It’s been an eventful week . The highlight, for me anyway, was last Friday when the little cat (still officially nameless) presented us with 5 gorgeous little kittens. I was hoping for 4 but I suppose I should be happy that she didn’t have 6! Small mercies.

5 new kittens - just a few hours old

As luck would have it, Emma was off to Paris that morning which involved a 4.30am start. I couldn’t resist a quick peek before we set off and the little cat had literally just finished giving birth as I walked in. She looked exhausted but so, so pleased with herself and was determined to show me her little treasures even at that early stage.

I was smitten. All thoughts of Plan B ( had there actually been any to begin with) were now obsolete. So Plan C it is. See previous post for all Plan details!

A quick kiss for Mum!

This is going to be tricky.

Firstly I need to find 5 forever homes in a region already overrun with cats. Secondly the new Mum can go back into heat as early as 2 weeks after giving birth so she will have to be kept indoors until she has weaned the kittens and can be sterilised. Miss Molly is still not her BF and Heaven knows what she would make of 5 mini cats so for now the new family are residing permanently in my workroom.

Cuddling in!!

This is fine for now as the workroom is quiet and the kittens are mere babies who just eat & sleep and never leave their bed but in just over 4 weeks all of our gites are fully booked and the workroom will have turned into a hive of ironing activity. By then the kittens will have grown into lively toddlers and I can hardly have 6 cats running amok amongst my laundry, no. As yet I have no contingency plan but the dreaded thought is never too far from the front of my mind.

For now though I am concentrating on Plan C. I am hatching a cunning marketing plan….one which will ensure that demand will far outweigh supply, and then some. The first goal is to make people believe that they really do need- and must have- one of these rare limited editions. I’ll take some irresistibly cute photos, guaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts and I’ll distribute posters, spreading the net far enough & wide enough to get a steady stream of wannabe owners beating a path to my door. Sounds simple enough.

One week on - this mother must have the patience of a saint!

But (and isn’t there always a but?) two days before the kittens arrived, Sod and his stupid law forced me to drop my camera and now the screen doesn’t work. It still takes photos but I have been transported back to the good old days when you had to wait for the photos to be developed to see what you actually took, and of course without the added benefit of a view finder. My back up camera also ironically chose the same moment to start showing me an Err 99 on its screen so for now I am shooting in the dark. This doesn’t bode well for my campaign and my To Do List will no doubt threaten to go on strike if I add” Fix Cameras” on to it.

But I can’t think about all this now, I’ll think about it tomorrow. Scarlett, I’m with you on this one. Tomorrow is indeed another day.

The promise of a good tomorrow..couldn't resist adding this stunning sunset over Jayac from a fewweeks ago!

Apart from kittens the other thing dominating this week has been swimming pools.

The pool up at La Tour de Genèbre is now well under way and should be ready to be measured for the liner early next week.

Pool gets underway at La Tour de Genèbre

Filling in the steps with rubble

We have been blessed with Summer temperatures this week which has made working outside very pleasant. I hesitate to say enjoyable as mixing concrete and shovelling rubble (to infill the steps) under the hot sun isn’t everyone’s idea of fun.

A close family member ( teenage and male but who otherwise will remain anonymous in order to spare all forms of adolescent embarrassment!) tried to speed up the rubble moving process by jumping on the tractor, skip attached when no one was watching. Not bad thinking if you omit the fact that he doesn’t actually know how to drive it. Yes, he drove it right over the newly planted eleagnus, straight through the wire fence ripping out the posts as he went and ended up half way across the ajoining field. ( To the farmer who works the field – our apologies. We’ll be around as soon as we can to make amends…it’s on the To Do list)

Removing the old pool liner at Les Crouquets

The pool here at Les Crouquets has also been stripped bare and is awaiting its new liner this weekend – temperatures are set to drop quite a bit though which may hinder proceedings as some sun is needed to keep the liner pliable, Also, I’ve just seen the weather forecast and Sod ( here just a bit too often these days!) has just stated that it will rain on Sunday.

Looks like we’ll be having a very busy Saturday instead!!