Cats and beer…

We spent the morning in the front and back gardens (we live in a row house) preparing for spring: pruning, weeding, cutting, raking leaves…we are sooooo exhausted right now. It’s on days like these that I wish we didn’t have a garden at all. Ouch, my back hurts! But then I look fondly at my pruned raspberry patch, my pomegranate tree, my herbs and all the flowers, mainly daffodils and crocuses, that are popping up everywhere, and change my mind. It really is pretty.

Anyway, I thought I would post these photos I took of Peekaboo last night at the dinner table. Or rather, on the dinner table!

Dinner is always a bit of a struggle, especially with this curious little one. She likes to jump up on the table and watch us while we eat. Theoretically, that would be okay (we have a very big country dining table), but she begins edging very close to the food, the way cats do, inch by inch, as if they didn’t care…then all of a sudden her nose is in your plate, or she is dipping one of her paws into your glass of water. She’s a pest, but such an adorable one…

Irresistible.

And wouldn’t this have made a great beer ad?

(P.S. In case you were wondering, I don’t drink beer, but Stefano likes a glass with dinner, sometimes).

Flying Squirrel, I mean, CAT!

Last night I stuck the Xmas wand toy (that has a suction cap on one end and a dangling toy on the other) to our bedroom closet, and, as expected, Peekaboo put on quite a show, flying through the air, over and over again. I finally put the toy away so she wouldn’t die of exhaustion, but not before I had taken some very amusing photos.

I really should get a videocamera for these occasions! Photos give but a vague idea of how funny this kitten really is! But this particular jump, caught in the photo, gave me a belly laugh that lasted at least one minute, the kind that gives you a stomach pain. Too funny! So even though I am working on a post of a rather more serious nature this morning, I thought I would post this photo for everyone’s enjoyment.

If you have never seen documentaries on flying squirrels, have a look at a great photo on the Encyclopaedia Britannica website: http://tinyurl.com/yw84sq I wasn’t sure about copyright issues so I didn’t publish it here, but this link will take you right to the photo, which is almost identical to this one, I’d say. Impressive, no? Peekaboo, the flying squirrel/cat!

Blog Comments

We had errands to run today so I didn’t have much time to do research. But I did want to write a quick post to let you all know that sometimes the very efficient anti-spam program here at Healthblogs blocks some of your comments, which are put into a special moderation "box." I then approve or delete the messages. Today, for instance, I had two such messages. I deleted one, which was clearly spam (nasty stuff!). The other was a blog reader’s comment, which of course I approved. So, if your comments don’t appear immediately on my blog, it could be because they were, for some reason, put into the moderation box. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience. But, to be honest, I would much rather have an overzealous anti-spam program than have to deal with already-published whacky (or worse!) spam comments on my posts. There is so much garbage out there on the Internet! Bleah. Anyway, enough said.  

This is a photo I took of Peekaboo on New Year’s Eve. She’d been playing for hours…and finally crashed on the couch. Such a party gal!

Drinking Water

   After dinner last night, Stefano and I were sitting at the table, chatting, when Peekaboo decided she had to check out the contents of my glass (water, what else?). I dashed to get my camera.

This sequence gives a good idea of what happened (over and over…). Dipping her paw into my glass and shaking water all over the table wasn’t enough. She finally stuffed her silly little head into the glass. The third photo shows how much she appreciated my letting her have a drink (I should mention that our cats always have plenty of drinking water, the same water that we humans drink…). Needless to say, I got myself a new glass …We have never had such a mischievous kitten. Every year I decorate a small (fake but cute) Xmas tree. But now that we have Peekaboo, even having such a small tree has become a bit of a chore. In spite of my efforts to camouflage it, she has managed to knock it over several times by now, and I seriously doubt the ornaments will make it to next week. No matter, though, we don’t mind: Peekaboo is THE cutest!

Xmas Shopping

Today Stefano and I drove to Monsummano Terme, not too far from Florence, in the heart of what has been called "Tuscan Chocolate Valley" thanks to all the award-winning maitre chocolatiers who live and work there. Ah yes, you guessed it. We were on a serious quest for chocolate. Xmas is around the corner, and we have decided to give chocolate as presents this year. We went to "Slitti," a well-known artisanal chocolate shop. Andrea Slitti, the owner, has won all sorts of prestigious Italian and European prizes for his creations. He is famous for his chocolate and coffee combinations. "Slitti" has its own website, which has been translated into English, too: www.slitti.it

The shop was packed with people buying everything in sight, so I didn’t get any good photos. Too bad. But you can get an idea of what the shop looks like on the website. Anyway, after we had chosen gifts for friends and colleagues, we sat down and drank some hot Slitti chocolate.

Sublime.

Once we got home, I took a photo of our purchases. Some of this chocolate is for us, of course. You know, for emergencies and whatnot. 😉 I found some 100% cocoa mass, by the way, which made me very happy. This photo shows my boy Piccolo peeking at me from behind a Xmas bow. You can (sort of) make out the dark and milk chocolate "cakes" containing hazelnuts and almonds, the dark chocolate hazelnut spreads, various types of dragées and chocolate bars with different cocoa content. A chocolate feast for the eyes today! 🙂