Orlando Finds A Lemon Pip

Posted on June 3, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

The other day as I have already told you in the last post, I was making hummus; and as he had finished posing for his little friend through the window, Orlando now sat at my feet, waiting for any dropped goody to play with……

This can be another of those fraught times – he has inadvertently tasted several black peppercorns, and being a bit like Winnie-the-Pooh, who is as we all know, a bear of very little brains, has not learnt from these nasty experiences and still enthusiastically chases anything that falls from my mixing, blending, chopping and stirring.

Another part of this game is that when the chased object – and it must be said, the smaller the better – disappears under the fridge, the stove, or even the floor mat, my expected position is that of retriever.

This too can be fraught as I am not always willing to stop what I am doing immediately to retrieve the lost object.

Orlando signals he is waiting by constantly peering intently into the gap and purring encouragingly at me. Should I show no signs of retrieving the object of his desire there is usually a sad little whiffle of disappointment before he goes off and finds his baggie of nepeta and beats that up.

This day was different however. I had the camera at the ready, having got it out in the hopes of getting one of him greeting his little friend through the window – but as I was too late and the moment had passed it now sat ready to go on the kitchen counter and I sprang into action….

Yep, that’s a lemon pip alright ….

Just a wee tap …

Now, where’s it hiding?

Mmmmmm – nepeta!

I see it – hiding under my baggie

Oh oh ….

About this time, remembering I wanted to teach myself how to upload to You Tube, I had flipped the camera to record mode – and I caught the last part of the game – the bit where the lemon pip has been scooted under the cooker. Though the quality is very poor, [I’m sorry, apparently my camera is inferior!] if you listen carefully you can hear him purring away encouragingly beneath the whirring of the device …. But as I was holding the camera I couldn’t play my expected role of retriever, so despite my words of commiseration, the sad little whiffle of disappointment may be just heard at the end …..

Thanks for dropping by today – I hope you enjoyed seeing Orlando at play.

A Story For Cat Lovers …..

Posted on June 1, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

One morning last summer, quite early in the day, when Orlando was sitting in his accustomed place keeping an eye on the neighbourhood, a small child’s voice floated through the open window “Mummy, mummy look at the pretty kitty…” I heard mummy’s voice agreeing and urging the child to keep going while Orlando sat calmly watching it all.

Obviously this became a bit of a routine which I was not aware of as, some weeks later, I just happened into the room and heard through the same open window the little boy’s lamenting cry to his mother “Mummy, mummy, where’s the kitty gone, mummy?”

Mummy had no idea, but even as she spoke said kitty appeared from nowhere and springing across furniture, bench tops and stove, raced to reach his waiting admirer.

I heard an excited squeal, “There he is mummy!” exclaimed the child “Look mummy, there he is!”

Mummy’s murmured reply was incomprehensible – but watching my ‘kitty’ sit up very tall and straight and puff out his handsome chest while gazing softly into the far distance sent me off into a fit of giggles and I had to leave the room – who was it that said animals have no concept of social interactions?

This morning I was busy in the kitchen multi-tasking away quite happily – cooking a new batch of cheese and oat cakes and making hummus for my daughter when Orlando suddenly and with no warning sprang across furniture, bench tops and stove to the window.

Even as I squeaked my concern and disapproval I realised by the way he positioned himself who was there – and sure enough a happy voice announced to the whole world “There’s the kitty mummy. Hello kitty!”

Kitty sat up tall and proud, puffed out his chest and gazed into the far distance with a long, slow blink.

I’m so proud!

Have a great day and thank you for stopping in!

Link

I like to take notice of how I am feeling when I wake up in the morning.

One of the things that living has taught me is that if I pay attention to that primary waking feeling then I can manage the endless crap that tries to take over and fill up my head and turn my day to mush.

Today I wake feeling a familiar feeling, but one that I have difficulty naming accurately. I

tend to call it ‘hopeful’, though I’m not sure that is altogether the right noun – there is a vague feeling of excitement that generates from somewhere in my solar plexus and skitters up to my heart and makes it sing. A small upturn at the corners of my mouth is willing me to smile and my body wants to dance. I feel alive and expectant of good things. I feel happy!

I have no idea of why I feel this way – nothing untoward, exciting or inspiring is planned for this day. I hope to eventually escape the blogosphere and make it to my play room and start work on turning a box into a book, and there is more daunt than hope around that intention!

But nonetheless, this is the feeling that I wake with.

I rise at 6 am, it is just dawn, the grey sky lightens while I fetch and carry for Orlando who warbles and purrs his approval and rubs his head against any available part of me – leg, arm, hand – and I know this is why I woke feeling this feeling. My little fella makes me happy!

I make my morning coffee, turn on the laptop and settle down to read my emails. Good news lurks there, I’ve won not one but two bonus tickets on the lottery drawn last night, another try tonight then! This makes me happy and I smile with anticipation!

While involved in catching up on news and Facebook and daily bargains the day emerges and my wee house is suddenly flooded with sunlight and warmth. This makes me happy!

Saving the best to last I eventually arrive in blog heaven. At first I don’t understand what is happening on Char’s blog – I wonder if WordPress has made a mistake and put my blog title on her blog – I follow it into the sphere and read the latest post from Lesie’s World and see that, bless her cotton socks, the girl has mentioned my post in her post and ‘pinged’ me. I didn’t even know you could do that!

This makes me really happy! What a great compliment, what a great way to start the day!

I spend an hour or so, wondering around blogs, I have found another like soul in Patricia Awapara and enjoy time admiring her stunning paintings and reading her book excerpt. I visit new people and stay awhile with some and move on more quickly from others. I discover another writer worth following. Ah, such happiness!

My cat curls up beside me and warbles himself into sleep. And, of course, this makes me very happy!

And now if you’ll excuse me, I must get on with my day. I wonder what will come next?

Thanks for visiting, I hope you are having a great day!

Orlando the Marmalade Cat Has An Addiction…….

Posted on March 4, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

He loves his catmint [nepeta officianalis] and I try to keep at least one healthy plant available to him while the others recover or are used to provide stems for drying.

He has a small baggie of dried nepeta that he enjoys droolings over or playing cat football with – but best of all is fresh – I have no idea why, but a new plant freshly purchased sends him into ecstasy!

Recently however all the plants have died off, and Orlando has been without his fresh drugs for some weeks. Out shopping I happened upon a nice, well grown plant and decided to give him a treat

The following photos document the outcome – it was all over in about 15 minutes and he slept it off in his bed for the next few hours!
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