A quiet Saturday

Such unsettled weather again today - it was sunny and bright with blue skies this morning, and I thought what a lovely day, but by late morning it had clouded over, was extremely cold, and then it was raining by lunch time. 

Gavin and I went for a lovely walk with Xena - I think it must have been national Hungarian Vizsla day today as we met six Vizslas on our walk! I have never seen so many on one walk before. Xena had a really good play with a 5 month old working Cocker Spaniel and then another play with a 3 year old male Vizsla. She came home tired and happy, and then had a sleep while we walked to the local cafe for a coffee. I took this photo on the walk today, I think the autumn colours may not last much longer as many trees are already bare.

Our dinner last night at home went well, our friends even brought a present for Xena, she got a rubber and rope chewy toy which she seems to really like. They have a 7 month old pup so they know what puppies like! There was so much food left over that we had the butternut soup for lunch today. We had some interesting discussions about the forthcoming elections, the high suicide rates amongst young males, the cost to the NHS of trangender operations and other 'cheerful' subjects. 

I have now finally finished my packing for our trip - had to take regular clothing for Lisbon and more utility clothing for Porto including wellies and walking boots - we will be taking photos around the Aveiro lagoon so could have wet feet! Our dog sitter moves in tonight, as we have a very early 5am start tomorrow morning. I am sure that Xena will be absolutely fine with her, not sure that I will be fine without Xena!