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.