Sleep Peacefully my Little One

2012-Fire-4-watermark

This is Fire my beautiful Siamese cat.  Unfortunately the time came for us to part earlier this week.  He was a wonderful cat with an amazing personality and he fought so hard against a variety of medical problems this last 6 months.

He’s left a cat shaped hole in our lives and we’re all missing him, even the dogs.  Salem my other cat is taking it especially hard and is very clingy.  Pebbles especially is finding this difficult to deal with as Salem keeps trying to cuddle her, the way he used to cuddle Fire at nap time.  Jake the dog has been amazing in the aftermath, insisting on cuddling with me far more than normal.  I love snuggling with Jake as he’s big, so I don’t have to worry about accidently squishing him.  All week he’s been cuddling in and helping me sleep.  Why is it when we’re upset we sleep better with another heart beat next to ours?

Anyway I started this year with 3 beautiful cats and now I’m down to one.  Simba went to the Rainbow Bridge earlier in the year after loosing her fight against cancer, Fire now joins her.  Sleep tight my little ones…

Sleep tight my little one.

More years ago than I want to count a little tabby kitten came into my life.  She was about 8 weeks old and I named her Simba after a cat from my childhood.  She’s stayed with me, eventually becoming a  very very old lady, but she was still happy and enjoying her life.  Yet I knew the time was coming when we would have to say good bye. 

Simba-in-Bed-B&W

I wasn’t looking forward to that day which happened yesterday.  Here is a photo I took of her snoozing in one of her cat beds last year and I’m sure there will be lots more photos in the coming weeks and months.  We travelled together through 4 house moves, 7 cars, one wedding, one divorce, the loss of my father and more highs and lows than I care to count.  She has been the constant in my life for almost 20 years now and watching her fade has torn me apart.

Yesterday I took that final decision.  I stroked and spoke to her as the vets took away the pain.  Wherever she is now I hope she understands that I did it out of love.  As I watched the light fade from her eyes she took a part of me with her.  Sleep tight my little one, my world is a darker place without you.

I heard a strange noise behind me…

Last weekend I decided to ‘tidy’ my dining room which also doubles as a study.  This was not a particularly ‘good’ idea given I wasn’t well and it really was a big job.  Well after much use of foul language the dining room is looking much better. Unfortunately this is mainly because all the stuff that needs sorting is now piled up in the lounge.  This includes an old printer box.

Anyway as I sat down at my desk to have a nice cuppa tea this evening (and catch up on some blogs) I heard a strange noise behind me……

There was something in the box

I quickly grabbed my phone and started recording but ran out of memory.  So there was a mad dash for the ipod to continue recording.  I was just quick enough to catch this…

The something was getting out of the box…

Investigating a new edition to the family….

I’m sure I mentioned last week was rather busy.  One reason for this was my mother was visiting, and together we went Caravan hunting.  I’ve been talking about it for about a year now and it’s finally happened.  Yes, I have officially joined the ranks of Jeremy Clarkson’s most hated people – Caravaners!

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Fire getting comfortable during the ‘inspection’.

She’s a beautiful old girl in excellent condition and I hope she’ll help to liberate me from the cottage with the dogs.  I’ve stayed at B&B’s with Jake (who is in general a good boy) but the thought of taking him AND Pebbles filled me with dread.  In fact the thought of them together in that sort of situation has been enough to stop me even trying to visit places on my ‘must see’ list.

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Checking out the view from the door

So a little mobile home of my own with an awning for the doggies seemed perfect.  Of course the cats wanted to investigate as soon as it arrived.

Last night I went to sit in the van, which is on the drive, and try to get a better feel for her.  Naturally she needs new upholstery and things like that making.  Not because there is anything wrong with the condition of the current fabric, but simply because I have two large furry people who will track dirt in after walkies.  Removable and machine washable covers seem like a very good idea.  It’s also a good excuse to do some crafting hehe…

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Showing a friend (Salem) the new pad

Fire was the first in and quickly started investigating.  In general he seemed to approve and was quickly showing Salem around like an old pro.  Salem was a bit more interested in having a snooze on my lap though, much to Fires annoyance.  In fact he’s actually on my lap in the photo above (you can just see the green of a hand knit sock about half way up on the left).

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Checking out the emergency exits

The windows open quite wide which is perfect if you’ve a cat who prefers not to use doors.

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and of course the mandatory rear end shot

So I’m now dreaming of all the wonderful throws and things I can make.  Of course before I can do that I need to decide on a colour scheme.  A quick mooch round some local fabric shops last week with my mother and Maytheweed showed that finding the perfect ‘base’ fabric is going to be harder than I first thought.  I’m looking for something more contemporary than the existing fabric, but not so modern it looks silly.

No doubt whatever I choose will be carefully inspected by Fire……

Ridley McPiddley

A few years ago I met a lovely lady while mooching around a Open Garden near here.  She was painting the most beautiful pictures of animals.  Since then I have commissioned some of my own little beasties and this evening I picked up the latest.

ridley

This is Ridley my beloved Seal Point Siamese.  He passed away a few years ago but his legacy lives on in the way my kitchen is designed.  He liked to sit on the kitchen counter and watch everything that was going on, so when the kitchen was redesigned this was taken into account.  Ridley was the sweetest cat you could ever hope to meet except when stressed – then he turned into a feline hose pipe.  You can see where his nickname of Ridley McPiddley came from.    He will always live on in my heart and now I have this wonderful painting to help bring a smile to my face.