You hardly ever see mongrels in Norway. Including our dogs, Alex (a Yorkshire terrier),
and Topsy (an Irish wheaten terrier),
there were nine. A whippet:
a bulldog:
a setter:
– most of these dogs are looking down at Alex, on my left – a German pointer or Vorstehhund:
a Jack Russell terrier puppy:
some kind of basset hound (a petit basset griffon vendée, according to my daughter):
and a standard poodle:
And in the garden under some melting snow was a stone lion:
A Bad Guide 
Erm….would that be “past” or does “passed” work in some subtle way I am too tired to grasp?
Feeling stupid.
Sorry…
As it happens, I took great care to make sure I wrote “passed” and not “past”. Too bad I was wrong. Thanks.
Now I see what happened. I’d written “Dogs I Passed today”, but then I thought that sounded too much like passing urine, so I added “walked” but forgot to change “passed”.
Why do you rarely see mongrels in Norway?
The lion must be freezing (or frozen?), but it’s the only one who’s smiling, I think.
Did the whippet have on some sort of jacket? Or are Norwegian dogs tougher than American?
petit basset griffon vendée
It’s lovely to be brought to the realization that the charmingly esoteric world of the American Kennel Club’s classification of non-mongrel dogs is only one version of that reality.
I’d written “Dogs I Passed today”, but then I thought that sounded too much like passing urine
That title would have been funnier, although I’m not sure I would have cottoned to the ambiguity first time round. Sometime soon you might want to do a blog on “Stool Pigeons”.
Also a blog on “Swimming Techniques of Midstream Fish”.
Or “The Design of Poop Decks”. You actually did have such a contract for a shipping company, as I remember.
Oh, and I like the stoned lion in the snow.
Norwegian dogs are indeed tougher – or, at least, they don’t have jackets, except for ours, sometimes.
As for mongrels, “Ha ha, I know lots! LOTS!” says my wife, as if I’m impugning Norwegian dogs. All I know is I never see any.
We have another lion like that somewhere under the snow. In the spring I’ll check to see if he’s smiling. I’m glad you like it, Grumbly. Stool Pigeon On The Poop Deck sounds like a possibity.
Julia, I thought you were in the oriental republic of Uruguay.
Yes, of course, here I am. But one always needs a bad guide wherever one goes.
We all hope you’re having fun.
The picture of Topsy is great.
It shows the warmth and light one can crave for in the middle of a Norwegian winter.
I’m very pleased you like it, I do too. Under that huge old spruce tree they found the one area without snow.