Yes, here she is all the way from the Big Smoke. Louise,  , the president of our Toronto Fan Club.  Louise is spending her vacation in Nova Scotia with her human and, rather than just stopping by for a visit, she's going to stay with us for a couple of days. She got introduced to the rest of the gang, including the other eight Doodles, and we were all happy to have her here. 

   

We were all keen to get to the beach and show Louise some fun, so off we went with Stephanie. Louise got caught up in the excitement and ran down to the beach with us but she didn't stay long. She said that her human might come looking for her so she should get back to the house, and she did just that. Stephanie alerted Mary that Louise was coming back so Mary met her at the gate and she spent the next hour getting to know the rest of the gang that don't do beach hikes.  

That included Gin and Tonique and Inky and Coco and she found them to be an eclectic bunch and none of them had any claims to Doodledom. Meanwhile, we were having our usual fun down at the shore as the noon day sun heated things up and the cold salt water was a welcome relief. 

    

   

After our slow trip back up the hill, we enjoyed a cool drink and rested in the Cabana until it was time for day-visitors to depart.

   

Louise wanted to be sure and have us write about how well she did with her dinner, cleaning up every last crumb, and how much she enjoyed her first day at CCS. When it came time for bed, she curled up on comfy one and slept right through the night.  

Contrary to the Weather Alert there were no thunder showers and heavy rain overnight and the morning was reasonably clear. Once all the day visitors got here, we just had to wait for Tilley and then Stephanie got us ready for a beach adventure. 

Belle and Maya like having all that sand and sea  to roam around on and there are always some games of  Branch Manager for Lulu, Daisy and Rosie.  

      

    

Today is a two Toller day , with Nokia as well as Molly ready for a game of chase or a swim before heading back to the house.   

    

Mary had to run a few errands around noon so we enjoyed our time outside until some heavy showers popped up and, suddenly, we all had to head for  cover. 

   

   

The heavy rain soaked everything on and off for the rest of the afternoon so we moved to the cabana and picked out our favorite

nap spot  .

Lyla   waits for the first sighting of her human's car as she looks forward to their reunion then it's the day-visitors who hop in their cars and leave us to our dinners. 

The weather forecast was calling for more hot and humid weather so we waited for Daisy to be dropped off in the morning before we left to go to the shore where we could lay down in the cool tidal pools, race into some waves or do some rock climbing like Lucy.   

    

   

  

While we were at the beach, our little Doxy pals, Gin and Tonique, arrived and they went on a perimeter-check mission with Inky and Ruger. Once the wet and happy critters got back, they settled down in the air-conditioned cabana to rest for a while, which prompted Mary to quote the line from a Noël Coward song.

'Only mad dogs and Englishmen,  go out in the noonday sun.' 

  

After a short nap, we couldn't resist the opportunity to do some gardening with Mary and Stephanie as they busied themselves cleaning up some of the rose bushes. There were plenty of shady spots to avoid the sun and the breeze from the West was refreshing.  Truthfully, we weren't much help   with the roses but we did pick out some good sticks to argue about and chew up on the lawn. Ruger was the only one who had a job to do as he anchored the weed barrier. 

       

When it's hot and humid, we head to the ocean to cool off. Mother Nature's Natural cooling-off system.  

     

Nobody knows how to cool-off better than Belle. 

      

      

Sunday we had to say goodbye to Saphira, Flynn and Frankie, and Kali. We did have a couple of arrivals though, Kash in the morning and Nokia   in the afternoon. 

 

I'm Inky  , the leader of this pack of Little Ones and I've asked them to demonstrate how the long grass might  be the reason some of them could disappear from sight and cause a panic. Here I am          getting them organized for some of their regular games and as you can see the short-legged Doxies   are having a hard time,  in that tall grass. Here you can see the smallest of the group, Saphira      , feeling the grass tickling her belly and the Doxies can't catch Marty, whose legs are longer. 

   

Just a news update on Marty  , he hasn't been here for a few weeks because he was told that he was going to be tutored. He wasn't sure what that meant but he hopes he doesn't have to be tutored again and miss his weekly visits. 

After all that work running through that tall grass, there was some time to rest in the sunroom and listen to the warnings about danger lurking in the dark corners where the grass seems to swallow them up. When you're a Little One, you have to be smarter than the Big Ones and we all agree that isn't too difficult. 

   

So, just to make sure they get equal coverage , here are photos of the Big Ones at the beach keeping cool in the waves and relaxing in the tidal pools. 

    

   

After dinner, the Lawn Mower Guy, arrived and spent three hours cutting the grass in the designated areas and we slept through the process. Later we took our late walk and gave him a Thumbs Up on his work.   

 

Here are some photos of what is currently blooming in the garden followed by photos of us playing with one another. 

Rugosa Rose                                                       Peony                                                      Two varieties of Daisy                                                       

    

Snow Ball Bush                                                Weigela Red Prince                                                     Lace Cap Hydrangea

     

Crimson Diablo Ninebark                                                 White Potentilla                     Spirea Japonica                                                                     

    

Honeysuckle                                                        another Peony

    

 

A lone Barn Swallow   stops by to see if there are any nesting sights.

Harrington   is back for a few days of fun at the beach.

