A new (and itchy) walk!

I'm not sure what got into Mum today, but we went for a new cross country/fields walk - which was brilliant btw..but she made me squeeze through two stiles, whilst she popped over them.  Now for all of you who don't know, I don't like "squeezing through" anything..like doors and now stiles - especially when there's barbed wire above..anyway, I figured I'd better go through or else be left behind with the sheep!!  We then proceeded into a very ripe, ready to be harvested wheat field which left us both with itchy, sticky, horrid things sticking to my fur and Mum's shoes and socks - I did a lot of running and shaking and finally went into the little brook near Nan's house..that felt good!!

Lovely day though..Nan doing OK, but not getting out much..makes me sad :-( She loves me now though, and sometimes she tells me so! 

A day in Oxford

Mum and Jo both celebrated their birthday this week and and on Saturday, July 24th they took the bus to Oxford..free ride with their bus passes!  There are some advantages of being an OAP!!  They ate a delicious lunch at Jamie's Italian Restaurant in the city centre..

Voujon Indian Restaurant

Another night of noshing (without me, of course) this time on Thursday July 22 at Voujon, a modern Indian restaurant in Banbury...love the blue lighting!

Dad visits Nan..

Mum's birthday..

Good times on Mum's birthday..July 19.

These humans are always eating and drinking!!!!

Banbury Fringe Walk

Mum must have felt guilty for leaving me on my own for a few hours today because when she got home, we went for a very long walk about halfway around the Banbury Fringe Walk..we stopped along the way for a drink and snacks that we brought along with us..I thought we should stop at a pub, but I guess my vote didn't count on this occasion!!

http://www.cherwell.gov.uk/media/pdf/9/5/pdf711742504481976854.pdf

Banbury in Bloom...there are flowers everywhere - the town looks awesome..

http://www.banburyphotolibrary.co.uk/Welcome.html

My new BFF

I've met a lot of new doggy friends since I arrived in England..Paisley the Border Collie, Monty the Golden Lab, CoCo the Red Setter, Cookie and Chloe..Chocolate Labs and many more..but my bestest friend in the whole wide world is Izzy (Isabel) who is a Black Lab. She lives next door to Sue and Bill in King's Sutton and is a bit younger than me..today she jumped over her gate to come and play with me!

Mum took a really good video of us playing, but for some reason she can't get it to load onto the blog   :-(  I think she's going to put it on her Facebook page..so check it out)

Sunday roast..

The humans had a delicious looking roast leg of lamb for dinner today - we went over to Sue's..Nan was there too. Banoffee pie for pudding! Needless to say I was only allowed to lick the gravy off Adam's plate..

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8183/banoffee-pie

Good grief..they're always eating!!!

Banbury Old Town party

Mum didn't take me to this, but it sounds as though she had a lot of fun and enjoyed wandering around and lunch with Jo..

Rain, rain, go away!

Raining..a lot! Mum and I got soaked to the skin today waiting for the fish 'n chip van in Kings Sutton..and they weren't even worth getting wet for according to Mum and Nan!  Oh well, it's supposed to be getting brighter over the next few days, so can't complain - just not used to it!  Luckily I was groomed on Tuesday by a really nice lady called Emma..she did a great job too :-) 
http://banbury-dog-grooming.co.uk/

At least I didn't end up looking like this again..no wonder Mum didn't take me outside for a couple of days - I'm not a bloomin' poodle after all :-)

Car Boot Sale

Another sunny day and we're off to Bodicote for a 'Car Boot Sale' - I should probably explain to those of you in the USA that this is a flea market, but everyone drives their car usually into a big field and sell their 'treasures' from the boot (trunk) or in our case we just opened up the back door of the Mill-wagon and..Bob's your uncle!!  Barbs and Sharron drove to the village earlier in the day, so Mum and I walked over a bit later and met them there.  Bodicote is a couple of miles outside Banbury..there were loads of people about selling all kinds of stuff..Mr. Softee was there too, so (they) had ice cream cones. There's a (permanent) farm shop there too, and Mum bought some local Oxfordshire honey :-)  Jessica came over a bit later with Kev and Nia, so I had lots of attention!

Later on we walked back to Sharron and Kev's for a delish BBQ - I even managed to pinch some chicken from the grill!!

Fun times..I love it here!!

Broughton Castle

http://www.broughtoncastle.com/

Mum and Jo took me to Broughton Castle today, but it was closed! That's OK though, we can go back as they're open most weekdays and on Bank Holidays!  Not sure if they will let me in the house though..being a dog is not always an advantage..but the gardens should be lovely.  We saw a big herd of cows (they had really large horns so we kept our distance!) I think they've had sheep in the fields too..delicious smells all over the place!

It was a lovely days so we drove to a couple of the local villages, including the two Sibfords (Gower and Ferris) Jo showed us the house where she was born in Sibford Ferris - her Dad was the village policeman there many years ago..brilliant!

On the way home, we went back through the village of Broughton and stopped at the Saye & Sele Arms and sat in their lovely garden - Jo and Mum had a Bitter Shandy each and I had, yes you guessed it..water!

My first trip to the seaside..

How horrid of my Mum to wake me up at 6:00 am and then take me for a three hour car ride!! Mind you it was well worth it, because we went to Weymouth in Dorset..my first trip to the English seaside.. The weather could have been better, but at least it wasn't too hot - I had a blast in the sea although the waves were a bit scary but I went in up to my tummy and got sand in my coat :-) We went to a special dog beach where I met a few other dogs, but one of them only wanted to fetch a stick out of the water...in & out, in & out...so I thought I would create a bit of a diversion..enjoy the pics..
http://www.visitweymouth.co.uk/

Oh did I mention...they had fish 'n chips...