On n'est jamais aussi bien...

...que dans son propre gîte. That's what Bertie the black cat and Natasha the sheltie tell us: there's no place that compares to this gîte of ours. They were both born in France — Bert’ in Saint-Aignan, and ’Tasha in Chinon — so they tend to use Loire Valley French when they have something important they want to say. They've become fast friends over the past four years. The dog celebrated her fourth birthday a few weeks ago, and the cat will turn 15 in May. In the photos below, the two of them were waiting patiently in the kitchen for me to notice them and go give them something to eat.

Bert is worrying us right now. He's definitely showing signs of age. He's been a scrappy fighter and a fierce hunter ever since he came to live here in 2010. He has only two fangs left, both on the same side of his jaw, one upper and mone lower. I took him to the vet's last week, and the vet said he seemed to be in good health. He was surprised when I told him Bert still hunts actively around the yard and the hamlet. I believe he's been eating toads — they are breeding in the pond out back right now — and toad is a food that seems to upset his digestive system. I wish I knew how I could discourage him from eating them.

Yesterday I saw and talked to our neighbor who is the mayor of the commune we live in. (No, we're not hippies — commune is the French word for town or township.) The mayor told me that our neighbor across the street has finally sold her house. It's been on the market for more than a year — the pandemic kept real estate offices closed for many months in 2020. In July, the neighbor will be moving to the Bordeaux area, where her daughter lives. We'll miss her, especially since she was willing to look after Bertie when we went on our road trips.

I asked the mayor if she and her husband have had the Covid-19 vaccination yet. She said no, because there aren't enough doses to go around in the area. Reports are that our local doctors are soon going to start vaccinating their patients, but nobody knows exactly when. Walt has put in a call to set up an appointment, and now he's waiting for a call from the doctor's office giving him a date and time. I hope the call will come through this week. I need to call and request an appointment too. The mayor said that each doctor is been allotted just 20 doses of vaccine (Astra-Zeneca).