   

    

     

 

 

 

Well, look who arrived back from her travels, looking very smug and full of herself. Yes, it's the world and time travel expert

Saphira , and she says that she's glad she went but the hectic pace has worn her out. The pair that were not bothered by the hectic pace, Ollie   and Ozzy     arrived for their usual Wednesday visit, sans berets, and they told us they had some great adventures and enjoyed cussing in French. Mon Dieu! 

Lucy   was another member of the Doxy gang who was dropped off for her visit and she jumped right into some games with her little comrades after the thunder showers ended.  

       

  We're pretty much back to the full  complement of day-visitors today and the beach was beckoning to us but M'Gosh was being picked up by his humans so we waited until he left and the blue skies appeared before we raced to the waves, hoping they would cool us off. 

     

   

   

After the beach fun, there was time for a good cabana nap before some of our group had to depart for home. The temperature and humidity were both high enough to convince us that an after-dinner rest was in order. 

Now we know what Saphira had been planning the last couple of days. Last year, when her humans were in Italy, she went looking for them to see if they were having a good time. This year, they went to Paris and she figured she would join them to make sure, that when they visited the Louvre, they would see something that they wouldn't expect. 

But it was Saphira who got a surprise as she bumped into her friends,

Ollie and Ozzy  , in front of the Louvre arguing, in fluent French, with the doormen who said that dogs were not allowed inside. When he wasn't looking, the three of them dashed through the door so that Saphira could show off her famous relatives, who are featured in many of the masterpieces  hanging on the walls.  

Yes, that's Mona Lisa,  holding Saphira's Great Grandmother Nona, and on the right, in the panel painted by Martorell, we see Saphira's uncle Nico, ready to trip the Proconsul, Dacien, before he can sentence Saint George.     

   

Here is the Wedding Feast at Cana by Veronese and Saphira's cousin, Sophia, is seen strolling across the patio. She was a well-known party girl back then.

Here we find Saphira, herself, on the table in another work by Veronese , Supper at Emmaus. Given her love of good food, it's no surprise to see her front and centre on the table looking for her supper.    

 

So, while we were having fun at the beach, that's what Saphira, Ollie and Ozzy were doing. They must have lots of Air Miles and Saphira must be older that we thought. Of course, we doin't think of time the same way humans do. A day, a month, a year, a century are all  pretty much the same.  

    

   

We celebrated Canada Day, enjoying the good weather for the early part of the day and wondering when that little time traveler would return. It was a lovely morning on the beach and we wanted to enjoy it before Briar, Roxy, Charlie and Luna had to depart. 

        

   

   

Later in the day, the fog started to move in and we knew there wouldn't be any fireworks to worry us tonight so

Piper and Finn   relaxed on their favorite sofa and we knew that dinner wasn't far off.  

Saturday, the second day of the Holiday Weekend was forecast to be rainy but we managed to enjoy most of the day with just a few showers here and there. Ciocia  , our sweet Lab girl, was dropped off for the weekend and as usual she was a hit with everyone, old friends as well as the new ones. Our Springer Spaniel neighbour, Porter  , was given a make-up day since he didn't come on his regular Thursday visit and he's such a popular guy, that everyone wanted to play with him. The heavy seas over-night washed a lot of kelp and seaweed up on the beach and Stephanie knew we would treat it as a buffet if she took us to the beach and then Mary would have to contend with the overindulgence, tonight, so the beach walk was cancelled for today. 

We had lots of fun playing chase with each other and exploring every nook and cranny of the big fields, all the while wondering what was on Saphira's mind. She was doing a lot of pacing and she seemed to be busy hatching some kind of plan as she marched around. She checked out 'Things to do while you're in Paris, France.' on the computer and she asked Honey, the French Poodle to give her some French Bark Lessons.   

    

   

Sunday was a rainy day and we did manage to get to the beach with Stephanie but, as expected, the seafood buffet was too much to resist. We all started picking through the piles on the beach, looking for the tender bits of kelp and rockweed. Stephanie laid down the law and told us we would have to go back to the house if we didn't stop eating so back up the hill we climbed.

        

      

  

Once we got back to the cabana, we were encouraged to lay down, nap and hope that our wet coats would dry.

    

Desi and Bruce were here in the afternoon and we managed to get out and have a few walks with Desi before it was time for dinner. 

Today marked the start of the Canada Day Holiday Weekend and seven of our friends arrived to celebrate with us. The first three were Hazel   , followed by Marlea and Mylea   and then

Charlie and Luna   were dropped off. That's when Flynn got bitten by the Love Bug. 

He saw Luna from a distance and he was smitten. He could hardly leave her side from that moment on and they spent the day enjoying each other's company and playing together at the beach.  Luna, who is usually a pretty reserved lady, seemed to be just as taken with Flynn, which surprised both Mary and Stephanie.  

     

     

It was decided that we would wait until Roxy   arrived, before we went to the beach, since she always enjoys the adventure and soon we were all on our way down the hill. 

Flynn and Luna were like a couple of kids playing and running and chasing one another, while the rest of us enjoyed splashing in the surf. 

             

   

      

The last arrival was the small but mighty Saphira who enjoyed the wide open spaces and the variety of friends, some that she had met before and some new ones, as well. She is a big favorite of Stephanie's daughter, Ellie and they enjoyed their reunion  . 

Since Monica, another of Mary's great-nieces was visiting, she and Ellie participated in one of Mary's wild garden experiments - a Potato Tower. Here they are posing alongside their creation   which has five levels of planted potatoes wrapped in a wire tower. 

Here are some more early summer bloomers.