Found a new pub & vendage ends

Mum, dad and I went for a bit of a drive yesterday and, after a somewhat circuitous route, finished up in Chalabre. Now I have never been there before and dad was thirsty so we stopped to look around. To my delight we homed in a cheerful looking bar and ordered drinks all round. I have to say they certainly do a good bowl of draught water there, not that dad was interested in that of course.

Me outside the new pub

Sad day today as, at about seven o'clock this morning a very large and noisy grape picking machine went up the hill, woke up my mum,  and started harvesting Uncle Francois' merlot grapes. These are the last grapes to be picked in my neck of the woods so now my choice of early morning snack is limited to those grapes that either the pickers or the machines have missed. Mind you, there are a fair amount of those, and as the leaves fall off the vines it gets easier to find them! Probably enough to keep me going for a few weeks yet.

Still enjoying lots of nice sunny hot days here although apparently the pool has cooled to socially unacceptable temperatures, not that I would know. Suppose I had better go and bag a few more rays.

Scary dogs and creature comforts

The other day my best mate, Lilly, came round to lunch with her mum and dad. The humans, as per usual, gathered round the table and got stuck into loads of food and the bottle stuff.

I had not seen her for a while so there was a lot of catching up to do, a bit of lizard hunting, and then we decided to have a contest to see who could look the scariest dog. I won, of course!

Today mum and dad went shopping and came back with a lovely present for me. It is a super soft rug to go in the conservatory in front of my day bed. Those of you who know how much I like my home comforts will appreciate that I took to it straight away and have hardly been off it since.

In fact, it is so comfortable I might just have to try it out for a quick nap.

I've found my ideal job

I was browsing through the local paper the other day when I came across a very interesting article. It was talking about the methods used by wine growers in our region to tell when the time is right to harvest the grapes. Traditionally this has been done by measuring the sugar content of the grapes using a reflectometer or by doing a more detailed analysis in the lab looking at other features such as acidity levels.

However, it appears that increasingly some growers are abandoning the time honoured methods in favour of using taste buds. And here I don't just mean their taste buds, but more importantly those of their dogs. One grower reported that he decides when it is time to harvest when "his dog decides to start eating the grapes".

Those of you who follow this blog will be well aware of my penchant for the noble grape but I am fussy in ensuring their ripeness first. It would appear, therefore, that I have found my ideal role in life - that of Chief Taster of the Grapes. 

Me at work in my new role

On that basis they should have started harvesting here last week as I have been busy munching grapes for about 10 days now - but they are only just getting round to it in our locale. Don't say I didn't tell them, and don't blame me for a duff vintage!

Cooler now, mums first tomato, serpent identified

Bit of a mixed bag of news this time but as I have not been in touch for a while I thought I would just give you all a general update.


First of all, thank goodness the really hot spell, where it touched 40 degrees on a couple of days and was really steamy for over a week, is finally over. The other night I had the best night's sleep in ages with the temperature indoors only 21 instead of the 28/29 it has been and a total absence of humming aircon or whirring fans. Bliss! Well, you know how much I like my kip.

Mum's first tomato

 Now as usual dad has been growing his cherry tomatoes this year and very nice they are too! (Don't ask) He buys the little plug plants from our local supermarket and always gets a really good crop. This year, however,  mum decided to set up in competition as she had been given some free seeds. Well, lovingly nurtured and carefully tended, they are now producing fruit and today she proudly picked her first, very own tomato and here is a photo to prove it.





Those of you Facebook friends will be aware that the other day I had a close encounter with a snake (or serpent as they call them here). Well, dad got a good look at it and scoured the internet in an effort to identify it. Turns out to be a young Montpellier snake which is a bit venomous but not of the death inducing variety. Mum was a bit relieved at that as she seems a bit worried that I might adopt it as a new playmate.

My best mate, Lily the teckel, is back from her hols in the mountains so I can't wait for her to pop over so we can have a good catchup.

Oh, and as you can see, I got a bit fed up with the change of design of my blog page so I have selected another one and will see how this appeals.

