Summer of 2022 Update

It’s been a while. Europe is suffering from deadly heatwaves and intense wildfires. From India and Pakistan to Tunisia and the US of A, numerous countries have suffered heat waves this year. Sweltering temperatures hit much of Western Europe last week. We’ve recorded the second highest temperature ever. It’s hard to deny there’s something wrong.

Once a year I invite my close friends and family for a low profile garden party. Unfortunately, we had to stay inside because it was raining the whole day, (the only day with rain since months). Jimi was not amused because he thinks “two’s company, three’s a crowd”. Thank goodness the chocolate cakes, ice cream and fresh fruit was delicious!

The next day Jimi had a great time outside chasing butterflies and drinking rain water. But it’s always disappointing when you just have to deal with a setback: no leftovers from the chocolate cakes…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Hottest Day

Hottest day of the year again for third day in a row. The hottest day of the year so far has been recorded, with temperatures exceeding 34º C (93,2º F). So we have to stay cool and hydrated. Water is essential for keeping you cool during hot weather. And ice cream.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

WWW

Winter Walks Wisdom. Ola! I came across this sign on my daily walk.

So true!

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Ice Ice Jimi

Looking for ice cream. A cat making eye contact can mean anything from “You don’t exist to me” to “I want food, human!”. What is the most intelligent way of responding to a cat who won’t stop giving you the mean Clint ‘Dirty Harry’ Eastwood stare? What is the best way to look confident and relaxed? Saying “no” is one thing, but getting the cat to listen is another. Just give your cat what he wants… and join him for ice cream. Even if it’s a dark and winter day.

I feel the ice cream move under my paws
I feel the sky tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever ice cream’s around

“I Feel the Earth Move” – Carole King

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Deal of the Day

Why settle for anything less than what you can get? Chocolate coating for the human and vanilla ice cream for Jimi. Fair enough.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

A Room with a View

Hot (hotter, hottest). Okay, I’m going to huff and puff during the making of this post. I will try to be brief. For the third time this year, we’re having a heat wave. A recurrent phenomenon the last 3-4 years that deserves our attention and more research. Thank goodness there’s ice cream and cool milkshakes to comfort me…

As you probably remember, I did a complete makeover in my house. All the curtains were also removed and replaced with black, aluminium blinds. Mr. Bowie prefers them a little bit up so he can still enjoy the view outside.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

 

Europe 7/25

Europe is hot hot hot. Heat records tumble in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The most extreme heat will build from central and northern France into Belgium. We definitely need more ice cream, milkshakes, fresh fruit and smoothies… Thank goodness I got friendly neighbours with a swimming pool.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Record-Breaking Heat Wave

Another record-smashing heat wave! This week the Belgian’s all-time record temperature will be broken, with highs of above 40°C forecast. The Heat Health Alert level Code Red is in force since yesterday. We need to stay inside, drink a lot of water and have a lot of ice cream, of course.

This morning, while Mr. Bowie was having a break, the temperature was already above 30°C in the shade. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to get ready to go swimming and have another dose of ice cream.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Pancakes/Ice Cream?

Summer’s here! June 21 marks the summer solstice in this part of the world, which is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight. This always make me feel good and happy. I bought some extra vanilla and coffee ice cream to help me cool down next week. Weatherman predicts the first heatwave with temperatures going up to 38 degrees Celsius. Looking forward to having breakfast and reading the newspaper outside in the garden.

Pritty, Mr. Bowie’s mom, prefers pancakes but it looks like we are going for ice cream next week…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Pretzels

“These pretzels are making me thirsty.” This is one of the first popular lines to emerge from the sitcom Seinfeld. The New York Post listed the “pretzels” line as one of “Seinfeld’s 25 greatest contributions to the English language.” Seinfeld is my favourite sitcom in television history.Temperatures will drop below 30 degrees Celsius next Wednesday. Hooray! It’s about time… This heat is making me thirsty and leaving me longing for ice cream.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Catch

Early in the morning or late in the evening. This is the best time of the day to catch my Dad. Local authorities start to take action against the heatwave and the extreme drought. The Flemish public health authority issued the following advice: ‘drink sufficiently, eat ice cream, and keep yourself and your home cool”. It also advised taking care of others. “Keep an eye on children and animals. Go and visit older people, cats or those who live alone. Are they drinking enough?” the authority said in a statement. “Is their clothing suitable for the temperature? Do they have a cool place to relax?”

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

 

Newsflash #34

Mr. Bowie’s Gotcha Day! We had a very good day yesterday. Some close friends surprised me with a visit and together we celebrated Mr. Bowie’s Gotcha Day outside in the garden. Thank goodness nine years ago Mr. Bowie decided to move in to my home. Due to the ideal weather conditions, it felt like the traditional guerrilla-surprise-pudding-parties from the past.

We had lots of ice cream with fresh grapes, blueberries and pineapple. Mr. Bowie had a combination of tuna, salmon and chicken pasta. Still warm weather today and heatwave (“history will judge” climate change deniers) set for the next days. Isn’t life grand? Sometimes.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

 

Springy Temps

Beautifully springy temps! Looking around and noticing the blue sky, singing birds and bumblebees. Immediately, Mr. Bowie knew: it was finally spring. The first thing you want to do on that first warm weekend of the season is drink fresh tap water outside. I went for sweet chocolate ice cream.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Finally

It’s sum sum summertime. At last the summer is finally here! Warm weather today and heatwave set for the next days. Now we’re talking! No excuses to get outside and enjoy milkshakes, ice cream and yes, even a strong hot espresso. The photograph below is from a few days ago. It’s Mr. Bowie’s favourite place to hide from the rain. Well, those days are over.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

May 1

Warmer days ahead. May 1 is the 122nd day of the year (in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. This post is not about the date May 1 or the International Workers’ Day. It’s about Mr. Bowie holding on to the sunshine. Finally, temperatures in this part of the wold will be a warmer later in the week. It’s time to buy vanilla ice cream for Mr. Bowie and coffee ice cream for the human. Yeah!

On Your Mark

Cats on your mark, get set, go! Monday. Ready to start a new week? Weather forecast looks very promising and temperatures are set to soar above 30 degrees Celsius. We’re not going to spend much time with electronic devices in the recording studio. Yeah, we’re gonna be so cool. Twisting by the pool. And ice cream. Do I even need to say anything more?

Drops

Let the water drops kiss you, Mr. Bowie. Just another day in paradise, with vanilla ice cream and other cat treats. We love the summer. Please feel free to join us anytime.

Last Friday

Summer is here to stay. What an upbeat mood I’m in today! Last Friday was the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures near 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit). It was a perfect day for ice cream and banana milkshake. Mr. Bowie looked a bit upset because he got purified water instead of catnip ice cream.

Beautiful Days

It’s another beautiful sunny day! Yesterday 18 degrees Celsius, today 15 degrees. Yesterday, I had ice cream and espresso outside in the garden. Today I had delicious pancakes at Joke’s place, and I met Pritty, Mr. Bowie’s Mom.

This afternoon, Mr. Bowie performed a day time inspection of the garden. I hope that he can approve the new look of the garden without any great difficulty.

The Harvest Is Past

Summer is over and gone. Thinking about long warm summer days, summer breezes and sitting by a pool. And catnip. And vanilla ice cream. I hear you, Mr. Bowie…

Let’s Go Crazy

Good morning. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Or do something crazy every single day. Eating ice cream occasionally for breakfast shouldn’t do you any harm. Have a nice day.

WARNING: The stunt in this post was performed by a professional and his cat. Don’t try this at home.