With this blog post I am starting a new series about German traditions and traditional festivals that bring together friends and family. These are very popular photo opportunities and the snapshots are happy memories for years to come.

When I checked my facebook account during the last few weeks, it was very obvious what was happening in Munich: Lots and lots of new photo albums - people evidently wanted to mark a special occasion and share it with the world.

People were tagged in photos as Bavarian lookalikes with big beer steins - the "Mass" - in their hands, wearing traditional Bavarian clothes, a "Dirndl" or a "Lederhosen". It was, of course, "Oktoberfest" time again, or "Wiesn" as the locals call it.


Photo by: Hendrik Nicolaus

The world's largest "Volksfest" attracts some six million people every year and is an event where friends and family from all over Germany as well as tourists from all over the world come together to celebrate one of the biggest parties in the world. For about 16 days, every hotel room, hostel bed and couch is booked in Munich. This festival even changes the look of the city itself. Everywhere you go there are people in traditional clothes - girls in Dirndl and guys in Lederhosen. It has even become fashionable for tourists to wear the traditional Bavarian clothes. Of course this look has to be documented by many many photos and shared with friends and family afterwards.


Photo by: Michael Lingelbach



Every year, new superlatives await: 5.7 million people came to Wiesn09, drinking 6.5 million litres of beer and taking millions of photos of course. Google Image search for Oktoberfest 2009 shows 2.670.000 photos, there are 15.838 Oktoberfest 2009 photos on Flickr and the Oktoberfest Facebook Fanpage has more than 23,000 fans. Some photos are really artistic, showing the rides and the enormous size of the "biggest beer festival in the world", but on most of them you can see people enjoying the party, smiling and having fun together - Oktoberfest time is definitely a time to smile. As part of the series "The big picture - News stories in Photographs" the Boston Globe showcases outstanding Oktoberfest photos.

However, Oktoberfest originally was not about pretzel and beer. The very first "Oktoberfest" occurred almost 200 years ago. For the commemoration of their marriage on October 12, 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig (later Kind Ludwig I) organized a big horse race on October 17th for Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds). Today, the Munich Oktoberfest starts on the third weekend in September and continues until the first Sunday in October - in these days always incorporating October 3rd, the German Unity Day. If you are interested in the full Oktoberfest history, you can find all details on the Oktoberfest - Wikipedia entry.

If you are a very keen Oktoberfest visitor you can already tick off the days until the 177th Munich Oktoberfest in 2010 - the Oktoberfest homepage shows the countdown.


Photo by: Hendrik Nicolaus

Kodak Germany created a Wiesn09 Photo group so if you have been at Oktoberfest 2009 don't hesitate to upload your best shots to the group. You have the chance to win a Kodak Z950 Digital Camera (Entry deadline is the end of October). Best of luck!

Every trip has its Kodak Moment - that instant in time that embodies the essence of the trip. Kodak Moments can exist as fond memories, but if you're lucky, you may capture some of your Kodak Moments in pictures. I had the good fortune to capture my Kodak Moment with my camera last spring.

It happened in a village whose name I can't pronounce in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. During that trip, my family and several members of our church youth group visited the indigenous Chinanteco people to distribute school supplies and clothing in their villages.

The high point of the trip was staying in one of those villages. Accessible only by steep, switchbacked dirt roads, Chinanteco villages don't get many foreign guests. Thus our group was a curiosity to the children from the moment we arrived.



The villagers were extremely hospitable and immediately began emptying one of their homes to make room for our group and cooking meals to share with us.



Even though we didn't know the Chinanteco language, and not all the villagers knew Spanish, we communicated with smiles and gestures. We ate with the villagers, played with the children, and worshipped in their church.



But my sweetest memory is a walk that we took around the village.

It started with this young boy. He began to follow me as I took pictures. When I photographed him then showed him his image on the camera's LCD, he was hooked.



Soon his friends joined him.



They all wanted to see their pictures on the back of the camera.



As we passed other children in their yards, they came to see what all the excitement was about.



I'd point to a spot where I wanted the group to stand, then back away and yell, "Uno! Dos! Tres!!" At the count of three, I'd take the picture, and the kids would race towards me, vying to see the image on the LCD.



I felt like the Pied Piper. More and more children joined our walk.



Apparently I mispronounced the numbers, so as we strolled through the village, the group belted out numbers in Spanish, teaching me the correct pronunciation. I repeated after them.

"UNO!!!" they shouted.

"Uno!" I said.

"DOS!!!"

