The hunter

Dianna, goddess of the hunt, in the Louvre's Galerie des Caryatides.

Louvre

There are uncountable depictions of mother and child in the Louvre, and each is timeless and precious.

Bring flowers

Tulips in Holland.


Aki said that in Germany, and probably Holland as well, you wouldn't dream of showing up at a dear friend's house without a bundle of flowers. And why not?  With a bag of 50 cheerful tulips available for 7.50 euros.

Back home

That work assignment in Holland was a lot harder and more time consuming than I thought it would be.  It's nice to be home and catching up on recent events (and when did Gilligan's Island go off the air?). 

Aki and I picked Larsen up at the Waynesville, NC show.   He didn't do quite as well there as in Asheville for the simple reason that some other dogs showed up.  Larsen lost out to Starbuck, who is as friendly as he is handsome.  No dishonor there.  Starbuck was 2nd and 3rd in the Sporting Group on Saturday and Sunday, which is a wonderful accomplishment.

All the same, it was great to get our little mutt back.  I've turned the air conditioner blower motor on so that it runs even when the compressor & conditioner are off, giving Larsen some favorite spots (the floor vents) to nap. All is well.

Thanks to Kim at Pocataligo Kennels for her efforts in keeping Larsen, getting him groomed for the Asheville and Waynesville shows, and even running him to Dr. Curry's clinic in Bishopville to address that intestinal problem he seemed to have had.  Really above the call.

Frank LOL

Well, the BOB joke is on me.

I was so happy for little Larsen in his (not one, but two) BOBs on Saturday and Sunday in Asheville, NC.  It turns out (and Susan W. was nothing if not diplomatic in her information to me) that Larsen was the only WSS at the show.

That certainly  paves the way.

In any event, Meghen Basel was the judge, and she knows Larsen well.  I'm sure she has her own private thoughts about his strengths and weaknesses in the conformation ring.  Still, it is all for the good.  Larsen was out, being handled, and being asked to move about the ring.  A good weekend for him and a nice, if evanescent surprise for me.

Larsen BOB

That's the text message I got from Kim Parkman while standing in a hotel lobby in Holland.  It came at wonderful time.  My work team had finally completed its business project, which had us working long hours for over two weeks.  We were gathering in the lobby to eat dinner and celebrate the conclusion of the project  when I got the buzz of a text message from Asheville, North Carolina, 4,300 miles away.  Kim was kind enough to let me know.

Rindi Gaudet of  Conundrum Farms handled Larsen.  Rindi has handled Larsen before.  She had him in the ring when he got his first Major in Montgomery, Alabama and when he got his second Major and championship points in Greenville, SC.  She really gets a great performance out of Larsen.  

What a nice way to end the week.  The hard work in Holland is over, and Larsen is having a good outing in Asheville.

Like any Western city, the Haag has a goodly share of modern buildings from the 1984 totalitarian school of design.  It still has city sections that are beautiful and timeless.

Cityscape near the Centerum (city center) of the Hague.

Nature red in tooth and claw

In the courtyard of the Peace Palace is a magnificent porcelain fountain. It was a gift from Denmark, or, as the Peace Palace website says, from Greenland, which at one time was in Denmark's empire.

Look carefully at this spectacular fountain. Look at what it shows. At the top of the pyramid are the polar bears. Ermine, regal, malevolent. In one bear's claw is a salmon. In another's, an unlucky seal. Surrounding the bears at the bottom of the pyramid are other seals, barking and crying out. Inset into the pedestal is a human face showing distress.

This is nature's immutable law.  It is the law that awaits us when our own system of laws fails.

Porcelain polar bears on
the hunt.

Seals mourn their fate.

An unhappy fate, below the polar bear but above the seals.

Going to market

Pablo and I rode our bikes to market this morning to pick up some snacks for the team.  Bread, fruit, cheese, bananas, yogurt.  We stopped at the bakery to pick up some of those fabulous French baguettes, and here is where the story gets interesting.

We spotted a small, dense, dark, and seed-covered loaf sitting behind the counter.  The story was that this was a traditional Dutch bread made with traditional Dutch grains - - heirloom grains.  Years ago, the EU had mandated consistent grains across Europe, said the baker.  In permitting this non-standard bread, it seems that the bureaucrats in Brussels had made a minor concession to the lowly subjects who sought to keep a small traditional connection to the past.

The loaf was sold unbaked.  I wondered if that was part of the regulation.  (Well, we are technically not selling non-conforming bread, you see, because it is not baked and so it is not bread.)  The baker was kind enough to turn her back on Brussels and bake it for us while we ran off to a cafe.

With that story behind it, and as it was hot from the oven, the bread was, of course, especially good.

It didn't take long for us to plow into this fresh, hot loaf of dark Dutch bread.

We picked up some cheese and other delicacies.

Pablo ok's the cheese.