Am I A Bumble Bee?

This snazzy sweater is handmade by Puppy1Love!

French Maritime Alps

A favorite photo from last fall, even though one of us is chewing her fingernails!

My Doggy-Godson Visits!

We're so excited to welcome my doggy-godson Bertie & his human Gail for a visit. They're traveling all the way from Scotland, via train, ferry, and train. (Years ago, we all met online through our doggy blogs; how pawfect is that?) Welcome to Switzerland, friends! Read about Bouncing Bertie's trip here.

It's great timing for a visit because Mom's been super homesick since leaving the United States. Though, wow, how can she be homesick when the US election seem endless and exhausting and weird? To make us feel extra lucky (and put life in perspective), Dachshund Daddy took us hiking in the French Maritime Alps last weekend. If you look closely at this Alpine Family Selfie, you'll see I'm giving Mom a French kiss.

The next photo shows the wonderful signs to alert you to guardian dogs guarding their flocks.

I even got in a little flight practice!

Dachshund air travel

Dachshund air travel can be an enjoyable experience, as long as you keep a low profile. Can you see me here at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport?

Probably not, and that's exactly my point. It's best to stay in your carrier, but you can use your judgment and stretch your legs in low biped density areas.

Be sure to avail yourself of complimentary in-flight entertainment options, especially if dogs have prominent roles. (The movie below is "Absolutely Anything".)

And here's me with Mom and Grandpa at the Spokane airport, en route to my Idaho home.

All of this was in late July; I've been in Idaho since then. It's a working vacation because I'm on a mission to evict the resident rodents from the house. My mission requires the adoption of a nocturnal schedule, which is sometimes at odds with Mom's. There's not much I can do about that.

Wolf signage and Introspection

Last summer the whole family went for a road trip across the French Alps. At the Col de la Croix de Fer, we saw this memorable sign.

It reads "Grazing animals - Dogs on leash" and, below, "We want to live in our pastures. [We say] No to wolves."

Later that day, I met Foufou, and I asked him whether I could be mistaken for a wolf.

Foufou didn't think so, nor did his cousin Pierre (below, with Lac Bramant in the background).

"You're more likely to be mistaken for a Border Collie," Pierre said. I agree: my cousin Oz is a Border Collie, and we look very much alike.

Tootsie Visits the French Alps

Mom: "Since it's a European road trip, shouldn't we visit a castle?"

Dad: "How about a fort? Will a fort do?"

This is Aussois, France where we visited four forts. These are forts from the 1800s when Savoy (now part of France) was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was worried about a French invasion.

In addition to calling me a "Tube of Fur," Mom has started called me a "brave little baguette" because I'm such a mighty hiker. (She should call herself a baguette... you wouldn't believe how many baguettes Mom ate in France!)

When I Travel...

When I travel, I bring my own bed, my DreamSack. I'm wearing my Hold-a-Dog Harness -- also from Dachshund Delights! I'm a Mighty Hiker and a savvy traveler.

When I sleep, my snores fill the room and ring off the mountainsides.

This is Mom's lunch!

Trudy the Bernese

Meet Trudy the Bernese mountain dog! Bernese and Dachshunds have a lot more in common than one would think. Aside from the negligible size difference (they say Bernese mountain dogs are slightly larger than dachshunds, though I haven't really noticed), both Bernese and Dachshunds like to nap and give sassy looks.

Trudy lives in the Tanarello Valley, just below the border between Italy and France. This is where Trudy walks every day.

Trudy's pee spots literally mark the border between the two countries, thus complementing the role of border markers such as this one:

"F" stands for France, but why does it say 1947 underneath? Trudy says, "Because that's when the border between France and Italy was redrawn after WWII." How wild is that?

Welcome to the Source

Meeting Bertie's Gail

We've been great fans of Bouncing Bertie's blog for years, and we were thrilled to meet Bertie's mom, Gail, as she came cycling through the Jura area of southeastern France with a group of friends from London. For logistical reasons, dear Bertie couldn't tag along.

We met up in Pontarlier, France, where we had a lovely dinner with Gail and her friends.

I gave ample evidence of my immediate affection for Gail. Did you know I recently became Bertie's doggy godmother?

Unfortunately, the shortbread Gail brought for me was immediately confiscated by my parents who claimed it would affect my diet and rapidly proceeded to let it affect theirs. Sometimes all you can do is look away. (With all the baguettes and chocolate croissants Mom was eating in France, you'd think she could share Scottish shortbread, but no.)

Gail cycled with Dachshund Daddy from Pontarlier to the town of Mouthe, France while Mom and I drove over in the Dogship to welcome them. Can you believe it was Mom's second time ever driving in Europe?! The first time had been in 2006, when she drove a couple of miles in the Black Forest of Germany.

In the evening, I shared my travel advice to help Gail and Dachshund Daddy plot a special route into Switzerland.

