Yesterday and today it has been full of glorious sun. It has been pretty dang cold (28 degrees Farenheit, -3 Celsius when I walked the pups yesterday morning) with a high not much above freezing today but it has been bright. Life in Berlin has been pretty grey and dreary consistently up until the day before yesterday. It has been so grey and dreary that we somewhat last minute booked a trip to Valencia on Tuesday for a week to find some sun because we felt as though we desperately needed it for our mental health. We found cheap tickets, a great airbnb and our dogsitters were available. Booked! We assessed the risk and decided with our boosters, great masks and cautious choices and time on the other end of a trip to recover if needed, we could take the risk to travel a little bit.

The other grey and dreary info that we have been dealing with lately in Berlin is that there are people in the city maliciously trying to poison the dog population. This hit the news last week and facebook groups and whatsapp groups for dog owners has exploded with warnings and how to keep our dogs safe. The police can’t track down who is doing it all over the city but they are placing poison in chicken breasts, dog treats and sausages and putting them on street corners and in dog parks all over Berlin. Berlin is known as being an extremely pup friendly place with a huge pup population and looser rules for dogs…they are allowed almost everywhere, shops, public transit, and some restaurants. And I understand that if you are not a dog person you might get tired of the immense puppy population however very few are street dogs (I haven’t seen one yet) and all are furry companions to those of us in the city who have them SO to place poison in intentionally dog friendly places is beyond my comprehension. We may have to muzzle our dogs to make sure they are healthy and won’t eat something that will most likely kill them. Its scary.

So we are trying to fight those dreary blues with an upcoming trip, amazing care for our pups wth people who adore them and will make sure that they are safe, and a few outing here and there in this glorious cold sun. I have been walking the dogs blatantly in sunny spots and we invited a few friends over last night and made tapas for them. It was another couple we have been meaning to have over and we took our time with wine and food and hanging out.

The winter is winding down hopefully soon and before we know it spring will start showing itself and it can only go up from there.

How are you all doing in these winter days?