As most of you already know, our three oldest dogs all come from a kennel in England called Mastamariner, where I used to work as a kennel girl. Aska and Sirius have been with me since they were puppies, but Ruth lived at the kennel for eight years and eight months before she came to join me in Sweden. Of course, Ruth is very much missed there, and now that she was due to celebrate her 13th birthday, my “kennel parents” Catherine and Graham decided to visit us. We were joined by our friend Matilda, who also used to work at the kennel and who has three Golden Retrievers from there.

The Mastamariners – Ben, Toby, Sonar, Sirius, Ruth & Aska!

We had a few fun days together with long walks, a sausage barbecue in the woods, lots of swimming for the dogs, blueberry picking, a visit to Mårbacka (memorial home of Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature) followed by a play (The Adventures of Nils Holgersson, Lagerlöf’s most famous novel) in a barn converted to a theatre, trips to an old mill and a fabulous ice cream café, and of course lots of tea and conversations. I only wish that they could have stayed longer! :)

You can read Catherine’s words about Ruth and about their visit on Facebook, by clicking here. Thank you for coming to see us, Catherine, Graham, and Matilda!