What Is Your Daemon?

DOG - Your daemon may be a dog if you are loyal and caring, and like to know what is expected of you. You probably are very family oriented, and have a small group of friends that you are very close to, rather than a large group of acquaintances. You dislike confrontation, but you will stand up and fight for the people and issues that you really care about. You may prefer someone else to take the lead in a situation, although you would rather take the lead yourself than have the situation fall apart. You probably enjoy routine and order, but that doesn't mean you don't like to have fun. If anything, your friends probably know you for getting intense, child-like pleasure in the small things in life.

What Is Your Daemon?

Whos Been Sleeping In My Bed Then???

Jules and Bailey - Jan '06

Oi....who's this in my bed?? Jules is only just small enough to fit in here! She is such a cuddle junkie!

Buses, Trains and Trams

Woof, Bailey here! Guess what I got in the post this week? An invitation to my cousin Stitch’s first birthday on February 1st! The problem is that I cannot go there until April which is when my rabies sots are six months old. Shame, it looks like its going to be a riot.

I guess you read about the plastic bag incident – how embarrassing! I then had to have my elbow x-rayed. Some floating bone or something. I was out cold for hours. We are now waiting for a specialist to tell us what surgery I need …. Not looking forward to that.

On a lighter note we had a brilliant run on the beach on Sunday. My bosses were running all the time, I cannot really understand why they were in such a hurry and they looked bright red when we got to the car! Today Nessa and I went to Den Haag to go play with Lucky and Boofie in the woods. Man, what an adventure, bus, train, tram and all the same back again. We got pushed off a tram, nearly lost an arm in a tram door (Nessa not me) and it was not very nice. We managed though and I am getting quite handy getting around the city now. Tomorrow it’s Amsterdam – wow!

The Last Family In England

I have just finished reading The Last Family in England http://www.matthaig.com/home.htm and enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of a Labrador. I thought I had got it pretty right, but I had not realised how much of my imaginary conversations with Bailey now make sense!!! In any case, she has certainly not learnt all of the Labrador Pact and sniffs for pleasure….Henry would not approve Bailey!

Here is a synopsis, Meet the Hunter family: Adam, a teacher, his wife Kate, and their children Hal, seventeen, and Charlotte, thirteen. And Prince, their black Labrador. It's Prince who is the narrator and protagonist of this tale. An earnest young dog, he strives hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact. (Labradors believe in 'Duty Over All', that duty being to remain loyal to their human masters, to serve and protect their Family at any cost. Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. Their slogans are 'Dogs for Dogs, not for Humans' and 'Pleasure not Duty'.) Mentored by an elderly Labrador called Henry, whom he meets each day in the park, Prince takes his responsibilities seriously, and as things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry, his responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him. It all starts when a new couple move into the big house overlooking the park. Soon Adam is besotted with Emily, the beautiful aromatherapist, while her husband Simon seems to have played a significant part in Kate's past... Hal is tripping on acid and the house is invaded by his rowdy friends for a party; Charlotte's fallen out with Adam over her new boyfriend and tries to end it all with an overdose. And down in the park it's even worse: Henry has disappeared; Emily's dog Falstaff wants to lead Prince astray; has the terrifying Rottweiler Lear killed Joyce, the Irish wolfhound?

Who's A Clever Girl Then???!

I see the paw prints on the key board; however, Bailey failed to mention that she achieved maximum points (180) in her recent Gerhoomzam Hond exam!

Theor and Bailey braved the hail, snow and rain in mid December to do the test with Jules and I cheering from a freezing shed! Although we wonder where all this learning has gone sometimes, we are very proud of our girl! NOTE: She is not in prison here... it is her bed and she is there a lot!
The 'Man In The Hood' with his hond !!!!

Hello 2006 .. snow and football

Happy New Year! My bosses have been running around like cats with wind under their tails since the start of the year, so I thought I would put paw to pad and let you have an update from a brown pooch’s point of view!

Well, I am IN LOVE!!! I had the most the most amazing 10 days in Amsterdam when the two legged family went to England for Christmas. Thanks to Sonja and Huig I got to see a side of Amsterdam that most visitors never get to… the coolest and most social meeting spots around. I got to romp around with the big city dogs and they were sweet despite being so street-wise! From the start Sonja and Huig’s big white carpet drove me wild and I still cannot work out why they had a glittering tree IN the house – but hey it was nice to look at. Talking of white, what is it with this SNOW stuff!! However much I ate of the stuff, it never ceased to amaze me – wicked – shame it’s gone so quickly though. On the last day I get to cuddle on the couch with the lovely Sonja and even Huig.. Just as well I get to Sonja at Theor’s work most weeks so I can see her. J

When the time came to go home, we went to Schiphol to pick up the bosses and Jules of course, and swap cars. That was a little weird but it was good to get home. We were all up to 2 am so nice long lie-in before hitting the road to a village called Ane which is up next to the German boarder in a province called Overijssel . We were there to welcome in the New Year with Paul, Sasja, Jos, Corinne and I got to play with all their kids the entire time which was excellent. I was in trouble as I could not resist a few toys and Suus’ slipper, but hey, they still laid on the cuddle which makes it all cool, I invented a new sport too. FORREST FOOTBALL – come on FC Labradors! I learnt to tackle and to block the goal and even a great trick of grabbing trousers to really get those two legged players to the ground. Tijn really didn’t like that. Man I was exhausted but it was the best romp of the year …. So far that is.

Finally, we went for a walk in the dunes today. Real cool, on the beach too and got real close up to those really long legged animals – horses. Man they are amazing. I raced every other Labrador I could find and Theor took some more pics of me, I must say looking mighty fine!! Phew, time to sleep …again… woof!