The next day, Dachshund Daddy and Gail negotiated the crossing of the Franco-Swiss border, which was patrolled by a couple of gorgeous Alaskan Malamutes.

Back in Mouthe, Mom used her new driving skills to go to the Boulangerie for more croissants, a piece of chocolate cake, two quiches, and Easter tarts. (Question: Do you think she shared any of it with me?)

Meanwhile, on the Swiss leg of her bicycle journey, Gail treated Dachshund Daddy to a yummy lunch before she continued on toward Geneva.

Dear Gail, we loved spending time with you! Please tell Bertie we were sorry to miss him, and we hope to meet him in person soon. Please give our regards to His Bouncingness!

Bedroom in Arles

By now you will have heard the news: experts at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam authenticated a new version of "Bedroom in Arles" with the help of Vincent Van Gogh's letters, chemical analysis of the pigments, and X-rays of the canvas.

This is the fourth known version of "Bedroom in Arles"; the most notable difference with respect to the first three versions is the presence of a burrowing dachshund ensconced on a most excellent doggy couch.

As soon as I saw the painting in the newspaper, I went straight to my family trunk, and I was amazed to find this picture of my great-great-great-great-...-great-grandmother Zelda next to her doggy diary.

Now, guess what? According to her doggy diary, Zelda lived in Arles in 1889, the year when this version of "Bedroom in Arles" was painted! What an amazing coincidence, I thought, just before I woke up from a nap on my own most excellent doggy couch.

Luckily, I was able to get Dachshund Daddy to recreate Zelda's portrait just like it looked in my dream. It is now featured on my new Time to Burrow card as well as my Burrower's Choice US stamps, all of which are available from Tootsie's Shoppe.

As Van Gogh famously said, “If you don’t have a dog--at least one--there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life.”

French Relatives

During our recent trip to Provence, I enjoyed a ten-plus mile hike in the Saint Tropez peninsula. We started at Gigaro, followed the coast to Cap Lardier and Cap Taillat, and hiked back to Gigaro across the hills.


Not only did I enjoy wotten waven ocean views, but I was also lucky enough to run into my long lost French relatives. Meet Jean-Michel and Jean-Maurice on their Sunday walk on a forest road near Col de Collebasse.


Here they're discussing how many generations we'd have to go back to find our most recent common ancestors. I apologize I didn't pose with them. I was too busy looking for their pee spots, so I could pee over them.




And just as we were thinking the day couldn't possibly get any more wotten waven, we also met Coccolin, Bouncing Bertie's French cousin!

Kisses for Free

I Believe I Can Fly

Tootsie visits the coastline in Provence.

Walkies in Provence

Thoughts by Tootsie

More on Île Sainte-Marguerite

Here are Mom and I on the north coast of Sainte-Marguerite, looking across at the stretch of coastline between Cannes and Antibes. It seems like they've managed to develop every single square inch.


Luckily, Sainte-Marguerite has been spared by the uncontrolled urban sprawl that plagues the mainland.


Little sausages like me can come here, enjoy the wind, and not worry about cars.


I could taste the salt in the wind - yummy!



We also stopped by the Fort where the Man in the Iron Mask was held prisoner. His identity was never discovered, but Alexandre Dumas posited he was Louis XIV's twin brother.


At the end of our visit, I retreated to my quarters.


My travel bag is my safe zone, and I never need to be coaxed to waddle into it.



Here I am inside my bag on board the ferry back to Cannes. The green blob next to me is my mom.



Follow-up:

Dear Lovable Lily,

Thank you for your questions from our previous post on Sainte-Marguerite!

The ferry ride takes about fifteen minutes. That's it! Each ticket costs about fifteen dollars (US) round trip, but I got on for free.

I'm not sure if the monks do something more than pray. I must ask parents to take me back and to take me to the monk's island to find out.

Keep on wagging, love,
Tootsie

Île Sainte-Marguerite

Mom and Dad took me to Provence! Here I am on board of the ferry from Cannes to Sainte-Marguerite Island.


And here I am, exiting from my travel bag after we landed on Sainte-Marguerite.


The water was too cold to swim...



but the weather was perfect for hiking! We hiked the full perimeter of the island, all five miles of it, and then some. Here I am at the westernmost tip of Sainte-Marguerite looking at the Esterel mountains across the water.


I also enjoyed birdwatching...


I perused the information panels along the trails...


and I enjoyed the Land Art exhibition De l’Arctique à la Méditerranée (From the Arctic to the Mediterranean), featuring works by several French and Finnish artists. Here's Ban Pour Amoureux by Jean Jacques Castex.


Just South of Sainte-Marguerite lies the smaller island of Saint-Honorat, which is home to a monastery and about 30 monks.


We did not visit Saint-Honorat, but I have more to share about Sainte-Marguerite. I really enjoy my twavels. Would you like to read more about our time in Provence?