Dottie the Dalmatian

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Holiday hats and pink camels

Well as you can see I couldn’t resist the pink camel and I even managed to find a matching pink sombrero. Do you think it suits me???

Well I must go, we’ve got a plane to catch.

I’ll update you soon

Sunshine and spots

Dottie

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Hello again from Lanzarote! I’ve had lots of adventures since I last wrote. The biggest one was going for a ride on a camel – she was huge! I sat in a basket hooked over her hump which wobbled around a lot as she walked along. She wasn’t very friendly and kept turning round to spit at me! Most of the camels had someone sitting on each side of the basket to balance it, but because I’m so small and light I was allowed one all to myself. All the camels walked along in a procession, though I decided from the spitting that she’d rather have stayed lying down. Not that I could blame her in that heat!

The camels walked a long way up the side of a mountain, which turned out to be a volcano! I’ve seen lots of pictures of volcanoes but couldn’t believe I was actually on one. Sarah and I got off our camels and poked a big stick with twigs on the end down into the crater, and it was so hot down there that they caught fire!

The next morning we went to the market. It opened really early so we had to get up at 6am. I had to keep tickling Sarah until she woke! It was worth it though because we found this amazing red spotty dress – doesn’t it suit me!

We also found a stall selling cuddly camels, and I decided to buy one as a souvenir of my camel ride. I liked all the brown ones but there was just one pink one which I couldn’t resist!

I found this flower on the ground by the flower stall so I picked it up and put it in my fur. I’m sending you a big wave to say goodbye from Lanzarote as we’re going back home soon – though I should have time to write you a postcard before we go!

With humps and spots,

Dottie

Friday, 30 September 2011

In sunny Lanzarote

Peekaboo!

I hope I didn’t make you jump by peeking out from behind this palm tree! We arrived in Lanzarote yesterday – I’ve come on holiday with Sarah and all the family! Lanzarote is a tropical island and is really hot – and I mean really really hot!

It was so hot that after a wander around I needed a giant ice cream sundae to help me cool down. Yum!

After eating all the ice cream we thought we should have some exercise, so Sarah, Jane and I went for a ride on a pedal car. It was a bit like the Chuckle Brothers’ one! There wasn’t room for three people to pedal so Sarah and Jane pedalled while I sat at the front and shouted “to me, to you!” all the way!

After all that shouting I needed a rest, so when we got back to the hotel I put on my blue bikini and sunbathed on the sun bed for a long time. I got sleepier and sleepier in the hot sun till Sarah suddenly woke me up and said it was time to go swimming!

I put my goggles on and sat nervously at the edge of the pool. Sarah said I looked like a crazy frog but I thought that was rather rude of her.

She was impressed when I took a great big leap in though! I splashed around and jumped up and down sending water everywhere. Sarah pushed a lilo over towards me and I clambered up onto it. My fur was really wet and all stuck together so I stretched out on the lilo to dry off in the hot sun.

I’ll write to you again soon to tell you what else we get up to here!

With splashes and spots,

Dottie

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

Apple Crumble

After all my hard work in the garden I wanted to bake something really special with what I'd grown and Sarah suggested an apple crumble! I climbed right into our apple tree to pick some apples.

It was a very long was up but I was careful not to look down!

Once I was back down I put my apron on and got to work in the kitchen. Chopping all the apples was hard work, but I chopped them all into small chunks as I wanted my crumble to be really good.

They we could start cooking the apples. Sarah helped me stir them on the stove. The appley smell was delicious and it was so difficult not to eat any. I didn't though - I hope you are impressed!

Next was the really fun part - making the crumble. We mixed together flour, sugar and butter. Then I got to get my paws really dirty! I had to rub all the ingredients together so that they made a nice crumbly mixture. I rubbed and mixed and rubbed and mixed for ages. I got flour everywhere!....opps

We put the crumble mixture on top of the apples and put it in the oven for half an hour. It seemed a long wait but at least it gave me time to clean up a bit. When we took it out of the oven it was all golden brown! I scooped a really big helping into my doggy bowl and added some custard. I was so hungry after all that work that I woofed it down really quickly - It was scrummy!

With Love and Spots

Dottie

Monday, 5 September 2011

In the Garden

I’ve been working really hard helping in the garden this week. We’ve been growing lots of different fruits and vegetables and some of them are ripe now! I’m excited to see how big they have grown after starting off so tiny.

My first job today was to dig up the onions and beetroot. I put on my wellies and dug the roots up really carefully with my garden fork.

The next thing was to pick my rhubarb. I’ve been growing it in big pots and the large green leaves look lovely, but strangely they’re not the bit we’re going to use – we’ll just be eating the red stems. Sarah says if I cut them now they’ll regrow again this year, which is hard to believe but I’ll see if she’s right! I cut all the rhubarb stems off at the base and we’re going to eat it tonight stewed with lots of sugar.

Then I went to look at my other pots to see how my tomatoes were getting on. I could tell that they weren’t ripe yet because they were still green, so I didn’t pick them but watered them instead to help them grow. I’ll have to wait patiently for them to ripen and turn red, which could be difficult as I’m not very good at waiting patiently!

Fortunately I discovered that my late season strawberries were ready to pick! I think they’re my favourite fruit, so I’m looking forward to having a big bowlful soon.

Lastly I went to check on my marrow. It’s grown HUGE! I’ve decided not to eat this one, but instead to see how big I can grow it and whether I can win a prize in a vegetable competition for the Most Enormous Marrow.