Old as Methuselah

Hatheg-Kla Isabella Catalina aka Zabelle is our wonderful Maine Coon cat who is now 18 1/2 years old. This qualifies her as a Methuselah kitty, one who has lived longer than 15 years. Here she is pictured on our patio a couple of days ago on the first really warm day in February.

The website below details her pedigree and exciting life from birth in a cat house in Amsterdam to a Paris apartment to Washington, DC. More recently she moved onto a boat for a year of sailing dangerously to the Bahamas. She is now in retirement in France where she sorts out Dante and Calypso when the need arise.

http://pawpeds.com/MCO/mchs/methunotes.html#H

Petillant's new home

Finding a slip for a boat the size of Petillant is not easy. In France there are too many boats chasing too few slips. We found a new marina at the top of the Garonne river that had 2 slips that could accommodate our boat. We decided to take out a lease on the slip so that we would not get bumped from it by another boat. So as of January we have a secure slip and the marina moved the boat for us. When we visited Petillant last Thursday to see how she fared in the recent 2 tempetes she was in her new slip. She sustained some damage to the canvas in the storms but nothing worse. Quite a relief.

Lazy Sunday

It is gloriously sunny out today but cold. Consequently we are spending Sunday in front of the fire. This does not suit some of the family. Outside there are chickens to chase and pigeons to watch. In the warmth of the sun may be even a frankie will come out. A frankie is a little salamander that scurries around the house warming itself against the stone walls. Dante and Calypso are very good at catching frankies by the tail who are equally good at escaping them because they shed these tails! With no possibility of going outside Dante decides to follow our lead and be lazy.

Kitty TV

Our neighbors raise pigeons. They have them in a very large aviary that is behind our house. Though separated by trees, brambles, fencing, and yard Dante and Calypso have found a pathway to get to the pigeons. What better way to spend a sunny afternoon but watching and cackling at birds who ignore your existance.

Shower with a friend

How do routines start? When we moved to this house Dante got it into his head that he had to shower with us. Eventually we installed a plastic garden chair in the shower so he would be more comfortable. Now every morning when we get up he makes a bee-line for his chair and waits for the water to start. He then studies the patterns of waterflow on the mosaic tile floor and gets really excited when the shampoo suds go down the drain.

Quilted Bag

This is our neighbor Isabelle who is an avid quilter. When I travel to the US, I usually bring back fabrics for her as the selection of quilt fabrics in France is relatively small. Here she is displaying a tote bag she made with the last lot of fabrics purchased at the Olde Green Cupboard in Jacksonville, FL. I gave her the fabrics on Sunday and the bag was designed and made by Thursday. Normally she does all of her work by hand but the bag she sewed by machine.

I love Amaryllis

In November we drove to Holland to meet up with a friend who was visiting her family there. It was our first trip out of France since our move and we had a wonderful time. We planned to buy amaryllis bulbs in the flower market in Amsterdam. In the 1980s we bought 6 bulbs there and for the next 18 years they rewarded us with spectacular flowers and produced many offspring. When we had to leave them behind in the US there were more than 25 flowering plants. This trip we bought another 6 bulbs in different colors. Here is our first bulb that has flowered.