Tour de France 2011

Signs have been posted on the roads for the past month. Anticipation. The Tour de France is coming on 17 July! This time through Henny's old village Alignan du Vent. When the Tour passed through Roujan a few years ago, it was swelteringly hot. Today a cloudy day with cool temperatures and a stiff breeze. Not typical July weather, but made for comfortable spectating. Our lovely friends from Hannover were thankfully on hand to make the waits between the action pass very quickly.

The advertising caravan seemed shorter this year, but there was still a long delay before the riders came. Then finally, it's all over in a colorful lycra flash, but it gets you every time.

Saluki Puppy Visit

Today we visited the litter of pups born 19th May 2011, now 8 weeks old. Six all together, one lone male with 5 lovely sisters. Four smooth-coated (my faves), two feathered. Beautiful, silky soft, healthy, wriggling with joy. In another couple of weeks, they'll begin journeys to new homes in many parts of the world, including Spain, Poland and Norway. Expert breeder Shera's champion Salukis are highly sought-after, but today they were just a sweet little family playing together, followed by a snooze in the shade.

Here I am getting reacquainted with Esadi, the puppy I was holding if you scroll back to February '09 on this blog. Not the mother of this litter I hasten to add, she's still only a teenager. She cheekily snitched

puppy food while we had our backs turned. Soon the pups had to get back to their siesta, the only time we managed to get all six in one frame.