Brom goes har har!

Coocoo Har har

Last year there was a pirate day and I so wanted to be part of it. But we realised too late and Mara didn't have time to make me an outfit. But this year Ann from Zoolatry sent us a notice like weeks ago and I told Mara I wanted to be a pirate this year! Well, I got to be a pirate and here's what happened to me...

I had been a bit naughty you see. Only a bit, but Mara says a bit naughty is still naughty! First I tried to keep a coin from Judge Gera when she came to the bank where I worked for the day.

Then I tried to have a taste of Judge Gera's donut.

She got fed up with me and had me thrown in the pokey! I tried to escape, but those bars were really  too strong for a little teddy.

When we got to court, she gave me a very stern warning to never do it again! I promise Judge Gera, I promise!!

As part of my promise I would have to tell others to be nice and not naughty!

I think next year I will be a pirate and just stay in bed!

PS: All photos taken in the Ulster Folk Park near Belfast, Northern Ireland

Rainbow felines

Wuppie was my first feline love! The first time I saw him, he was just a little ball of fluff and so adorable! He grew up to be a large, rather dumb tom, but still adorable. I could never be angry with him for long. Even when he grabbed the steak off the table or the sausage from the fridge! When I had to leave him behind in the Netherlands, I cried for so long, my parents had to come down to console me!

Mathilda came along with Wuppie, because I didn't want him to be on his own. She had her own quirks: out of all the cats, she never miaowed, unless in trouble (like being locked in the airing cupboard). She was outgoing, friendly and always wanted to be petted. She would never sit still long enough to take a photo, because as soon as you moved, she thought she might get attention and was on the move as well. 

Sophie was a little farm cat that had definitely not been socialised enough. She was a bit of a scaredy cat and especially in later life, was very prone to being bullied by the others. Which in turn meant that she was allowed to spend her nights with me in the bedroom. The one time she tried to climb a tree was not a good experience though: I had to get her out and after that, she didn't go outside, unless I was out as well!

Julius came to live with us and was such a loving cat. He loved playing catch (actually bringing the little cloth ball back to me, sort of) and could play that for hours. Unfortunately he contracted some bladder problems, after which he stopped using the litterbox. In the end I had to take him to the shelter, because I just didn't have the time for him anymore. Never again though!

Linette was an outside cat that was hungry. And every day she got closer, until she was inside and I closed the door on her. Nobody seemed to own her and nobody wanted her, so in the end we kept her. She always was a very thin cat, especially in the summer, when she would stay outside for days on end without eating. She had a special relationship with Wuppie, needing a lick on her head every so often and being happy after that. 

These were the five cats I owned before Miss Oswin came into my life. They are still very much missed!

This post is for the Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day, which actually took place yesterday. Blame it on the time zones!

L'amour, de Paris

Coocoo!!!

Surprise! Ç'est moi!! Ç'était trop longtemps, mais je suis retourné! Et Mara m'as dit, que je peux écrire quelque chose, parce aujourd'hui ç'est le Jour de Valentin! Et ç'est un jour spécial, parce que ç'est le jour de l'amour! 💓💓💓 Ah, l'amour...💓💓💓

Mais, pourquoi j'ecris en français? Parce que Ville de Blog a décidée d'aller à Paris pour célebrer ce grand jour d'amour. 💓💓💓 

Je pourrais vous montrer le Tour Eiffel ou le Louvre. Le Sacré Coeur, la Notre Dame? Ç'est un peu embettant, n'est-ce pas? Alors, je vais vous montrer quelque chose d'autre: le Palais de Versailles et l'Hameau de Marie-Antoinette. 

Il y avait beaucoup d'amour 💓💓💓 au Palais. Des rois et des reines, des princes et des princesses et tous les maîtres et maîtresses. Madame de Pompadour était une maîtresse. Le roi l'aimait 💓💓💓 mieux que son épousse! Ooh la la, l'amour! 💓💓💓 

Dans le palais il y a beaucoup des salles et des chambres. La salle aux mirroires est fantastique avec les grandes mirroires et les chandeliers. La chambre d'une reine était ouverte. Tous le monde pouvait voir la reine, pendant elle était au lit! Mais le palais manquait des salles de bains! Quand le roi devait fair pipi ou caca, il le faisait dans un coin! Eurgh!!

Au dehors, il y a l'Hameau de Marie-Antoinette. Un petit hameau qui était fait pour elle, parce-que elle voulait fair le boulot d'une laitière par example! Elle le ne faisait pas bien sûr, mais ç'est un jardin magnifique quand même.

Il n'y avait pas seulement une laiterie, il y avait aussi un moulin d'eau et des autres bâtiments. Et en plus des animaux comme des vaches, des cochons, des oies et beaucoup plus. Mara m'a dit, qu'elle aimait 💓💓💓 ce jardin, ç'était encore mieux que le palais!

