Le Boeuf Café en face de l'étang

Mesdames et Messieurs --






Ici Bailey Blue à votre service ce soir, Maître d' au Boeuf Café.

Nos offres de ce soir sont ...

Bien sûr!

Le boeuf cru!

Please note the delicate elegance with which I remove all meat and marrow from the beef-bone so kindly donated by my human wait-staff. The place-settings are flawless, and I have been properly seated by my gentleman companion. Is my emerald nose-wrap not stunning?

By contrast, my male companion, Mons. leBuster, is truly a work-in-progress. His manners need some fine-tuning, but I will work on that. He entered my establishment muttering that he would not be caught dead with a luminescent, snot-green nose-halter, but after seeing the main course, he stopped complaining and set to work.

He IS making adequate progress, no?

Meilleurs souhaits,



Bailey Blue

Dearest friends:

Persephone at the keyboard tonight, slowly plodding along the QWERTY line (I can press all of them at once, but it's terribly difficult to separate Q from W if one does not have opposable thumbs) because HER LADYSHIP deigns not to assist us in our blogging. She is cemented to her white-hot Macintosh updating her BLACKBOARD account for her art students. Damn.




Maybe some of our friends in the bloggenwelt might assist us in nagging her nibs into assisting her poor, unattended Irish peasant dogs in managing this horrid keyboard and keeping our buddies up-to-date on all the exciting trouble we've been into.

In the meantime, since it's relatively easy to press the "upload image" button, I shall share several pictures to describe the state of Persephone's Garden and the effect that the milestone we reached today (indeed, the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere) will have upon it. I must soon return to the Underworld. Hades, pomegranates, raging Demeter, ah...the Drama!

My Morning Glories are still blooming!



Still, the trees behind them are turning yellow.



My Elephant-Ear is HUMONGOUS!



The Buzzy-Bees are busy foraging...not much time left.



Up North, my Loon is emptying the pond of trout. Did you know that when loons cruise at flank speed, they raise their front-end like little tugboats and drop their tushes?

One last image. Scene: The Boneyard Pool of the Farmington River in Connecticut. Rising trout at dusk.

Dad thinks this is ineffably beautiful, but he's pretty weird anyway.

Okay, Buster says it's naptime!



TTFN,

Persephone

My Magical Green Orb -- by Buster

Dear friends:

It's been much too long since I attended to my blog--mainly because my normally robust powers of persuasion have failed (once again) to convince my female human lackey (the one with ten fingers and the ability to press one key at a time) to help me with my posts. Please accept my sincerest apologies and help me to nag her eminence into being a little more punctual!



There's lots of news to share, but I need to pry the girl away from her lesson plans and her accursed, sleek, flashin'-hot new silver Macintosh laptop! You'd think she'd be spending ALL her time helping me with this blog. Humans have no sense of priorities!

Life would have been relatively normal, prosaic, and almost routine, had it not been for the recent arrival of the GREEN ORB FROM THE NETHER REGIONS!

A singularly vile creature, and I will destroy it.

Observe:

The Day of Reckoning will come! Any suggestions on how to penetrate its thick hide so I can reduce its horrid little noisemaker to its constituent fundamental particles?

There's much to share...tales of blueberries and bears...the tunnel to Oz...the elegant excavation skills of my beloved Lucia...I NEED MY STENOGRAPHER!

Please help me talk my Mom into helping me. This business of trying to maintain communication with the Known Universe of canines and humans without the benefit of fingers or a hyoid bone is vastly overrated!

Your faithful correspondent,

Buster

THINGS TO PACK FOR THE DIG....part 1

FOR MY LUCIAHHHHHHH
TO BRING ON THE DIG!

A late Happy Birthday present for my dolce Lucia....
Your Principia Azzurro
BUSTERIGO

Interlude: A Cool Award from Noah...and Some Notes from the People's Republic of New Hampshire

G'Day, Mates!

While Sephie & Lucia & Bailey & I prepare for The Big Dig to visit Noah and his pinkies in the fabled Land of Oz, I wanted to thank the legendary Digger of the Antipodes for bestowing upon us yanks a cool award!



This gem of an award says, "Your blog is like a pearl...rare, delicate, & charming!" It's our understanding that Noah and the Dales Down Under received this from Maggie & Mitch. We're honored!



For our part, we would like to pass this award on to Lucia and Clive.



Now--a bit of news from the boreal forests of New Hampshire...

Ah...where to start?

Well, consider this "local color..."



Just to the south of Keene, the folks at Nick's Seafood Restaurant recently became aware of the notion of "branding." Seems that no one really expected to find seafood in the landlocked hills of New Hampshire. How to get the message across...hmmm...

