Cold

Brrrr.

It's been jolly cold here - and so much snow there were a few days the humans didn't get out of the house. I was very glad of the extra cuddles, but I'm pleased things are getting a little warmer now. They were getting a bit irritable wandering about the house!

Mikki went out and took this picture of one of the neighbour's lights on the driveway we share. She thought it made the village look like Narnia in the winter of the White Witch. She said I could go out and get into the picture. I do a lot for my fans - but there are limits.

You can add this to the list of ways toy cats are better than real ones. We don't need to go out in bad weather - and don't need litter trays either.

We all got away for a few days last weekend to the Lake District. The humans were joining a group from Mensa (yes, the high IQ society). They had a lovely time with lots of parties, food, drink and good company. I had a good time snuggling up in the bed there. Apparently, it has been even colder there since we left. On Wednesday the temperature was minus 18 celsius (High IQ people can work out that that's still below zero in Fahrenheit).

Today, we are celebrating that the thermometer is above freezing - and the forecast is that it should do this again tomorrow. With luck, the snow will thaw enough that Mikki can drive the car in and out without getting nervous. That means we will be able to get out to get everything the humans need for Christmas. No, I don't even need a Christmas present buying for me. I just hope for a special little cuddle.

Prrrrrr.

Mugs

Sorry to have been away from the Blog for a long time. We have been to Walt Disney World and I have been busy posting some trip reports on Intercot.com but my humans have also been busy at home so they have not been able to let me near the computer for some time. I hope that, at least, I can soon complete the trip reports. For one thing, I have to report a visit to the refurbished "Walt Disney Story" at Disney's Hollywood Studios where there is a new exhibit about the film "Pinocchio" and its "breakout star".

For the moment, I thought I would put up this new photograph, which allows me to play a little word game with the word "mug". In the middle is a nice "mug shot" of your favourite black and white toy cat

On the left is my favourite mug (drinking vessel for humans) from a series sold in the UK Disney Stores years ago featuring pictures based on Disney films. This one has Pinocchio and the kind wood carver on one side and on the other - as you should be able to see - it has nice pictures of Figaro and Cleo plus a ludicrously oversized picture of an insect. On the right is one of a pair of mugs some very dear friends gave my human Mikki for her recent birthday. The mugs are for members of the Disney Vacation Club.

Unfortunately, it looks like someone has put the (used only once) DVC mug in a dishwasher (yes, the one at our DVC property) and spoiled the decoration. I can assure our friends that the other, still intact, mug has now beel placed on display where it won't be used by mistake.

The left hand mug has been used regularly for years and machine washed as often. If the right hand mug is like its twin, it had a "not dishwasher safe" warning - instantly washed away. Disney must expect every blearly eyed DVC member to study the base of their morning coffee mugs. Only a mug (fool) would expect DVC's own crockery to be useable in the equipment provided in its resorts!

My British humans can not also help noticing another difference between the two drinking mugs. On the base of the new one it says "Made in China": on the long lasting one it says - in several languanges - "made in England".

Up

This week we have been watching "Up" on the television. It has come onto Disney Cinemagic - which is also in HD. No, we haven't seen it at the cinema. Mikki saw it on an airline seat back but that is hardly the best picture in the world. It is a lovely film - even if one of the heroes is a dog!

"Up" is a really sweet film - although also very sad in parts. It is really different from the early Pixar films. It is nice to see two lonely souls become friends and although I hate to say it the talking dog is quite cute.

Which makes it time for another picture of me with characters - taken in January during our last trip to Florida. Mikki has been checking out what characters there will be for me to have pictures with this time. Oh, I'm starting to get excited.

Gardens of Madeira

Here is another picture of me on my last holiday - to Madeira. Madeira is famous for its flowers and gardens. Mikki went to the most famous but came away a little disappointed. There were layouts that looked lovely from a distance but once she got close, she thought the individual plants were not very well tended. Also, she thought the paths were very uneven. Unfortunately for Madeira, my humans both come from towns in England that are famous for their public parks and displays of flowering plants.

My humans are also spoiled because they are accustomed to the gardens of Walt Disney World. They are also accustomed to the smooth and well maintained paths of Walt Disney World. Andrew was very conscious of this because he doesn't see well. When he has to spend all his time watching his feet, he missed what little he could see of the things around him.

