First Week of the New Year

We've already been pretty busy this first week of the new year. New Year's Day found us parked at the show grounds for the Palm Springs Kennel Club dog show where Gracie was entered. After getting ourselves all organized at the site, we were surprised with a knock on our door from a friend who lives in Anchorage. Debbie had her Norwich entered in the show too. It was great to spend a bit of time catching up with her again.

On Friday our nephew Luke flew in from Anchorage. He will be staying with us for the month of January. It will be fun to have someone to share the adventures with. He brought his guitar with him and played for us a little bit that first night. I'm very impressed with what an accomplished musician he has become in the relatively short time he has been playing.

On Saturday evening, we hosted a get-together for some of our dog show friends who were there that weekend. My hope had been that it would have been warm enough for us to all hang out outside the motorhome, but it was a bit cool and breezy that evening so we had about a dozen people inside the motorhome. We were cozy, but not too cramped. And we all had a great time. We were pleased to have been able to spend time with old friends and get to know some new friends better.

As for the show itself, well, it was not our weekend. An important part in the presentation of a Norwich is the coat, and Gracie just doesn't have much right now. It got too long about a month ago and had to be stripped out and not enough has grown back yet. So as it turned out, Gracie was just there to help contribute to the point total for the other exhibitors.

However, it was a good weekend for friends. Nancy and Dwaine finished the championship on one of their girls and Carolyn got "majors" on both her Norwich and her Kerry Blue Terrier.

After the dog show, we took the short drive to a county park in La Quinta (still the Palm Springs area). It's a nice, quiet park with trees and a lake. We will enjoy relaxing here for the next couple of days before going to the motorhome rally on Wednesday.