Snuggles on Sunday

Tama-Chan: So, here we are, back to our Snuggle on Sunday posts, and there is something I have to tell you. Even though I have long hosted this post, you may remember that snuggling never was my forte, especially when compared to the two boys, but all this has now changed! As soon as my Beebs got his wings and I saw how desperately sad #1 was, I revved up the purr engine and have been snuggling with her endlessly! She is a bit thrilled!

 

 

Genji of course continues to do his bit:

 

A for Ollie, well what can I say?

 

When #1 was away in Bordeaux, we did quite a bit of snuggling with Mr. G:

 

 

 

And #1 even managed to get snuggle pics with the Vs!

 

Don't forget to snuggle with the ones you love, Friends. You never know when they may no longer be there...

Sei-Chan's Souvenir Saturday

Rainbow Sei: Well, in the end, he just wouldn't listen to us, would he? That Beebs managed to get himself over here. Actually, I think he is missing #1 a bunch. Thank goodness Tommy is here to help look after him, and Yuu-Chan. You know, coming here is like a kind of rebirth for all of us, a time when we are young and strong again. So, to commemorate Beebs' arrival among us, I thought we would do a post with baby pics.

I will kick off with Beebs. This pic was taken when he was just over 3 weeks old:

Here is one of me, That foot belongs to my Mama Viña, in case you were wondering!

Here is Sen-Chan on the day #1 first saw him, at his breeder's:

And Yuu-Chan. He was at Poupounette Central, but he wasn't "official" yet:

And here is Tommy on the day that #1 first met him. He was two months old. He came to live at Poupounette Central a month later:

And we will close today's post with Ikkyu and a shot of him taken shortly after he came to live with #1 in Tokyo, in 1992:

 

Wishing you a good SEIturday.

Family Friday

Genji: We are still feeling so sad at losing our Beebs, but we have been rallying around #1. We also think we are very lucky because, when #1 goes away, as she did last week, and as she will do again at the end of the month, we have am extended family in Mr. G and his parents.

Here is Ms. N doing double duty with me and Tama:

Ollie got to go to a concert in the church of the village where Mr. G and family live, and he got to meet the musicians (Mr' G's dad makes and restores harpsichords!).

 

He also got to meet the two labs that Mr. G looks after daily:

 

Now that there are just three of us at Poupounette Central with #1, it is important that we are a real family and get on well, so we have been working on that:

And we are happy that a friend whom we hadn't sen much recently is back at our feeder!

Tama-Chan's Thoughtful Thursday

Tama-Chan: My name is Tama and I am the Keeper of Memories. When #1 came back on Tuesday evening from her trip to Bordeaux, we were so pleased to see her! We love Mr. G but #1 is different. She is our #1. So, yesterday, #1and I sat together. We were so happy to be together again. She petted me and I purred. We are still under the shock of losing our Beebs. As we were reminiscing, she looked at me and she said" My Tama, you are the Keeper of Memories. You are the only one to have known all the ones we have lost. Sen-Chan loved you when you were a tiny kitten. In turn, you loved Sei-Chan, and then Yuu-Chan. And you had your fabulous kittens and Beebs stayed with us. And through all that, there was Tommy. You and I are the only ones left who knew and loved each and every one of them." And thus she named me Keeper of Memories.

 

We have been blogging for almost 11 years. In fact, the blog started a few months before I was born. Over the years, we have made so many friends all over the world. Not many friends from way back then are still blogging, but we manage to keep in touch with some of them via Facebook instead. How many of you remember an Australian blog called Forever Foster? There were three resident cats, Fui, Suey and Lishy, plus fosters who came and went. They stopped blogging almost six years ago. Today, we found out that Suey went to the Rainbow Bridge a few days ago. Suey was a Tortie with a Tortie personality. The last blog post she was in is here.

