Pepper and Mint are nearly nine months old, and they have been with us for nearly six months. They are cute and rascally and still quite wild. Whenever a stranger enters the house they will run and hide, perhaps cautiously slinking out for some food. We still cannot pick them up. However, I like to think that they have become rather fond of us. They follow us around the house, sitting nearby and observing our actions.

Pepper likes sitting on Adrian’s laptop, and stealing tomato stems to hide under my desk. She will still ruthlessly chase the green laser dot even though she has never caught it. Every morning she jumps onto our bed and demands ear scratches.

Little Mint loves to hide underneath our doona, and will slip behind any cupboard door that is open more than an inch. She will wear herself out so much chasing the feathered fish toy that she ends up panting like a puppy with her tiny pink tongue hanging out.

I am glad we got them both. While occasionally their games can get a bit rough, they seem to enjoy each others’ company. If one of them has found something interesting, the other will bound in to help the investigation. They are a constant source of cute delight.

We spent a few days in Milan after our Mediterranean cruise. The weather was crummy, and it seemed like we needed a vacation from our vacation. So, embarrassingly, we spent a lot of time reading books and watching movies, rather than exploring the city. However, we were able to brave the weather to wander out and see a few of its highlights.

The Duomo di Milano cathedral was beautiful, one of the most stunning churches that I have ever seen. The entire structure was carved out of pink marble, and the front façade had just been polished. It took over five hundred years to create this glowing patchwork of pink. The colours varied from block to block, yet they all blended together to create a harmony of warmth.

In the museum at the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, there is a very interesting Pieta by Michelangelo. Our guide told us that this might have been the one that he was carving for his own tomb, but he died before it was finished. He had originally planned a design of Mary facing to the side, but later decided that the composition worked better if she was facing forward. Here two faces are still visible in this unfinished masterpiece.

We were also lucky enough to spend 15 minutes admiring “The Last Supper”, originally painted by da Vinci. It deteriorated quickly after he finished it in 1498 onwards, and has since had to suffer through being restored, scratched off, restored, un-restored, stoned, removed, reattached, cleaned, stabilised, bombed, restored, stabilised, and then restored again. While what we saw might not have been remotely like what was painted by da Vinci, it was a spectacular painting. The centrepiece of what was once the dining hall in the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent, the perspective works perfectly. The figures looked down upon us, and the scene was full of movement and mystery.

Image from para communications.

Every October, Hasselt hosts a Jeneverfeesten. Jenever is a liquor that is typically made from fermented barley, rye, and corn, and then redistilled. It is then flavoured with additives as diverse as coriander, carroway, passionfruit, lemon, or vanilla. The only jenever that I knew of before moving here was what we call gin, which is jenever that is flavoured with juniper berries. Now I have become very partial to chocolate jenever, which at 17% alcohol is delicious but dangerous.

We spent the day in Hasselt, sampling a wide range of their delicious jenevers, and snacking on freshly baked speculoos cookies. My favourite part was watching the cocktail jugglers assemble the winning cocktail, a mojito-inspired concoction of lime and mint.

In addition to hosting our Australian friend Lina for a couple of weeks, we are also having major renovations inflicted on our apartment. The old kitchen is being ripped out, and they are installing a new kitchen, three new wardrobes, and a mini-laundry.

We are locking the kittens up in the study during the day, because the whole house looks like a disaster zone. Boxes, cabinets, and live power tools are all over the place. However, everything seems to be coming together quickly, and the builders seem very dedicated, working from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Fingers crossed when we come home tonight, we will have a fancy new kitchen and we might even be able to stop living out of boxes.