L'hiver en beauté / Winter wonderland

L'hiver est arrivé tard cette année, mais il est là et bien là. Depuis un petit mois, la neige est tombée en cataractes et cette semaine écoulée, ce sont les températures qui ont brutalement sombré. Hier il faisait -24° dans mon coin et ce n'était pas la première fois. Mais ce dimanche était aussi particulièrement ensoleillé et la beauté des paysages était irrésistible. Nous avons donc emmené le chat pour une courte promenade et volé quelques photos avant d'avoir les doigts gelés.  Découvrez-les en cliquant sur la photo ci-dessous.  C'est dans ces moments-là que je trouve la Finlande vraiment superbe.

Winter came late this year but now it's there in full strength. Snow has covered the land all last month and temperatures dropped dramatically last week. Yesterday it was as low as -24°c and it wasn't the first time. But the sun was so bright on this beautiful Sunday, and landscapes were so amazingly attracting, we could not resist taking the cat out for a walk. It was short but we managed to snap a few pics before out fingers froze. Check them out by clicking on the picture above, and discover what the Finland I love looks like.

Un an de chat

Il y a des tas de trucs que je voudrais écrire sur ce blog et je ne prends jamais le temps de le faire. Ceci, au moins, je vais l'écrire, même si je ne suis pas sûre que ça intéresse grand-monde. 

Ma petite Naomi a fêté hier sa première année. Ca veut dire qu'il y a un an, je me plaignais de vouloir un matou à moi ; il y a onze mois, après avoir harcelé l'ours dont je partage la tanière, nous achetions une petite mignonne trop jeune encore pour venir nous rejoindre ; et il y a neuf mois, elle débarquait dans notre vie.

Depuis lors, la demoiselle a bien grandi, bien qu'elle ne soit pas encore très grande (elle pèse 4,100 g).  Elle a beaucoup voyagé puisqu'on l'emmène souvent au mökki et qu'elle nous a accompagnés en Belgique au moins d'août.  Elle est belle, douce, gentille.  Si elle a fait tomber deux pots de fleur au début, depuis lors elle n'a rien cassé ni abîmé, elle n'est jamais malade et ne perd quasiment pas de poils.  Son caractère est toujours aussi doux et tendre qu'il l'était à son arrivée ; elle nous montre sans cesse son affection.  

En résumé, elle remplit à merveille son rôle qui est d'embellir nos vies.  Nous la gâtons, la cajolons et l'adorons, et après tous ces mois en notre compagnie, nous sommes toujours émerveillés par le bonheur qu'elle nous apporte.  Je savais que cette jolie boule de poils allait me rendre heureuse, mais je n'imaginais pas à quel point.  Un gros ours, un petit chat, je crois que c'est tout ce dont j'ai besoin dans la vie. 

Gris, couleur vacances / As grey as holidays

Cette année, comme les précédentes, nous avons pris nos vacances au mois de juillet.  Au programme : départ le 1er juillet pour la Belgique, puis une semaine à préparer et assister au mariage d'une amie, et ensuite 3 semaines vides où nous envisagions de partir quelque part en last minute.  Perso je comptais en particulier profiter de la présence de mes parents et amis et me dorer la pilule au bord de la piscine...

Sauf que ça ne s'est pas tout à fait passé comme ça.  La première semaine, oui ; le mariage était super et les préparatifs nous ont bien occupés. Par contre, pour ce qui est du voyage en last minute, on a fini par laisser tomber : nos recherches sur internet n'ont abouti qu'à des séjours all inclusive au bord d'une plage ou l'autre, rien qui puisse remplir nos journées et la carte mémoire de notre appareil photo. Il nous restait encore le dorage de pilule, mais alors qu'en Finlande le soleil brillait abondamment, en Belgique ce ne fut que ciel gris, pluie et températures d'automne.  Quelle déception !

Nous avons donc rempli nos journées avec plusieurs visites d'amis ou chez des amis, des moments en famille, une visite chez le dentiste, quelques virées shopping, deux jours à Anvers (je vous en reparlerai), etc. Pas des mauvaises vacances en soi, mais pas de quoi recharger nos batteries de soleil.

Quelques consolations, quand même : je n'ai pas à passer des semaines à classer les photos, nous rentrons pleinement reposés, et notre petite Naomi, que nous avions emmené avec nous, a passé d'excellentes vacances dans une grande maison pleine de recoins à explorer et avec trois compagnons félins à apprivoiser.

Bref, maintenant que je suis de retour, je vais réveiller ce blog et y mettre quelques photos de notre séjour à Anvers...  A suivre !

This year, just like the lasts, we took our holidays in July. The plan was to go to Belgium on July 1st, spend a week there preparing and attending a friend's wedding, then use the next three weeks to enjoy my family, my friends, the sun and the swimming pool, and take a last-minute trip somewhere not too far.