My picture is taken from another garden. Mikki decided I had to pose on these stepping stones surrounded by water. She says she was very careful with me but I was a bit worried anyway.

Looking at the photo, I think I look quite bright and clean. My white fur is white. Mikki wasn't convinced and has forced me into my bath. Apart from the discomfort of the bath itself, I end up off the bed for two nights. At least it's over now: as I write this I am almost completely dry.

Less than 2 weeks to go now. Mikki is making a few more table reservations and fixing Halloween party tickets.

Prrrrr.

A Dragon in Paris

Mikki had a holiday in France in August - all on her own.

I say it was a holiday but she was only away 5 days and spend the all of the first and last travelling by coach. So neither Andrew nor I were enthusiastic about going.

During the first of the three days in France, the rest of the party wanted to see tourist sights in Paris: up the Eifel Tower (I think it's a bit like the thing thay have on World Showcase at Epcot) and a river cruise. Mikki went instead to Disneyland Paris. She came back with lots of pictures. She had a long lunch at "Walt's" and has pictures of all the wonderful furnishings and decorations - as well as the superbly presented food (she says it tasted good too - but I wouldn't know). But the picture I have chosen is of the dragon. This is a special for Disneyland Paris. There isn't a dragon in California or Florida. It lives in a dark cave under the castle and it surrounds itself with smoke and noise, so it's quite difficult to get a good picture. I think this on's pretty good - just a shame I'm not in it.

Firago.

.

Madeira

It's two weeks to go. Yes, two weeks today we set out for our next visit to Walt Disney World. More about that later, but meanwhile my humans tell me I have to get up to date with other things. Also, they have got round to letting me see the pictures of me on our last trip - to the island of Madeira.

Madeira is a volcanic island and there are lots of steep hills. So here am I with my human, Mikki, riding a cable car that goes from sea level up one of them. There are some gardens at the top and I'll tell you about them next time. The cable car cabins were quite nice: not much bigger than the old "skyway" at the Magic Kingdom but fully enclosed (they had better be given how high they went). There was just room for one other person as well as us. I can't understand why she looked uncomfortable while my adult humans took pictures of their toy cat.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Maderia. It was our first visit. The weather was warm and the apartment we stayed in was luxurious. It was some friends' timeshare - which again reminded me of WDW and our "home from home" at Old Key West. We wandered into the town a few times; had a fascinating day tour of the island and the humans ate in some nice restaruants. The humans also took afternoon tea at Read's Hotel. That's something you are supposed to do if you are English and go to Madeira!

I admit I didn't go our of the apartment much but there was a lovely living room, a comfy bed (whee the maid game me a chocolate every day - doesn't she know toys don't eat) and a huge balcony with a splendid view of the sea. It was great.

More soon.

Music at the Royal Albert Hall

My humans (well Andrew at least) enjoy classical music. What I mean is he used to listen a lot but that was before Mikki and I came along and made sure Disney music was heard most in our house. Well, in the last few weeks Andrew has been re-introducing classical music by turning on the BBC Proms concerts on the television.

For those of you unfamialiar with the "Proms", they are something of a British tradition in summer. They are a major series of classical concerts centred around the Royal Albert Hall. The hall may not have the finest acoustics but it is magnificent. The word "Prom" is short for "Promenade" - which is used because for the season they take the seats out of the ground floor level and the audience stands ("promenades").

Andrew has been listening to some serious music, including two Mahler symphonies and a series of Beethoven's piano concertos. But the concert that got me to watch was one of works by Bach that had been arranged by others for a large orchestra. The opening piece was the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. As you know, this is the piece which also opens Disney's original "concert feature", Fantasia! And yes, the arrangement they played was the one written by Leopold Stokowski for Fantasia. So I allowed Andrew to record this concert and to listen to this part of it lots. The television picture is very good but you know how difficult it is to take photos from the television.

The Royal Albert Hall also features in one of my humans' most magical Disney moments: the time they went to the premiere of "Fantasia 2000" there. The premiere featured a screening of the musical segments with a live orchestra (conducted by James Levine, who conducts on the film). They didn't show the link pieces, so the humans didn't see an animated Mickey Mouse come to shake the conductor's hand at the end of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Instead, he came out live on stage to do it. They also had the thrill of Roy E. Disney introducing the film and a performance of Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 - which is also a highlight of the last night of the "Proms" concerts.

