I am being abandoned!

Well......maybe I exaggerate a little, but my Mum is deserting me for a whole week! She is going to Ganny's without me as they are going on a short break to Wales. I do hope she hasn't forgotten the useful phrases I taught her before we went to Wales last September. No doubt she will still remember how to order a whisky if nothing else.........

And so I am being left in charge of Other Mum and KC; I will have my paws full, no doubt. I am hoping I can get Other Mum to take me on a few outings, as I want to show off my new collar set. Yes, I know, it's a bit of a turn around for me, isn't it?! From the dog who had "one to wear and an old one for spare" I have now had 3 collars in the last 6 months. Not up to Bunny's standard admittedly, but nevertheless....

Me modelling the Renaissance martingale and purple velvet house collar.

Now isn't this just one of the nicest collars that you have seen? It was made for me by my good friend MeggieMoo and her "Muvva" who own a fantastic dog accessory business in Denmark called MeggieMoo-collars, coats and more. Moo and her family come from the UK but when they moved to Denmark, good collars were hard to find, so they started making their own. Mum says she couldn't be more pleased with my new collars. Muvva even lined my martingale with purple cotton and put purple velvet on the back webbing! She ordered them last Sunday and they arrived on Friday.  Moo ships all over the world, so if you are looking for a collar, coat, fleece, jimjams, lead or harness, you really should check her out.

This is MeggieMoo. You can read all about her life here. She's had some real ups and downs but now she is safe and loved with all her family and shares her home with foster dogs too.

One of the reasons that Moo and I became friends was because of her brother "Thick Harris" or "Fik" to his friends. Fik is like my body double, I honestly doubt you could tell us apart, although Fik is actually a lurcher, having a bit of Saluki in him.

Harris

Amazing or what?!

So if I don't see you for a while it is because I am being severely neglected by Other Mum and you might want to consider sending food parcels or something.....

Here I am asleep in my purple velvet smoking jacket.....or house collar as some lesser mortals call them. See? Already I am being made to sleep outside....Whatever will become of me?

Love Deccy x (drama-hound extraordinaire) 

Betws-y-Coed

Betws-y-Coed is a small village in the Conwy valley within the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Mum has visited many times, but as Other Mum (or me) had never been, we decided to do make a detour on our way home from Criccieth.

 Betws-y-Coed means "The Prayer House in the Wood" and the village was founded around a monastry in the 6th century.

In the centre of the village is the Pont-y-Pair Falls.

This is also where I met my friend 'Mini Me' while we were enjoying a picnic lunch!

She is a 5 month old whippet; I think she thought I was her Dad.....ahem......

About a mile outside of the village lies Swallow Falls. It is the highest continuous falls in Wales

Not quite Niagara....but very pretty!

Back in the village, Mums were delighted to spot the Iechyd Da Delicatessen - they LOVE shops like this!

It sold everything from Welsh cheese to Turkish tea to Italian ham!

On our way out of the village we drove over the Waterloo Bridge which was built by the engineer Thomas Telford in 1815; the same year that the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

Of course, Mum couldn't resist buying a few items in that lovely Deli.! 

Here we have Dragon's Breath Mustard (blows your socks off!) Welsh Cheddar with Horseradish, Cheddar with chili, Cheshire with pickled onions, Caerphilly with Green Herbs and in the front Welsh Brie. 

Mums say they were absolutely delicious - and I even got to sample one or two!

Spot the castle!

When we rented our little cottage in Wales, there were several points that sold it to Mums:

 It was on one level, so no need to worry about me and steep inaccessible stairs.

I can confirm no stairs were climbed in order to reach this bed......

There were ample gardens for Mums and me to sit in.

Yes they seem ample enough.......

Relaxing in the aforementioned ample garden.

And finally, and I quote from the owner's literature, "you can sit in the front gardens and enjoy the views of Harlech and Criccieth castles" This pleased Other Mum immensely... she likes castles. Mum groaned and put her head in her hands.....she's not quite such a fan.

View of Criccieth castle: check!

View of Harlech castle: Blimey you need good eyesight to see that! This picture was taken on our last day- it took Mums all week to identify it!

Should anyone be interested, this is what it looks like close up!

Blogio and other useful Welsh phrases......

I don't know about you, but I really like to have something to look forward to. So I was really happy this week, when the Mums told me they had booked a holiday cottage in Wales for us all (well not KC...) to go to in September. Mums have been to Wales a few times, but I've never been. The last time they went, they took Flynn with them.

Perfect Uncle Flynn, of course, only ignored Mum 75% of the time had better recall than me so could be let off his lead. Ironically he didn't much care for beaches. Mum says she hopes we might be able to find a safe quiet beach where I can have a run too. But I digress...

 There are stereotyped images associated with every nation, and although these are exaggerated images there is sometimes a modicum of truth in them. The French wear berets and cycle around with strings of onions around their neck, Australians are all blond surfers who only ever cook on barbecues. And then there is the English. Now they of course, with their imperialist past, feel there is absolutely no need to speak a language other than their own. They are all born with the certain knowledge  that if they SHOUT LOUD ENOUGH IN ENGLISH everyone in the world can understand them. 

Now my Mums really try quite hard not to conform to this stereotype. There are a lot of tourist destinations close to where we live and they are always mightily impressed by the number of French/German/Japanese people who stop them and ask for directions in perfect English. So if they visit somewhere where English isn't the first language, they try to have at least one or two useful words up their sleeves. Pretty much everyone in Wales can speak English, but around 22%  do use Welsh. The percentage is higher in North Wales, where we are going. So I thought I'd share with you the highly useful words and phrases that Mums have picked up over the years.

Araf - slow. Other Mum finds this particularly useful to yell at Mum as she zooms along Welsh narrow country lanes.

Popty Ping - this is colloquial Welsh for a microwave oven. Good isn't it?!

Bwrdd Smwddio ( board smoothyo)-Ironing board. Can't imagine why either of them know that. 

Moron - carrot. It is important to make sure everyone knows you are speaking Welsh with this one, otherwise you are likely to get punched.

Asgwrn Grefi (assgoorun grayvee) Gravy Bone - now that's more like it!

Moch Glust (mokeh glurst) Pigs Ear. - Well that's me just about sorted I think.....

Milgi - greyhound. As in "that's a very handsome Milgi you have there"

Wisgi - whisky. Wonder which one of them learnt that.....?

Mwy o wisgi - more whisky. Now I know which one of them it was....

Fodca 'da leim - vodka and lime. God they are so predictable.......

Un beint or cwru (ian baint or coo roo) - one pint of beer. Fine but what about the crisps to go with it?

Creision (crayshon) crisps. Oh well done Mum!

If any of you out there are fluent Welsh speakers and would like to let me know more useful phrases, I'd be terribly grateful. "My dog would like a pint of lager and a bag of Wotsits please" would be really handy for Mums to learn before we go... hehe!

Give me your best Wordless Wednesday Caption in June!