New Year Greetings - 2015

A New Year's Greeting.

2014 sped by quickly for us; I worry that's because we tend to wish our lives away. Throughout the summer, we longed to get away from the heat and humidity here in N Virginia to the earlier Fall in Maine. Just a few months later, we couldn't wait to escape the wet and cold of the winter here by decanting to South Carolina for Christmas and New Year.

Back in the Maine Stream

So we set out just after Labor Day for two weeks near Bath in Maine. We had rented a lovely house with Merrymeeting Bay out front and back, lay a nature-preserve with good trails to walk the dogs. The weather was cool and sometimes wet, but the dogs could sit outside in the sun, swim, and play in the bay. Downtown Bath was a few minutes away by car. We found it delightful, with good restaurants and folks with a naturally friendly and pleasant way about them. At first glance, it's hard to tell that they build warships for the US Navy there, but they do. Lobsters from the Maine waters are renowned worldwide, but the other crustaceans and fish are first-rate. The folks are more inclined to buy less expensive and equally delicious crab rolls instead of the signature lobster rolls.

There is no place finer than Carolina.

Fripp Island in South Carolina's Low Country is a gated community, and while it does have some lucky permanent residents, it is a golf and beach resort. For us, it's a beautiful place with a milder winter climate to spend Christmas and New Year; hardly anyone there and a vast, near-empty beach to exercise the dogs. This year, my two brothers and their wives joined us for two days after Christmas. One lives nearby in N Virginia, but the other joined us from a trip from Australia, a rare occasion.

Dogs and jobs

We said a heartbreaking goodbye to Angus, our 11-year-old Viszla, in the spring. He had the gentlest and most loving nature. He had been unwell for some months but was in good heart and had a wag of his tail for everyone up to the end.

In May, a breeder called us from the blue and set us up with a beautiful puppy. Karen picked out 'Brodie' as the name for him, and his American Kennel Club name became "Jak's Deacon Brodie." He was quick to learn, and we took him along with the other Vizslas on both trips.

Karen's job took her on more travel than before. The highlights are a week at the Hague in the Netherlands and another in Honolulu for work AND her sister's wedding. As usual, I stayed behind to look after the dogs. Whilst I could have gone along too sometimes, kenneling three Vizslas is hugely expensive, even for short stays, and they don't like it. Longer and perhaps further-flung trips were likely for her in 2015. Just watch the air miles rack up.