Run free, beautiful Suey. I shall keep your memory:

 

And we have one more farewell today. Not long after we started to blog, we discovered an amazing Irish blog about a dog called Clive and a cat called Tinkerbell. The blog, which no longer exists, was called Assistance Dog For Autism. You see, Clive's young master, Murray (known in the early days as "The Little Man"), is autistic and the arrival of Clive totally changed his life. For many years, Clive was Murray's faithful companion, making it possible for him to experience so many things he would not have been able to otherwise. Tinkerbell also did her part, and she went to the Bridge some years ago. Clive retired from being an official assistance dog several years ago and stayed with the family as a pet, and we learned yesterday that he too has just gone to the Bridge at the age of 14. Our deepest condolences to the family, most especially to Murray who is now a fine young man. This photo was taken last year, at Clive's 13th birthday:

And so we make and keep memories. We will remember...

Wednesday Whinnies

Vidock: Handsome Neighs, EveryFriend! I have been wanting to get back to some kind of activity for a while now, but it's been difficult to find a time when everyone concerned was available. We finally got the timing right last weekend, though, and Ms. C was helped by three friends who are very famous in the heavy horse world in France. So, I had 4 great teachers, and #1 taking pics!

Let me start with a portrait:

At first, we did an exercise called long-raining:

This guy is not all that small, but I guess I am a big boy!

Then the senior guy worked with me a little:

And then they hitched me. In the past, I have...ahem... been known to run away on a vehicle as a single horse, so they made sure I was properly held.

I was a good boy, so #1 got om board and they loosened the lead ropes.

 

Everyone was in agreement about how handsome I am! 

Miss Violette is eagerly awaiting her turn:

 

She says she won't run away...

 

Ollie's Manly Monday

Ollie: Woofs everyone. It's been a while. We apologise for not doing any posting and hardly any commenting. We are still reeling from losing Da Beebs. But #1 thought I should post today as I celebrated my 7th monthday on May 30th.

#1 took these two pics of me to celebrate:

 

You may remember seeing similar pics of Tommy. It is known universally as "The Springer Sprawl", and #1 says I am also very good at it!

And this one is just a cute portrait:

 

I also wanted to tell you that I have a new friend. She is almost 4 months old, so younger than me. She is a Beauceron sheepdog pup and her name is Paddie: We had such a great time together!

 

Paddie belongs to Mr. G's sister, Ms. L, and her huband.

 My favourite toys at the moment are empty mineral water bottles:

And this big tire!

I also really like spending time with my bro, Da Genj:

#1 asked me to tell you that she is leaving us today and will be gone until Tuesday, June 11th. We will be looked after by Mr. G and Ms. N, and I will also spend some time with my buddy, Fernant. She is going to Bordeaux where she is curating an exhibition on draft horses in Japan as part of the Bordeaux International Fair. We will do a few posts whilst she is away, but won't be back to full-time regular posting or commenting until she gets back. Please bear with us!

 

Rainbow Bibi's Thankful For My Life Thursday

Da Rainbow Beebs: Greetings from the Bridge, my friends! Well, I did warn you last week that I was feeling very tired and that I could make no promises about the following week, but I decided that I would come and see you again, and #1 said it would be good if I could introduce the blog post about my life. I will of course take part in Rainbow Sei's weekly posts!

I hope you are sitting comfortably and have some popcorn at paw because it will be quite long. #1 had a pretty hard time, even choosing this few/many photos! My Mama Tama did her best to help her:

 

Before I hand over the keyboard to #1, I wanted to tell you one more time that I had a great life, the best. I lived with my beloved #1 from the moment I was born, and met my soul brother Tommy when I was less than 3 months old. When he left us so suddenly in late December, my life force seemed to go with him and that is when I became ill. Now I am reunited with him and, even though we both miss #1 terribly, we are so happy to be together again. Thank you all for your friendship, thank you to my Mama Tama for raising me, to my siblings, and to my #1 for loving me so very much.

