry.

Spring continued to progress while we were away. Most of the
flowering trees are done now, it seems, but our chestnut is in
full bloom. We also saw a few of these in Belgium.

Maya hasn't let anyone get closer to me than she is.
Vince is having some leg problems, but he's still kicking.

Max on my washing station, with a four point
restraint system holding him in place (more or less).

Max in mid-shake

Max wasn't too bad with the bath. Mostly he
wanted to join Theo in the dog yard.

Theo hopped up onto the table for me and just
stood there. I only fastened one tether to his
collar. He is shedding really bad now and I
pulled a LOT of hair off of him.

He's going to look really good when he's dry
and brushed out.

Trooper wasn't crazy about it but he needed it.

TJ's coat always stays clean somehow, but he was beginning
to shed too. He's a little nippy, but we came to an understanding
and got through it. The understanding is that he won't bite me
and we won't do this bath thing very often.

He loved cold water in the winter when we
crossed streams while hiking, but not so much
coming from a hose on a hot day.