Kees' photos

Chencho rather liked being there, perhaps because he enjoys a life of illegality: from May on, the beach is closed for dogs. It was still quiet, and we seemed to offend no one.

After leaving Ciudad Real, Chencho had been in transit in Barcelona for a very short time, and I doubt if he got the opportunity of visiting the beach. The North Sea doesn’t have the touristic appeal of the Mediterranean, which shows in that Chencho concentrated on sea food.

Any place is fine if it has a good chair. And this is a chair with a view!

Chencho is wide awake, and chewing his rope until it has stopped moving.

This Hairy Harry demands extraordinary measures: a cover in a similar color, and not particularly susceptible to molting.

Obligatory reading for anyone who appears to own a specimen of the breed.

After having spent more than a month in the vicinity of the Alps, it was time to get acquainted with the Low Countries.

It didn’t take long for our daughter to win Chencho’s confidence. Perhaps that’s because he already knew her from Skype.

The harness is new. Chencho somehow managed to destroy the first one. No crying over spilt milk: red becomes him.

There are moments I’m excused for my pictures not being sharp.

I’d say this looks like a pretty happy dog.

What dog’s that? It’s a deuce, look at it. – Pete Townshend (The Who, “Dogs”). The answer might well be: a “Basset fauve de Bretagne” (or as we Anglophiles prefer: a “Fawn Brittany Basset”). The easier question is this: Does it matter? Nope, it’s a deuce, look at it!

This is how Chencho looks when he’s hungry. That camera looks tasty!

After a long walk –it’s Spring, hurray!– I forced Chencho to pose for me in our garden (he grudgingly assented). Almost all pictures I got a chance to take were from behind, and though his tail is a joy to watch, it isn’t quite his best part.

Colors in the air Oh, everywhere She comes in colors – Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones, “She’s like a rainbow”) Weirdly, the “she” in the quotation is the rainbow itself, but my only alternative would be from “The Wizard of Oz”, which would be far worse. Some viewers may think they’ve seen this picture before –well, they haven’t: I took it only yesterday. I still thought I needed some excuse for posting it, and I found it in the undervalued “Picquoteaday” group. One day, I’ll overtake Sherry.

Chencho is like a tape recorder, his features including fast forward, stop, and rewind. That’s only natural for a member of the bloodhound family. We don’t mind if he takes his time studying, though we don’t always share his interests.

“The trees are the right height” – Mitt Romney And this isn’t Michigan –it’s Icking!

It has been argued that the average life expectancy of the Basset fauve de Bretagne is greatly deminished by their urge to follow a trail at all costs and, as a consequence, being run over by a car. Chencho shows every sign of belonging to that breed. We’ll have to be careful.