Tomorrow afternoon it’s a sad farewell to the quiet village of Dobrzyn and my human and other mammalian friends. The post-Albatross vacation is nearly at an end, and who knows what criticism awaits me on my return?

But, for the nonce, I’m enjoying my final days. Here are some photos from yesterday, and I’ll tender my final report tomorrow before I leave. Tonight we had a nice bonfire (it’s cool in the evening) and communed with the stars, d*g, and cat with a few Zubrs.

Here’s the main square of the town. Our crib is about 2 km away (the town has 3,000 inhabitants).

First some snaps of the Princess. Have you ever really looked at a tabby? They’re so common that we often ignore their beauty, like that of pigeons.  Look at this beautiful striped pattern on the forehead, with the upside down “M”:

I always wonder about the stripes that extend backward from the edges of the eyes. Cheetahs have them too; do they have an adaptive significance? If so, what is it?

I bought Hili special Whiskas chicken in a sachet (Cyrus got treats, too: a chicken wing, as Ben Goren recommended, and other treats for his inflamed gums). Here Hili wolfs down the chicken (you can see her tongue):

Hili was proud to show me that since she’s lost weight, she can now fit on two jars instead of three:

Morning communion with Her Majesty:

What greater pleasure than a comfortable sofa, a book, and a purring cat? Here’s a selfie. Sadly, the book was The Bonobo and the Atheist:

Cyrus interpolates his snoot, as he is wont to do:

In the afternoon, I helped Malgorzata make a plum tart (of course, she did most of the work, first rolling out the dough:

I pitted the plums:

And in a display of primate cooperativeness, we placed the plums on the dough:

Ready to bake:

Baked! (Not I but the tart.) Andrzej got to it before I could photograph it. It was good.

And dinner: chicken wings cooked with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, oil and sesame seeds, served with delicious rice boiled in chicken broth and Polish cole slaw. It was all washed down with a new kind of beer, since one commenter dissed my beloved Zubr.  Dessert was, of course, plum tart.

Here’s the beer I bought, which I know nothing about but bought because it cost more than the others. It was good: marginally better than Zubr. Perhaps a Polish reader can supply more details.

Tomorrow at 4 pm I’m off to Warsaw, and will fly home at noon on Tuesday. Thanks for joining me on my quiet interlude in Dobrzyn!