Menege et Trois

Today we are a little tired so we filed down to Main Place Shopping Mall for a bit of retail therapy. Then onto the Block for lunch and then back to the hotel to sit by the pool, catch up on my book and then meet up with Suzette - the bar manager at the Red Lion hotel.

Suzette recommended a wine called Menage et Trois - which funnily enough is one recommended by Nik who lives in Arizona so it must be doing the rounds of popular wine!!

A Day Trip to San Diego!

Luckily in Anaheim you are in near enough the beaches to go for a day trip out. So we went to one of our favourite places - San Diego!

Firstly, the San Diego Zoo most famous for it's conservation work with Panda's and Rhino's. We didnt see any rhino's today but we saw three pandas - one only a baby! Soooooo cute!

The onto Seaport Village in the town for lunch and some shopping.....what a lovely place!

Move over kids, Here I come!!

So it's off to Disneyland again. It was a lovely hot day, not too many people in the early part of the day and we'd done most of the good rides by lunchtime!! Although I had to do the water ride on my own - you're a girl Alan!! It was awesome, I love vertical water drops!!
It was the final of the NBA Championships so we naively thought the evening would be quiet as it was between the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers but no such luck, it was nice to see Disneyland in the night time but it was heaving......so we went to Downtown Disney and had dinner in The Rainforest Cafe.

Take me out to the ball game....

A wonderful game against the Brewers ending in a 5-1 victory to the Angels!!! Although the great Matsui didnt have a very good game, a new boy Kevin Frandsen hit a wonderful home run in the opening few minutes!

We had to move half way through though - despite the day starting off very cloudy it ended up VERY hot!

California here I come!

We had a very comfortable flight into LAX. Staying at the Red Lion in Anaheim as its now called - a hotel I've been frequenting since 1996!!!

The decor's changed, the beds are far more comfortable and the outside looks completely different - the downside is Pickfords Bar is no more.......there is a bar by the pool but absolutely no atmosphere and very small....we may have to find another 'local'!

A very hot day at Southern Counties!

I had a wonderful day at Newbury. Not only did Brodie behave himself (ish), he sat patiently on the bench without howling but most importantly he showed like a pro - he was a complete and utter pleasure to show! We came 2nd in junior and 3rd in yearling - not bad when you consider the others were days off 18 months and he is only 12 months old.

Bath Champ Show - Aptly named for a show that is always WET!!

Brodie's third Championship show and the weather was awful! So I decided to just go along, do my bit and come home. Brodie came a very respectable 2nd after the very famous Lourdace Navigator (who is not only 6 months older than Brodie but won his JW today) but far more for me than that was that he was actually a pleasure to show and stood very well but even better he moved with all four legs on the ground for most of the time!! This was the true victory for me - I am now beginning to think I have a winner here....but definitely a late developer!!!

The end of the Hell Raiser/Easy Rider!

Today saw the death of the original Hell Raiser and all round nasty bastard Dennis Hopper - even in his last few months he was trying to sue for divorce and make people's lives miserable. He was definitely NOT a nice person but boy did he make some superb films, Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Rumble Fish, Blue Velvet, Red Rock West and True Romance to name but a few....RIP Dennis, lets hope there is a place for hell raisers like you!

Believe the Hype - this book is GOOD!

I am very stubborn when it comes to reading hyped up books. I like to believe I dont follow the masses. You'd think I would have learnt by now! I didnt read the Lovely Bones until about two years after the hype - second best book I've read. Didnt read the Time Travellers Wife for years....ditto and most of all didn't believe the hype of my all time fave book the Secret History by Donna Tartt. So should it have been any surprise to me when the much hyped first Millenium book - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an absolutely fantastic book??? It was just so good, I've read many books in this genre and for the most part enjoyed them but this is in a league of it's own. I honestly thought that the hype was due to the authors early demise but no, believe the hype this book is going on my fave list - bring on the next two. What a shame there will be no more - unless someone else wants to take up where Stiegs left off?

Brodie's First Championship Critique

Really pleased with Brodie's first championship show - the GSA show at Stoneleigh. The judge was a straight talking, no nonsense Cynthia Griffiths so this means even more as it's so complimentary - I even got a 'well presented' when he wasn't exactly the best behaved puppy there :)

1 Glaysher's Kilnrae Kemerton Crusader Of Billingham; very pleasing youngster, well grown, balanced head, good expression, good depth of brisket, well presented, moved soundly. 2 Smith's Bryerdale Mighty Murphy Of Boswedden, I really liked this one, good outline, well bodied & well balanced. Nice brisket and couplings. He would not settle on the move which was his downfall. 3 Atwell's Kilnrae Kemerton First Lord.

It was a wonderful day, a day that I started out wondering why I was bothering and came home with a dog I honestly believed in......I can now carry on with confidence!