In the bathroom

Posted on Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

My female cat likes to drink from the tap. Not in the kitchen, but in the bathroom. I guess she likes the running water. Sometimes she gets on the sink and drinks from the tap (faucet) there.

Cats are strange. They have their own purrsonalities. They can wrap people round their paws with ease. They are beautiful, graceful, clever. I like dogs, but I could not give one the exercise it needs. Cats are able to go off into the world and use their skills to play. I know they are predators but they are not always bad. I love them.

Back again!

Posted on Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , 1 Comment

After 17 hours sleep yesterday my cat asked to be let out. He won’t use a litter tray so I had no choice. That was late last night. By lunchtime today he hadn’t come back so I went looking for him again. I called in the local vets and rang two more practices up. No sign.

Tonight as the sun started to set he sauntered in. He’s currently asleep in my armchair and I’m relegated to the one next to him. But I don’t care! He’s back again and I don’t have to post him missing again! The relief is so great. He’s like a lost lamb returned. I can’t tell you how much better I feel. And his abscess is looking a lot better too!

I would make compassion and empathy classes mandatory in schools.

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

What would you change about modern society?

Something needs to change. As the world gets more complicated, resources diminishing, people may be becoming more selfish?

But is that because we see so much more of the bad things going on in the world? It is only since film and TV and then the Internet that we have been able to see wars and conflicts in real time. We are not always sheltered by time or censorship of terrible events. Computers give us access to horrendous content that could change the way we think. But statistics show that in some countries crime has decreased considerably over the years.

As countries seem to be heading towards populist, right wing agendas, perhaps we should look at the ethics of news, bring in compassion and empathy. We could go back to religious rules, like turning the other cheek, enacting laws so that the weapons of war are not easily available, or working against theft and violence. But it doesn’t have to be a religious interpretation. Not all of those rules make sense. Why not work with humanitarian or humanist ethics? Listen to world courts and follow their precepts.

If compassion and empathy were taught in school we might not change the current situation but we could change our futures or our children’s futures.

He’s back!

Posted on Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The yard my cat was in. They clearly were trying to look after him. I’ve been round and left a note explaining he needs medication daily for the abscess under his chin. Left my number. When I checked where the yard is today I found there is a gate we could have gone through. What do people think about me going in and grabbing him if he goes there again? The other two photos are of him in his carrier while I was waiting to see the vet. He’s eating and drinking but very quiet. (last photo, asleep).

A film called “Yesterday”

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’m watching a film called Yesterday starring Himesh Patel, Lily James and Ed Sheeran. The premise is that a failing musician has a bike accident when all the power goes off in the world for 12 seconds.  He wakes up in hospital and when he gets out he finds out that none of his friends have heard of the Beatles (a 1960’s and 70’s pop group).

The story continues to tell the tale of his life and integrates Beatles songs into it. I don’t want to say much more, but it’s great to hear those old songs again. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as I watched the film.

If you want to see something funny and life affirming on a wet Sunday night this is one worth watching.

Petunias

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , Leave a comment

Flowers everywhere. I love these deep pink petunias. It’s a close up of one of my hanging baskets. When the sun shines they seem to glow.

The head in the background is a ceramic one I made about 30 years ago. It’s got a few flowers trailing from it that managed to survive the winter.

There is an ancient song from the 14th century I think?

Sumer is icumen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!

Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!

We sing this at choir practice (with slightly less difficult wording).

Home!

Posted on Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

After another sleepless night I got up and tried calling my cat again. I whistled and shouted but nothing. I had been concerned because when I saw him on Thursday night his chin looked strange and slightly swollen. I had decided to take him to the vets but now it was two days later and him going missing made this impossible.

A woman had contacted me to say she was his previous owner. She had not abandoned him but he had gone astray and although they had searched for months after leaving they had not found him. It was only when I put a missing post on Facebook about him that she spotted him and realised it was her old cat. With her and her husband’s help we managed to  walk over rough ground round the backs of houses and flats. It was actually this lady who spotted the cat in a little hutch in a back garden. There was a bowl of water and some food nearby. When we called to him “our” cat came out but was very lethargic and just sat staring at us. It was clearly our (both of us) cat. At that point another neighbour came round the corner and climbed the fence to get the cat. It leapt over the fence and scurried off and into my garden through the hedge.

Off I went to try and catch him. The woman and her husband followed and together we got the cat into a cat carrier. I told them I would take him to the vets as he was looking really poorly. We all agreed that he should stay with me as I’d been looking after him for the last 6 years but I realised she was really upset to part with him again. I don’t think I would have been able to find him without her and her husbands help.

Eventually I made an emergency vets appointment. The vet saw he had an abscess in his jaw and gave my cat a shot of long lasting antibiotics. I also have painkiller liquid to give him. Now it’s just a case of keeping him in for a while. At the moment he’s fast asleep!…

Ice-cream

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 4 Comments

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Just lately I could have eaten ice-cream for breakfast, dinner and tea. That’s not good. It’s the only thing I feel comfortable eating!

I like pizza, lasagne, Thai green curry, masala, sushi, fish and chips, and lots of other things. But when it’s getting hot I like ice-cream, specifically the adult sort with lots of flavour combinations. Icelandic berries, peppermint and coffee, mango fizz, (not salted caramel).

I’m happy to just eat chocolate ice-cream as long as its not too sweet. I’d try different flavours. There is apparently an ice-cream parlor in London that sells odd ones, like piccalilli, vinegar, baked beans, coffee, jaffa cake. It sounds bizarre but they even have soy sauce flavour.

I’m thinking of going to the freezer now for a small tub of the stuff!