Only it didn't quite work that way.  The first week went as planned: the wedding was great and its preparation kept us busy.  But we couldn't find a last-minute trip that suited us: all the offers online were about all-inclusive stays in beach-side resorts, nothing to fill in our days and our camera's memory card.  And considering the cloudy, rainy and cold weather we had to face all month long, there was no enjoying the sun or the swimming pool !

So we filled in our days with visits at and by friends, quality time with my family, a dentist appointment, some shopping sprees and two days in Antwerp (I'll tell you about that later).  Nothing bad, just not enough to fill in our need for sun and warmth after a long winter.

There are some bright sides, though.  I won't have to spend weeks sorting pictures, we came back fully rested, and our little Naomi, whom we had brought along, had a wonderful stay in a big house full of corners to explore and in the company of three fellow cats to befriend.

Now that I'm back, I'll wake this blog up and add a few pictures about our stay in Antwerp...  Stay tuned !

My terrible kid

Sometimes, having a cat home is like having a kid: they both can be unwillingly very burdensome.  My cat is only turning 6 months old and she sometimes forces me to work on my patience.  Particularly these last days.

The first strike was on Thursday evening.  I had prepared a very good Easter dinner since we were to leave for four days on Friday morning, and this came with a glass of red wine.  I was enjoying it in the living room when I had a phone call.  I went to the bedroom to take it and since my interlocutor asked for a video conference, I needed both my hands and I put my glas on the floor for a minute.  At that moment, my super-excited little Naomi rushed in the room and, of course, hit the glass. It wasn't broken but all the wine spit on the floor and on the white bed-dressing.  This is a particularly big piece of very thick material that is always a trouble to clean.  And red wine is always a problem too. So... since we were leaving the next morning, all that I could do was to mop it the best I could, cover it with salt to soak the wine for an hour or two, then let it drench in a bucket of water until we came back.  And later during the night, we found Naomi, who gets fresh water in a nice little glass cup and wouldn't drink it if it's not changed several times per day, drinking from the salty and dirty bucket. We had to cover it with paper for her to stop.  

Then we left and spent the week-end at the Bear family's mökki.  It was really sunny and I thought Naomi would enjoy being a little outside, but I wouldn't let her roam free since there were no fences  and a few dangerous animals. So I kept her on a leach, and when I had to work, I would sometimes attach the leach at a pole so she could go around but not too far.  Until I found out that she had managed to slip out of her harness and had disappeared...  Panic ! (not mine, I knew she couldn't be far, but the Bear parents were very worried).  After an extensive search, we found her under the terrace of the building where she was enjoying a rest in a fresh place... 

The last day we were there, I had her around on a leach again, and since she was behaving nice and I wanted to take pictures of her, I let her go freely but followed her closely. It went well for a while, but then she saw a very appealing tree and started climbing.  She was so fast that before I realized what had happened she was out of my reach... and unable to go down, of course.  However, she was clever enough not to climb too high (that tree was huge !) and by the time we brought a ladder, she had managed to slip down and jump to safety.  

Only five minutes later, she found another terrace under which to lie.  She was just out of my reach and wouldn't move from there.  I was getting worried because we had to leave rather soon, but she wouldn't come back.  I tried to attract her with toys and moving things, I called, I waited, but it took her about 45 minutes to come !  No need to tell you that she was kept on a each for the rest of our time there !

After all these adventures, she was an angel in the car on the way back home.  On the way, we picked up a friends' cat to host him for a month while his masters are on holidays. Naomi wasn't mean at all, and the other cat is very friendly, so we thought everything would go well; only we hadn't counted on our little girl's playful mood and curiosity.  As soon as both cats were released in our appartment, Naomi starting to follow and tease her guest.  She wanted to play and wouldn't let him alone !  The poor cat got upset and ended up hiding in a closet until Naomi understood that he needed a little of space... By chance it took them only a day to get on friendlier tones. 

So next morning we humans had to go back to work. We were ready to leave when some strange smell filled the appartment. Naomi had just been to her litter and had stepped in her poo, carrying it around all the place !  We had no time to clean everything but we had to grab her and wash her in the sink - at least she doesn't mind being wet - and because of that I missed my train to go to work...  

Plus of course, in the evening, after a hard day, I was left with cleaning up the all appartment. And also the bed-dressing that had been in its bucket for four days.  That needed to spend the night in water with bleach to get rid of the stain, but then I couldn't let it in the cats' reach, Naomi might well try and drink it.  Only when I tried to carry the full bucket on the balcony for the night, of course I dropped a good deal of water...  For sure it's not directly Naomi's fault this time, but come on, I had just cleaned the floor ! 

Anyway, after all that complaining, I suppose I'm just like the parent of a terrible kid: I love her all the same. She might do any mischief she likes, she just needs to come and softly brush her head on mine like she does when she wants to display affection and I'll forgive her everything.  Just click on her picture down here and you'll surely understand how irresistible she is...