cat pictures

Toby ( left ) checks the progress of the black eyed Susan every day .

Pearl surveys the scene from her vatnage point of the old suitcases on top of the treadle sewing machine .

being deaf she always likes to be high up , and with her back against the wall . I suppose it means no one can creep up in her unexpectedly .

Things its not ok to blog about ?

Its been a dilemma for me , since I started this blog which was designed to let people visiting the CatCalls website http://www.catcalls.biz/ know about me and our services looking after cats locally in their own homes . But , as these things do , it started to spiral , mostly because I'm verbose , I like to write and its hard to confine myself to simply cats ... and also , a swith anything , catcalls is not the whole of me or my life , in fact its a much smaller part than I'd like .

And from the start it seemed like there were so many things to write about , like being a parent to a teenager , being in a relatively new relationship , the unexpected experience of having been a single parent which was the last thing I'd ever wanted to even considered possible , like the Day Job which has many fascinating aspects , and many difficult ones . But for various reasons, from the outset I decided most of these were out of bounds . The CatCalls aspect meant I needed to be upfront about who I was so the blog couldn't be anonymous .

Over time I have included little snippets about my daughter N and usually checked with her if it was ok . Of course this meant leaving out the bits I really wanted to include , all the stuff about the Challenges I think we call them nowadays , and leaving in only the stuff that I know she would be ok with say her friends seeing , or that I know wouldn't upset or offend her . Only a few nights ago she was looking at her laptop sitting right next to me and started laughing and laughing . I realised she was looking at the blog , a thing she rarely does , and was very amused by the story about the nectarine which involved her .CatCalls: healthy living And it made me think . One of my favourite things when I was little was a birth record book , you know the thing where your mother fills in all the details of your birth your weight a curl of your hair when your first tooth came through and such like . I would look at this book endlessly , even when I was a teenager I think . It was a pink padded book with a lovely cover and little bits of things stuck in . The sad thing is I dont know where it is now ? And it struck me that the nectarine story is the modern day equivalent , via blogging , and that inspired me to question my earlier assumptions about keeping N's personal life out of here .

So , last night , when we were visiting my parents , all sitting at the table , we started talking about the tea towels which were on the wall, see above , which included some amazing pictures . I guess all nurseries and first schools do them , and the kids are invited to draw themselves . We were all in hysterics by the end commenting on the various children , many of whom are known to me now as teenagers , and how they saw themselves at the age of four or five .

I have one of these towels but mine is saved away somewhere carefully . How much more sensible to have it on the wall where it can spark off such interest and laughter . ....

I'm not sure what Im saying here exactly , about how much more I think it's ok to include in a blog , but its made me think .

Edinburgh Day

The much planned Edinburgh day finally came off yesterday . The previous week the Castle Howard spicy soup had put paid to the plans , but the tickets were rebooked ( and fully refunded as well which was a bonus , thanks to D going to the station on the day we should have travelled . Going even a day later would have meant a ten pouds charge . Worth knowing , that is . Strikes me though , if you cancelled due to illness how many people would be able to get there on the day of travel to claim the refund ? I digress ) and plans were made .

A faster than usual tour of the cats , birds and fish , managing not to set any alarms off to slow my progress , and we were at the station , brilliantly sunny day , with time to spare .

Out of knowhere as we sat outside Costas Liz appeared . I havent seen her in ages , since her book launch in fact when she was so busy launching we didn't have much time for conversation . I've had one or two enigmatic texts since then proposing meetings which have somehow never quite come to fruition though we did get so far as to name a restaurant .....

She was with A , her partner , and her two sons and a friend from Kenya , Mark , a lawyer, and they were also having an impromtu day out though with firmer plans than ours ( which were mainly shopping dominated in line with N's desires ) to take in the Arts , some theatre and even a craft event . J , at lunch , " can you imagine , mum even went to this thing to make FELT ! "

We hesitate about trying to switch our tickets so we are travelling together but finally meet for lunch later in the day and a happy couple of hours are spent touring the city and taking in the sights and the sun whilst trying to locate a lunching facility which will accommodate all our needs ..... Mark's for meat , A R and J for something veggie though there were additional Issues for J of a twelve year old boy nature which I didnt fully appreciate , myself having a thirteen year old who eats Chips with gravy or Chips with Gravy please . After several false starts , including being in a queue with trays loaded with items which have to be abandoned right as we approach the cashier , as there is a distinct lack of the right kind of Meat , we finally descend on British Home Stores , laughing at the notion of travelling to Scotland for BHS food .

We walk ( and shop ) for what seems like miles .....and N and I wind up the day pretending to be old ladies and soaking our feet in a bowl of Radox Substitute . Bliss .

Thai 7

Two cat calls this morning .
I went to bed early last night as my eyes were hurting so much . I have a condition called Dry Eyes and if I'm working on the pc all day , especially the laptop it seems to really get to me . They stream and hurt and the left one feels like there 's a lump of grit in there and I get convinced if I rub hard enough it will come out . In the end I went to bed at eleven thinking maybe reading up there will be less painful than messing on the laptop . I managed a few minutes of Margaret Drabble "The Radiant Way" ... having started the trilogy with last weeks migraine I'm now hooked again . Its the eighties but still good , still feels relevant . But my eyes were hurting up there too .. so I fell asleep early , woke at fivethirty and then back to sleep . I don't know about you but if I have more sleep than usual I end up waking feeling worse . This morning it was so hard to drag out of bed , after weeks of being up and raring to go at 6 30 . Or seven maybe ?
Everything happening in slow motion , couldnt be bothered with my usual breakfast , cereal bar and coffee instead , and off to the first CatCall .

