Carolyn Holm

Cher Madame,
Mia and I have noted that Madame has thrown down le gauntlet.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
The what?
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
Le black Terror. Le angry black gauntlet. Le Mitt.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
You mean the grooming mitt. 
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
If you wish to call it that, it is for Madame to say.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
Very clever to call it a gauntlet. 
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
C’est le harbinger of le terror.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
No it’s not. You two cats are going to be groomed today. No terror involved. Just grooming.
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
Je suis very handsome without the grooming.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
This isn’t about your appearance, sweetie. It’s to remove loose fur.
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
This petit cat knows perfectly well how to groom himself and lick up the lovely loose fur.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
And bring it up again as a slimy hairball. For me to clean up. Not to mention step on, barefoot. Like I did yesterday. That was a nice way to start the day.
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
Toujours le sarcasm.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
I don’t know why you make such a big deal about the grooming.
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
It is against our wills.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
All I’m doing is petting you with a glove on! I don’t know why you both hiss at me when I do that. And yowl insanely. Your language is offensive.
Carolyn

Cher Madame,
Le Mitt of Terror is offensive. With it you bully these two petit cats.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

Dear Puffin,
I’m not bullying you. And I give you treats. Lots of treats. The entire time I groom you with the mitt I feed you treats.
Love, Carolyn

Cher Madame,
We reluctantly submit to the treats. Let the grooming begin.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

A bonus…
It was six years ago today that this inter-species correspondence began, so today as a bonus we’ll share the very short first post from Puffin. As you can see, the relationship was fraught from the beginning:

Memo to:  Madame
From:  M. Le Poufin
You’ll notice I’ve changed my name.  I have discovered I am French.  Je suis Français.  So please start calling me Monsieur Le Poufin.  And greet me in the morning with a polite “Bonjour Monsieur!”  And then feed me at once.  Avec toute vitesse.
Regards, M. Le Poufin

To: Puffin
From: Carolyn
You are not French, Sweetie.  You were picked up on the streets of South Central Los Angeles.  When you wake me at 5:30am I will continue to greet you with an angry snort, and I will feed you when I choose to rise for the day.  I might make a concession to your delusion by shouting “Merde!” when you wake me.
Sincerely, Carolyn

A note to our readers…
Subscribe and get this every week in your email in-box! The subscription button is at the top of the page, on the right. If you are reading this in an email, go to blog.carolynholm.com to find the subscription box at the top right. See you every Friday!