A few cool pictures

Over the year, Theor and I joined the camera phone masses and as such have ended up with a vast photo library that has become almost like a photo diary! Here are some picutres in no particular order!

J and V drinking hot chocolate at the beach!

Jules cuddling her new puppy Bailey - July 2005

J with German friends on Dolphin boat, La Gomera, Oct

Theor on our 1st wedding anniversary, Rotterdam, Sept 18th


Neice, Vickie, waiting for the horses at races in Dorset

Jules and Theor, the zoo in France, July 2005


Nessa, Erika and *Elvis* Pete on the day that St. Nicolas arrived
in Leiden!

Year End Round Up 4 - Love, Romance and the last word

2005 continued to be a year of romance for the Verplancke family! In the spring, Theor's sister Helmi married Leendert-Jan (the running man) and what a happy occassion it was! Now step mother to Koen and Lotte, we are plannig a family holiday in May with Marianne (my other sister in law) and Theo (Father in law). So far no pics, but will update when i get some.

Theor and I also have had a few slushy moments. One such occassion was a weekend in Rome prior to picking up Bailey. Celebrating our last weekend of freedom as such, we seized the moment and I finally took Theor to the city I had always vowed to revisit with the love of my life.... qhhhhh....

In October, Theor, Jules and I went to La Gomera (Canary Islands) which was perfect. A rustic place with a pool and another Dutch family with girls for Jules to play with and Theor to play tennis with (another story)! It's really an amazing island and is full of animals! We had 6 pet chickens and cats outside our little house the entire week!

One of the most amazing moments of the year was watching dolphins and whales from a boat. It was incredible and at one time we must have been surrounded by at least 200 of these incredibly beautiful animals!

Now, I think that about just wraps it up for now in terms of looking backwards at 2005. I am already really looking forward to 2006.

We wish you a really happy, healthy and fun Christmas and look forward to an equally action packed 2006!

Nessa, Theor and Jules xxxxx

Year End Round Up 3 - The Semi-Naked Chef & Running!

Theor's passion for cooking has reached new heights this year with his cooking club (tafle 6) even being invted to cook for a friend's tennis club. I knew things had gone well when he retured very happy, very late and could not stop talking!

Our kitchen remsins the heart of the house and most weekends we enjoy a family roast of some kind. I attempt to get more adventerous with puddings beyond the apple crumble and Jules is a wizz with the salad dressings. Her passion for everything Italian is not wasted on us and we hope next summer to take a holiday there and indulge ourselves on some great food and country side.

To balance things out a bit, running is becoming a popular hobby in hour house! Theor is now running twice a week and I am in a running with the LOOPGROEP OEGSTGEEST headed up by my brother in law, Leendert-Jan. One of the prodest moments last year has to be when Jules and I ran a 2K kids race togeher prior to the Leiden marathon. I ran the half and together we raised around Euros1,500 so thank you to everyone that supported us! I run with the group most Wednesdays and Sundays and have had some great times running on the beach recently despite the weather!

Year End Round Up 2 - The Dutch - English Connection

In April my parents and family friend, Ginnie came to see us and the bulb fields and they were back again in early December for joint birthday celebrations for Jules and I, plus St. Nick of course (5th December). Mum got the chance to pose with some of those really colourful Dutch cows!!!

In the Summer Jules, Theor, Bailey and I drove to France to meet with Giles, Fiona, Vickie, Tilly, Mum and Dad for a week, Jules is now has a great Enlish vocab, with a few choice words from here Uncle and Grandpa, including 'you pst' and 'shut up you dog!'. This Christmas will give us a few more I am sure and we look forward to aweek in Dorset celebrating in true Vigar style yet again!

Finally, having an English 'sister' Jules continues to be my personal Dutch coach! Her vocab is expanding by the day and I am finding it harder to catch up, so more Dutch lessons in the near your for me :-) Of course, when we cannot find the words, we can always dance. I love this picture and we gave it to Theor as a belated Valentine's gift from the both of us!
The Girls! September, 2005, Pelgrimspoort 11, Ledien

Year End Round Up 1 - The arrival of The Brown Dog

It is that time of year when people send letters telling you their news over the past year, most of it not all that interesting but since its personal, it's a nice update. For the first time, I feel the need to do the same; however, I am cheating by posting in my blog and avoiding the post all together! Come on---- at least it’s better than a seasonal SMS!

After 2004 being a year of change (good mostly I may add), I hoped 2005 would be one of consolidation and growing roots (at least for me) from a personal and professional perspective. Mostly, that has been the case; however, consolidation does go without change - which is a good thing of course!

We are now a family of 4. Welcome Bailey, the much adored brown dog that has really been my main focus since July - much to the horror of Theor and Jules! Having said that it is Theor who has been taking Bailey to school every Tuesday (almost) since the summer and his hard efforts paid off with them earning the maximum 180 points in the final test on Saturday. Our ‘champ’ still has a long way to go to become the ‘champion gun dog of Leiden’ but we have been reassured we are on the right track!

Jules and Bailey have become great friends and seem to remain on a 'who can grown the fastest' race! Having just turned 7 she is shooting up (Jules that is) and turning into a staggeringly beautiful and engaging young lady (most of the time!) Her biggest passions aside from DOG are: her gymnastics on a Thursday night, her go kart, playing the game cube (latest addition), helping out in the kitchen (salads especially). Her English is improving by the day too.... see next blog for more on that!

Why Brown Dog Sleeping?

My brown dog, Bailey, spends at least 6 hours a day asleep while I spend at least that in front of the computer.

With that as a constant reminder, I want this blog to be my equivalent of the office 'water cooler' where I can take a 15 minute break and discuss what comes to mind.





Its early days so let's see how it goes, however, I hope that over time I can keep the content interesting enough to warrant a return visit!