Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

Welcome to CatMinders

Welcome to CatMinders


Thursday, 26 July 2007

Summer ?

N and I have one of our intermittent trips to Debenhams planned for eleven am or at least after Assessor Man has been . She emerges at ten thirty just as he leaves and the three of us debate who might have been in the attic rooms and have moved a heavy trunk and left the light on in the storage room .( All of which I discoverd on accompanying Assessor man on a voyage of discovery leading to him hanging out of the attic window and photographing the Flashing . But thats another story ) .
N and I conclude that it could not have been either of us as the trunk is too heavy and beyond our capacity . That leaves D who insists he would have remembered if he had moved it . He comes back into the room later to point out that his obsession with tidiness would have made it virtually an impossibility for him to have left the storage room door open , light on , and trunk in the middle of the room with duvets cascading onto the floor . I have to admit he has a point . None of us say anything much but our thoughts are all turning towards the Attic Ghost , who has featured from time to time .

N and I both feel under the weather . I have a migraine and have knocked myself into a jelly baby with an Immigran . N is tired . We agree to go back to bed and reconvene at twelve . By tacit agreement we end up resting in the same bed , and Jessie crawls in to join us , though I threaten to eject her if she persists in the claws into my arms routine . She gets the message and we all fall asleep for an hour .
In Debenhams , though my plan was window shopping ( reduced income and all that ) N comes up with eminently plausible reasons as to why we should buy the new school trousers this very day , in the Top Shop dept , rather than Wait . Usually we Wait and all the shops sell out . She tries on a suitable pair but I cannot resist the urge to say " pull them up properly " ( I hear the voice of countless mothers and grandmothers before me , though I manage to sit on my hands to avoid pulling them up myself ) . N gets the giggles and squeals loudly "Mu....um .... look if I pull them up I ll get a camel toe . " This is another of those phrases of hers which sets me off tittering myself . We buy a pair which would be the right length if she wore them properly but will need two inches hacked off ( how I hate sewing hems ) to enable them to hang nonchalantly at the hips . Which reminds me of Michaela and me and our last hairdressing trip , when we were both fascinated ( perhaps the wrong word but am in a hurry here ; fascinated and aghast all in the same moment , perhaps ) by the young hairdresser and his hipsters positioned below rather than above his buttocks . I digress here . And reflect that I sound about seventy .
And I remember on the way home that during my recent ebay spurt , I ordered and paid for a dress ( for the summer ) . Neither arrived . I must get onto it .

Bathroom

The saga of the bathroom continues . I get excited when something which was supposed to happen , happens . Like the insurance assessor ringing me last night to inform me of his time of arrival today , at between ten and eleven am , as he had agreed he would . I find this hard to believe , accustomed as I am to the old days when people delivering things and assessing things would find it impossible to say even roughly what time they would arrive , so that even walking to the school and back at nine am would be fraught with fears that you would be in all day but for those ten minutes and yes you guessed , back home there 's a grumpy little note on your door, and its up to you to set the ball in motion again ( and book another day off work )

So now I have hope that maybe the bathroom saga will unfold at least to the next stage . I still have no evidence that Roofing Man returned as no quote has arrived . But if the assessor agrees the roof blew off in a storm rather than by some other means ( I stared at the roof myself one day trying to work out what else causes roofs ( rooves ? doesnt look right ? )to disintegrate , when they were only applied quite recently ), he may then recommend a building company other than Roofing Man . Who knows ? And then , when finally the water is not coming in the bathroom window , we can finish the decorating . I've almost chosen the colour . Watch this space .

I should add that Bathroom is already kind of transformed , with skirting boards smooth ( ish ) and dazzling white . Spidery corners and substances adhering to the pipes are a thing of the past . And most of the junk ( toiletries and assorted necessities )are sitting smugly in the new four drawer bamboo cabinet thingy . Why didn't I do all this five years ago ? I think its called Displacement Activity .

Wednesday, 25 July 2007

Priory


The Priory as the sun starts to go down , Wednesday eight pm .
Walking round the seafront a strong warm breeze reminiscent of hotter days . Summer ?

Longsands beach complete with kite and boats


Click to enlarge .
Wednesday evening eight pm

Evening view


Love this changing view from the window as summer progresses .
Click to enlarge

Piglets


Cant resist another picture of Hedgehog as she bustles up and down her domain . Her confidence increases on a daily basis such that when we come into the kitchen after she has settled for the night ( usually she lies down with her feet sticking out the side ) she occasionally eyes us up then decides to stay put . Initially on moving inside for the winter she would get to her feet if we disturbed her , as if ready for action . Now as I squat down by her door to hand her the final snack of the day ( she usually has four grapes last thing ) she stretches her neck towards me and checks the quality of the grapes before getting up to accept them .
Bliss , no more Day Job work this week . Catcalls and leisure pursuits to look forward to , and a visit from the insurance assessors tomorrow .
Phone call from my CatCall last night shortly after I visited little black kitten and we played in the yard for half an hour in the warmth and dust watering plants and chasing butterflies and cat toys . The family ringing to let me know they had returned early from camping so I didnt need to go back this morning . No matter , I will get to see little cat later in the month hopefully . ..

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

Blog Envy ?

... further to my earlier post ... Ive just looked again at Neil's post and found myself envious of the fact that he had a comment from "Dana", advising him to join a writers forum online , and wondering whether anyone will ever leave me a comment . Then I notice Tim has left me a comment after all .. Thanks Tim .....and of course D left me one about his legs and the GP s .

Migraine Days

Migraine Days

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

Flower and Bee on a Sunday

art on a sunday

art on a sunday