Felines and Flowers. . .

"There is always music amongst the trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. "
- Minnie Aumonier

My apologies as I have been rather neglecting this blog of late. I seem to have migrated over to my other blog The Streaming Now where I weekly post a selection of photos for I Saw Sunday.

Please pop over and say hello. :-)

Spring is Springing - Yellow Everywhere!

Well the sun has been shining here and it is really feeling like Spring. I have been out in the garden enjoying the blue sky and the glorious yellow of all the Forsythia in bloom.

Here are a few photos taken around my garden on Saturday. You can find more photos over at my other blog - The Streaming Now - Click Here to visit, and enjoy more images of a beautiful Spring day in my garden with me!

How is the weather where you are?

"At first a small line of inconceivable splendour emerged on the horizon, which, quickly expanding, the sun appeared in all of his glory, unveiling the whole face of nature, vivifying every colour of the landscape, and sprinkling the dewy earth with glittering light." - Ann Reacliffe

Bina joined me in the sunshine while the other two cats snoozed in the sun in their cat run (the big converted aviary you can see in the background of the third photo down)

"Animals are such agreeable friends -

they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms."
- George Eliot

May Spring bring you Sunshine!

Sammy and the Squirrel

Sammy had just woken up from his nap on the sofa beside my desk, when he looked up and saw the squirrel just outside the window. I didn't even have to leave my desk to watch this unfold right beside me. . .

He just had to get a closer look.

...the Squirrel was looking at him too.

They were really checking each other out.
Sammy was fascinated by his new squirrel friend.

Until all at once, he had gone!

Leaving Sammy peering through the window
waiting for his squirrel friend to return.

Pretty Cats All In A Row!

Iwalked into the room and I was so surprised to find all three of my cats lined up in a row like this! I had to rush and get my camera, hoping that they wouldn't move before I got back. Usually this is the favourite spot of Ms. Mitz (the middle cat and mother of the other two) and at times I have seen her daughter Bina (the other tortoiseshell) join her - but to see Sammy join the line up too. . . now that was unusual!

You can see here that Bina couldn't believe her eyes! What is he doing here?

I think the sunshine through the window was just too much too resist!

I just found this photo. . .

Sammy when he was a tiny kitten
fast asleep, curled up in a bowl.

Isn't he adorable!

Orange and Gold...

Orange and Gold
...is the colour of autumn.

The beautiful trees that I can see from my window
when I am sitting at my computer

. . . and it's also the colour of certain CATS!

Sammy curled up asleep in the computer chair.


"The wind-blown leaves turn
Dancing the golden sunlight
across the tired floor."
- Matt Dimmic


I hope your autumn is full of colour too!

Do You Know the Names of These Plants?

There are some things growing in my garden that I don't know the names of.

I thought I would post photos in case any of my readers could tell me what they are called.

This was originally all variegated but since I have moved it, has reverted to mainly green.
It dies down to nothing each winter and comes up again in the Spring, eventually
it will have small yellow flowers up each stem. - any ideas?

This pink flowered plant in the foreground grows everywhere around here.
I bought it from a plant sale outside someone house last year
but didn't register what it was called?

This is the plant that I bought with me from the old cottage we used to live in.
It has small star like flowers and the berries eventually turn red. - Any ideas?

These are everywhere! They come up every year and are quite beautiful!
Such lovely colours but I have no idea what it is called. Have you?

Now this looks like some sort of nightshade?
It was here when we came and gets quite rampant,
so I dug it up and put it into a pot - its berries turn a really dark shiny red.

Thanks for any identification you could help with!
They are still beautiful without names but it
would be nice to know what they are called.

Finally

A photo I took of Ms. Mitz yesterday!

Isn't it wonderful!

About a Cat - Ms Mitz

I had made my mind up during childhood that I wasn't a particular lover of Cats. I didn't appreciate them killing things, or their sharp claws and surprise attacks and their fur irritated my nose.

So, many years passed in which I gloried in canine company, such wonderful creatures! So many lovely dogs shared my life over the years. I even smiled at them in the street. I was most decidedly a 'dog person'.

