motch's favorites

OK, bear with me. I'm being nice to Motchie in hopes that I'll get some special treats on my birthday which is Tuesday. With that in mind, I'm letting her post the last photos of Switzerland, then we'll get back to ME and what this blog is all about.

From Zurich, they went to St. Moritz and stopped at Fluela Pass for a photo shoot. The mountain's reflection in the water is pretty amazing!

Edelweiss grows high in the alps, so the only time they saw it was in village shops. The cost for this one was 38 swiss francs (about 38 dollars).

The snow was melting and flowing from the mountains to little streams in every town. It was moving fast and made a lot of noise.

You've already seen the Matterhorn, but this picture was taken early in the morning when it was more visible. There is a cemetary in Zermatt, the village where they stayed, honoring those who lost their lives when climbing this mountain.

While on their way to Geneva, they saw Byron's Castle of Chillon. Although it's pretty, it would have been a scary prison.

This is Chapel Bridge in Lucerne. They spent a lot of time exploring this old city and shopping for watches and swiss chocolates (which, by the way, are already gone and not a morsel dropped into my mouth).

In Geneva, they took a boat ride to Yvoire, France, and then explored this quaint little village. You can see how steep and winding the roads were!

Motch snapped picture after picture of houses like this. Flower boxes filled with geraniums were the standard, and most of the geraniums were red like the swiss flag. The country was clean and quiet.

From Lucerne, they took a train to Rothrist, a small little town where Motch's grandpa was born. He was just 2 when his mom died, and she was buried in the cemetary at this church. I'm sure I could have climbed the steps much faster than Motch to get to the top.

But here's proof that she made it!
All of the cities and small towns had places where you could fill your water bottles or just take a drink. This water fountain is in Lugano. Motch thought she was in Italy when she was here because everyone spoke Italian and the structure of the buildings and city lay-out was Italian. And yes, she even had gelato ice cream here (several times) but I'm not letting her post a picture because it makes me hungry.

All good things must come to an end, and so did her vacation in Switzerland. She felt right at home at O'Hare and reminded herself that it was good to be back on U.S. soil.
I was glad to have the wanderers home, but I can't say I was too bored or missed them too much. Leah took excellent care of me and even held me tight when I quivered through the thunderstorm and fireworks!

So ends the tour of Switzerland, and that's fine with me because now we can focus on the next important event which occurs on July 14, my 2nd birthday!

favorite pics of switzerland

Motch and P.A. are back from Switzerland and life is returning to normal. I thought I'd take a few minutes and share some of my favorite pictures of Switzerland with you. This is a little red train that took them through the Bernina Pass so that they could see the Alps up close.
Everywhere they looked they saw mountain streams and lakes and waterfalls. The snow at the tip of the Alps met the clouds and they kind of melted together.

Cows grazed on the countryside throughout the land. It's kind of hard to see, but they all wore cowbells.

They visited a rural community in a horse drawn carriage and listened to yodeling music as they rode along. One of the highlights of their trip was taking the train to a small town called Rothrist where Motch's grandpa was born and where his mom died and was buried.

They visited big cities, too, and this is Berne. It means "bear" in German, so I like this town. They usually have bears that live in a zoo-like setting called the bear pits, but it is being remodeled right now so Motch didn't see any bears.

But they did see a dog playing with a stick. It went too far down stream and he couldn't swim back to his owner because the current was too strong. Pretty soon his owner rescued him and pulled him out of the water with the stick.

Then he took the stick and swam with it in his mouth to the steps, where he carried it to the top. Then his owner took it and threw it in the water again and again. He was having fun!

They took a cable car to the Matterhorn which is the highest mountain in Switzerland (can you see it in the background?), and then they got their picture taken with Heidi and Minnie! After the pictures were taken, the dogs got treats. Motch loved these guys because they were so sweet and gentle.

They sure look like good rescue dogs, don't they?

While they were walking the streets of St. Moritz, Motch said hi to these dogs and their owner asked if she wanted to take a picture. He was especially proud of this dog because he has blue eyes. Motch couldn't understand the dog's name. What do you think we should call him? Fritz?

OK, that's all I have time for right now. I'll let Motch share some of her favorite pictures next.

