Ms Catminder gets a strange Call

Back from CatMinding ... two old friends in the fairytale garden and two other old friends where the trick is to try to time visits when the DogWalker is out with the dogs otherwise we are battling against the odds with two huge dogs looking for attention and pushing and shoving as I try to go about my business. These two are gorgeous but strong enough to knock me flying .. they havent .. yet .. but mainly because I'm good at hanging onto things when the onslaught begins . ( I do love them really) . The male cat at this house climbs up alongside me on the bench and nips my elbow companionably .
At the first house one of the elderly cats is missing in action but soon emerges gingerly from the bushes when I call ...picks her way across the damp lawn and follows me into the house. Her family think she may be losing her sight and I'm inclined to agree but she is doing very well . After breakfast she returns to the sun and allows me to pet her for a while before settling herself on a bench .

Anyway back from CatMinding and a teentrip to the dentist to pick up mouthguard and get a filling . New dentist - who is a delight after the last one - thought she had done the filling at the check up appointment so did the scale and polish and handed over the mouthguard then waved us off. N was giving me frantic signals about the filling . I mentioned it and ... action stations ... it had been marked on the computer as done ! Poor N had to jump back in the chair , tip back , bib on , glasses back on and injection and filllin done in a couple of minutes . Phew! Glad we didnt just slope out as that tooth would have started playing up inn a few weeks and we would have wished we hadnt . Tempting though it was .

So , back from all that . Phone rings .
Young woman on phone who must have mistaken me for some kind of super-duper cat person who knows everything there is to know about cats .
She tells me she has an eight week old kitten and it has got into the wall cavity behind her washing machine and has been trapped there for twenty four hours . I tell her I am a cat minding service but ask what she has done to try to coax it out . She has called the RSPCA and they have suggested she warms up some tuna and wafts it about . She has tried this but the kitten is too scared to come out . "Its a very nervous kitten" . She has somehow set a camera up and can see its still moving just beyond the reach of her arm .
I suggest the fire brigade may help and offer to get a number for her from my neighbour who works for the Fire Service . I take her number and go along to find my neighbour who has taken another neighbour's dog out  , as she has hurt her ankle . A third neighbour B is in the gardens and says she will send S along on her return .
Soon S arrives and rings the local service to the address given by the caller . She manages to arrange for a fire engine to call out .
We are still waiting to hear the results .
Fingers crossed  that the Kitten was saved in time .

Visit to Cragside Rothbury

After a wonderful day in Ambleside on Monday ( still on holiday) I took off to Cragside near Rothbury on Tuesday and to make up for the lack of lakes photos took hundreds of the bathrooms inside Cragside . Its forbidden to use flash and I think I may have broken the rules as though I thought I had turned the flash off but apparently not .
Hope you enjoy the pictures .

Abbi is leaving :-(

Nat met her childhood friend Abbi at nursery , I assume on their first day there though I can't remember that far back and it seems a lifetime away to me . Probably does to them too .

A year at nursery and we still have the teatowel with their little drawings on depicting their childhood selves, Abbi and Nathalia aged three.

Then on to primary school and many an after school outing and party . Abbi lived in the next street and like Nat loved animals . When Nat got her first hamster it was Abbi who helped us get Daisy out of the cage and scooped her up off the floor when she shot off and escaped ; we were a bit nervous at first but Abbi was fearless having had two of her own for ages and knowing just  how to handle them . She loved our cats and especially when our Pearl had her kittens Abbi would be along early before school to play with them and try to decide which one she liked best .

Later , just before the move to Senior School when complications came on the scene Abbi and her family where there for Nat and Nat was never to forget Abbi's support at that time .

Which  is what has made it so tough, this news of Abbi's departure for Scotland now that she is sixteen and heading for college and a new life with her family.  

A really tough few weeks anticipating the move , saying Goodbyes and finally today sending Abbi off with a box of our signature Brownies and wishing her well and knowing that she will be back in a couple of weeks to see her dad and keep in touch with her friends back her .

Abbi , we will miss you .

We won't forget you .

Enjoy the brownies on your journey north won't you

Have a great time at college !

And don't forget us .