It's that time of year

 

What a rainy, miserable day!  It seems like its been raining for days!  Mother Nature must be making up for that dry summer that we had.  This week will be no drier as Hurricane Sandy delivers more of the wet stuff all week.  Fantastic!   Niagara Falls has absolutely nothing on us!!!

Calendar Update:  Great news all!  We have proofed and double-proofed the calendar and will be going to print very shortly.  The 2013 BPS calendar features a more 'classic' calendar look and will include holidays for both Canada and the US.  We have some absolutely superb photos this year and I think you'll all be very pleased with this amazing stocking stuffer!  Details regarding availability and price will be posted soon. 

Anyhow, pool season is most definitely over and we sadly closed the pool a couple of weeks ago.  We were hoping on having that final swim of the season, but no such luck.   It sure was great that we had so much help from Zoe and Coullah.......as Kypros works....

The girls supervise the work (every job needs at least one supervisor, right?)

 

 

 I'm making them look bad, its true, they did help........

Keeping an eye on the equipment



Unfolding the pool cover
 



With such a helpful team, who needs to hire professionals!?!?!

 

 

 

A Musical Interlude

Hi everyone!

I don't usually do any types of review or promotion on the Blog, but today will be an exception.  Last night Kypros and I headed to Toronto to see Ben Harper at Massey Hall.  Kypros and I both love Ben's music and collectively have seen him quite a few times.  Our favourite concert to date was at Radio City Music Hall, NYC.  But people, last night, he was in rare form. 

Normally, a concert is 2 hours, right?  Well this beautiful acoustic evening was turned into a whopping 3 hours or so of amazing music.  I also have to give kudos to the opening act, Luke Spehar.  Ben got on stage (on time) at 8:45pm and played until midnight - no break, no 'costume change', no correographed dance routines, no special F/X.  Just one man and about 15 different guitars.  If you ever get a chance to get to a Ben Harper concert, go!

Now, to make this a true Blue post, I have to say that both Zoë and Coullah spent the evening hanging out.  Both were super good and when we returned home late into the evening, Coullah was there to sleepily greet us at the door. 

More Blue news next post - including a calendar update!

Classic Zoë

 

Calling all Blues!!!

Thanks to everyone for submitting photos of your beautiful Blues for the 2013 calendar!  It certainly will be hard to choose this year with so many amazing submissions.  But, that being said, keep them coming!!  This is just not for Canadian Blues - we'd love to hear from more of our US neighbours - we know you have 'em!!!!  Europe and beyond???  We'd love to hear from you too!

Please review previous post for submission guidelines and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

 

Can your Blue say Cheese?

We know they LOVE cheese, but can they say it??

We are in the process of designing the full colour, 2013 Blue Picardy Spaniel Calender.  Although we have received some *fantastic* photos, we would like more!

This calendar will be in a different format from that of the 2012 version.  Not to mention it was our very first attempt and needless to say, we had a couple of 'proofing problems'.  Thanks to everyone who put up with the mayhem of last year's attempt!

We will credit all photos (unless you wish to remain anonymous - that's OK too!) We promise that version 2.0 will be PERFECT!!!
 
Please sumbit your images (Raw, jpg, TIFF or EPS format work best) to zoeandcoullah@gmail.com or to the Blue Picardy Club of Canada at BluePicardy1@gmail.com.

Calendars will be ready earlier this year - in plenty of time for gift-giving!  Details regarding price will be available soon.  Proceeds from the sale of the BPS Calendar cover our costs of production/mailing and help support the activities of the Blue Picardy Club of Canada.

 

Fun with Friends

Zoë and Coullah have had friends accompany them on their daily walks.  Today was no exception.  Crystal brought along three dogs today and all got along fabulously!   Great job, Crystal!!  All five look completely tuckered out!

Zoë, Coullah, Logan, Indie and Scout (photo: Parks & Barks)

Love will take you furthest.......

As I sit here and watch the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, I happened to take a bit of a break from all the action and found a beautiful story on line. 

A Wisconsin man, John Unger is seen gently cradling his 19-year-old dog, Schoep (a Shepherd mix) in Lake Superior.  Schoep suffers from arthritis and his advanced condition has made it difficult for the aging canine to get any rest.  To ease his pain and help him relax, Unger started taking his best buddy out into the warm water. The gentle rocking motion acts as a sort of therapy and allows Schoep to grab some much-needed shuteye. 

The photographer, Hannah Stonehouse Hudson, stated, "I want people to identify with this photo, and remember a time when they felt safe, loved, and cared for".   

According to the posting, Unger and his fiancée rescued Schoep when the Shepherd mix was an eight-month-old pup.  Schoep had been abused by his former male owner and Unger told the Duluth News Tribune that it took close to a year before the dog was able to trust him.

When orignally posted by Hudson, the photo inspired many people to donate towards Schoeps expensive medical care. 

Give a big hug and extra cuddles to your doggies tonight people!  They are "safe, loved and cared for".

Guess who's back at the beach??

No one loves the beach life more than June!  Thanks to her very accommodating humans, Coullah's Michigan-based sister is lovin' the sand and surf!  Unlike her sister, Coullah has absolutely zero interest in the wet stuff.  She jumped into the pool after Zoë one hot afternoon and although Zoë swam like an Olympian, Coullah was thrashing and splashing - with a little help from Kypros, she got out of the pool none worse the wear.   June clearly loves all things water - much like her Aunt Zoë.