As soon as I open the frong door , and through the porch and hurry to the alarm pad , I can smell something is not right . Now often there is a wierd smell here as these cats need their litter tray changing every day , but this was something different , so I go into the kitchen carefully wondering what Im going to find . These are the Mischief Personified big kittens who eat vast quatities of everything going , nip the back of the legs if the food doesn't materialise fast enough , and then give cuddles and kisses standing on the kitcehn benches and reaching up to my shoulders to steady themselves .

Right in a swathe across the floor is this terrible streak of red and this amazing smell I can't quite place . Blood is my first thought , though the cats are racing about happy to see me . Across the counter tops are red foot prints , and a path over the shiny glass table top . I step closer , still not sure I want to know whats been going on , and begin to see that the red stuff is powder , and there rolling in the corner is a spice jar . Thai 7 its called , Not one Ive come across before ..... the cats smell of it too , their food bowls are full of it as its trajectory from spice rack to floor with lid parting company with jar is a wide one . In fact , lets face it , everything is covered in Thai 7 .

Arrive home to find a load of whites locked in the washing machine . Those things are great till the door handle breaks then you find yourself staring forlornly through the porthole and wondering if it might have been simpler to wash them by hand in the bath .
Oh well maybe not .

Back to the laptop and the report , this one will probably end up in the High Court ....

Edinburgh tomorrow . Reckon I 'll stay up late tonight to make sure Im fresh in the morning .

Mugshots and PopTarts

I'm late posting today . Several reasons , I'm no longer on hols from the Day Job so report writing has had to come first , and this time I had to go into the office as well . Ah well such is life . I love it really .

Next , I started looking at other blogs and diaries in earnest this afternoon / evening and I just got hooked . Some people have been blogging for ages and there' s so much fascinating stuff to read , I keep logging back onto the same sites and being unable to drag myself away feeling vaguely voyeurisitic as I go , peeping through windows into other worlds . Most of the worlds are very other too , people writing about their relationships in great detail , about their kids , about their spiders . Etc etc . I could go on . But that would keep me from my own efforts .

N is still on summer hols and keeps popping up with her friends as I sit at my laptop , surrounded by cats and papers and a mounting pile of echinacea tea cups and other assorted debris , including a half completed Times Quick Crossword and Oh Bliss my latest obsession Codeword . This is an amazing new ( I think , if not I've only just noticed it ) puzzle which is remarkably wonderful if you get it right and believe you me can ruin the day if you make a mistake .

At the dinner table the girls are belching hugely . I note their trick of , immediately after burping , shouting Safety . If the other person gets to shout Badger before they shout Safety , there is some consequence .
I burp myself , very loudly , partly showing off in front of a guest and partly to see what happens . They shout Badger . I fail to shout Safety and they start slapping me on the arm( albeit gently in deference to my age and presumably , lack of understanding ) , in unison . Shouting at the same time " name six cereals " which I hear as name six serials , so I shout Skins ( which I have heard them meantion is a new tv show .
They look bemused ..... No Mum , shouts N , Breakfast cereals
Oh right I say , entering fully into the spirit now
" Rice crispies !
Mugshots !
Tarts ....
Mum ! tarts ! thats not a breakfast cereal !
Pop tarts I shout
Cornflakes !

Before long I have six ... some time later , during a post mortem of my word-confusion , the girls look at each other . Mug Shots ! Says P . Mug Shots ? says N. D is queitly wetting himself behind his dinner .

Dont worry , says N . Its just those pills she takes . I keep my counsel .
I stopped taking those anti epilepsy pills at least three months ago . This is just how my brain works these days .

healthy living

N eating a pot noodle for breakfast and I ask her is it possible that she might eat something healthy in addition . Oh yes she says companionably ...I will have something ....( I wait .).... I could have one of those red balls . Red balls ? I ask , yes red balls , she says , in the plastic tub . Those red and green balls .... (I wait ).... she looks up and gives me her attention . I think they're a fruit or something . She means nectarines .

She finally did have one , at nine fifty pm .

Down to two sets of cats now and one tomorrow then back up to two for another three days this week . Its all good . Back to the Day Job this morning so it was great to get up at six forty five knowing I still had cats which extended the feeling of being on holiday and as I was report writing from seven thirty onwards it was a welcome relief to fit in visits to cats and gardens and bird and fish feeding , not to mention trying out my best handwriting to make it legible for the Returners .

The report didn't go so badly either , though it will need working on again on Wednesday if I can find the time to go back to it as there s another three looming .

Weather sunny this afternoon so the Pigs went out in the pen for a while ( run I should call it otherwise they sound like Proper Pigs as opposed to GPs .)

Last night the bedroom door was accidentally left open and the cats all fell asleep in our room . This morning at five am as they started to parade around I began to think of how without opening the eyes its possible to work out who is who . Toby comes in heavily , straight up to the middle section of the bed , squeaks like a bat a few times , paddles with his paws a bit then flops down and sleeps heavily , barely stirring . If you needed to push him across he would go with the flow , sink back nto place and start sighing in sleep again .
Jessie arrives to the side of the bed , lighter on her feet , no noise , and immediately starts scraping with her foot like a deer scraping the snow in search of a blade of grass. If she can she ferrets under the covers , finds a fleshy protuberance and digs at it . And digs , and claws appear . And finally , either she settles down , or you lose patience at being used as a sharpener and ask her politely but firmly to leave . At which point she leaves via your head . Standing On and Walking On . Your Head .
Pearl makes chirruping noises in her throat , and mostly sits in the upright stance on the chest of drawers . For hours . Watching as you sleep ,Most disconcerting . Occasionally she comes to the side of the bed and stretches a paw out in front of her and sleeps .
Kitty is noiseless but deadly . At the bottom of the bed , never heard arriving but lashes out ferociously and purposefully if the feet move .