Well, that's enough serious stuff. Next time, I may tell you about Mikki's trip to Disneyland Paris or about the humans most recent visit to a cinema (Toy Story 3 in 3D).

Vienna

Yes, I've been away a long time and I apologise. Of course, it's not my fault but we needn't go into how my humans have been messing about with computers and working on a Village Fete and looking after Andrew's mother and arranging themselves even more holidays . . . and what other excuses do they have?

Here is the one other picture I wanted to show you from my cruise in April. I am in Vienna. The sign behind me says, "Mozarthaus Vienna" but the Guide said it is known by most people as the "Figaro House" so I had to get my humans to take me there. The guide also said Mozart lived in lots of places in Vienna but this is the one they have turned into a museum. This is the house where Mozart is believed to have composed "The Marriage of Figaro". I don't know much about that - and my humans didn't take me inside to find out. Mozart lived a very long time ago so I don't know how he knew about me and I don't have any plans for getting married but I don't complain if someone wants to name a house after me.

I hope to post a little more frequently now. I have some catching up to do. Thank you for your patience.

Figaro the Toy Cat

Thank you for thinking of me

I'm breaking off from the story of my cruise for a quick, but sincere, "Thank You" note

Of course my humans try to get me other Disney merchandise themed for Figaro. This includes trading pins. They are quite lucky that there aren't that many. Mikki keeps a sharp lookout whenever she is in a park. Yes, she buys pins but she also trades - especially with cast members.

Now I can tell you Mikki had a message from Karentan on the Disboards that she had seen a Figaro pin and was happy to send it to me if I wanted it. Wasn't that nice of her! My Mikki had spent a whole trip searching for that very pin and had finally found it on a 'suit'.

Here is a cute picture of me posing with the pin. Thanks for thinking of me Karentan!

Our Cruise

Yes, I had a lovely time on my European river cruise with my humans. Aboard the MS Amacello, we cruised up the Danube, down the Main and the Rhine and navigated the canal that connects them. I think the humans enjoyed themselves a lot - going out on deck to watch everything and even getting in the jacuzzi pool on the sundeck. All that water wasn't really a cat's idea of a good holiday but I was happy enough staying in the cabin almost all the time.

Mind you, the cabin (or "suite" as the tour company called it) was rather comfy. The company was offering very good deals - especially since we chose a cruise that started in March. The only snag was that the only cabin available was the largest and most luxurious. The space was larger than most and the bathroom had a bath as well as a shower (not something I thought important). I don't think the bed was any different from the regular cabins - but it was very confortable. Also, on many days, the cabin steward made clever designs with the towels like this one. Like almost all the cabins, we had floor to ceiling windows. so I could look out when I wanted to.

The humans had a great time on the cruise. They thought the staff were all friendly and helpful; the food was excellent (with efforts made to offer dishes reflecting the areas we were going through); and the lounge areas confortable and not too crowded (the boat was full but only took about 150 passengers). There were also lots of chances to go ashore. A big plus of river cruising in Europe is that all the contries are part of the European Union so there are no borders or customs formalities when you go ashore: you just get off the boat.

The humans visited lots of interesting and historic places. I went with them once. I'll tell you in my next post.

Figaro (the Toy Cat)

Old and New

I've been waiting a long time to get back to my diary and I hope you haven't missed me too much.

We have been very busy since I last got on the computer and I had better explain a bit about it. I'll bring you more up to date in the next few days.

The first half of April, we were away on a river cruise in Europe. After that, it was rushing to get ready for a weekend in Manchester for a Disney fan event. Then there were busy things with family and village.

And in between things, the computer went wrong! Yes, the one I use: so no blogs. We thought we had been attacked by a virus but it turned out to be the anti-virus software that had itself attacked the Windows operating system. Luckily, Mikki learned about this from a magazine before we had taken extreme measures. The other lucky thing is that all my information and pictures are on external drives and we had a spare "box" from when Mikki bought herself a new one. What we lacked was the programs I like for typing and editing the photos. By now, I have a mixture of getting Andrew to re-load some of the things I like and me learning some of the different programs on the spare "box". So here goes with getting up to date.

I thought I'd start with this picture from DAK in January. I call it "Old and New". The humans say it could apply to many things at the moment but I'm just a toy cat so the "old" is Mikki's sweater and the "new" is Tinker Bell (a relatively new addition to DAK) sitting on Mikki's hand.

