gridlock!

I spent two days trying to recover from Monday's adventure! We have arranged to meet up with Jolanda, Joost and Skye to go for a nice winter walk in Epping Forest. We left home on Monday morning, the journey to Epping Forest was rather smooth, no traffic and certainly no hold up at all.

Epping Forest was very beautiful, not like the one we used to remember, muddy and wet! We ended up walking for three hours and didn't get lost! WooHoo! Thanks for Joost, he cycles a lot in Epping Forest so we all depend on him to guide us around the beautiful forest. The shelties certainly enjoyed their snowy walk. The snow on the groud was still very thick, so after three hours walk, they still look fairly clean.

Skye loves to chase Samber, and it was funny to watch them played. Samber is not a gentle girl when she plays, she likes to play rough. Now, Skye has grown up, it is ok for her to play rough with her. Skye was very active and agile, following her mama and daddy and uncles around the forest. I was amazed that she didn't show any sign of slowing down, she was running, jumping over the logs ... chasing the dogs ...

a nice family photo

and a gorgeous puppy

I was a bit disappointed with the photos I took at Epping Forest, the lighthing wasn't good for some action shots, most of the photos turned out blur and dark. I tried my best to edit them but they are still not what I was hoping for. Above are a series of photos of Skye chasing her mama.

at least I can take a good still photo ... handsome Sizzle

... and golden Seagull

After the walk, we went over to Jolanda & Joost's house at Woodford Green for a meal. Thank you very much to Joost for cooking us a wonderful meal, Colin and I were really enjoying the good food and luckily we stuff ourselves with the yummy food as the rest of the day was a disaster!

As we were enjoying our meal, I looked out through the window, I saw a lot of big flakes falling down from sky, both Colin and Joost reassured me that is just sleet but after half an hour later, they think the sleet has now become heavy snow! I couldn't relax myself anymore, I know it is rude to leave straight after the meal but I can't think of how I am going to drive home! I started to panic! There were at least 1" of snow on the ground!

We gave the dog a quick toilet trip before we go, the dogs were all covered in snow flakes! I love snow and I wish we were around home and walking the dogs in Mitcham Common instead of East London!

We left Jolanda & Joost's place at 16:45, I can only drive 5mph. If I have a choice, I would not want to drive at all. I have been driving 5mph for miles and miles. The snow was very heavy and I have to pay full attention to the road. The roads were snowy and icy, the car got skidded a few times but I managed to control it everytime it skidded. I was very scared but have to be braved. As soon as I got onto A12, I managed to speed up a bit, 20/25mph but not for long. Just before the Blackwall Tunnel, we were totally stuck in the traffic. The traffic wasn't moving for more than 30 minutes. Colin suggested we pulled over somewhere and luckily we spotted a McDonald's from a distance, we came off from the roundabout and carefully roll the car over to the McDonald's carpark. I was quite relief when we got to the icy McDonald's carpark, well at least I know I won't be driving through the icy road. The skidded condition really frightened me.

We stopped at McDonald's for an hour, the dogs were stressed, they don't understand what was going on and that well pass their dinner time. I normally carry dog treats and some dry food in the car but I recently clear them all out! Doh! Why everytime when you need something, you never seems to get it?

I spoke my brother-in-law Russell when we were at McDonald's carpark, he suggested we leave as early as we can as all the roads are busy and will become icy when the temperature drop, so we left the carpark after talking to him. We drove through Central London, the journey wasn't too bad, we sailed through quite easily until we hit Brixton. We have another deadlock again! We were totally stuck once again in Brixton, the traffic hardly move, at one point, we only moved ONE mile in an hour! I remembered we got to Brixton at about 9pm, at about 10:30pm, we were still in Brixton!

We tried to do a bit of short cut but it wasn't a good idea, mostly the side roads were very icy, so more skidding! Also, Londoners are very bad temper. We were stuck in the traffic, everyone is stressed and frustrated. We all want to get home as soon as we can. While we were stuck in the gridlock, I saw so many drivers lost their temper and nearly got into fight with other drivers! I have to admit I am short temper too but luckily I was chilled all the way home. I don't know why, maybe the snow and maybe the roads need my attention, I was totally concentrate on the road and didn't lost any of my temper.

