Meet Elmo, our newest La Gramière team member!

 Here he is!  It's been a couple of weeks since we picked him up now and he's fitting in very well.  On a bit of a whim we decided that Daisy needed a playmate and Elmo just happened to be available and ready for his new family.   We drove up to Alsace to pick him up and then went to spend the weekend in Switzerland with Matt's brother Brian and his family.  It's been lots of fun having a new member of the family, Daisy has finally decided that he'll be a pretty good pal.  He's the same breed as Daisy, a Hovawart.  They exist in three colors, Black and Tan, like Daisy, Blond like Elmo and all black.  Daisy's mother was blond, and ever since I've wanted a blond one too. He's growing like a weed!   If all goes well, we may even have Daisy and Elmo puppies in a year or so!

Meanwhile in the vineyards... The first grapes are starting to turn from green to red, we were down there last night and saw maybe one or two bunches that had some color.  What you notice the most though is the hail damage from a storm we had about a month ago, the bunches are scarred with ugly brown wounds on the top  dozen or so grapes and the leaves are tattered and torn.  It doesn't look very pretty, but the damage isn't too drastic.  The bunches are currently quite small, it hasn't rained in several weeks and the vines are starting to show the first signs of stress.  Hopefully we'll get a shower or two before harvest, but for now all we see in the forecast is sunshine.  Better than tons of rain I suppose.

Comments

[Isabelle]

Il est trop mignon. Mais il a un petit air coquin!

[Alex]

He's gorgeous! How did you manage to catch him winking like that? :)

[John Switzer]

Howavarts are the best family dogs, especially on a farm. They need lots of space where they can rule the roost. You will find the male much more intelligent and demanding than the female...

[Steve Edmunds]

Veraison, already! It's been slow getting underway here. Great looking pooch.