How lovely is that sound, baubles. My DH said today, how lucky we are to have had a lifetime of such good music - and it's true. But songs like this are particularly important now, I think. Something to boost morale and make us feel good.
Thank you for your kind thoughts for Ludo, Doodle, Susan and Corner. Well, there is news and I think we have finally done it. We have a diagnosis for our little chap's endless skin problems which started about 2 years ago and following a vaccine against Leishmaniosis - a dreaded mosquito type sand fly down in the South here which makes dogs very ill, people the same and is hard to treat. We were afraid that he had contracted a version of that. Ludo has lost coat, had endless nasty crusty rashes, has had endless creams and potions and skin scrapings and tests and has had to be bathed every few days recently but is still covered with black skin patches - like an elephant! He looks rather unsightly but he doesn't seem unwell, except a bit slow in the mornings, when at his age, 4, he should be full of bounce. I have noticed that he tries to sleep under his blankets instead of on them, and even though we have had seriously high temperatures, he will use every opportunity to lie in the sun!! So he must be feeling the cold. Vet today agreed we would stop trying to treat his skin and do lots more tests. He put Ludo's blood into his magic machine in the Clinic. We sat and discussed all the what if's while we waited 15 minutes for the machine to do its calculations. The printout result arrived, the Vet punched the air with some relief.....our little Bavarian Mountain Hound has an underactive Thyroid !!
We are actually pleased that we have a diagnosis and he can be treated fairly easily. His readings showed that he is unbelievably low in Thyroxin and will start on his tablets tomorrow when the ordered pills arrive. It's interesting to know that dogs need a relatively much higher dose of replacement Thyroxin than humans suffering from the same problem. The dose is worked out on his weight, he then starts the treatment (for life) and he will be checked after a month to test his levels. He's such a darling and such a brave little soul, never complains about anything so I am so pleased that he will get his va va voom back again, as well as his shiny coat.
We went for a walk in the forest to celebrate and then later opened a bottle of wine. A woman got out of her car to walk her dog as we strolled to ours after our walk. A Police car pulled up alongside her car and a Gendarme shouted "Masque!!" at her. She rather sheepishly took one out of her bag and put it on. While out we counted 8 walkers and 6 cyclists and 3 runners and not one was wearing a mask, but just down the road there's a huge sign which says Masks Obligatory Everywhere! So maybe it just means silly old us! France is definitely going to close its borders again soon - I can feel it in my water (as they say).
Oh dear, Susan (said with a nervous laugh) - there'll be no stopping that little chap now. I think Charley is right about you both getting some proper footwear (and maybe a couple of back braces..) He'll be streaking past you in small Nike trainers very soon and you'll be having to take it in turns to chase after him. So pleased he's so well and coming on in leaps and bounds (literally) but maybe you're going to have to start training for the mighty task ahead of you. Perhaps a sit down and drawing up a bit of a battle plan might be a good idea, whenever you're next safely alone in your house?
Tara's such a mystery woman*Charleygirl*. I wonder what she gets up to - and where. I bet if you put one of those little cat cameras on her collar, you'd be surprised. Except that she probably doesn't wear a collar? Does she show any signs of portliness (sorry Tara) in that she might be eating out elsewhere? She could be aiming to be the female version of Six Dinner Sid. My Grandchildren loved that book when they were small. Cats are so clever and so self-contained.
What a beautiful scene, Corner. Hope that lovely detour slightly unravelled your frazzled thoughts and gave you a bit of a boost today. Nothing worse than not getting a proper night's sleep. Hope tonight is so much better - so that you can wake in the morning and at least feel a bit more energetic to face what life might throw at you.
Sleep tight, everyone. Tomorrow's another day and we need to make it a good one. Thanks for listening !
Hugs from France x
and plenty of virtual HUGS.
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. I used to dance around the house to it. 
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