I hope I need not add that "old" was not meant to indicate me. I am mature and distinguished. Mikki does like this sweater - which is about 10 years old. A few days after getting home, she was in one of our local supermarkets when one of the staff saw it; said she had a similar one; and agreed they haven't done anything quite as good since.

Ah well, if you insist I won't argue with the idea that, "the old ones are the best".

"Tweedles" in Wonderland (Characters 12)

Last week, my humans went to see a film (movie) in the cinema for the first time in years. In fact it was their first visit to the local cinema (theatre) complex since it opened. The reason was a combination of three events: the cinema had 3D equipment installed in one of its screens; "Alice in Wonderland" was on; and the humans discovered that even with a supplement for 3D the cost was very reasonable if you went mid-week!

So, my humans have seen the latest "Alice" in 3D - and they enjoyed it. Andrew did say it is many years since he learned not to expect a film to be like a book just because it had the same title so he was ready for something that was more "inspired by" than "based on". But the story was good. Both my humans agreed Johnny Depp was ideal as the Mad Hatter.

The 3D added to the overall effect without being overwhilming or gimmicky. The problem for my Andrew is that he can't see very well and often uses a small telescpe to watch movies. This isn't possible with 3D because you need both eyes. He and Mikki sat towards the front but he still thinks he must have missed a great deal - especially with the visual richness and complexity he associates with Tim Burton.

They didn't take me but I thought this was a chance to search our old photos for a picture of me with some "Alice" characters. This is of Tweedledum and Tweedeledee in the square in the UK pavilion at Epcot in 1999. I'm afraid the picture quality is not as good as some because of the camera we were using at the time but, yes, I did have more fur round by ears then.

I think I'd rather be cuddled by this pair than the "fat boys" of the latest film.

Valentine Characters

I'm back from my holiday in Walt Disney Woirld just in time to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day.

For anyoe who doesn't know what I have been doing - or has missed my Blog posts - I have been writing a trip report for the Intercot discussion board. Look for me on the trip report forum. As I post this, I have finished writing the report but my humans haven't posted it all yet.

Here also is my Valentine's day picture. It is Thumper and Miss Bunny from "Bambi". For once, I thought I should let you see the picture without me or my humans. Thumper and Miss Bunny look very friendly: quite twitterpated! We met them at Disney's Animal Kingdom a week or so ago. We were the first people (possibly the only people) waiting for them when they arrived at Camp Minnie-Mickey. It was raining at the time and you can see the unbrellas they had carried in the picture. It was very cute.

There were lots of reminders of Valentine's day while we were in Florida. Mikki bought Andrew a card which had no message on the front but just a lovely 3D picture of Tinker Bell. We also saw Mickey Mouse Valentine cards in packs of 6. Somehow that amused my humans. Well, so may people must love him and he's such a kind mouse that perhaps Mickey sends lots of cards.

Those who have been reading my trip report will also know there was a Marie toy with a rose in her mouth. In the end she did not come home with us (although my Mikki now has two real red roses in the house).

Happy New Year

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year. My only hesitation comes from the fact that whenever my humans hear news of other people's New Year Message (like UK's Prime Minister), they either shout at the television or turn off the sound.

We had a wonderful New Year's eve. I had lots of cuddles. OK, some people may be boring and say what I mean is that the humans went to bed before midnight - but I much prefer my version. We woke up about midnight when some neighbours let off fireworks. I am sure they were very good but you understand we have got a little spoiled over the years with fireworks. We are looking forward to Disney fireworks. We will be able to see them every evening. We won't have to wait until midnight - and we hope it will be warmer than England even though we hear there is a bit of a cold snap over there at the moment. Mikki is hoping to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the lounge in Bay Lake Tower during our stay there (11 days to go, and counting).

Yes, we are starting to get busy with preparations. Mikki is getting together all the papers we will need. Many come electronically, so she has spent a lot of the morning printing them out. She is also making out a timetable of what we will be doing. It is starting to sound quite exciting- although we do not plan in advance in anything like the detail some people do.

Being New Year, it's also time for those things called Resolutions. I'm hoping the humans keep the one about a lot more cuddles this year. It must be me they're talking about.

Prrrrrr.