As today is a lovely, sunny, and moderately warm day I might now just go and do a bit of sunbathing on the deck to top up my brown bits. Speak to you all again soon.

I love Australians!

I've decided that I love people from Australia! Not that I have met that many, and those that I have met mostly originated in the UK so I suppose they are not real Australians. There is Uncle Paul who I have known since I was a pup, and there Is Uncle Steve (Slater) who pops over each year to visit his little house in Montazels. And then there are the totally psuedo Australians like Uncle Den and Auntie Jo who used to live here but now live in Oz.

Now there are two more lovely Aussies (again of UK origin) with whom I am deeply in love - Uncle Chris and Auntie Helen. They are over here on holiday and have been living in Montazels for the last three months. The other day they popped round to see us with arms full of the bottle stuff so I knew how the evening was going to turn out. Once everyone had a full glass and was settled down I decided to join them on the swing seat and play my role as host.

A jolly evening was had by all and much blanquette and beer was consumed - not by me I hasten to add. And what is even better, it did not tire me out at all so I was able to give mum and dad grief until well after bedtime!

Will this social whirl ever end?

A very special announcement.

This is my 100th blog. It seems only yesterday that I started blogging but it was actually back in December 2008. In those two and a half years I have had almost 2000 hits on my blog from over 60 countries around the world. It sends a shiver down my very long spine to think that all of these lovely people have taken the trouble to read about the antics of an insignificant little dog in the South of France.

 Last time I was telling you all about the hectic social time I had been having. Well, I have to report that it continues!  First of all Uncle Steve Brann turned up from England to check up on his recently burgled house.He came round several times and we had a good old catchup as I had not seen him for ages.

As I told you in the last blog, another Uncle Steve (Hall this time) arrived from Scotland and I had not seen him since I was a pup. He came round to watch the F1 race at Silverstone and then stayed for dinner. After the race they retreated to the pool deck where dad got out the bottle stuff (no surprise there then). I joined Uncle Steve on the balancelle (swing seat to you) and decided it was about time I partook of some of this apparent elixir of fun so I stuck my tongue into his glass of rosé. I was OK but I must say I prefer beer.

My dinner was served al fresco on the deck and I was called. Imagine my horror to then find Uncle Steve apparently tucking into my evening repas. Well, I was having none of that and soon saw him off and quickly scoffed the lot. I did hear someone comment that "that was the whole idea" but I have no idea what they meant.

I later returned to find mum and Uncle Steve snuggled up together on the swing. For some reason I don't fully understand, dad was not at all put out by this.

On Tuesday we went to Auntie Mary and Uncle Tims's for lunch. Their son Matt and his lovely lady Natalie were over from the UK, and once again I had not seen them since my puppyhood. She works for one of the county's leading vets and has two big dogs of her own so we got on like a house on fire.  And it is always nice to see Auntie Mary and Uncle Tim so I tried to behave really well for them all. Rumour has it that I succeeded!


No matter how much I do of this socialising, it does not get any less tiring so I am sure you will not be at all surprised to learn that it is time for some shuteye.

Best in show!

I went to my first fete today. It was at the local rugby club and as it had been organised in part by a Brit it had many of the things that I am told are typical for such a fete in the UK. These included tug-of-war, bobbing for apples, splat the rat, and skittles. However, instead of the usual burger stalls there were stalls selling gateau, snails, and cassoulet. Very French!

There was also a dog show. At least there was supposed to be a dog show, but I was the only dog who entered. Therefore it was not much of a dog show but naturally I cleaned up and got best in show. Well, I would, wouldn't I, with my good looks! Here I am being presented with my rosette.

It was also a great chance to meet up with a few old friends and especially my mate, Steve Hall, who had just flown in from Edinburgh for a few days. Last time I saw him I was a mere pup.

All this competing and socialising is very enjoyable but in these temperatures in can be quite exhausting. I spent most of the evening stretched out on the cool tiled floor recovering, but still wearing my rosette of course!