New Year's Eve - The Year in Review

This is it. The last day of 2013 and we thought it would be fun to repeat what we did last year which is looking back at the year and choosing a photo/event of note a month.

In JANUARY, we had a fairly big snowfall and Tommy had a great time playing in the white stuff!

In FEBRUARY, The Chans enjoyed exceptional Squirrel TV as our little buddy Rusty started coming around regularly to collect walnuts:

At the end of MARCH, Shining Prince Genji celebrated his second birthday!

In APRIL, Da Beebs was very naughty and caught a bird who did not survive the experience:

In MAY, #1 rode Violette for the first time!

and Vidock celebrated his fourth birthday with a wild gallop around his field (Violette also turned four in May):

In JUNE, Sei-Chan spent a lot of time supervising our squirrel babies!

In JULY, #1 was away in Prince Edward Island all month and Tama-Chan spent a lot of time in her hammock in the cat run:

In AUGUST, Violette appeared at her very first big public event and was good as gold!

In SEPTEMBER, Tommy finally got rid of the T-Shirt he had to wear for such a long time, after his operation and the all-clear on the lab results!

In OCTOBER, Da Beebs enjoyed spending some autumn sunshine days in the cat run:

In NOVEMBER, The Big V, Vidock, moved to his new digs and started lessons with a riding master:

And in DECEMBER, Sei-Chan enjoyed the Christmas spirit in any and all available sunpuddles!

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year's Eve. See you next year!

PS: Sweet Violette is happily settled into her new home. "First contact" with the Arab mares she is sharing the pasture with (and one Percheron mare) was rather peaceful:

Manly Monday - with a violet twist...

Tom: Today is indeed Manly Monday, and we will come to that in a minute, but, being true gentlemen, we wanted to start by telling you that our big little sister, Violette, is moving to her new home today! She will be moving to the same place as Vidock and will share a field with another Percheron mare and a bunch of Arabian mares. There are several good things about this move, but the best is that this place is a lot closer to Poupounette Central and so, #1 and I will be able to go and see her almost every day! So here is a photo of her, taken yesterday:

Could we ask you to send some good vibes that her transport goes well and she settles smoothly into her new home?

OK, so back to us boys, starting with this photo of flying me that #1 took a couple of days ago:

Here is one of The Big V, Vidock, trotting off to the woods with his teacher:

… and being very manly as the farrier fitted his new shoe:

#1 thinks that Genji looks really cute in this pic:

And that Da Beebs looks very pensive in this one:

Happy Monday EveryFriend!

Snuggles on Sunday

Tama-Chan: I can hardly believe that this is the last SoS post for 2013. Where did the year go? Still, we are all thankful to be well and to be loved and to be with our #1, an we plan to snuggle even more in 2014!

With all the festivities of the past week, I am wondering whether we will have an adequate supply for this post, but we shall see. First and foremost, of course, is moi, and here I am, snuggling with #1 in her desk chair:

And a fun one of my Beebs snuggling with Tommy at the foot of #'s bed:

He has the loudest purr in this house and #1 always knows when he is snuggling with Tommy, even when all the lights are turned out!

The next one has to be our snuggle picture of the month, if not the year. I was sitting on the table on Christmas morning, supervising things in general, when little Genji hopped up and actually gave me a kiss!

And no, it did not then degenerate into a brawl. He just gave me that kiss and left. Imagine that!

This one is hardly a snuggle pic, but it's Tommy and Fernant playing tug, and we thought it was sweet:

And here is one of me and Sei-Chan taking turns snuggling with Tommy!

And how about My Beebs snuggling with some freshly dried and warm socks?

And where's Genji in all this, you may well ask? We wonder the same thing… Still, we can always go back to the archives, can't we? This photo is two years old (!) and shows Da Genj and Da Beebs snoozing together. That's a pretty rare event…

As to the Vs, no new photos there either, so let's go back in time…

… to the very first smooch #1 ever gave Vidock, on the day she bought him!

