As I settled into my well worn office chair to blurt out this Blog entry I started off by having a look at what I did last time. Because there was something unmemorable about it. Ah yes, it was this idea about no one really reading these posts and just filling in the blank pages with pictures of our furry friends.
Then I noticed a readership number above 3. Because that's the number of times I usually visit my own posts to try to spot mistakes I usually don't see. They are there. I know, but I never see them and I give up after 3. So anything above 3 means somebody else, or more, has read it. 20 is not Pulitzer material, but heck, even if everybody clicked 3 times like me that still means more eyeballs then I can count right now.
My left and right departmental hemispheres are having an emergency executive meeting. The idea was to tell you about all the great stuff we've been doing to make Monte-Bougainvillea an award winning venue, again in 2021, for your holidays in the Algarve. The kind of idea that would make the Head of All the Rest really proud.
That's when it hit me. Literally. The Head of All the Rest hit me because I was snoring. I snore when I sleep, or when I am in an emergency executive meeting (basically the same). And then I woke up with the answer. That's why I'm the Head of Making it Happen.
I'm just not going to tell you about the new outdoor chairs and tables and how they are not plastic, nor how the pool that has been totally revamped and is now running a brand new salt system has crystal clear water reaching 25 degrees already this end of May. I'll skip the part about how great the gardens look this year. Better than ever. We are really happy about our new gardener, Gentil from 'Bougainvilla Gardens'. No joke, that's their name! So I won't have to remind you of our name either because I just wrote it in the last sentence, right? Left. Our name is Monte-Bougainvillea. Damn close though. I could have mentioned something about the fact that our Facebook page name has changed from Project Bom Dia to Monte-Bougainvillea too. And while you are dizzy working that out I can get away with not telling you about having put Hoover cordless stick vacuums in each apartment. That could attract some flack. I get it. Who wants to vacuum on holiday?? Just saying, because we put brooms in each apartment and we didn't get any bad vibrations back about slave labour laws or anything. It's for your comfort, but I don't need to say it. I got loads of pictures of Winny the cat. But before I get there I need to not tell you about all the work we did inside the apartments and how we freshened up the kitchens.
And I don't have to tell you that we are readier than ever. We've all had that special whole year. But we did make the best of it. Because that's what we do. Like we are starting anew, only newer. Just like the first time, budgets are even tighter, but this time we did have more than enough time...
I'd really like to show you. But a promise is a promise. This blog is dedicated to Winny de Gringo, dit 'la Sauvage' and by affectionate link, Patch de Gringo with whom she has a fusional relation.
Winny and Patch are the 2 females of the Gringo clan. Winny is the second oldest cat after Tom. Winny is wise, calm and quiet. Very shy and easily startled. Needless to say we popped her bubble. She did adapt to interior life as quickly as all the others, but not to us, or the others. Except Patch her soul sister, and Tom, her... well he was there first. It's just a fact she lives with, and sometimes sleeps with. But only when it's really cold. Winny is diplomatic. When I approach her, she runs off. Patch on the other hand will look me in the eye and hiss at me to the tone of 'you smell like that dog of yours'. You have to forgive Patch because she was the baby who got all the attention, then came Dixie, a dog. And if that was not enough, within no time a new kitten. A kitten that sleeps with a dog no less! One can see the disdain in her eyes. Patch is jealous. Very. Very.
Winny on the other hand just ignores everyone and keeps a very low profile. The Mambo cat. I mean you lean down to caress her and she slimmies down to the floor so low while accelerating that it took me 2 years and a weight loss of 5 kilos before I got quick enough to feel the end of her tail. Well that's not entirely true, I didn't lose 5kg. As a Gringo, Winny does not like Dixie, because those are the clan rules. But Tom in the meantime has totally sold his soul and now happily cohorts with both Cayenne and Dixie. Patch has declared Cayenne non grata and in doing so has attracted the attention of Dixie who considers herself the bodyguard since Cayenne was put under her nose as a kitten. Winny clearly sees Patch is not on a winning strategy. We all see Tom get fat from always being magically there when snacks are handed out at the end of a walk he did not join, while Patch still does not really know what snacks are or taste like. So Winny started hanging around a lot more. Low profile, always around somewhere in the shade, always on the lookout, never too far, never too close. She is trying to figure out a way to connect with Dixie, a way to go beyond her instincts. We called her 'la Sauvage' because she is the most 'natural'. By that I mean the one less spoiled us.
Not for lack of trying. She was just not interested in pâté, croquettes, snacks, toys or caresses.This is all the more odd when you consider she has been hanging around whenever we sit for a meal since the very beginning four years ago. But never ever got interested in anything that might 'fall' off the table. All she really requires is a warm bed close to a quick getaway outside in case anyone approaches. That and Patch. These two cats are fusional. They spend hours huddled together, cleaning each other, or sleeping in endearing positions that make great pictures. When you can get them. The simple thought of taking a photograph triggers magical waves that alert them into changing position before the thought even reaches your hand to pick up the camera. In the meantime she eats croquettes. If Patch eats croquettes, then Winny eats some too, and vice versa. Patch clings on to Winny as the last bastion of the old world order in which she was the spoiled baby. Winny sticks to Patch as the only cat left who is not a disgrace to the feline race. Yet Patch need her dose caresses 2 to 3 times per day.
All this makes for a very interesting dynamic between a cast of quirky characters. And from what you've read (assuming I get more than 3 hits on this blog), you'd be right to think this is the Wild West. It's not. Our jungle is in the 'Central-East' Algarve.
Except the sofa. That is a space in another dimension altogether. This is the house's magic watering hole in the desert. This is where all animals come to sleep, or watch tv when there is something good on. So they mostly sleep. But in this small special space there is room for everyone and everyone has his or her space, except me. I get to borrow a spot once in a while, usually at the price of a handful of snacks.
Something happened a few weeks ago. I was sitting in the lawn under a palm tree pulling weeds out when all the sudden I heard a cat call, louder and louder, coming towards me from the pool area. It was Winny running straight towards me meowing. I got up on one knee to greet her as she came right up to me for a festival of rub me here rub me there. As if we were two great buddies who had not met in years. Boom. That was it. From then on, she is our friend and lets herself, hesitantly if not willingly, be caressed. She hangs around the kitchen like the others and is even keen on trying out some new cuisine. But the commercial snacks, nah. they never do Mice or Bird flavor. The cat may be on to something,,,Even Dixie has noticed Winny getting closer so she tries to cosy up, but that's a step Winny is not ready for yet. She doesn't say no, it's more like 'give me time to get used to your odor, if ever'. From one instance to another. Weird, but ok.
That reminds me, I have an urgent executive meeting to attend right now.
And since I already didn't tell you about everything I didn't want to tell you about, that pretty much leaves us with this as our only proposal for the marketing head I'm about to meet. This jungle is lively as life. A special watering hole in the desert, your sofa in the Algarve, a small special space where there is room for everyone and everyone has it's room.
It's also the only place you can meet Winny. Winny can be finicky but she does have distinct tastes.
You can meet the whole cast of Dixie and the Cats, including Winny and Patch and Tom and Cayenne and get behind the scene views of our sofa never published on our website. If you wish. Not that it's an obligation. We take copies of passports, but cats can't read right? So what's the risk? They wouldn't notice. I suppose.
Anyway, there is no space left for all the pictures I didn't want to show you so really the best is for you to come see.
We still have availability and the crew is on an unlimited retainer of crockets. But you need to hurry because we don't know how long they'll last.
Sylvie & jc
...& Dixie & the Cats
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