Mochi and Maru are back

The siamese cats Mochi and Maru (see post of Nov 14th 2010) are back again. Their owner is out of the country for 5 weeks, and she was looking for a place to stay for her babies. We took them in and they settled in quickly, being much more at ease and sociable than last year. Going outside is still a huge adventure for them, but they have dog collars and leashes now, making it at least easier for us. In any case they seem to sleep 23 hours a day, lying on top of each other, making no noise and pretending they don't exist.

Beau is doing fine as well, we are extending his walks onto the beach to get him used to waves, wind and sand, all in preparation for long rides along the waterline.

Mochi and Maru in their favourite position

Walking Beau on the beach

In the dunes

Even Piet can hold Beau (or is he distracted by the grass?)

Lots of snow

This year we planned our skiing holiday after Christmas and we left for France on the 29^th. When we arrived in Bassey there was only a bit of winter, with just a thin snow cover. However, when we woke up next morning a fresh layer of some 30 cm of snow covered the village. We took the opportunity to do some cross-country skiing, and to build a huge snowman in our garden. We also sorted out our downhill skiing gear. The next day we followed the usual pattern: get up early, have breakfast, drive up to Alpe d’Huez, and dropping the girls off for their “competition” skiing lesson. Then we get ready ourselves for a few hours on the slopes, until we all meet up for lunch. After lunch we go back out again to carry on as a family, but only the girls last the whole afternoon. Skiing a whole day is pretty intense!

The weather was quite variable, and it snowed a lot. We got a record number of snow chain changes and had some tricky drives on the windy steep road between the resort and our village. Even the school bus had problems, and it slid off the narrow Bassey road into a ditch, blocking access to the village for a morning. But we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 days of sunshine, and had our best skiing ever in the Auris area.

On New Year’s Eve we stayed at home, and then the electricity in the whole village cut out at 22.30 hrs. We sat around for half an hour by candlelight, finished our champagne and then decided to go to bed. We passed into 2012 in our sleep….

We drove back on Sunday, and when we arrived home the car was unloaded in a few minutes, then the ladies ran off to the stable to check our missing son: Beau. He had been well taken care of by two other ladies, and was in fine shape. Mary did have intensive SMS correspondence during the week but still….they wanted to see for themselves!

Dorien and our snowman

Cross-country skiing in Bassey

Dorien arriving in the Gorges du Sarenne

The ladies on Lievre Blanc