Then one day through my window I spotted a young scrawny cat eating bits we had thrown out for the birds, we lived in quite an isolated place and I knew it didn't belong to anyone who lived nearby. It looked hungry so I put some dog food on a dish and went outside but as soon as it heard the door it was gone like a streak of lightning!

We started to see it in the garden more frequently and my lovely and very patient man took it upon himself to try and gain the trust of this young feral cat, who obviously hadn't had any contact with humans before. He would put out food for her and sit quietly yards away as she warily walked very slowly to the food and bolted it down before turning tail and disappearing.

She eventually became more confident, as long as he didn't move she was more at ease when she ate. Then we noticed her swelling belly! She was hardly more than a kitten herself.

Weeks later, we found her in a tiny old run down shed, wedged in a corner with a pile of her kittens. . . she was wild eyed and hissing so we retreated. Later we checked back, she had gone, moving her kittens to safety. That was the first of three litters she had. She disappeared between times and evaded our attempts to catch her and get her neutered, we managed to get one batch of kittens and with the help of a local animal charity they were taken and rehomed. Two other lots, we never found out what happened to them.

But she was still visiting for food and we had gained her trust, she would now wind herself around your legs while you were putting the plate down, but if you touched her, she would hiss and swipe at you, as though your hand was some strange creature out to get her!

It was then we noticed she was pregnant again.

We knew she slept in one of our sheds, so we made a bed up in there and hoped that she would stay close this time. She got bigger and bigger and we knew that her time was near. One morning we gingerly peeked into the shed and there she was, laying in the bed we had made for her, with her kittens. . .

This time we were prepared, my lovely Man had made a mesh inner door for the shed that reached almost to the top, so that she could jump over it, but wouldn't be able to move the kittens this time. When we saw her leave to hunt, or to eat food we had put out for her, we would sneak in and look at the kittens, we were determined that they would be used to humans, so they could find homes and not have to live a feral life like their Mother.
She no longer ran when she saw us and welcomed the food we gave her too. We took to sitting on the floor in the shed on old cushions, with the gentle light of a lamp, lighting up the dingy space. She would eat the food we gave her and we watched as the kittens grew and we stroked them at every opportunity. She too started to like being stroked, she watched as we stroked her kittens and seemed to sense that it wasn't harmful! and enjoyed it herself as long as she didn't see your hand! :-)

The kittens were getting bigger and wandering around, climbing and playing.
It began to get really cold at night and I began to worry for the kittens, when we went in there, they huddled close to me for warmth - it was then we decided to bring them indoors!

We set up an area in our spare bedroom with plastic on the floor covered with newspaper and a fenced in area and of course a litter tray! and set about bringing them inside.

We had a cage and we put a little food in that, and in she went. followed by one of her five kittens. My man quickly shut it up and threw a cloth over it, as I (in not one of my most thought out plans) put the other four Kittens in a shopping basket! We opened the shed door and both made a dash through the darkness. It was icy cold and pelting with rain and I hadn't bargained on the kittens trying to climb out of the basket I was carrying them in!
Well we made it! They were inside, and the kittens settled fine, exploring their new surroundings, the Mother cat was a different matter she started up a continous distressed miaowing.

The plan was to rehome the kittens when they were old enough, and then get the Mother cat done so she didn't have any more!

So, flash forward - we found homes together for two little golden girls and off they went to their new home. Three kittens left! I didn't like the idea of one being homed on its own, so was trying to find homes for all three but people only wanted two, it was heartbreaking and I had fallen in love with these beautiful little creatures! So they stayed and so did their mother! (once she had visited the vet and made sure she wouldn't bring home any more kittens!)
So now eight or nine years after we first met that skinny little feral cat, Ms Mitz is now a fat exceedingly friendly cat and a much loved member of our family. She and her kittens totally changed my views on cats and I am forever grateful that she came into our lives. Patience paid off!

I Just Found This. . .

I just found this adorable photo of Bina (one of my three Cats) taken when she was a kitten!
I had forgotten how tiny she was - Isn't she lovely! She used to curl up on this Pink scarf on the corner of my desk. She is 7 this year and still sleeps on my desk, though she takes up a lot more room these days!