Giant Crab on the Roof !

Random diversion:

L'il Toot's Return to the Briny Deep:

Ms. Bailey's ancestry seems to have included many generations of unterseeterrieren who were bred to pursue cute, furry otters into the depths and, well, take them out. So Kapitänleutnant Bailey von Blue sets forth upon her first war patrol of the season.



Mission: Cross the North Atlantic, join the wolfpack, and attack the otter convoys!

At the end of her mission, Kapitänleutnant Blue is awarded the Iron Dogbiscuit for her service to the Irish Kriegsmarine.

Random diversion:

Pitcher Mountain.

Twenty acres of blueberries.

Hunger among the masses.

Demand for wild (cultivated blueberries will not do!) blueberry pie!



Pitcher Mountain blueberries are to berries as Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac is to wine. An apotheosis. Apogee. The ineffable, ultimate expression of the quintessence of Blueberry Consciousness.

Meanwhile, back at the camp...

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered creature you ever set eyes on, has arrived at the Pond, and Bailey must vanquish it with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!



The future of Civilization as we know it has been assured, and the vile beast has been sent packing.

Now, if we can only figure out what to do with the coyotes--but that's another story...

Random diversion:

In the neighboring Socialist Republic of Vermont, there exists a bucolic hamlet called Dorset, which harbors the very first marble quarry in New England. Long exhausted of its marble, the quarry has retained one important function...




On a hot day, there's no better place to be!



Back to camp...

We wonder if mental and physical stimulation of this intensity will have long-term consequences...



Of course, the ruby-throated hummingbirds beat their wings between 50 and 200 times per second. And they make it across the Gulf of Mexico doing this!




Glad we're just carnivorous, hyperactive Irish peasant dogs!




Maybe it IS time for a nap!


This is the time when the deer come grazing in the daylilies and the coyotes start singing and the sun sets behind the white pines.



The moon is out and all's well...



Canis raptorus hibernensis curls up in a warm, compact ball and dreams of chasing badgers down to the Land of Oz and having a pint or two of Foster's bitters with Noah, Tess, Willow & Lucy.

Cheers,

Buster, Bailey & Sephie

THE big DIG.....the adventure begins.

From the Diaries of BUSTERIGO:

So I, theBUSTER...aka Lucia's BUSTERIGO, was searching for a spot...THE SPOT, in which to dig.

"Remember Gallipoli!" will be our chant -- well hey, it's a bit out of our realm, but our buds in Australia will understand .... I hope.


I have it on good intelligence that Noah's gurlz (distinguished ANZACs, all) will be digging....and digging some more to meet up with us -- hey hey.. we can be theDOGZACS! ( no disrespect intended).
We have Ms.Persephone (she can see in the dark!),

& is known as the Goddess of the Underworld,
who will guide us through the nether regions
toward the Blue Mountains -- not in Virgina folks--
the ones down at the bottom of the earth...
on the other side...
you know ----> where they walk upside down...
DOWN UNDER!!!!

∆∆∆∆

We have my mostest Bellissimo LuciaHHHHH
of the cinnamon hair, with the dirt still fresh on her most lovable mush (she's been practicing),
to urge us on, and "dig dig dig!" is her motto!!!




She has such style, youth--such a digging form
on that longy-legged terrier!!! WhOOOoooO0ooo....
I'll follow her to the end of the earth! I s'pose that's Oz...---->

∆∆∆

In addition, we also have our own Ms.Blue,
dressed for the cool under-world environment.
As the Mom of the Irish Blues, she will watch our back!
...just in case something weird is following us.
She is, after all, a STRONGDOG gurlie,
with a two-footed digging style
most would die for.
Her 29 lb. bod can drag a 25 lb. badger
from a hole in less then 3 minutes.....!
Proof to come.

We, the U.S. diggers, from this point on, will be known as "US".
We four--yup that's "4"--will dig until we meet our "4" buds in Australia (Noah, Willow,Tess & Lucy).... it may take some time, but we will get there! We're collecting "stuff".......supplies......bones......tuggy toys......
important "stuff"......anything we could possibly need...like a bulldozer???

We are focused.... well sort of....
We are under control.... in a manner of speaking....
We are almost ready..... boy is that an understatement...


••first things first••

We're just looking for the right SPOT...
We've looked here,
We've looked there
&
We're just looking everywhere .... but still not finding the SPOT!

• YET •

Thankfully, Ms.Blue has decided to take it into her own paws.
She is busily (in between bouts of swimming) SEARCHING the landscape for the SPOT.




"I know I saw a hole somewhere out there......... it's got to be out there!"




AHAH!! Here is a possible SPOT !
It may be a big SPOT to begin... now looky at that.. hoooooooley mooooolie!
....Good old Mother Nature has assisted US! She has removed the tree for US to begin...