Happy Birthday Grammy!

There will be a post about Switzerland coming soon, but I need to make an important announcement first. Today was Grammy's birthday! Leah's is coming up too, so we continued our tradition of celebrating both of them together.

I went to visit Grammy later tonight and she shared some of her birthday cookies with me!

I wouldn't give her kisses at first because I was too distracted, but then she came up with an ingenious plan where we could share kisses and cookies at the same time!


She's the best! Happy birthday, Grammy!

grammy

Hi everybody! Sorry I haven't updated, but Leah was here with me this week. Motch will get back soon and should be back to blogging for me by Monday. We have good news though - Grammy's back surgery went "perfect" according to the surgeon! She is now rehab'ing in a nursing home, where she's been since Monday. And guess who went to visit her today?Whaaaaaaaaaaattssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppp?!??!?!??

At first I wasn't sure about the place. I wouldn't walk in all by myself and had to be carried because it was kinda scary.

I was so happy to see Grammy! I haven't gotten to see her for a while now.
She gave me treats,
I gave her kisses,
we posed for the camera,
and we cuddled...

Then I got to go back with Grammy when she did some of her therapy! Here I am with her in the therapy room, giving her some much-needed support and distraction and cuteness...
She gets little electric shocks into her back, so I'm glad I was there to help her with that.
I also walked down the halls with her. She's making excellent progress and walked farther today than she ever has before! But all that hard work gets really tiring....

I needed a break. One of my favorite things about visiting Grammy there is that there is a trail that runs right by the building! It's perfect for mini-walks when I need a little potty break.
There are lots of bikers on the trail though, unlike my golf course trail I usually walk on. They were pretty scary so I kept to the areas where I could check my pee-mail.
I wanted to keep walking but we had to obey the sign so we stopped and turned around and went back and resumed our visit.
I made tons of new friends - especially people who had Bostons at one time. One of them even took pictures of me and wanted to make sure I came to see her again before she leaves next Saturday!

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. Grammy is doing incredibly well and we're all so proud of her!


And I almost forgot - Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

busy busy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOY!We celebrated last night, and all I've got to say is that Fig took matters into her own hands to make sure she was happy on his special day. Tadpole and I were thoroughly impressed.

Grammy couldn't come to the party because she's not feeling well. She has spinal stenosis and her lower back is causing her so much pain that she can't walk without a walker and is on pain meds 24/7. She is having back surgery tomorrow, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I hope she gets well soon so I can play with her and chew the giant rawhide that's waiting for me at her house.

Motch's grandpa and grandma were born in Switzerland and sailed across the ocean to come live in America. My grandpa (Motch's dad) always wanted to go there to visit but never made it. So guess who is going instead? Motch and P.A.! I'm not as lucky as Asta, who got to go to Rome; I have to stay home, but I can't complain because....

LEAH IS STAYING WITH ME! I'm going to be a good girl for her and not bother her too much and let her sleep till noon and not beg for treats or whine or complain when she ignores me and sleep under the covers on top of her at night and give her a zillion kisses and let her take me on walks and all kinds of other stuff. Wooooo!

bouncing along

A new ball to play with!


Notice how quickly I pull the squeaker out of the ball and spit it on the rug.

Oh happy day!

nightly walk

About 7 PM, I get to go on my nightly walk. We walk on the path in the golf course behind my house because by that time, the golfers are gone.

If we go too early, I might get hit by a white flying ball, and that would be bad.

It usually takes half an hour to make the big loop, but here is where we start.

This is our first stop on hot days because I can rest in the shade. You can tell it's hot because my head is drooping like a wilted flower.

Sometimes I find bugs to eat at this rest stop. Protein helps keep my energy level up for these stenuous walks.

And when the golfers aren't looking, I can sneak a cool, refreshing drink of water.

It tastes mighty good on a hot day.

And then I'm ready to go again! Last night the Cubs were playing so I didn't get to take a long walk; instead, I had to take a shortcut. That means we make the loop shorter by walking on the sidewalk back to my house instead of walking on the golf course.

The best thing about the shortcut is that I can check my peemail on the way home. I love summer and walkies!