Our 13th Blogoversary!

 

Tama-Chan: Welcome, Dear Friends, to our 13th Blogoversary, which happens to fall on a Tuesday, my day! #1 said that I am of course best qualified to host this post because I am the "Keeper of Memories", having been here almost since the creation of the blog. Sen-Chan and Tommy kicked off the blog on June 29, 2008 (the link is here), and I joined the Gang on October 31st that same year.

It has been an amazing 13 years for The Poupounette. At the start, there was one cat and one dog. There were heart-rending losses in the first couple of years as both Sen-Chan and Yuu-Chan went to the Bridge very young. And then we settled into a number of wonderful years, with Tommy, me, Sei-Chan, my Beebs, Da Genj, Vidock and Violette. Those were the best of times, and we will always remember them with smiles on our faces, despite the sadness of losing Tommy, Sei-Chan, Da Beebs and Da Genj over the past two and a half years. And yet, we go forward, remembering those who are gone and welcoming the newcomers. Ollie joined us in late January 2019, Hotesse and Heloise in the spring of 2020, and little Benny in late March this year. We have inverted some numbers, going from two horses to four, and four cats to two. And even though she does not live with us, we were thrilled to welcome Ollie's little daughter, Lily, into our wider family, in May. We will also include Ikkyu, #1's first kitty who went to the Bridge in 2007. He never blogged but is an integral part of our Souvenir Saturday posts

It is so hard to know which photos best represent us all, but since we will all be forever young in the memory of this blog, we decided to share baby pics of all of us, with the exception of our matriarch, Hotesse, whom #1 never knew as a baby (she was born in 1995) but of course we have baby pics of both Violette and Heloise with their gorgeous Mama!

This picture of Ikkyu was taken a couple of days after he came to live with #1 in Tokyo. He was just about 8 weeks old:

And this, in a somewhat similar vein, is Sen-Chan, just after he arrived:

Here is Tommy on the day that #1 met him, at his breeders'

This is one of the first pictures that #1 took of me, Tama, and she knew I had to be part of her life there and then!

Do any of you remember this photo of Sei-Chan's first visit to Poupounette Central? She was less than 3 weeks old at the time:

And here is a very sweet young Yuu-Chan:

My son, Bibi, aka Da Beebs, Beebsteroo and HouBibi, was the only Gang member actually born to the Poupounette, and he was very clear in his desire to stay here with us. This is #1's all-time favourite pic with him as a baby:

Here is Vidock  as "Little V" when he was a colt. Can you believe that he was jet black?

And here is Baby Violette, at four months, with her Mama, Hotesse:

Genji, aka Da Genj, was our first and only blue Abyssinian, and he had the hugest ears as a baby, a Frootbat among Frootbats!

Miss Heloise was quite a looker right from birth. Here she is, on the day she was born, with her Mama, Hotesse:

Little Ollie, just a few days after he arrived at Poupounette Central:

Our very first panther, Benkei, aka Benny, as photographed by Mr. G shortly after his arrival:

And to close things off, here is Miss Lily, the lovely daughter of Ollie and Noelle:

Thirteen years of love, fun, hellos and goodbyes. Eight cats, three dogs and four horses. Is there anyone out there still who has been following us since the very beginning? Thank you, everyone, for accompanying us on our journey. We are The Poupounette.

Manly Monday!

 

Benny: Mghrrrrrrrryghrrrreow, Everyone! Benny here! Have you missed us? We've missed you! We're sorry to have been MIA for several days. #1 has just finished her first week of quarantine and she has another week to go. She has been working like a fiend to catch up with the work she needs to get done before the quarantine ends and she gets swept up in the Olympic whirlwind.

We are well and Mr. G has been taking lots of pics of us. Here I am in the hammock in the cat run! It took me some time to figure out how to get up there, but I've got it down pat now!

Ollie: Woof Woof, Everyone! I have been wearing that awful cone all week but it's coming off today! And I got to have fun because Ms. N and Mr.G took me to met my pal, Paddie, who belongs to Mr. G's sister, Ms.L!

This is a fun photo. You can see me with Ms. N, and Paddie's head is just under mine!

The most exciting news is that today, Mr. G is taking me to Ms. C's, so I will be reunited with Noelle and our daughter, Lily!