WhOOooooOOO00000000 is this our SPOT???
We must alllllll get together and PONDER...
LuciaHHHH????
how do we say "ponder" in Italian??
Are you making the tort-pup-ellini to pack for the DIG?

As of this moment, we are still searching for SPOTS
&
pondering....
&
waiting for the right moment!


In the beginning... all was quiet, serene, and hot ------>
the 4 of US, are looking for a cooler SPOT, so we will dig...

From the DIARIES of,
theBUSTER
.....stay tuned -- more to come.....

US
Ms. Blue, Ms.Persephone, Ms.LuciaHHHHHH,
&
Me, theBUSTER,
honorary DOGZACS







∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

Asta TAGGED us!! Uncle Clancey makes a one-time appearance to give you insight on a picture!

Hi... I'm "Uncle Clancey"... , Ms.Blue , Ms Persephone & theBUSTER'S good old soft-coated-wheaten-uncle speaking to you from the rainbow bridge. You know the place -- it's where all good dogs go to wait for their masters... then we get to escort them over the bridge to a beeeeeUtiful place.
Well I'm just waiting and having a great time watching the silly Kerrys not to mention the humomm & dad who rescued me from a bad place... Of course the humans have made note that they hope I will have to wait a very long time to see my Kerry buddies -- they are not quite "ready". Buster, Persephone, and Ms. Bailey Blue have been tagged by their friend Ms. Asta...it seems we have to post a picture that is:
#1. real old
#2. never been seen on this blog
and is in the humomm's picture folder... Well, she searched and found me...then she kept searching and found the earliest pictures she could of Ms.Persephone & theBUSTER... of course
there are earlier ones of Ms.Blue but this one picture takes care of the bunch of Kerrys in one fell swooooop. Here's a little swagger down memory lane <-----I remember because I was there then... and my little gurlie Ms.Blue was such a great MOM!
So here is,
#3. Tell a little bit about the picture:
Welllllll, lets see if I remember correctly, Ms. Bailey Blue was 3 years old and the twins were about 4 days old or so...they were her first babeez born in the clouds. They were sooooo cute.
Actually, they were lucky they were cute <--- I coined that phrase as they got older...I was their first chew toy. Boy could I tell some stories about those two. Unfortunately I am only allotted just a bit of time for this one post...so I'll get on with it.
theBUSTER says he thinks he remembers a little bit about the picture, but seems to be unusually quiet at the moment. Ms.Persephone says she was in a very dark place, and she emerged into the light of day (around 8:oo in the morning) to become our little springtime-flower-child.

So here you are bloggerz....the 3 Musketeers!


Just so you know.. Ms.Blue is truely the twins' mom... Ms.Persephone is on the left and theBUSTER is on the right.

Now, for the rest of the rules of this tag:

We must choose "5" friends to participate, so I will pass this on to theBUSTER so he can tell you a bit about his buddies. Thank you uncle clancey....swoooooosh..


#1. I want to ask my light of love -- my dolce LuciaHHHHHH!! she is out there in lucia-land -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY PICCOLO AIREEEDALE... heavy sigh.....I'm dreaming of my bella Lucia...

#2. My Australian buddy.. Noah and his gurls....they're up in the beeeUteeful Blue Mountains.. Lucia and I want to go visit them soon...we're working on it.

#3. The most handsome blonde, Clive...and his little man....he lives in one of our favorite place, Ireland.. of course we are the Blue dogs of Ireland! Clive's on vacation so it will take a wee bit of time to hear back from him.

#4. Faya and her little brother Dyos, way over in the mountains.. of Switzerland.

#5. Sue and her gaggle of swimming porties....all of them... it's hard to tell them apart when they're all together in a great big mass of curleeez!!!

There you go, a done deal I, theBuster, just want to tell everyone to please visit my dolce LuciaHHH's blog and tell her 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM herBUSTERIGO... She will be so excited to hear from all of you and especially happy to know that I told everyone about her special day!

theBUSTER, Ms.Persephone & Ms. Blue and the memorable "uncle clancey"...
∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆

My Pond: The Official Tour, by Buster

Hey, blogsters! Your host, Buster the Supreme Emperor of The Pond and All Her Majesty's Possessions in the New World, bringing you the Official (approved by Her Highness, Persephone the Dark Goddess of the Unnamed Regions) Tour of my domain!



Quite happily, those annoyingly loquacious fellow-travelers (the very same Persephone of the Wine-Dark Seas of the Underworld and her Demeter-Wannabe mother, Bailey) have been temporarily cast out of Eden, condemned to wander the forsaken streets of Connecticut with their lackey male human for Eternity (or a week, maybe) while I, the virtuous, anointed hunk of puerile canine energy can enjoy the Pond alone with my human Mom! Hah!

