Myrtle and Tony's year 2003
This year has been full of happy events. On February 4th we collected our Devon Rex kitten Willow from Susanna (her breeder) and at the end of that week Gerd and Wasse 'kitten sat' for us for the day when we went to our clubs AGM on Sjælland at Racekattens Jubilee Show.
A very Danish 19th birthday party came next on February 23rd. Katherine's last birthday at home before setting up home with Christian in Odense.
March 2nd saw us off to a Stewards course with Zozie and Willow as participants. This was Willow's 'test drive' before her first show on March 23rd; her second show was on April 21st where she was nominated for an award.
We are members of the local Archive society and attended the AGM on March 18th followed by a talk on Odense in olden times. Throughout the year Tony has been working with the new FIFe Breed Councils via the Internet. He managed to get more interest generated than there otherwise would have been, in particular for the Sphynx Breed Council, see notes.
April 1st saw the opening of The Old Village museum season when all the houses are open again after the winter.
On June 2nd our cat club arranged an outing to the Danish vets school in København, and this was very interesting.
In Denmark June is the month when students get their exam results and this year it was Katherine's turn. Her parents arranged to celebrate with a party on June 16th in their garden under an awning erected by Tony for the occasion. Later in the week the students from her class drove round the town on a lorry visiting each students house in turn for food and drink - a long day but one not to be forgotten as it happens only once in a lifetime.
Kaja took us to a weaving museum in Tommerup where flax is prepared and woven into cloth. We were interested in this as the children at the old village museum were learning about it during the summer courses,
In June and July two more cat shows at Kruså and Silkeborg. Silkeborg is in the Danish lake district and very beautiful. This show was small, friendly and hot, with outdoor grills provided for those who wanted to cook. Zozie won the Best in Show cup.
Now for the big one - Our Golden Wedding on August 8th. Most of you will have seen the album on the Internet but for those that didn't it was a lovely summers day for a party with about 30 Danish friends in our garden. Our closest Danish friends had the day before arrived with hammer, nails, stepladders and greenery to decorate our front porch. This is a charming Danish tradition with a little pre-party as well. Click for our Golden Wedding Album
August continued with the Harvest celebrations at the old village and a Hobby cat show in the local shopping centre. Willow was much admired by a lady who the next weekend travelled all the way to a cat show in Nyborg just to see her again!
Little pause then until The 2003 World Cat Show in København on November 1st/2nd. Athos, Zozie and Willow qualified to take part amongst the 1400 cats from all around the world. We had to cross and recross the expensive bridge from Fyn twice but as a World show will only likely happen for us once it was worth it.
Having recovered from all this activity Gerd and Wasse had their Copper Wedding on November 25th (ie twelve and a half years).
December 1st means Christmas begins in Denmark! The tree in the townhall square was lit up by the mayor and Father Christmas with decorations everywhere; also the Christmas Market for Fyn's museum club members and celebrations in the old village. This year Ella our friend who has for 20 years been 'the cook' showing folk how it was in the old days will retire with a party on December 18th.
There was a concert in the cathedral on December 21st when Camilla (Susanna's daughter) was the soloist.
This year we went to Kaja and Finn's for Christmas Eve, the high point for a Danish Christmas.
