KOURA!

When I'm not in Denver, I miss this nut a lot:

I love having a dog in the house and I've missed not having one while I've been abroad and living alone. Koura is a GREAT dog -- and buddy!

Koura and I also really like the new floor tiles in the bathroom!

Roxie and Koura together in Florida

I was very much looking forward to witnessing Koura (my brother's dog) and Roxanne (my parents' dog) meeting for the first time! Lenny and his wife, Lexey, drove from Denver so that they could bring Koura with them. She got to swim in the ocean for the first time!

Roxanne loves going down to Florida with my parents. I'm really glad that she was able to make it down there one more time before passing... at SIXTEEN years old! What a happy, lucky girl she ended being -- having my parents adopt her from a shelter at 3 years old.

Going for a walk with all of the girls  : )

Koura and her beer

Cutie pie, Roxanne

Koura's new present! Bahahaha

Koura is worn out from all of this Christmas morning shenanigans!

Mom and Lenny both went outside... and the girls are WORRIED!

Aaaaand probably wondering why they aren't outside with them!

Silvana and Vincenzo's animals

Angela and I were invited to Silvana and Vincenzo's house for lunch our last day in Abruzzo... before getting on a train to head to Verona. Christopher and Denis are their sons... and they have two cute dogs as well. The dogs truly eat pasta! (Now that's an "Only in Italia!" moment!)

They are also taking care of their neighbor's cat for the summer holiday...

They have a number of turtles:

Aaaaand the doggies   : )

Yurtstock 10

One of Lenny's friends, Chris, owns about 40 acres of land in Weston, Colorado where he has built a large yurt. Each summer Chris hosts Yurtstock... a camping weekend with about 70 of his friends. Lenny and Lexey have been going for years... this summer was my first time joining in on the fun! Yurtstock definitely includes a great group of people... but even more so... there are tons of dogs!!

Our site set-up for the weekend (including hammocks to the right)   : )

Koura is in heaven (alllllll weekend!)

This is a morning well spent   : )

A gorgeous view of one of the Spanish Peaks

This cool blue guy spent most of the weekend with us...

Lenny delivering margaritas from the yurt...

The group of community taco night!

And we watched a movie the first night on the big screen...

Gorgeous weekend (also including forest frisbee golf!)...

love it at Lenny and Lexey's - Denver, CO

I really enjoy my time at Lenny and Lexey's house in Denver, CO. This is the house that I lived in for my four years in Denver... and I miss it often! Koura, the dog, is a big piece of that too... she's my buddy!

First-day-back-in-Denver tradition... quality time with Koura-dog and a trip to the public library!

She's not even playing with the tennis ball... but just lying there like this. What a nut.

Lenny's gardens... including flowers and veggies/fruits are awesome...

The gardener in his garden:

Buddies   : )

Kathmandu DOGS

I posted previously about how mean the Kathmandu street dogs seemed to be... but most of the dogs that I went by at the temples were sleeping during the day and seemed to take in the peacefulness of the temple - thankfully! I like that the doggies chose temples and stupas to relax in shade during the heat of the day.

This one is in the entrance of a house:

This guy was up in a temple within Durbar Square... looks like he had quite a night...

Boudha Stupa

Swayambhunath Temple - "Monkey Temple"

Pompeii's dogs

I read a sign on our way into Pompeii, warning visitors of the dogs within Pompeii.

Sure enough, we saw doggies around all day. I loved it! For the most part, the dogs were calm and kept to themselves... soaking up the day's sunshine.

My brother, Sean, read about the Italian government supporting these stray dogs... putting chips in them to be able to track them and trying to make sure that they have enough food and are safe. I really like that idea and the care shown for these animals. I found an article from NY Times about Pompeii's dogs... back from 2010, but interesting nonetheless. Click here to read this article.

These dogs were some of the more energetic that we saw during the day.

(...Even allowing visitors to pet them.)

The House of the Tragic Poet - doorway mosaic dog: