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Cats

Of course, John started this blog with photos of the kitties. First when Buster and Charlie were babies, then as they are now followed by a photo of Tommy as he is now. The kit-kats like hanging out in the window visiting with children and watching passersby. When the children visit, John and I stay out of sight and watch from a corner of the room as the children are delighted with the kitties and the kitties are delighted with the children. The kit-kats are pretty much inseparable. They love and protect each other. Both are very curious. Sometimes that is charming, sometimes not so much.

Tommy had a check up this month - 2 months after he was diagnosed with heart and kidney disease. Tommy's been taking medication since then. He had a blood test and the vet gave us the results: Tommy's kidney results are back in the normal range, his liver and glucose are also normal. His weight hasn't changed and his heart situation, based on my reports to the vet is probably somewhat better since he is active and eating well and not hiding (he was hiding for a few days before we took him to the vet 2 months ago). The vet also said that Tommy is most likely in no pain. We have an appointment to go back in 6 months. Of course we are relieved to know that Tommy is in much better condition than he was 2 months ago.

Buster is still addicted to Tommy but Tommy is more tolerant and even plays with the kit-kats now. I suspect that has a lot to do with his feeling better.

Buster at 6 weeks. Charlie at 6 weeks. Buster at 13 months.
Charlie at 13 months. Tommy at 13 years. Buster and Charlie at their favorite window spot.
Kids like to look at the historical dolls and our cats. The cats like to look at the kids. The kids view. Charlie trying to figure out what a camera is.





Covid Curfew Changes in France

France has had a 6pm curfew for months and on May 19 it was extended to 9pm. On June 9 the curfew will be extended to 11 pm. The stores also stay open later to match the new curfew.





Street Art and Duckies

John likes to walk around the neighborhood to see the new street art. It's changed or added to every few weeks. He takes photos to share with you through this blog. As you can see in the images our apartment managers added compost bins nearby. That's a nice addition. They maintain the gardens, building and facilities very well. That, the next door park, the interesting neighborhood, the nearby canals and businesses and markets make this a very pleasant place to live.

John and I visited our neighborhood park and it's pond a few times this month. I go through the park to shop in the interesting part of our neighborhood. That's when I first discovered a baby duckie with its mom. It was soooo cute. It followed the mom everywhere unless she flew away because some male ducks were chasing her. When she went away the baby cried a squeaky noise. One time the baby didn't notice the mom was gone and it happily fed on some seeds I had spread for all the ducks (except the chasing males which I shooed away). When it did notice the mom was gone the baby started squeaking. A few days later John went to feed the ducks and take pics and he also found only one baby duck. Two or three years ago a mom had eleven babies. When she stood up and all eleven came scampering out it reminded me of a new brood of spiders. But much cuter.

Recently there's been a lot of
new street art in our area. 		I'm not sure why the little girl is
burning the euro. 		This was painted on our glass recycling bin.
Our apartments now have compost bins. With easy to use instructions. Almost-Summer flowers at Parc Oberthür.
And some more Almost-Summer flowers. A neighborhood cat spying on the ducks. The pond at Parc Oberthür in the morning
is wonderfully peaceful. So glad we live so close.
I woke up several ducks who were sleeping
on the grass. 		A mudhen, her chick and a duck. Once I spread the seed out the ducks
came quickly.
This little duckling was too short
to get up on the boardwalk. 		Duckling prepares for the 3-inch dive
into the pond. 		Duckling dives and swims away.
The duckling was about as big as my thumb. The duckling and his mom. We'll watch the duckling grow.





STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

I gave another STEM presentation (my third) on May 14. My three were a presentation on giant robots in March and part one of projection mapping in April (video links begin on page 2) and part two of projection mapping this month. My presentations were somewhat STEM but mostly just showing videos of examples of the subjects. I have links to the materials from the first two presentations in the blog for those months. You can find the links for my May presentation in the pdf linked here.

The most recent presentation was given by one of the regular STEM participants, Lon, a biologist, who showed and told us about the Marbled Murrelets in coastal and forested Oregon. The birds spend most of their life foraging in the ocean but when they nest to have babies they find a mossy limb high in the trees away from the forest edge to lay their one egg. They had been nearly impossible to monitor until a few years ago when their forest nesting habits were discovered. Their deep forest nesting is to avoid predators (ravens and Steller's jays) while the baby is incubating. With logging and more frequent fires the birds are now limited to smaller and more sparse areas which provide less protection. Oregon State University's College of Forestry, the California Institute of Environmental Studies, the Audubon Society, other scientists and the logging industry are all working together to protect these birds. You can link to the Audubon material which Lon used during his presentation about the Marbled Murrelets here.

Let me tell you this: they are the cutest little creatures. The head resembles a dove's but with a pointy beak. You may recall when we lived in Nice we had 3 doves (Lovey, Dovey and Wuvie, the baby) regularly visit us (and the woman across a broad street from us) because we fed them. High above the traffic. Of course we fell in love with them. When I saw the murrelets their face looked so similar and my most tender feelings came out.