Vacation! Vakantie! and no black cat allowed ...

Our humans are finally going on vacation (vakantie); a little late, but going!

They're off to France again! They love France. (Zij zijn verliefd op Frankrijk) However ... they’re not taking us!! They’re not even taking me, their own “chat noir” (black cat, zwarte kat) !

Look, I’m even pictured on many a souvenir in France. ( note: The word “souvenir” is the same in all three languages - (that’s one less error to make). However, there is a Dutch word for a souvenir and that is "aandenken" which, literally translated, means an object or something you think about. )

Here is a drawing our mom did of a souvenir from their last trip to France - done in a small Moleskine sketchbook using Derwent Graphitint pencils ( potloden, or in this case, a sort of colored pencil which in dutch is kleurpotloden ) .



I think France would welcome me, don’t you? (Ik denk dat Frankijk me welkom zou heten, denk je niet?)

Exactly why they won’t take me along, they won’t say. (Zij willen niet zeggen waarom ik in Nederland moet blijven. – They won’t say why I have to stay in Holland). I find it a shame. (Ik vind het een jammer.)

It’s ok though, I’ll get to stay home and pester my human step-brother (stiefbroer) and have some fun catching bees (bijen) and butterflies (vlinders) in the back garden (achtertuin) .

Goldenrod in the back garden (with loads of bees!), and a butterfly we don't know the name of, but it's pretty! :-)




One of our mom's watercolors of summer daisies form our garden.
Winsor & Newton artist's watercolors on Bockingford, coldpressed paper (aka, NOT, in Europe).


For now, (probably until mid-Sept.), Sacha and I will be taking a rest from blogging - until the humans get back. (Wij stoppen met bloggen, voor eventjes. Als de mensen terug zijn, beginnen we weer met bloggen.)

Everyone knows we can’t spell very well (actually, for cats I think we're not half-bad). So when the humans are not around, we don’t blog! We need our human dictionaries (woordenboeken) around inorder to blog ... *cats laughing* I’m not a master of the english or the dutch languages, and neither is Sacha! (Ik ben de Engelse en de Nederlandse talen niet machtig, en Sacha ook niet.)

We hope they bring us back some salmon paté (zalm paté ... see previous birthday post for our passion … heh heh) .

Until then…


Tot ziens!
Finn & Sacha

Holland, cats, Dutch
drawing, Moleskine, watercolor

Last of the summer cherries; on with the plums! Einde van de zomer kersen; laat de pruimen maar komen!

Cats wonder about things ... lots of things. Human food delights are just one of those things.
So what exactly do human's find so fascinating, (or tasty, for that matter), about cherries (kersen) ?

Finn decided to find out for himself.

The cherries are nice and round (rond) , and very pretty (erg mooi)

Hmm, Finn thinks they could be a fun toy (speelgoed) , but not particularly tasty (lekker) to this cat - others may have a differing opinion.

Ahhh, I think Finn's in love! (Ik denk dat Finn verliefd is!)

Our 'mom' likes to draw the cherries. Here's a sketch done in her small Moleskine notebook with ink and colored pencils.
(Hier is een tekening.)

Alas, now the season for cherries is over. (Helaas, het kersenseizoen is voorbij.)

But look! (Maar kijk!) Something else small, round and very tasty... or so our mom says.

Plums! (pruimen) Specifically, Opal Plums, as these are named (opal pruimen) . Here is a watercolor (een aquarel) by our mom, done in her small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook with Yarka pan watercolors.

She also threatened to make a nice tart (taart) with them and let us lick the bowl of cream (slagroom) ... but that never happened, maybe next season!


Doei! (bye)

Sacha

Holland, cats, Dutch
drawing, Moleskine, watercolor

Wij zijn jarig! - It's our birthday!

Today, Sacha and I are two years old (in human years, that is)!

To celebrate our birthday, (August 6th) , our humans gave us a little outdoor party - een feestje (a small party) - complete with decorations and "lekkers" ( tasty things) :-)

Here's the "lekkers" ...yummmm zalm paté (salmon paté).




We surely enjoyed ourselves, as you can see.




The colorful banner decoration on the table reads "Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd", which is the Dutch version of "Happy Birthday" ( literally translated, it means "heartfelt congratulations").



Of course, this greeting is also followed by either a handshake, a hug, or the very Dutch tradition of 3 kisses. They also sang the traditional Dutch birthday song for us:

"Lang zullen zij leven,
Lang zullen zij leven,
Lang zullen zij leven in de gloria!
In de glo-ri-a,
In de glo-ri-a!
Hieperdepiep, hieperdepiep, hoera!"

(Long shall they live, long shall they live, long shall they live in the glory. In the glory, in the glory! Hip, hip hooray!)


I liked the 3 kisses, but Sacha squirmed a lot since she doesn't like getting picked up. We both did enjoy the song though. :-)

However, what Sacha really liked was the zalm paté - she thought it was lip-smacking good!!!!!!




Look ! , we licked our bowls sparkling clean - all gone!
Wij hebben ons schaaltjes helemaal schoon gelikt! Alles is weg!



Het was heerlijk!
(it was really delicious)

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Ahhhh, in case you've been wondering .... this is what it looks like when a cat blogs.

A picture of me (Finn) busy with the blogging.



Ik ben druk, druk, druk (I am busy, busy busy).

heh heh ;-)

Tot ziens!

Finn

Holland, cats, Dutch