She’s just come I from outside, curled up, happy, waiting for a belly rub.
Most of the cats I’ve had are black and white. So called ‘tuxedo’ cats. I think they may be the ‘Jellicles’ cats from the poem by T S Elliott who wrote ‘Old Possums book of Practical Cats’ which the musical ‘Cats’ is based on. I can’t remember much of that poem but it does say something about Jellicles cats ‘dance by the light of the moon’?
Other cat poems in the book include ‘McCafferty the Mystery Cat’, ‘Gus: The Theatre Cat’ and ‘The Naming of Cats’. I think they are much better as poems than adapted as songs.
I’m just catching up this week for #bandofsketchers so here’s my speckled drawing. Our outdoor cat. He’s actually black and white but I’ve drawn him in a pointellist way. I was interested in how the speckles changed direction as I drew…
Last night the cats stayed out till dawn. I called them every hour but they were not bothered. The two indoor cats are fine, they love being out now. They sit on garden walls and seem to stick together. They follow the outdoor cat around and the dynamic between them all has really settled down. They are being very loving when they are in. Lots of purring and cheek rubbing. They seem to be staying round the back of the house and garden, keeping away from the road.
If I can find them in all the foliage I will try and post some photos of them.
My indoor boy cat went exploring tonight, in the dark. I called him in a few times but it was only after he’d gone onto the next door but one’s garden and got soaked in a heavy shower of rain that he came back in. In the meantime I had to prevent his sister from going out. I can’t cope with both out at the same time.
How did he get out? The cat flap had been forced open by the outside cat again. It’s just indoor boy hasn’t worked out how to open it outwards yet.
Now he’s lying quietly on the mat, having a gentle wash with total unconcern. I know I need to stop worrying though.
Sigh, it happened. Our intrepid outdoor cat has led my two indoor cats out into the great big green world of our garden. He is a bit of a cat burglar. Strong claws had forced the cat flap mechanism round so that the flap opened both ways. He must have come in for food overnight then forced it to get out. His Foster brother and sister were both ‘not in the house’ when I got up. That deafening silence that indicates ‘absence of cat’.
All I could do was call and whistle. Five minutes later, outdoor cat and Foster sister came in through the open door. Five minutes after that, Foster brother saunter up. You’ve been out I say, who me? He stares in innocence. I open the cat flap for him. No he wants the door opening. Finally they breakfast…. Now they are sitting tapping the cat flap again! Argh… Inevitable!
With a bag? She was staring at me, getting into my mind, so I decided to do a collage with her. This seems to be my creative ‘go to’ at the moment. Photo, then draw onto monoprinted paper, copying the photo. Two holes for her orange eyes. Then stick the paper down. Next post it notes for the bag that holds a couple I’d packs of felt pens. I cut out shapes then drew over it to give it more shading. Finally the mat… Another bit of monoprint. It’s hard to cut out the negative shape of the cat, and the mat is red and green, but I wanted it to stand out from the cat and my red and green pens have just about run out, so I used pink and what was meant to be a pale blue instead. It’s a bit scruffy, I didn’t have enough pattern to extend across the whole page so part of the mat is just coloured in. Anyway it was fun to do. Ignore the date by the way, I hadn’t done anything on the 18th so I filled in the gap.
Like all great speleologists my cat likes exploring tight and small spaces. For instance she found a pack of felt pens in this bag.
Her caving experience also includes behind the bathroom sink pedestal, under the washing on the laundry airer, and underneath my hubby’s overcoat where it touches the floor. She will lie in wait, or extend a paw quietly to catch her brother as he is passing. A miniature lion in her den.
Somehow the outdoor cat has worked out how to get the cat flap to open outwards (it’s set to let him in but not out). Over the last few days he’s cracked the cat flap panel and bashed it so hard trying to get out that he managed to turn a little wheel round that stops it from flapping. What worries me is that our indoor cats will sneak out with him…..
One of our indoor cats snuck out the back door today. We didn’t realise as my hubby left the back door open just while he popped out to get the milk in. I knew she was out when I went to give her some cat treats and she didn’t come running immediately.
My hubby is loud, and she runs and hides from him, so when he went out shouting her name I knew that wouldn’t work. I put my coat on and shook the bag of treats near the back door, then tried looking between the back fence and the shed. No sign. Still shouting her name I called and called, no answer…
I came in to calm down, I did the washing up to take my mind off things. I decided to give her a few minutes peace to let her settle wherever whe was. Then I went out and called her again….
Mew! Mew! She was miaowing loudly, but where? Sounded like the neighbours garden. You have to go out our front door and down the alley… Mew! I could hear her, but not see her. She mewed constantly as I called her, I looked behind old bits of wood, and an old door propped against the fence. Mew! I climbed over a pile of old branches into the next garden. Mew! Not in their shed.
Mew! The cat noise was coming and going, as if she was moving around. But where? Not behind anything? Maybe up? There she was, she must have climbed up a bush to get onto a kitchen extension roof!
She doesn’t climb, except up stairs, but she got up there. Mew!!! Come down little cat? After a lot of cajoling she came down just after the neighbour offered the loan of a ladder! She scrambled and slid down the branches… And shot off into our garden! I ran round and back through the front door, through the house and let her in the back door. She ran upstairs. Then she came down again and had some food, as if nothing had happened.
Mallaband-Brown 