My New Friends

Merlin the cat likes to come upstairs and visit us. He usually comes up each evening to say hello. Apparently, he likes to sit on the white IKEA chair, but I haven't seen him do it yet. The first day he came up, he was just interested in who we were and what new things there were to sniff.

When I took his picture, he didn't seem to like it very much. He tried to hide from me. I guess he's a little camera shy. He is 12 years old after all.

After the first day, he decided we could stay and that he would like to be pet. If I wiggle my fingers in his direction, he comes for petting. Well, two days ago he came upstairs and hid under the bed. I got down on my knees and tapped my fingers on the floor. He came right out to be pet. After he was done, he decided it was time to leave, but I wanted to try and hold him. So, I picked him up before he could run out the door. Oh--my--goodness! He did NOT like that. He was snarling and hissing at me like crazy! Therefore, it has been established that Merlin does not like to be picked up. He didn't come to visit us yesterday. I wonder if I've scared him away for good. He's probably still grumbling about it downstairs somewhere.

Our landlady also owns a little Maltese named Clara. She is so small and she always seems so afraid of everyone. However, she seems to like me. On Sunday, we ate dinner with Lisa (our landlady), her two sons Florian and Patrick, and Edel (her roommate). Clara sat by me the whole time so that I could pet her. After dinner, we went for a walk in the forest and around the lake with Lisa, Edel, and Clara. At one point Edel stopped to talk to some friends, so the rest of us kept going thinking that she would catch up. When she didn't, we turned back. We split up on part of the trail to look for her. When we came back together, Clara was so excited to see me that she started barking at me. (She does that when she's excited to see people).

Today I had a pleasant surprise. Clara came upstairs to see me! She's never done that before. Unfortunately, it has been raining since about 5am. (I know because I've been up since 4:30am...unfortunately. This is a new experience for me because I usually sleep so well). So, when Clara came in, she was soaking wet. She wanted to be pet for a while. She followed me around while I went to get the camera. Then she sat at my feet for about 30 mins. before going back downstairs. I wonder if she was avoiding her shower.