76. Roommates : Bollie & Billie

Lavinia, October 22, 2021

It’s still early, way too early. Barely 4 o’clock in the morning. You guessed it, my creative brain is at its best. Although, after barely 3 hours of sleep, that might be just a little less 😉.

We’ve had some pretty rough weeks, even months. Intense only in a positive sense. We have been completely full since mid-May, a nearly full table every evening. Delicious. We dined with the most diverse guests. And every new guest brings a new dynamic. Sometimes the newly arrived people simply go with the flow of the prevailing mood, and sometimes a completely new impulse is given, and another mind with a different experience flows into yet another atmosphere. It is extremely exciting to live with so many different people and characters on a daily basis. Because, living together with our guests, that’s what we do. We share joys and sorrows, laugh and talk together. One feeling prevails with the majority of our guests: they feel especially at home. And that’s a nice thought: that we can give people a feeling of home, even on holiday.

When we see that people find each other, and chat for hours every day, and then again, chat for hours on the terrace, can’t even get out for a trip, but do have a wonderful holiday, then we know that we doing well. And when new guests – loyal blog readers – suddenly conjure up a personalized gift above the table on arrival in the form of a bottle of Safari and a book that matches my interests, you can’t help but smile broadly and be grateful with a warm heart. Especially when they say that they have completely gone through the blog again because they remember somewhere that I once wrote what Wim likes. Just the max.

If you suddenly get the offer from previously unknown guests that they want to help for longer periods on a regular basis, and that they are here again 3 weeks later, on a trial basis, to see if it works. You create opportunities yourself, and you have to seize opportunities, dare to seize them, we firmly believe in that. Life is full of surprises and coincidences. Life is up to the daredevils they say.

Did I already tell you that we now have two more housemates: Bollie & Billie.

Mommy – their mother – brought them here, came here to get food for herself and to suckle them.

Slowly they also timidly made their first attempts to eat something tasty. Mommy was not exactly the most loving mother they could imagine. She was quite aggressive towards them when they started eating. At one point she came to feast on her own tummy, and then went to fetch the kittens to lick the empty bowl clean, while she was belly-blowing in the sun. Soon she was punished for her greed, and the two brothers seized the food bowls. In her turn mom was shown the door by two hissing kittens and rejected. More and more they turn to us. Billie, the redhead, is the most affectionate. Bollie then looks more like the ‘wait and see’, but is also starting to get used to it. It is a pleasure to see them daily romping in the large garden which is their private playground. They really don’t need toys. Apart from the many hours of sleep in the sun, they are busy chasing butterflies and grasshoppers, rolling around with each other. It looks like two dogs that follow us everywhere. Really everywhere. They just want to be with us. They happily run after us as soon as we move somewhere on the domain. If we go to the bar, or the kitchen, they are there too. Knowing full well that they are not allowed in. And of course challenging. That’s part of their entrepreneurial behavior, isn’t it? Billie is already quite used to the rules, and lies nicely outside on the edge of the door, neatly in the middle of the doorway, so you have to be careful not to break your neck. He follows every move you make, with his curious face. Bollie, who used to be the clumsy one, constantly thundering out of a tree or off a wall, has made up for his damage. He is now the big daredevil. In a somewhat arrogant way he walks – head and tail in the air – and just as if his nose is bleeding, yet every time he enters the bar. He can’t resist. Again and again we have to reprimand him, which often makes for hilarious scenes in front of the guests’ eyes. When Wim or I follow them across the terrace, stamping their feet and shouting “tsssssssjjjjj”, trying to scare them away. Because the golden rule is that they should not bother the guests.

Nowadays they seem to have calmed down a bit, and they quietly lie down under a chair somewhere, while we all dine together. Then, as soon as Wim or I walk towards our house, they gallop in front of us like mad because they know that food may be arriving for them. Because our private terrace is the only place where they can get food. They, like the guests for that matter, appreciate Liv’s cooking. Which cat is so spoiled that he gets mussels, scampi, salmon and tasty meat? They eat everything, even fish heads.

During the day you often find them just spooning asleep on our chairs, it’s just too sweet. Billie just sleeps close to us at night, in his own seat. Only when we both get up, he gets up too. To then spin like a real diesel engine and grind around our legs. And when the front door opens, Bollie is obediently waiting with a crooked head for his brother to call him in. The two of them then follow all our movements in the kitchen, until it’s dinner time. This week, Bollie had suddenly disappeared. On a female hunt, of course. Billie lost his buddy, and spent two days looking for his brother. Two days later we saw his familiar face again when we opened the door in the morning, as if nothing had happened. It seemed like Billie resented him, and he ignored him all day. In the evening, however, we found them both in the couch, and they slept in all night, little spoon. Two pairs of curious ears that stick out above the railing when you go to the toilet in the middle of the night.

What a cuties they are!

Hasta luego !

 Ana