"Dos!"

"TRES!!!!!!!!"

"Tres!" (which sounds like treys).



I had so much fun marching through the village with these children that I asked my daughter to take my picture with them.



This picture always triggers the warm glow of sweet memories, and I can't help but smile inside.

It was my Kodak Moment. 

Did you make it to Lollypop Farms Barktoberfest on the 26th!?  What a fantastic day for everyone who attended, and especially for Mr. Cooper and Freeport.  There was a Pet Assisted Therapy table with lots of PAT teams and we were so thankful to Joette for allowing us to bring Mr. Cooper along as a training exercise for him.  The weather was perfect and both Freeport and Mr. Cooper had the opportunity to socialize with a variety people and pets.





We even ran into Paxton - does anyone remember Paxton from Kodak Building 205 and his blogs?  He was in training to be a Guide dog and is now a Pet Assisted Therapy dog! 





We also ran into Lucy - remember the "I love Lucy" Berner from the Kodak Town Meeting slide show!?  



Kristin from Doodiepack was there and she had some Doodiepacks for Freeport and Mr. Cooper to model for the day.  With Niles there as well, another Berner, it was good advertisement for Kristin to say that they make sizes to fit any dog! (Notice little Ally in the background with the pink pack!)



Cooper and Freeport were also part of a photo shoot for our special friend from the READ program who gave us a pleasant surprise by coming to visit.



You may be wondering why I am so excited about these 3 situations -
It's just a festival-
It's just a pack-
It's just some people dressed as animals-
What's so exciting about that? 

Well, glad you asked, BECAUSE, if you've been following my blogs you'll remember that socialization is critical for therapy dogs - Interacting with strangers, experiencing different stimulus (like the pack and the characters), and being around new places - all play a major part in training. 

Not to mention all of the people taking pictures of the two of them!  I received links to Kodak Gallery albums from people who where there that knew us.  What a fantastic way to stay connected, yes?

By the end of the morning, though, Mr. Cooper was just downright pooped!



Speaking of which - anyone from Fairport, NY reading this?  Freeport & Mr. Cooper's photo is supposed to be in the Fairport Messenger with them 'kissing' in the "Kissing Booth"!



Besides Barktoberfest, we attended the Niagara Celtic Festival too!  Another great day.  Mr. Cooper met his second person "in costume", and never even gave it a second thought. 



He also came across his very first piece of equipment that is used for mobility - a motorized scooter!  This was so FUNDAMENTAL in his training since he'll be around wheel chairs, walkers, canes and other devices - Tell, me, do you think he was in the least bit nervous around the scooter?



So, anyone notice that fall was in there air!?  The leaves are starting to come down and both dogs are enjoying the cooler weather.  We did one final walk at Hamlin Beach State Park to swim just before going home to get a bath!



Then it was time to romp in the leaves!





I captured this picture where I think Freeport is telling Mr. Cooper that he loves him, but don't let mama or papa know!



Speaking of love - yes, I really do love them unconditionally, more than words could ever describe - the love from a child is so revealing, to capture it in a picture is priceless:



Have you captured that love in a photo recently?  Keep it; Share it; Treasure it forever!
And remember, it's time to SMILE!

Now to a more serious topic - no, really!  In level 2 obedience class at Ebb Tide Kennels, Joan - owner and trainer - emphasizes the importance of training in different locations.  If a dog only trains at the training building, or at home, they may not do as well in other environments.  In the dogs mind they may be thinking that they don't have to obey the commands other than those places.  If they are trained in new locations, they will realize that they need to pay attention WHEREVER they are.  Distractions are a plus - keeps them focused and thinking.  We did some sit, stand, and pay attention commands during the Celtic Festival's parade.  It was challenging, but well worth the effort.



On a side note -  Agility Training has a lot of advantages, both for the health of your dog and you and as a good way to stay communicated with them. It is also another tool that you can use to train your dog for Pet Therapy.  How, you ask?  Again, new environments, different obstacles, better control on commands - it all works together to help that bond and communication with your dog.  We've given Mr. Cooper some pre-trial experience with agility obstacles -  take a look:



OK - that's enough serious stuff - now, to round out this blog, I have to tell you that Bernese Mountain Dogs think they are lap dogs!  I know, I know - but I'm not kidding!

Mr. Cooper has become quite the affectionate little one and has taken to leaping into our laps for his daily hugs!  Fortunately, he is only 55 lbs now, so we'll have to curtail this soon, but until then, I'M LOVING IT!