Hanging With the Welsh Coastal Locals!

Hanging With the Welsh Coastal Locals!

Sun came out so we did too, ha ha! Port Eynon for mussels and traditional Welsh Cawl(soup). Pretty place off the beaten path.

Winding roads to get there and Amazing amounts of locals camping out for a 3 day holiday weekend (which is quite frequent in the UK).  Not a lot to do other than beach.  This is for sand pales and sun bathing with a few restaurants thrown in and clean beach bathrooms nothing much else.  But it was fun and sunny.

Previously however, this area was quite the hot bed of activity with “supposed” smuggler/pirate caves dug under the town under to the sea for quick get aways.  WW2 this was a well hidden secret of shipping soldiers to practice storming the beaches before D-Day and Normandy.  Not many photos and history as it was all kept very top secret.

Like all of Wales, HUGE tidal shifts from low to high, so before you head off, check the tide charts or you may find it way way out like we did which is great for beach combing.

Bella’s Story: the MIRACLE Dog!

Bella’s Story: the MIRACLE Dog!

IMG_1390IMG_0531

Cat’s aren’t the only ones with 9 lives, as Bellas has proven over and over, she too has them.

11429212_652020211565096_6336435077697858236_oIMG_1645

Bella was the healthiest, fastest dog on the beach, great White Hunter until tragedy struck and she was picked up in our backyard, in suburbia San Diego, by an owl.  It lacerated her shoulders down to the muscle and emergency surgery was required at 4am.  She survived the attack with the torn shoulders and recovered nicely Until…..5 months later when she started losing weight, not eating, having major health issues that went on for 45 days.  MULTIPLE trips to 5 different vets trying to find out what was wrong with her and No vet could figure it out.  We kept asking about the owl attack and they all said no way.  Additionally, we had just given her a chicken jerky treats from Costco that said it was Made in the USA but when we looked super closely at the bag, in the back lable tiny tiny print, Made in China DISTRIBUTED in America!

221261_1990820099204_4809473_o 241638_1990820219207_6808760_o

The only two new things in her life was the owl attack and these jerky treats so we will never know if they contributed or caused her health decline but we think they did.  Long story, shorter, Bella pretty much died several times in the course of our discovering what was wrong with her, but managed to survive numerous times.  We spent well over $18,000 in the next 3yrs stabilizing her and learning thru trial and error what works for her.  Final diagnoses was:  Addisons disease (body makes no cortisol), Pancreatitis, Diabetes and later, Anemia and Septic arthritis.

MOST dogs with pancreatitis and Anemia die within 90 – 180 days!  Bella has completely beat both those diseases and no longer has them.  She still has Addisons which we give daily pill and 1x per month shot.  Diabetes is 2x per day insulin shots and it did make her go blind with sugar cataracts.  Diabetes also gave her a UTI (urinary tract infection) that led her to have septic arthritis which has made her partially crippled.

IMG_1300

And yet, Bella is going strong, loving life and loving us and has now become a World Traveler with her very own Blog to chronicle her journey.  We had planned our move to Europe for 3yrs and part of what kept us not leaving, was Bella and her health as we didn’t want to bring her with us.  And in fact, our trial move over, we made the heart wrenching decision to leave her with best friends.  She did great with them, but we suffered tremendously.  Returning to California to sell a house, we decided we were going to bring her with us (see posts about bringing a dog to Europe) and she is actually THRIVING in Europe.    In fact, we just came from a new English vet and her diabetes blood insulin levels are the BEST they have ever been in 5yrs.  So low in fact, we had to reduce her insulin by 3 units as her body is doing so much better with a  wonderful organic food we found here, Lily’s Kitchen.  Evidently the ingredients are even better than the wild game meats we cooked for her, each meal.

She loves traveling in the car (her rolling condo) and in her new Range Rover buggy;  experiencing all our new adventures.  We are so excited to go to Scotland to let this little Highland Terrier return to her family roots, as we return to ours!

11406932_652018644898586_957984691512415019_nIMG_0635IMG_4690IMG_4687IMG_4664bellahengecropped-img_4744.jpgIMG_4789

Keep in touch to witness the Miracle Dog, Bella’s Travels.  We are Blessed to have her with us, and know every day is a gift and we intend for her and us to live it to the Max!

Where’s David??   Not Where’s Waldo But Equally Hard to Find!

Where’s David?? Not Where’s Waldo But Equally Hard to Find!

