Autumn Days..

Where does time go and why does it fly by faster as I get older? Now the wall is dappled with that wonderful warm autumn glow. The leaves are beginning to turn and the nights and early mornings are chilly --even though it reached 24 degrees C. today!

I have been busy: a month in London getting to know the newest grandchild, then a week in Ireland where we were the guests of my wonderful eccentric brother always known to my children by the self-styled name of "Wicked Uncle Peter". Chelsea went to stay with a friend here who owns a hotel in a beach-side town situated about twenty minutes from here. She spent a lot of times sitting on the front steps of the hotel getting spoilt by hotel guests. No tears from her then.
September passed quickly with a succession of guests and all too quickly October has arrived...

I made a lot of new friends in September: I discovered that our local dog shelter was closing down and I went on a sort of crusade. I visited the kennel which is situated in a beautiful abandoned villa with lots of green space and trees round it, in the village of Arliano and got to know the dogs and some of the volunteers there. The estate was bequeathed to man's unwanted four-footed friends by the French countess. It is entirely run by volunteers who go there on a regular basis to feed the dogs and clean out the kennels and give the dogs lots of love and affection.
Now this kennel is like a little family commune. The dogs are really well cared for and consider it their home, so it is very sad that it will close soon and the dogs will be separated and sent to other kennels. Quite a few have found homes but still twenty or so remain. I nearly adopted a beautiful old Siberian Husky called Asterix, but somebody got in first! Good for Asterix though! In any case, there are some beautiful, big, young, dogs there needing homes but I have a small apartment and an old dog to consider. One dog, Bobo reminds me a lot of Mars. So instead of adopting, I wrote an article for a local English publication that I hope will be published in November and some more dogs will find homes. Fabrizio and I have gone several times to take various dogs for a walk--even though sometimes it seemed the other way round with the big dogs! So we met some kind-hearted doggie people and some wonderful dogs with some very sad stories of cruelty and abandonment....
State Bene!