My tiny hands are frozen

Hmmmm, turns out that the sunshine was just a cruel trick - it's freezing here today - I certainly didn't stay out there for too long!

On the plus side, I am allowed to sit indoors by the fire while the pesky gnomes are freezing their evil toes off outside:

It was an eventful weekend with relatives visiting from the UK - luckily the weather stayed nice for them, and  many tourist-type excursions were enjoyed. I stayed home to guard the house and, would you credit it, ANOTHER animal turned up. It's getting a bit like Dr Doolittle here - word has clearly got out to the animal community that there is free food available. I leapt on him from a great height and saw him off the premises - don't think he'll be back in a hurry!

All the banging and clattering from downstairs appears to have stopped - I think this means that the games room is finished now, but the humans are muttering about something called "painting the ceiling" I saw a very nice ceiling on the news last night actually - somewhere called the Sistine Chapel - wonder if it's going to look anything like that? I'll let you know..........

Monkey business

I have decided that I ought to start learning a bit of French - mostly so that I can chat to Ozzy (the cat) who seems like a fine fellow despite being completely bonkers. They do teach you some funny stuff in these lessons - I mean, when are you ever likely to say "le singe est dans l'arbre"?? Anyway, it was such a beautiful day that I thought I would continue my lessons in the garden where, much to my surprise............

....what are the chances of that happening.........??? (although if I was being picky, I would point out that technically, it's an orang-utan).

Next thing you know, I'll be stumbling across "la plume de ma tante" - funnily enough, my aunt did lose a pen last time she was in France - but it's hardly likely to turn up in the garden is it?

....no...... wait, what's this?

I'd better give her a call and tell her that I've found it before that pesky cat runs off with it.

Creature comforts

My goodness, what a busy few weeks it has been - just in case anyone thought I had got lost during the move, I didn't, but I haven't had a moment to sit down and update you all. I have been finding my feet here and we have had some lovely sunny days. This is the view from the front gate:

I don't really like being out in the garden though as there are these things called "chickens" walking around - I am a bit scared of them and they seem to be trying to replicate themselves:

 I thought that maybe I would be safer out on the balcony, but look who I found there- don't like the look of this one much!?

At least those pesky gnomes are nowhere to be seen for the moment. Maybe the chickens are holding them hostage? I shall retire to my warm, safe perch in the living room and spend some time composing a summary of all my adventures over the last 3 weeks. Come back soon and read all about it..........

Gnomes

So, Friday morning….one week until the big day. The house is starting to look quite bare, and there seems to be a constant stream of people arriving to buy various things (I hope I'm not on the list of things for sale!?) Anne and Marc are very busy every day, what with the visits to the library for an internet connection, and trips to the tip with yet another carload of things to throw away. They seem to spend a lot of time looking for someone called Alan Key – I don’t know who this is, but there seems to be more than one of them (big Alan Key, medium Alan Key  and small Alan Key) Whichever one they find never seems to be the right one. They must be important though, because they are definitely coming in the car with us on the big day.

Evenings however are  another matter. Much Scrabble has been played, and honours are more or less even (should anyone be keeping a tally). The evening meal is followed by a roaring log fire and some DVDs. The Killing and Spiral were immensely enjoyable, and I thought Hugo was a lovely film. The last couple of evenings’ fare have been a bit darker – Inglorious Basterds was rather gory, and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was really sad – I have to be careful not to shed a tear as I rust very easily.

They've acquired these wretched gnomes from somewhere and we definitely haven’t got off to a happy start – so far,Mr Green is the most suspicious, constantly taunting me when their backs are turned. His three friends (Mr Black, Mr Yellow and Mr Red) always deny seeing or hearing anything, and now I can’t get ”stuck in the middle with you” out of my head. Thank goodness I don’t have any actual ears to worry about. 

A moving story

Hi everyone, I’m Larry and I have been co-opted by my owners, Anne and Marc, to write this blog for them. A couple of years ago I was leading a peaceful, if somewhat dull, existence in a gallery in Kennebunkport, when I was bought by the d’Abovilles and repatriated to the UK. London -  bright lights, big city – how exciting, I loved it there.  But last year I could tell that big changes were afoot. Lots of conversations began with “Wouldn’t it be nice if……” or “Just imagine………….” They kept mentioning something called sunshine – not something that there was a lot of in 2012 in the UK. Then all of a sudden the house was sold and everything was being put in boxes – many, many boxes. At the end of November we arrived safely at the holiday house in Normandy. I have been here before (oh the stories I could tell!) and settled happily into my favourite spot near the fire. Christmas was approaching and I even got my own little Santa hat to wear. The family arrived and a very festive time was had by all. In fairy tales, this would be the point at which we all lived happily ever after, but I was beginning to realise that this was no fairy tale………….. (not yet anyway).

It turns out that Normandy is just a temporary stopover and that in a few weeks we will be moving *again* to the South West of France . Anne and Marc have bought somewhere called Le Domaine de Chasselas and we will all be living there and running a small business providing holiday accommodation in the form of gites, camping, caravan and B&B. So, not only is everything from the London house packed away in boxes, everything in this house is also having to be packed up/sold/got rid of – it’s like deja-vu all over again. My role will be to write this blog, and I have been reassured that, unlike here, there will be internet access (luxury!) so I won’t need to visit the library every day to get a connection. Apparently,  someone who seems to be known by the code name “Orange” will be sorting this out for when we arrive - I just hope it doesn’t turn into some sort of Reservoir Dogs re-enactment.

It is snowing as I type this and, pretty though it is, I find myself looking forward to the prospect of some sun and a house without boxes.