And her first smooch photo with Violette, just after she bought her!

We are hoping to have more Violette-related news for you over the next day or two. In the meantime, we wish you all a Very Snuggly Sunday!

Soggy SEIturday!

Sei-Chan: We have had some lovely weather over the past few weeks but right now, it's very wet indeed. #1 says that the and school where Vidock works looks rather like a beach when the tide has just gone out… And in case you were worried, Plum-Chan is now in the covered porch, away from all the wet!

Anyway, we know what's good for us and we have been concentrating on bathing and napping, like so:

By the way, look what we got from Ms. S!

"Catisfactions" is the French name for Temptations/Dreamies and we think it is very cool. It also means that if #1 does not dish them out fast enough, she will be listening to to a rousing chorus of "We Can't Get No Catisfaction" from ALL of us! The "Canaillou" are dog treats for our Tommy.

Fun Friday!

Tom: Well, Christmas is over and Fernant's family came home yesterday evening, so he is back with them. It was quite fun to have him over, and the kitties enjoy him too.

We had some fun zoomies:

And even had a nice portrait taken!

Here he is playing with Genji:

I also went with #1 to visit my Brittany friend Damia who lives across from us. She was very happy to see me!

The Chans have been very curious about what's outside the kitchen window, even in the dark!

And Genji always has great fun helping #1 make the bed!

… as does Da Beebs!

And on the Catertainment TV channel programming, guess who's back?

On the V front, Vidock, our Big V, got to go out to the woods for the first time and loved it!

And our sweet Violette is once again stuck in a sea of mud, and #1 is seriously considering moving her to where The Big V is:

Totally Thankful Thursday!

#1 here, writing on behalf of all the Gang. There are times in life when the generosity of people leaves you completely speechless (well, almost completely…) and this is one such time. Today, we are hugely thankful to two blogging friends for their extraordinary kindness and generosity this Christmas.

Over the past week, we received two packages from overseas and put them aside until Christmas Day. One came from our good friends in Singapore, The Amigos of CAT TALES. The other came from the famed Anglo-Finnish gang ruled over by the great PUNAPIPPURI.

The first package we opened was the first one to arrive, the one from Cat Tales in Singapore. We have always thought this blog to be extra-special. The love and care that San lavishes on Bujang, Akira and Tanaka is boundless, and the gentle spirits of Totoro and Megat who left for the Bridge two years ago and last October respectively still prevail. We were thrilled to received their package but could never have imagined the extraordinary bounty it would hold.

There were fabulous cat treats. There was catnip. There were little nippy cushions and toys. There was a dragonfly. There were hearts. For Tommy, there was a disc and one of the funnest balls we have yet seen. There were two lovely little wooden horsies.

And then, there were four little boxes, beautifully wrapped in ribbon. This is what they held:

Yes, beautiful collars and charms with their names on for each one of the Chans! And there was one extra charm:

San, Bujang, Akira and Tanaka-Chan, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

But that was not all! There was also the package from Finland to open! The adventures of Punapippuri and his numerous siblings, BritCats, FinnCats, Moggies, Burmese and Sphynx, provide us with endless entertainment!  Genji supervised the opening of that one:

Tama immediately came to help when she saw that it contained a packet of dried fish treats!

And, as you can see, there was also a copy of the Punapippuri calendar for 2014!

For Tommy, there was a great red flashing ID tag:

For the Vs, there was a yellow Hi-Viz Vecro sleeve that goes on reins when riding on roads and other public places to make the horses more easily visible to drivers in the dark.

And did you notice what else there was? Yes! A copy of the 2014 Cat Blogosphere calendar!

Puna-Chan's  Äiti knew that we had not ordered a copy as the price for the calendar and postage combined was a little beyond our budget, and she very kindly got an extra one for us! We are delighted! THANK YOU, our wonderful Finnish friends for your thoughtfulness and generosity!