From Brixton to Streatham was another 1.5 hours (3 miles!), then I found another short cut to take us home. Phew! I was so glad to be home again!! We were in the car for 7 hours! At this rate, we probably in Scotland already!!!

I struggled to get out from the car, my knees were stiff and sore! It took me two days to recover and I do not want to drive at all!!!

where is the 20cm of snow?

Where is the 20cm of snow that the weatherman promised? I was very excited and so much looking forward to it but yesterday morning, we woke up to probabaly a 2cm of snow! What a disappointment! The shelties love the snow, even my doppey and quiet Seagull loves the snow. He was crazy playing in the snow with Samber, the two of them made us laugh!

here is the very well behaved boys and girl sitting pretty for the photo, no problem at all taking this group photo, guess they are now more settled since we came home.

what a handsome boy! butter wouldn't melt expression!

have to inculde this photo of my handsome boy

crazy Seagull, he don't normally run when we go out walking but the snow can't stop him running like a loonie!!


this is a series of photos of Seagull and Samber playing in the snow:


boys playing:






Titan in the garden, you can see snow falling on his black coat

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ...

picture courtesy of Miguel

I've received this beautiful picture of Sipzie from Miguel tonight. They have plenty of snow in Belgium and Sipzie is enjoying the white puffy stuff.

It is beginning to snow here just now, the weatherman said we will have 20cm of snow by tomorrow, we shall see. It would be fun if we do have 20cm of snow, I am so much looking forward to it.

For now, here is Frank Sinarta singing for you ...

walking in the snow

I am still exhausting from our Belgium trip! We were out all day in the freezing cold weather on Sunday, watching some Belgian training in agility and other activities, playing with the puppies ... we managed to rush to Dunkerque to catch the midnight crossing home. We got home about 4am UK time, all I want is my warm comfy bed but I can't neglect my poor dogs, they have been missing me, so I spent another hour to calm them down before I can retired to bed.

We had a good lie-in on Monday before collecting Sizzle. He was very pleased to see us, he can't stop kissing/licking me. It is good to know he missed me, he was spoiled rotten. When we went to pick him up, little Trouble (Sophie's little tri colour sheltie) looked so sad, they were best pal and clever Trouble knew Sizzle is going home.

We then took the dogs for a good long walk. Sing, Seagull, Saturn, Titan and Samber didn't get their walk when we were away. I dare not ask my nephew to take them out as I know they will try to run away from him. My dogs are very much of mummy's boys, so I cannot trust anyone to take them out.

I never thought I will have a problem taking a group photo before but yesterday was a nightmare. Seagull and Titan would not want to sit stay for the photo, they just want to run around and sniff every single bush. It took me more than half an hour to settle these two. The other four were as good as gold, they have been sitting pretty waiting patiently (actually fed-up!). At the end, I have to put Seagull and Titan on the lead to make them sit still for one second!!! Luckily, it didn't take me long to take this photo. Only one snap! Phew!

Today, we have snow. Not a lot that I wish for. We went to the Common for a long walk, it was very pretty in the Common, the Seven Islands Pond was very pretty, very wintery looking, the pond is frozen and Sing has forgotten the accident, he wanted to go into the pond so much and I was petrified, kept calling him off from the pond. Then, Saturn gave me a fright, he saw a group of coots, he ran straight towards the pond and walked on the thin ice and luckily the ice broke before he could go far, Phew!

I was singing "walking in the winter wonderland" all the way ... I wish I brought the camera with us but after yesterday having trouble getting Seagull and Titan to sit for the photo, I decided we just go for a nice walk.

Sizzle needs his Christmas pressie before Christmas! Not good quality photo, taken with my mobile phone.

Belgium trip

Merry Christmas from Bruges!

We enjoyed our Belgium trip very much, eventhough it was exhausting but we were so happy to meet Miguel of the Of The Five Colors Sheltiekennel, my sweet little Miss Sipzie and her brothers and sister and some of their owners as well.

We left home on Friday 1:30am to catch the Ferry from Dover to Dunkerque. The Ferry crossing was at 4am, I thought it was the quietest time of the crossing but I was wrong. They were quite a lot of people on board and they were serving English Breakfast at that time!

The crossing was smooth (I was far asleep with my travel sickness pill so I don't really know the crossing was good or bad but I assume it was a good one.) We got to Dunkerque at 7am, their local time and drove straight into Bruges. We arrived at Bruges safely at 8:30am with the helpful Tom Tom that we borrowed from Vanessa.

