Love is...
...happiness.

Happiness is ...
...total ignorance of foot and mouth desease, a perfecly sunny cool day on a French beach with tons of sand between your toes, the spray of the sea in your face, the wind to brush your coat, a pine cone to play with, and the attention of your owners all day.

The Côte d'Argent is probably the best place on earth for me. There are hundreds of miles of sandy beaches, millions of pine cones and gazillions of dead branches and other kinds of fire wood to drag about. There is clean fresh air which animates Monika to hike for hours a days (and take me along as her soul -or is it sole- companion), there are any number of good restaurants which Gene loves to go to to order a five course meal which includes confit de canard at some point and good local red wines at all points. These pit stops give me a chance to rest and take a nap before Monika can get me running again. All in all, the French coast did top the Dutch for me and there was only one downside: the French put tuna in their dog food, that is perverse!

I came here and didn't even have a clue we were going to France. Monica came here to walk mile after mile along the beach and through the pine woods with me. Gene came here to read book after book and enjoy the food and the wine.