We found David!  I had been to Florence once before and could Not find David! Seriously, he is not just hanging out easy to find.  Down a winding small street and not marked very well is the museum that David now resides. He is no longer in his original outdoor spot but in a museum that is hard to find and you need to know where you are going but we were victorious this time!  and Wow Wow Wow is about all you can10835332_10205546635374291_6029557776208988778_o 10856508_10205546634894279_5583737898818080048_o say.  Enormous tall and details in the marble make you feel he’s going to start talking and breathing. He is beautiful and worth the search10873408_10205546634374266_2592065138822592893_o 10655438_10205546636494319_8816809991621175768_o 10710432_10205546636134310_1166047582266489359_o 10749990_10205546636814327_811256748025844222_o 1417540_10205546637734350_8068293225683177998_o .

Rome, Circus Maximus

Rome, Circus Maximus

1501111_10205480908411158_5527758516073376511_o 10857140_10205480878170402_7115593522201770147_o

Circus Maximus, we’ve all seen the movie, Ben Hur and watched Charleton Heston race around the track.  When you yourself get to walk down that exact same soil, you can feel the thunder under your feet!

And then as a Huge surprise, we got gifted with Real horses thundering down the track.  My body and brain screamed to be let on a horse so I could really feel the thunder under my body.   Alas, I don’t yet know Italian, nor do I know who or why these people were allowed to do this wonderful Sunny Sunday horse day?  I was SO jealous and so thrilled at the same time!

We never did find out who or why they were there and we asked and googled a lot with no headlines of any sort.  One day however, I will get my Ben Hur day! one can hope right?

10687345_10205480865650089_1560776790175383703_o

England’s Pub Crawl, Oldest Pubs in Every Town! You KNOW You Want to TOO!

England’s Pub Crawl, Oldest Pubs in Every Town! You KNOW You Want to TOO!

Our first trip to England one of my favorite things so far is the Old old Pubs, like Really Old.  Made it my goal to visit each towns oldest of old and have a pint. found some really great ones and had a great time researching all the old ones and their history.

1271167_10202140817350969_1459358125_o1268256_10202140784390145_1019593209_o

The oldest in Salisbury was 898 and the newest was 1714!  I love the history, the wonky floors, the giant wood beams but always Beware when going to the Loo, its usually up or down a tiny tiny winding staircase and the stair is for shoes size 6 or smaller!  Truly watch your Ps and Qs!!!

(Points to those who know what a Ps and Qs is?  Do you know?)  private message me if you don’t know 🙂

1264732_10202140728228741_1617205049_o 1266774_10202114144884174_1626041229_o 1267643_10202140687387720_87706097_o 1276678_10202140726428696_892505558_o 1277448_10202140698187990_1271134871_o 1293042_10202072073992428_206675810_o

Champagne France, Does it Get Any Better? No!

Champagne France, Does it Get Any Better? No!

1523842_10205172864830261_3121644886621597489_o

Champagne Ardenne Valley is something to see and a must on your list.  Champagne Caves and how the whole process is done by the names you’ve always seen:  Moet, Tattinger, Veuve Cliquot and more. Super cool information on my favorite subject: Champagne!

10687924_10205132933712008_9195392267634139284_o10633291_10204109992104163_1846934972266020760_o

It is well worth the monies and the time to go thru the caves and see how its all done and how it all started.  And even better, there’s always the tasting at the end of the tour!

We went thru several: Veuve Cliquot, Tattingier,Castellane and Many local ones as well.  The big houses give the best underground tours, but they all have great tasting tours.  Its a must for anyone’s bucket list and I highly recommend it.  There are two main cities to go to and they are about 40 min apart.

REIMS:  The largest and a quite big city but the majority of the Champagne area and the Old City are small and very walkable.  The Grande Dames of champagne are here:  Veuve Cliquot, Mumm, Tattinger, Pommery,Martel and more.  Additionally to the Champagne houses is the other very important site, the Unesco World Heritage Notre Dame (the Other Notre Dame) and the statue of Joan of Arc.

10636904_10204109962223416_1007089645474189977_o 10704208_10204109922862432_7744364367300381409_o

Epernay is the smaller of the towns but also bigger than you think with lots of shopping and plenty more houses:  Moet, De Castellene, Bollinger, Pol Roger, Pierre Jouet.

10688322_10205172893110968_653668045104712585_o