J'éspère que vous tous ont pris plaisir de ces photos et que Google traduction vous a aidé, si vous avez besoin bien sûr! Moi, j'ai aimé 💓💓💓 écrire en français. 

PS: vous aimez 💓💓💓 ma tenue? Ç'est la Maman de Madi qui me l'a fait! Merci beaucoup, je l'aime 💓💓💓.

When the cat's away...

Brom is living it up in Scotland

...the mice will play!

Well, that's how the saying goes anyway. Fortunately the cat is not away (well, she is, she is outside right now), but the teddy is! Brom is living it up in Scotland and Mouse felt a bit lonely. So, I signed him up for something special...

Blanket volleyball.

Apparently you hold a blanket (preferably with others) and then try to get your ball to the other side. Mouse was in a team with Princess Leah from England (also known as the Buttie Pillar Princess) and Ruby the Airedale Terrier from the United States (also known as the Margarita Queen). 

All I can say is that the Ruler (ie YAM-Auntie) was being a tad mean. They said ball, Mouse had a ball: a cheese one! Princess Leah had a ball with wings, but it said nowhere that she couldn't have one. And Ruby didn't do anything wrong either. I saw no rule about Margaritas anywhere! But the Ruler thought they were cheating and gave them a time-out! Pfew! 

Anyway, Mouse had a great time and we want to thank Madi and her Mom for organising the event as part of the Blogville Picnic. The above photo was made by Madi's Mom and I have shamelessly stolen it! 

Day 14: Christmas cards

This year we took part in the Blogville Christmas Card exchange. Since we love getting mail, we thought that might be the perfect way to receive some cards, especially in this day and age of emails and such.

Of course there is also the Card Count. Who gets more? Mara or Brom and Miss Oswin. So far...

It may only be one, but it is a cute one!

Mara: 1. Brom and Miss Oswin (and yes, a bit Mara as well): 9 paper cards and 10 virtual cards. We have cards with dirty paws, kittens, snow freaks (also known as snowmen), dogs, Santa and lots and lots and lots more.

One thing we do know: next year we are going to make our own PRE-PRINTED card! And we are going to buy self licking envelopes. 

Day 11: Christmas in our house

Today we join Blogville's 25 days of Christmas and will tell you all about our Christmas. Which is going to be great this year, because Mara doesn't have to work! And that means that we can watch Christmas films and we have a lot of those!!

Here's a little list of our *****-films. The ones that we will definitely be watching this Christmas!

The Christmas Card (2006). Not a big story, but a sweet one. And Mara says it makes her tummy go funny every time they kiss!

Miracle on 34th Street (1947). The original is still the best, but its remake is right up there as well. We gave that one 4,5 stars.

The Polar Express (2004). People may say it wasn't that good, but we love it. 

Bad Santa (2003). There is a lot of swearing and things like that, but at the heart is a feel-good story. 

Love Actually (2003). Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Martin Freeman, Liam Neeson. What's not to love?

The Santa Clause (1994). The original. The best. Although its follow-ups were pretty good as well.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945). Heads and shoulders above its later remake. Funny and very feel-good. 

Lost Christmas (2011). A British made-for-tv film starring Eddie Izzard. A bit darker than most Christmas films, but the story really stuck.

The Ref (1994). More swearing and crime, but again it has heart.

Arthur Christmas (2011). So funny and sweet. We love grandpa and Bryony the packing elf and of course Arthur!

Remember the Night (1940). Romantic and sweet. What more do you need for Christmas?

Elf (2003). So many sweets! We love the sweets! And how can anyone not believe in Santa??

Make the Yuletide Gay (2009). Boyfriend shows up unexpectedly for Christmas. It makes us smile every time. 

The Snowman (1982). Boy makes snowman who comes alive at night. We will keep making snowmen ourselves!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). Boris Karloff telling the story and no Jim Carrey in sight. Nuff said!

A Dog named Christmas (2009). A dog just for Christmas. Or is it?

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). The best Christmas Carol. EVER!!! It has singing penguins and it has an acting bear!

We're no Angels (1955). Three escaped convicts make Christmas a good time. 

But our two favouritest of all our favourites:

White Christmas (1954). Mara tries to say that line Danny Kaye says to Bing Crosby every time, but she has never gotten it right so far: "My dear partner, when what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting, whatever it is you've got left."

A Muppet Family Christmas (1987). Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggles. Small talk (that begins with s you know), bears, chickens, rats. And songs. Lots of songs. The perfect start to Christmas.

Day 2: Come Fly With Me

We're part of a community called Blogville, which is inhabited by cats, dogs, crabs and yes, a teddy-bear or two! It's a great community and there is a lot of love going around. And when one of us is a bit poorly, a lot of love comes from all those cats, dogs, crabs, teddies and their two-leggers. Sammy is a feline in America and he loves to travel. 

Unfortunately he is not as young as he once was and it can get difficult to get about. So, Madi (a fabulous feline who I like to call my friend) and Easy (a handsome Weimaraner from France, who sadly passed away suddenly on November 30th) came up with the best idea for Sammy. 

We loved this idea, also because Brom has just travelled/is still travelling and Mara will be flying today! So, this idea? Tell Sammy about a great place anywhere in the world, he or his two-leggers might want to visit. Well, that's going to be easy!! Right?

What about London? Mara is travelling there today and staying for a couple of days to enjoy the Christmas markets. Covent Garden, Hyde Park, Oxford Street, South Bank. So much to see in such a short time. 

Or Brom says, what about a trip to Vienna to see the famous Lipizaner horses in a show? We saw them in training only a few months ago and that was exciting. 

Miss Oswin however is not too fond of travelling, unless it means going out in a proper garden with grass and a lot of mice. 

In the end though? We all voted for the Austrian/German Alps. Beautiful views, no cars, a lot of nature. Plus a couple of mice probably. 

Sammy, we hope you will love our destination and that you will soon be able to go travelling the world again!

Update: Sammy will be visiting all those lovely places I mentioned and all the places everybody else chose as an angel. He passed away earlier this morning and has joined Easy. We are so sorry for their two-leggers. 

Miss Oswin is not happy!

Miaow

Did you see that photo from yesterday? That grrrr... thing? Well, let me tell you about it. 

It is awful! That's it! Awful!! Oh yes, it may look nice, but it's trying to get into my house. MY HOUSE!!! It sometimes sits and waits until Mara opens the door for me and then I can't go out. And only the other day Mara wanted me to come in and when she rattled the treat jar, that thing came running! It even got a treat!! Mara said it got a treat so I could come down, but I am not so sure. 

I think Mara is secretly training it to come and live with us, even though she says she isn't. I just hope it goes away and leaves us in peace. That way I can go out in MY garden again and enjoy MY roof. 

Note from the editor: the cat has been hanging around in our garden for the past few weeks now. It is friendly enough and will let me pet it, so it is used to people. It has some big mats in its fur though, so I doubt it actually lives somewhere. It may just travel between homes. Even though it lets me pet it, it has a limit and when that limit is reached it will bite. Fortunately both times it was in either my jacket sleeve or my glove. It does however scare Miss Oswin. She doesn't like going out when it is around and she is afraid to come in when it is too close to the front door. I do not want to feed it and I certainly do not want to take it in, despite Miss Oswin's fears. 

Once upon a time...

 

Coocoo

Mara said I could write a fairy tail story even though we are not travelling and are at home. Isn't that fantastic?? So, here goes...

Once upon a time in a far away land beyond the hills of gold and the seas of silver, there lived a pussycat princess called Oswina. She was so beautiful that everybody had to stop and stare at her, whenever she was around (I had to say that, Miss Oswin said that otherwise she would never miaow to me ever again).

She loved playing outside in the gardens of the large castle she called home. There were trees to climb and sheep to watch and of course mice to chase. 

One day Oswina met three little bunny rabbits: Tippy, Pippy and Foon. Even though they looked cute, they were really very naughty little bunnies. 

They had thought up something really bad this time. They were going to put wine in all the water bowls. Oswina didn't like the smell of wine and didn't drink it, but Big Mick was so thirsty, he drank it all! 

Oswina did like to chase mice, but this was no fun! So, she called the police and very soon they came to investigate. The policeman was very strict with the bunnies and they promised never to do it again. 

And they all lived happily ever after!

Miss Oswin and Brom enjoyed Christmas

Miaow 

Hi there, here I am after a great Christmas! I didn't do much, I just ate and drank a bit, watched television and relaxed. Mara said that was a good way to spend Christmas. 

Now a while back Mara went Christmas shopping for Princess Leah who lives in another country and then last week we got a present back from Princess Santa Cla Leah and her Mum. It was big and it smelled so good! Which meant that the box was opened already before Christmas, but I was only allowed to take out the really good smelling gift, which was a Santa! 

I could play with it and sleep on it. But all the other gifts had to stay in!

We didn't have many gifts under our Christmas tree this year (which Mara set up on Little Christmas Eve), only one for Mara and one for me (the big one). Well, there was one other one for Mara, but she said it smelled so good, she had to open it right away!! Miaow, isn't she a silly puss?

Well, I loved my gifts. There were balls and mice with feathers, but Mara put those away for now. There was the prettiest bowl ever that I got. Princess Leah sure does understand about the mbf in the wwu needing more than just a plastic bowl to eat from! There was a lovely little blanket just for me and there were some sweeties for me. 

And then there was the hat. Which I must admit was a bit of wrong choice, until Mara suggested that perhaps Brom was included in the gifts? Well, the hat fit him perfectly and he was extremely happy with it! His very own Santa hat!!

Thank you Princess Leah and Princess Leah's Mum for finding such beautiful gifts for us. We had a great Christmas here in Norway and we hope that wherever you are, you had an equally good one!

Love from Miss Oswin and Brom. Oh, and from Mara she says!