Oh, the tour...

First, ladies and gentlemen, we shall begin with a 360-degree panoramic view, as seen by Buster the Mariner--from the Geographic Center (!) of my watery empire:

So it ain't the Pacific! But it has enough room for its own Pond-Monster, which of course, is ME ! The terminus of this panorama, of course, is Castle Buster, my summer palace.

Here's my personal dock, with my personal Royal Yacht, propelled by the very same energy-source that powered the triremes at the Battle of Salamis!




At high-noon, the place is hopping with frenetic activity. Observe the breathtaking sense of urgency!



And what lies beneath? Yes, I can summon monsters from the briny deep! Unspeakable things, n'ere seen by human eyes...


As night falls, gales and boreal cyclones whip the water into such a frenzy that only an experienced mariner such as I would dare to cross this body of water.

And here is my evening perch, on the porch, tongue-couchant, awaiting the obeisant attentions of She-Who-Also-Commands.

As you might imagine, my life is difficult and challenging!

More to come in my next dispatch...

Your most obedient correspondent,

Buster, Admiral of the Ocean Sea of New Hampshire

Buster Among the Ferns

Fellow Campers:

Ms. Bailey Blue, Pond Princess and Dock Diva, reporting.



I have come to the most disturbing conclusion that Buster, endowed with little more than his diminutive, testosterone-soaked brain, nevertheless garners far more than his legitimate share of attention.


Regard this hapless specimen! What unseen force could create the impression of general affability and sweetness? Yet HE gets to accompany his human slaves on almost ALL the walks...


He gets MOST of the boat rides. And he's a sloppy mariner at that!




He is always being swept up and cuddled by some human! One would think he possessed some ineffable aura of appeal; I do not understand what they see in him.


Observe the casual insouciance with which he navigates the Chemin de Fougères!

And what do I, Supreme Princess of the Pond, get?

Buster's rather ample tail!

Well, I confess, it IS a somewhat attractive tail, as far as that part of the anatomy goes...

There remains but one creature on the Pond with a greater quotient of arrogant self-assurance in contrast to his rather gawky appearance.

You guessed it: Big Bird, our Great Blue Heron!

Buster and Big Bird get along wonderfully. They must share some bizarre impulse to make the world laugh.

I'll have more to report later, but it is time to chase small animals.

Your faithful correspondent,

Ms Bailey Blue
Doyenne of the Dock

The Continuing Chronicles of Buster's Randomized Brain...

Hi, folks!

This is Ms. Bailey Blue, reporting to you from the lake....and also bringing you the SECOND Buster Random Narrative Competition.




The rules (we must have rules) are quite simple:

I will provide theBuster's somewhat lateral intelligence with a series of real photographs taken of events in which he actually participated in -- sometimes more then once or twice or even three times +.

The Astounding Busterizer will then take the keyboard <----don't ask, this is exploitation at it's best, but then the A.B. is also supposed to fashion a rational (well, maybe) narrative to describe the events portrayed !

Yes, folks, it's my favorite show: Buster's Got Talent!

Ready?

Okay--Bozo, it's all yours!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not now....I'm tired!
Can't you see I've had a huge day of playing with my Wilson and this is not what I, theBUSTER, want to do < ---reallllllly,
just look at my eyes, they're glazed over, almost in a catatonic state (that'll last for almost a whole minute (B.)).

I've smelled the flowers...

I've watched that silly dog next door "retrieve" constantly...
all day long --
kursplash!! kursplash!! kursplash!!
He needs scuba gear -- then I won't have to listen to ....
kursplash!

Now I'd just like to relax...watch the sunset...you know, have some down time in my life...
heavy sigh -- just look a that perfect ear set.....sigh.

Of course "you humans" seem to think down time is the time to terrorize the terrier...
geesh...what exactly are you doing to my BEEEE u T ful ears??

I've even watched the hummingbirds shoot the...I mean catch the moon in their teeeeeeensey weeensey
beaks.

I've watched the beaver swim 10 feet in front of me...the nerve of this beaver...can't he see
that in the boat is the one and only ferocious BUSTERIGO (i miss my luciahhhhh!) waiting to nab him from the water
&
makea rug out of him?
Geesh, I really must be loosing my touch here.

That's it.. the last straw... I'm going to sleep and I'll wake up to do it all again tomorrow and then figure it out... whatever "it" is... ahhhhhhhhh...Tomorrow is another day.

G'night, Ms.Blue -- G'Persephone --
G'night E V E R Y O N E & E V E R Y D O G!!

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