Just one thing this Friday...

Comparisons

Some readers might remember the old (19th Century) fox terrier oil painting on the wall of Gail's not-very-tidy study. 

I wonder if anyone else saw one of the photos from Monday's post and noticed a similarity in the composition? 

And on the theme of comparisons, Gail had the cheek to ask me if my foxie friends from Sunday really are the same breed as those stuck up types who strut their stuff around the show ring at Crufts...

Better a crown than a cone?

Gail and I both smiled at this photo in Saturday's 'Times'.

We are pleased to read how King Charles appears to be responding well to his cancer treatment. But Gail and I are quite sure that he and our terrier loving Queen Camilla would have preferred to be joining  the Aberdeenshire WFT gang on our muddy tramp around Bin Forest yesterday morning, rather than being stuck in some palace Down South reading get well cards.

Clockwise from front: Nobby, Merin, Agatha, Rupert

Scoring a treat from Anny

Poised for lift off...(the pink boot belongs to baby Margot)

Impressing Agatha with my jumping skills

Waiting for Gail to stop taking photos

Attentive foxies. Left to right: Merin, Nobby, Agatha

Team photo: Rupert, Nobby, Agatha, Jinx, Merin

Nobby and Gail's Big Adventure

It's a dual purpose post today, with a special adventure for YAM-aunty's Final Friday Feature, in which we get close to nature for the LLB Gang's weekly blog hop.

Carry On Camping!

Golly gosh I was so excited when Gail told me we were we Going Camping this week.

I've read all about our friends Rosy and Sunny and their exciting adventures in the magnificent and luxurious 'CeCe' motorhome.

I've seen with my own WFT eyes the more modestly sized but still wonderfully comfortable electric van, the 'Grey', so cleverly converted for cosy domesticity by our friend YAM-aunty.

Imagine my consternation when Gail, after burrowing around in the back of the box room, excavated an elongate black bag and announced that this was going to be our accommodation on Monday night!

The plan, I learned, was to meet up with our friend Imogen at the Ballater Caravan Park. Imogen was riding the c.45 miles out there, her bicycle fully loaded with her camping gear as a trial run for a forthcoming solo expedition to France and Spain, and Gail would drive us out to meet Imogen, carrying an extra blanket for our friend in addition to our own kit. Apparently this was to be a 'test' for me too.

We arrived first and, ignoring my offers of assistance, Gail erected the tent. I tried not to look too envious of the more substantial accommodations parked nearby.

Imogen showed up shortly after and I noted that her tent was even smaller than ours!

Gail claimed it was quite a deluxe camp site, with excellent, clean and modern bathroom facilities. I was not so sure about my bathroom option...

Fortunately, Gail decreed that, as it was not raining and I was dry and relatively clean, I would be allowed into her tent with out the need for pre-bedtime ablutions. 

I was a Good Boy over dinner in the nearby pub (The Balmoral Arms) and did not even complain when Imogen and Gail refused to share their big and juicy venison burgers. A fellow diner commented that I matched the carpet...

Soon it was bedtime, and inside the tent I experimented for a while with various sleeping positions, but decided eventually that I might be more comfy on the mat beside Gail rather than lying draped across her chest.

It was dawn before I knew it, and oh what fun to be enjoying breakfast, listening to the birds twittering away and sniffing the cool clean Highland air.

And what a lovely surprise, a chance encounter with a familiar foxie friend, Merin (who lives quite close), out on an early walk through the campground with her owner Claire.

After breakfast, our 'mobile homes' were collapsed and packed away, and while Imogen headed back to Aberdeen on her bicycle, Gail and I enjoyed a short walk up Craigendarroch Hill.

You can see the Ballater camping ground in the distance below.

When I asked Gail if we could go camping again she declared that I had aced the test and so another outing in the tent is a distinct possibility.

Hooray! 

Who needs blue sky anyway?

Yesterday morning Gail took this photo of me, posing nicely at the summit of Craigendarroch (a small hill overlooking the pleasant Deeside town of Ballater).

Can you believe what her new Google Pixel 7a phone camera suggested, totally unasked, when it saw the picture? 

Does Google think we live in the Caribbean? 

Gail says I should be grateful it didn't suggest erasing the dog in the foreground.

As for what we were doing in the Ballater area, well for now, all I'll say is, it was a new and exciting experience for me. Come back on Friday to find out more...