Jaala has no patience with the male of any species, however kind they are to her. She holds them all in deep distrust. Jaala is in fact a canine feminist. Despite all this everyone loves her. They cannot help it. She is so beautiful. Dark, sultry eyes, delicate pointy nose, slim, lithe limbs and soft, fluffy coat. The more aloof she behaves the more beautiful she looks. I knew she would love France.
Fourteen is very old for a saluki so I was aware this might be her first and perhaps last foreign holiday. Nevertheless we prepared to go out with a bang. Off to the vets she went to be vaccinated, wormed, de-loused and chipped. Sometimes it’s not much fun being a dog.
We prepared the 4x4 for her, piling it high with soft cushions and familiar belongings. No complaints from Jaala not even a whimper as we went under the Channel.In France they love dogs. Hotels welcome them in your room and receive them with a bowl of fresh water, though Jaala declined to join us for dinner.
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On arrival at Le Moulin she fell fast asleep with exhaustion from the stress of traveling, then woke up in the middle of the night and howled until the early hours for the lack of attention. In the morning she perked up and went rummaging around the fields chasing anything running on four legs or crawling on its belly into the river. She came back covered from head to toe with leaves, grass, weeds, twigs and mud and seemed very pleased with herself. As the days went by she became more at one with La France and I am sure she acquired a French accent in her bark, although her mistrust of men never diminished and now included Les Hommes Francais. The moments she enjoyed the most were going to market, sitting upright in the back seat of the soft top, her ears flapping wildly in the wind, like Isadora Duncan. 
During this latest trip we acquired some amazing new “treasures”. A life-size statue of Joan of Arc spotted by Grace at an antique fair, a wonderful yellow and green John Deere tractor from M.Tonon the local agri-machine specialist, and a gorgeous ancient wooden trailer to go with it from our neighbour a retired professeur who has recently inherited the family farm. It is absolute heaven sitting astride the tractor mudguard with a bottle of cold beer, while topping the fields in the afternoon sun. I was so sorry to leave.
