Canada

H2O:  two parts Heart and one part Obsession.  ~Author Unknown

We have arrived in New Market, Toronto, Canada after one week in London. We are enjoying the warm weather by the pool and family fun. Emily and Elliot and Thea made a three headed dog ! Cassie the little white dog had a swim too but Ginny isn't to find out about that !

Need for Speed

We all know that small cars are good for us. But so is cod liver oil. And jogging ~ Jeremy Clarkson

As mentioned earlier in a blog Jacqueline and I won a Porsche for a day – and that day was yesterday. What a machine!

A busy week

For all my loyal readers I sincerely apologize for the missing inputs. It has been very busy. Thea has already started her summer holiday and gone to visit her good friends and family in Denmark. First she visited Ida and Rosaline in Copenhagen before Farmor and Farfar picked her up and went to Jylland. I know she is having a very good time together with Farmor, Farfar, Lotte, Bo, Lisa, Ane, Aksel, Astrid and Carlos, but by the time we see her again it will have been three weeks and already we are missing her a lot.

The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Ghana from 5^th to 8^th June together with a high level business delegation with participation from Grundfos, Vestas, Haldor Topsøe, Clean World Capital, IFU and EKF. My job was initially to make sure the transport and infrastructure was taken care of and organise a visit to the Akosombo Dam. However, Two days before Villy’s arrival my colleague in charge of the business delegation fell ill and I had to take over this area as well which meant that I had four hectic days indeed. Villy is a very nice person and the visit went very well.

Visit FanMilk in Accra

Visit West African Fish in Volta Region

Visit Hydro Power Plant in Akosombo

Danish National Day Celebration

Minister's lunch with the embassy staff

Weekend

At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other. ~Ann Landers

On Friday we enjoyed yet another roof top BBQ with good friends. The food was not great but the spirit was high and both the children and the grownups had a good time.  

Saturday we went to a Flamingo dancing event. Personally I did not come with high expectations but it turned out to be very good music and dancing. Today Thea and Jacqueline went to the beach while I stayed home and watched F1 rejuvenating for the week ahead.

Bojo Beach

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. - Henry Beston

Today we went to Bojo Beach with some friends. It is a very nice beach just outside Accra. Because of the rainy season it is not too hot at the moment. I, however, did manage to get sunburned anyway…

Boat Race

It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage ~ George William Curtis

It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage ~ George William Curtis    

This weekend Jacqueline and I participated in the yearly Sogakope Race. On leg one (Ada Foa to Sogakope) I sailed with my colleague Jan. Our start was good and soon we were quite a lot ahead of the fleet. This continued for one hour but then the wind died and we were completely stuck right in the centre of the river with the current going against us. We had no wind for more than two hours and we went from first to 14^th place. I was very depressing… Late the wind picked up slowly and we started moving again. The whole race took 7½ hours and in the end we managed to come in third. However, the race was annulled due to too many boats which had to give up and did not want to sail on Volta River in the darkness.

It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage ~ George William Curtis

On the second leg (Sogakope to Subi Island) Jacqueline and I got a very bad start because we were obstructed right on the starting line. However, we soon got going again and moved slowly up the fleet. For a long time we were fighting with Duncan and Rupert for first but we never quite catch up with them. Instead we got stuck in a lot of seaweed and had to clear the rudder. By the time we got free from the seaweed we were third position and many boats were approaching fast. For a while we were fighting to keep our third position. In the end we nearly managed to catch up with Bill who was now second but he managed to cross the line 10 seconds before us.

Although we did not manage to defend our first place from last year we still did well and we are very happy with the result. Thea was following us in the rescue boat and managed to take some photos.

As per tradition a big party was hosted by Subi and I (sorry we) won a Porsche 911 for a day and our trophy…  

 

Maximus

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.  ~Corey Ford

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.  ~Phil Pastoret

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.  ~Author Unknown

Our family has a lot of joy out of Maximus, our black Labrador. We love to take him walking and to the boat club where he can play all day long and get a lot of exercise.

Today Thea brought Maximus to school and gave a presentation of how to greet dogs you meet for the first time. Together we have watched a number of Cesar Milan’s ”Dog Whisperer” so Thea knows how to greet new dogs: No talk. No Touch. No eye contact. Let the dog smell you first and then you can play afterwards if the dog is friendly…

Exercise, discipline and affection in that order is the right way to make your dog balanced and well behaved according to Cesar Milan.