Fall Finds from France

I have been obsessed with two things all my life. The obvious one, France, has become so integral to my being that I dream in French, I wear French clothes (and have since the age of 17,) I eat French food, drink French wine and I breathe French air everyday. Enough said!

My other secret obsession is dogs. My family is a dog family. My father's family who were from Winchester, Massachusetts raised (for fun) springer spaniels. So on my 10th birthday, I got a springer spaniel, who I aptly named Freckles (by the way, these were the Nixon years and my father is a conservative Republican who still to this day defends Nixon, post mortem.) Anyway, fast forward to my immediate family and our small apartment in Lyon and voilà Clementine and Daisy: Daisy, adorable bichon frisé adopted from a family in Red Hook a week before Christmas 8 years ago, and Clemmie, gorgeous field pointer, who wandered onto our farm as a 6 week old puppy on the hottest August afternoon, 9 years ago.

When I go away to non-dog-friendly places, I am forced to find a happy home for Clementine (Daisy I can usually hide in a bag.) My friend Claire, turned me on to le Domaine des Brevonnes, a 4**** pension for large dogs and a top breeder of Weimaraners. It takes 50 minutes to drive to the little town of Monthieux, in the department de L'ain (a place that for some wacky reason reminds me of the Jersey shore, even though it has no beach,) but it's well worth it.

I had to pick Clem up this morning and you know she had a good weekend cavorting outside with all her handsome Weimaraner pals. She was absolutely giddy.

But the best Fall Find of all was what I found in the front yard. More than the Agnes B tweed jacket, more than the Heschung men's shoes, more than the Loft Design By cashmere sweater, I NEED one of these.