Baby boy is a rockin-roller

Tags

dogs, hotels, pets, postaday2014

The baby boy is very busy this weekend, he has two big gigs. It is so exciting! Little by little they are playing bigger venues, they are working on a full length album so who knows, one of these days, they may get to go on tour. Hooray for the baby boy and his band The Vanities.

As a result of the baby boy’s musical commitments, Jack is obligated to accompany us over the next few days. Today and tomorrow, we are in Boston and Jack has never been. These days hotels seem to be much more friendly to dogs or maybe it seems that way because we now have a small dog and not a lumbering 140 lb German Shepard. Rex was the kindest, most gentle giant ever, but trust me, he was hugely intimidating and not on purpose. He parted crowds of people just walking down the street. Jack stops conversations just because he is so, so cute.

The staff at the hotel are so kind here, but today they went up and over the call of duty. They sent up a dog bone shaped tin filled with doggie cookies, a chew toy and a plastic baggie holder. Jack is loving the doggie cookies. I took him for a very long walk and now he is sleeping soundly. This is a good experiment because we are planning to move to Boston in the future so Jack should start getting used to life in Boston.

Back on the road

Tags

hotels, Jack, postaday2013, travel

Back on the road, this time with Jack. The baby boy went off to Romulus Michigan to make another music video. The baby girl is coming back from school this week, so she will be finishing the Christmas decorating, all that is left is putting the Christmas candles in the windows and to hang the stockings on the mantle, otherwise the house is more or less set for Christmas.

As you can see, Jack is situated right where he likes it best, on me. As I am fairly sure you have noticed, he definitely has some poundage to lose, his rear end is on the wide side. I got the necessary Healthy Weight dog food so hopefully in one month’s time, Jack will be a little slimmer, the poor lamb. The baby boy hopefully will stop calling him Fatty Magoo, it does suit him, but for his well-being he needs a healthier nickname.

The only downside about traveling with Jack is dealing with his quirkiness regarding where he will or won’t go to the little boys room. I bought the doggie pads, but I am hoping that he will find an acceptable spot somewhere outside. I would have never thought that a dog could be so picky over where to go or where not to go.

Our little Jack is definitely a character.

Sunday evening getaway and one heck of a movie

Tags

getaways, hotels, movies, postaday2013, Sunday evening, sushi

I forget why my hubby and I stopped our Sunday evening getaways but we did. Today we decided to get back to spending Sunday night near Boston so that we could spend more time together. Jack and the babies will get me back tomorrow which is fine with them I’m sure, I think that Jack will probably miss me more, he’ll make do with either my son or my daughter.

My hubby and I did the pay per view in our room and we had been curious to see the Seven Psychopaths in the theater, I forget how we missed it but we did. So when we saw it available, we clicked on the order button without hesitation. I swear, it was one of the weirdest and more entertaining movies that we have both seen in a very long time. It was humorous, both light and very darkly humorous, it was extremely surprising, not in the sense of suspenseful but in the way that ordinary people don’t normally think. The cast of characters were unsurprisingly excellent given who was playing them; we had Christopher Walken, who at the end when he was striding out into the dessert, I couldn’t help but quip “There’s Christopher Walken walking”. There was Colin Ferrell, there was Tom Waite, there was Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson, this is a who’s who of brilliant actors known for their devoted commitment to the role, it was fantastic. The entire movie was based on pure love an owner has for his dog. I can more or less safely say that most people would not go to the extremes that we see in the movie but any dog lover will tell you that often money is no object to save your beloved Pooch, Bonnie or Rex. The writer was genius in blending an innocent love between an owner and his dog and the world of Seven Psychopaths.

After this movie we are going to see if we can find something else as entertaining to watch. Sunday nights are different because our two series have gone away to hiatus land so actually, instead of zipping back and forth between two shows, we are going to focus on only one, Game of Thrones.

I’m happy that we got back to Sunday night getaways.

Caunes des Minervois

Tags

France, hotels, Minervois, postaday2012, travel

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As I was going through these pictures I was once again reminded of the reasons why I love Provence so much, there is an austerity that is tempered by tremendous vegetation in the form of pine scrub and othe trees that fills my romantic soul. There is also a timelessness that I haven’t found in other regions of France. Time feels different here, perhaps because as illustrated in the town of Minerve, the villages seem to grow out of the rocks. There are so many hidden caverns in the Minervois countryside that have felt the touch of man since his earliest beginnings. The people themselves are very cognizant of their ties to the land, you see it in the pristine and meticulously kept vineyards all along the region.

I am also reminded of the blazing heat during those few days, we were visibly wilting. I’m not in any of the pictures, only my Tantine L., baby girl and my cousin, our chauffeur, are featured, but I assure you that I felt and looked just as hot. I was very impressed with the hotel, the decor and breakfast were memorable, the only drawback was the lack of a/c. However, I think that everyone, who sees the pictures of our hotel,  will agree that it was absolutely unique in its architecture and so fitting to the region.

The Abbey that was located in our little town of Caunes des Minervois was central to the wide raging battle of religious dominance between the Cathars and the Roman Catholics. It was as bloody a war than between the Protestants and the Catholics or the Muslims and the Catholics back in the Middle Ages. The region of Minervois is rich in its Cathar history and there are many sites of which we visited two, the Abbey and the town of Minerve, that were the last stand of Cathar martyrs.

In terms of more uplifting thoughts, I had forgotten that Provence is home to the Canal du Midi, one of my future destinations to fully explore with my hubby. The Canal du Midi was designed to open a travel route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean sea, thereby bypassing any need to sail around hostile Spain. Francois I asked Leonardo da Vinci to plan the route but it was much later in the 1660’s that a General Roquier marshaled 12000 men to dig the Canal du Midi. It is an extraordinary engineering  feat and it is the oldest working Canal in the world. I would love to follow the Canal and stop at all of its locks and thoroughly visit the countryside, eating and drinking all of its bountiful specialities.

As I continue to upload my pictures from my trip, I am increasingly made aware of how lucky I am to have had the chance to take this trip and especially to show my baby girl a good portion of France. It was truly incredible.