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We live in the Belgian countryside between Brussels and Lille, in a small village which is part of town called Lessines, the birth city of the famous surrealist artist Rene Magritte. Perhaps this is the reason our life feels pretty surrealistic at times.
We were led to this village and our house by our big, 10-year-old curly coated retriever Anssi whose pedigree name was Yachtsman of Tonispada. Hence the name of the house - Yachtsman's Lodge as a tribute to him. He has changed our lives in many ways, some good and some bad. Very friendly, loving and obedient, Anssi went completely berserk when left alone. He ate through doors and windows and demolished a car interior. He liked to escape from the garden and run to the pub in the village. He was always a welcome visitor there as the landlord knew we would then arrive searching for him and have a drink or two.
Anssi passed away peacefully at the respectable age of ten years and he is greatly missed by us and many others.
Anssi was joined a couple years later by Jack, a marvellous Sussex Spaniel and Juno, a sweet female curly coat. We can thank Anssi for finding our golden boy Jack whom the French call "Le beau garçon". He is our first Sussex Spaniel, a charismatic charmer who can twist you around his paw with ease. He has a wonderful "smile" which would make any Hollywood film star blush with envy. It has been said that once you have fallen in love with a Sussex, one is not enough - you have to have another one. In our case this proved very true. We imported two Sussex girls from Finland last year; Isla and Nerys. Since the end of March we have had the pleasure of the company of a Sussex boy called Dougal, a real devil dog. Those familiar with Star Trek will notice his resemblance with the Klingon. Had we known that before we could have called him Worf.
In addition to the dogs three cats belong in our family. We received Suki from one of the houses in the village when we moved to Yachtsman's Lodge. She is stubborn, grumpy and a real little Madame. She despises Tom and Jerry; the boys we adopted from a cat home a few years ago. The boys naturally see a lot of teasing potential in the situation.
Voilà, this the family living at Yachtsman's Lodge. If you want read more about our life and news please follow the weekly diary under Newshound
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