😻💖😻💖😻💗

#1 here. I have been contemplating the writing of this post ever since Beebs left us. I have been going through the photo albums. There are so many, so very many photos, and making a selection has been incredibly hard. I am sure I shall come across photos later and think "I should have included that one in the post". But anyway, here it is, THE LIFE OF BEEBS:

When her breeder gave me Tama (because she had malformations on her front paws and was therefore not sellable), the one condition was that she have one litter and he would take the kittens when weaned. I said yes and she had her amorous rendez-vous shortly after her first birthday. When the time came however, things did not go as planned and she ended up having an emergency Caesarian on December 4th, 2009. There were 4 kittens, three boys, Ebisu (Bibi-Chan), Eifuku (Fuku-Chan), Echigo (Gogo-chan), and one girl, Ehime (Hime-Chan). As they grew, though, Bibi-Chan made it very clear that he wanted to stay. He would run to me every time I entered the baby room, would snuggle up to me for cuddles every chance he got. How could I resist? The breeder agreed to give him to me, and so he stayed.

Tama's litter were known as "The Fab Four"

Beebs was the cutest kitten ever:

 And he was very snuggly right from the start:

And so handsome!

 

When Bibi met Tommy:

A 3-way snuggle with Tommy, Tama and Bibi:

Once Beebs was weaned, it was Yuu-Chan who took over looking after him:

Although Tommy remained available 24/7

 

Bibi grew 

 

His love for the dryer full of warm clothes started early:

He loved going into the cat run:

Here he is (at the back) with Sei-Chan and Yuu-Chan:

His first Christmas, with Tommy, just after his first birthday:

Tama still very occasionally gave him a wash back then:

He loved his toys:

And was a Yogic sleeper!

His first "HOUBIBI" escapade!

 

His second birthday card!

Cutie:

So handsome!

Glowing in sunpuddles:

"Playing" with Da Genj:

 

Snuggling with Da Genj:

In his best bib and tucker for his third birthday:

Helping with the blog:

In the cat run:

Still a champion snuggler!

With his half-sister, Sei:

Staying cool in the summer:

He loved having his ears rubbed:

The cat tree in the kitchen:

Beebs for dinner!

His fourth birthday!

With his #1:

 

Through the years, Tommy remained Bibi's friend and mentor:

Whenever he used to go to Dr. C's for his annual review, she used to admire him and say he was the perfect Aby!

He even became a tiny bit chubbier with maturity:

But he still had those amazing eyes!

And he was always so snuggly!

He often snuggled with Tommy last thing at night or first thing in the morning:

And whispered all his secrets to him.

He had real presence by his 6th birthday:

And always enjoyed Christmas!

 

Ear rubs remained his favourite thing:

 

He was SO photogenic!

And was the most vocal of the Chans

 

That intense gaze...

His 7th birthday portrait:

 

He and his Mama Tama were not close, even though they were very alike, but they did occasionally hang out together:

 

Beebs often looked like he was meditating:

Making up the bed for guests in the spare bedroom always led to shenanigans...

 

Bedtime snuggling:

8th birthday:

 

Enjoying a Christmas gift:

With Mama-Tama, eyeing my dinner:

Beebs loved undercover snuggling.

No one could wear a bow tie with quite so much panache!

More bed-making fun:

 

Beebs was quite talented at losing his collar

He loved the sky hammocks in the study!

 

And still those eyes as he celebrated his 9th birthday on December 4th, 2018:

And Tommy.

 After we got the awful news about Tommy, Beebs tried very hard to comfort him:

But ended up having to say goodbye on the day Tommy left us:

 

Beebs fell ill almost immediately afterwards. This picture is taken in February, and he was still OK back then:

Even though he fought hard, it was as though his body just fell apart He who had been the strongest and healthiest of all the Chans. I have shared the pictures taken during his illness over the past weeks, so won't include them again. This last picture of Beebs was taken at the vet's, just before he left us:

He is buried in my garden:

Right next to Tommy, under the Japanese cherry tree. I think that, having seen the photos in today's post, you will all understand why it was not possible to separate them.

 My only comfort, other than having the two best friends together, is that my Tama is still with me and she of course holds a large part of Beebs within her. May she grow old slowly and well, and be my companion for many years to come. She will be 11 this year in August.

RUN FREE, MY PRINCE

💜💛💚💙💗