We checked in at our hotel, the Flanders Hotel so we could park the car. We are not allow to go into our room before 2pm, that gave us a good opportunity to walk around the beautiful Bruges. The last time we went to Bruges must be nearly 7 years ago and it wasn't that cold, we were able to sit outside drinking Belgium beers and ate mussels but this time, it was freezing. We walked around admiring the beautiful scneries and every now and then hop into a coffee shop for some warm nice coffee and the tasty Belgian waffle.

Venice of the North

I like Bruges, it is known as the Venice of the North, the most beautiful cities in Europe! The Squares and Catherals are so beautiful. When we arrived on Friday, the Squares and Christmas markets weren't too busy at all, we can walk freely without knocking anybody. There is an ice skating ring on one of the squares, I was so tempted to go ice skating but when I looked around, there were young agile kids/teenagers whizzing around, I felt so old and embarrassed and decided not to join the kiddies.

this is one of the Chritsmas markets in the Square, behind those wooden halt, that is the ice skating ring

One thing that amazed me was we found too many chocolate shops in one street, many of them are open next to each other. I know Belgium is famous for chocolate but I think it is crazy to have so many chocolate shops in one street. I wanted to buy some chocolates but when I look at them, I really can't decide which one to go to and what to buy, so I come back empty handed and people asked me: Are you sure you've just came back from Belgium?

mouth watering chocolate fondue

I decided to have a white chocolate coated banana.

We were very happy with the Hotel, the service is brilliant and it has a nice size swimming pool, so Colin spent most of the time swimming while I catch up on sleep! We even have a little balcony over look the carpark but it was too cold to sit outside. The breakfast was very nice, Colin and I enjoyed a HUGE breakfast on Saturday morning!

Colin and his little mermaid at Het Zand, Bruges biggest open square

close up, what a happy man he is!

I wanted to go visit the famous Chocolate museum but Colin insisted we take the long walk to the Lake of Love:

I can't see anything special of this other than plenty of Swans!!!

I think Belgian are quite creative as well:

would you like a GIFT house?

one of the many Christmas decorations

more Christmas decoration

love this inflatable snowman sitting in front of the fire

willow tree full of lid up lantern

during our window shopping, we saw these:copper shoes!!!

Golden dog, he reminded me so much of Scout

Now, some puppies news ...

Migeul took the puppies and most of her adult shelties to Bruges to meet up with us on Saturday afternoon. Between us (Miguel, Colin and I), we took the five puppies and two shelties for a walk in Bruges. We forgot how busy it would be on Saturday but it was very good to get the puppies out and social. You can imagine all the attention the puppies get while we walked then around the sqaures and markets.

The puppy wagon. This is one amazing puppies carrier. I want one for Christmas!!!

puppies inside the wagon, that is handsome Ice (Iceman Of The Five Colors) looking up

Ike (Icarus Of The Five Colors) and Sipzie

introducing horse to Sipzie

On Sunday, we travel in Miguel's motorhome to a training school, about an hour away from his house. It is amazing to see some Belgian training their dogs. In the training school, they have their own pub/club house where they sells beers, drinks and food in the warm. They also fenced up a few different areas so people can train their dogs in different aspects. Colin has taken some photos of the training fields/areas but I am not going to include in this post, as it is getting such a long post with all the photos.

All the puppies are well socialised. They have been out and about since they are 3 weeks old. Sipzie and her brothers and sister are not afraid of anything, anyone can handle them. They also met other dogs at the training school and nothing put them off. All the five puppies are great tuggers too, boy! didn't they all have sharp teeth and sharp claws? They like to tug on my fleece sleeve and we have a good game of tug and you guess it. They win and I lost!!

puppies, puppies ...

how can I leave my dear little miss in Belgium!!! Surely this English rules need changing!!

I have to include this photo of Chiqi (ICQ Of The Five Colors), she is the other girl in that litter. She is very cheeky.

these are Miguel's shelties pack, left to right: Visi (England import), Ypra (Sipzie's mum), Jaimy, baby Idgy (England import) and Boyd (England import) and the beautiful bi-blue in front of Ypra is Jaimy's daughter Aily.