The Big V: Ms. C sent this pic of me to #1:

And there are these of me and my girls that #1 took just before she left:

Before, I forget, please come and join us tomorrow as we have a rather special post to share with you, with Queen Tama hosting, of course!

Tama's Tuesday Tidings

 

Tama-Chan: Hello, Dear Friends! Welcome to my  Tuesday post! I hope you have all been well. I apologise for the lack of recent news. It took some time for #1 to get to Japan and settle in to her quarantine, so she can once again remote post and comment on our behalf.

This whole week, we're being looked after my Mr. G. He has been taking photos of us and sending them on to #1. She thought I looked a bit sad in this one.

Here, I felt a little bit like Summer when she has a fashion fail...

But then, I got some lovely cuddles from Ms. N!

PP Benny has been enjoying himself out in the run:

And Ollie has been hanging out with my cousin Toto, over at Mr. G and Ms. N's!

Snuggles on Sunday

 

Tama-Chan: Well, we have now been abandoned. #1 let as planned yesterday.. Of course, we are being looked after by Mr.G so it's not exactly a huge hardship...

As you can imagine, we did a lot of snuggling before #1 left, so I have a good bunch of photos to share with you today.

I had to make sure that #1 was properly impregnated with me before she left:

Here is Ollie snuggled up to #1 in bed yesterday morning. Can you see which side is up?

Next we have this week's Lily Snuggle. She is going to be so much bigger by the time #1 gets back!

And we have the first ever father-daughter snuggle shot!

Here is Benny "snuggling" with Ollie's tail:

He was missing from last week's post, but here is The Big V snuggling with #1:

Miss Heloise:

Mama Hotesse:

And Miss Violette!

Happy Snuggling, Everyone!

Thankful Thursday

 

Benny: Meeyoworrthh....! It has come to my attention that Thursdays are the day that bloggers often write about the things they are thankful for. #1 asked me if I wanted to host this week's post and I said yes. She says it is good to understand these things. I started by asking her what she was thankful for this week, and she said it was to have such good friends who would make sure we would be well cared for whilst she is away.

I am thankful that I am back to being 100% healthy after so many problems when I first arrived. I am also thankful for my great bro, Ollie, and for Mr. G, who takes such great pics of all of us, and who will be our main carer until September. Here are some recent shots of me he has taken.

#1 says nobody knows how to relax like me!

Ollie says he is thankful for his beautiful little daughter, Lily:

And that the big ouchie on his ear could be taken care of by #1 before she left.

He still has to keep that cone on for a few day, though, and he is not thankful at all for that!

Queen Tama is thankful for nice places to nap in:

And she is crossing her paws that all will go well for #1 on her long and very exciting trip:

#1 leaves on Saturday, around noon. Mr. G will take her to the train station in Le Mans, from where there is a direct train to the airport. There are so many things for her to do so we will not be posting over the next couple of days. She says she will prepare a Sunday snuggle post before she leaves. After that, she will see how things go, It will depend on what is going on at her end, and how many photos of us come her way. But we will not disappear completely, and #1 says she will have plenty of time to visit our friends the first couple of weeks, when she is locked up in her hotel room

Woofie Wednesday

Ollie: Woof Woof, Everyone! Ollie here. I thought I would do a little update. I am getting better. I am still wearing the cone, but #1 took it off for a while yesterday evening so I could have my evening meal and  on a quick walk in peace. It felt so good. If things continue to evolve in the right direction, I may get rid of it today! Here are a couple of pics taken by Mr. G yesterday.

PS: #1 got her visa so she is all set to leave on Saturday!

Tama-Chan Tuesday

 

Tama-Chan: Hello Dear Friends, and welcome to my weekly post, perhaps the last full one for a bit. Poor #1 has been in a bit of a state, with Ollie's abscess to deal, with waiting and waiting and waiting for her visa (Japan is not permitting "regular" foreigners in at the moment because of the pandemic, so she needed a special visa. It finally came through and she is going to Paris today, to the Japanese embassy, to get it put in her passport. Ollie will be looked after by Mr. G and Ms. N. He is feling very sorry for himself about the one, but he needs to wear it for a bit longer. He is being good about taking his meds, though.

I have been doing my best to help #1 with all her paperwork:

#1 took some nice shots of me at the window in the kitchen.

And here is one that shows off my green eyes:

#1 keeps telling me how much she is going to miss having me on her pillow when she is away.

And here is a little dangle to finish today's post with: