Cat and mouse games

Saint Pierre - Paul
Yesterday's weather : Well, at least it didn't rain - 20 degrees
Message of the day: There are no ordinary cats (Colette)


The kitten woke me up at 6am this morning scatching at the door asking to be let out. I tried telepathy to tell him to shut up and let me get some more sleep but obviously my telepathic powers were too weak. I should add at this point that we did not partake of the fizzy PF yesterday despite handing over a cheque to poolman, so despite my prediction, I am not sitting here wearing dark glasses.

The cats are a continual source of amusement, comfort and frustration since we moved to France. Those who know us well will be aware that they were house cats in their former lives and they have embraced the outside world with gusto - for the most part.

Take yesterday, for example. Jazz brought home a mouse. Not unusual in itself except that she thought she would share this one with us since she hadn't been home much for a few days and wanted to reassure us how much she loves us really. So Morris the mouse was brought into the kitchen. I was upstairs at the time so Jazz called me a few times to make sure that I would come down to meet Morris and show my due appreciation. Jon was in the garage listening to his garage music (this. I should mention was Handel on that particular morning it had been Tears for Fears earlier; we have recently been reunited with some long lost cassette tapes). You won't be surprised to learn that I did not immediately love Morris as much as Jazz obviously did, especially as he was currently running around the kitchen floor, trying to find a hiding place. Figaro, on the other hand was particularly keen to get to know him and thought a good game would be 'chase the mouse under the sofa and bat him around the floor'. Morris had other ideas, refused to join in and was last seen in Figgy's jaws being carted off into the garden to play hide and seek under the fig tree.


Later Jazz thought she would try out the new feature in the garden. Surely it's a bouncy castle put there just for her? She jumped on it to see how it worked. Unfortunately she found that the cover on the big paddling pool only floats when it doesn't have any weight on top of it and she also discovered that she can't swim........ I don't know how she found her way out but only her feet were wet.

Misty, of course, isn't a cat. Well, we think she is, but she is convinced that she is a grown up human being and watches the antics of the other two with the expression of a kindly grandparent. She is affronted when we have the audacity to put her in the kitchen with the other two at night because she should be allowed to sleep in her own bedroom (the study). She would really like to have her own dressing gown and carpet slippers for cosy evenings in front of the television and a nice cup of tea wouldn't go amiss right now because she was woken up by that noisy kitten too and it was just too early, a girl needs her beauty sleep after all. And so say all of us, Misty.