The Little Dog Laughed to See Such Fun

Catmint.

Elmo: Hide your face quick. I don't think she's noticed.

Maurice: I think She put it there because She knows how much we like it.

Elmo: Ppppprrrrrrrrrrrr. Ppppprrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Later the same morning:

Elmo: Don't you just love the way the morning light slants through dirty windows? Pixie, your my best pal.

One evening in Treleddyd Fawr: or the cushion cats

Outside rain drums on the roof. Patter patter pitter patter. Inside flames curl orange bright. We are cushion cats.

One long ginger cat

War of the dog bed escalates

Cat's in the dog bed
Where you going to go?
On to the sofa'
No, no, no.

Floss: Do you think She has noticed the mud bit?
Rosie: Shush. I think She's looking at us. Anyway, mud bit is from Her boots. Sand bit is from me.

Oh dear!

We all used to laugh at Kath's dog Puzzle. Her tongue was so long it would hang out the end or the side of her mouth. Puzzle is Rosie's aunty. Now we see that Rosie has Puzzletongue!

Meanwhile as the dogs run on the beach we dream of walking and wait for sunshine.

Magic trick

One sofa, one dog.

Now you see him......

Now you don't!

New sofa, orange cat

This is how we spend our days

In the light of an early morning, when night time was reluctant to allow the day to start, we walked up the hill, past Mr Griffith's house where a light shone out of the tiny window.

The wind was rising, and there were snipe and curlew and lapwing and bright pheasants like flames. Beneath the music of the wind we thought we could hear the wind cat calling, but maybe it was just the buzzard mewing.

In a field we found tiny ponies, hair all blown about, hooves so small, almost as small as a cats paw.

At home She stirred up the fire and took out the ashes and fed more fuel into it and the sleeping dragon there began to glow again and send out warmth. We rested by the fire while She went into Her studio to scribble and scrawl and colour things in and watch the bright birds dance outside Her window.

Rosie wanted to share Kiffer's chair.

Martha, being the oldest and wisest, took up residence above the fire.

Night games

Outside the night is dark. The sky has more stars that there are cats in the world. A river of stars sweeps across the darkness. The Dark Night Moon does not show her face yet.

Inside, warm. A green tree with lights scents the house and we play the game of 'how many gingers can you fit on the sofa'. Today, four, and one over the fire.

Various positions

Today I am making a study of the science of sleep.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell which end is which.

And Rosie has been taking some sleeping lessons, tired out from searching for some sunshine.

Exciting days

Maurice went hunting, caught a mouse, found a bluebell.

Meanwhile back at home after an exciting morning climbing on the roof of the house, posing by the honeysuckle, being chased by the jackdaws nesting in the chimney and falling off the roof into a potplant, Kiffer stretched out on the sofa, and decided that as it is only just big enough for her we should get another one.

I am almost....

...just about nearly beginning to feel that I could possibly begin to be getting comfortable in this new place.

Maybe we could squeeze another one in?

It is warm and quiet and comfortable here and there are trees outside and birdsong.

Sitting on a lap

Another girl came to live here and she has a warm lap to sit in and likes cats and is French. We keep muddling ourselves up and shuffling ourselves so that she doesn't know which one is which apart from Max, who delighted her with his dark beauty.

Resting in colour

For along time now we have been resting, saving our energy for a walk in the sunshine. The wind blew hard for a while and then it was still, but it had been hungry and first it ate the phone line and not satisfied with that it ate the electricity.

So we waited, curled in warm places that made us look beautiful as we like to be aesthetically pleasing when we are dreaming.

Elmo stretched on the beanbag with his toes curled and a hook in his tail. His whiskers twitched as he dreamed of trees.

Pixie curled on the red cushion that shows her fur at its finest. Later Her and Robin watched a film with singing and we hid behind him and played at being big ginger rabbit ears to make him look silly. I don't think he saw us.
We have a phone line again now so we can blog, and electricity, for now anyway.

Surviving the Storm

It came in on stealthy paws. First there was an unquiet stillness of the air. We could hear the murmur of the distant sea song rising. Then the wind began to blow. At first the wind was not too strong. We walked to the top of the hill, ears blown flat and fur ruffled. The horses were dancing in the fields with the wind in their tails. A wild excitement filled the air. At night it seemed that there was no storm as the wind blew from the south.
But on the third day the wind turned. It roared down the chimney and shook the windows. When we walked at night there were no stars and the rain cut at our faces like cold needles. It waited around corners, was cruel and harsh. So we curled in the warm of the house and waited too, for the calm to return.

And yesterday the dark heaviness lifted with a blue-sky and stormy day. The hawks all sat high on poles and trees, dazzled by hunger, watching and waiting. Buzzards flew like kites, tethered to rabbits confused by the storm. Small birds filled the hedgerows, all hunting, black rooks were thrown across the sky in ragged robber bands, but we still stayed curled in the warmth by the fire. It was a day of sharp contrast, of black and white shadow. At night the sky was blown clear of clouds and the small moon threw shadows again on the silver dappled ground.
Now the great dragon wind has moved on. There is almost a stillness outside. The trees still rattle with the odd memory of wind but the world is quiet and pearly gray and soft. The storm has passed while we have dreamed our cat dreams, curled happy together in the warm by the fire.

After a long walk in the early morning....

....what could be better than to relax with friends,

stretch out,

and just relax, while outside the weather builds and the rain falls. Inside is warm and cosy by the fire, and we wonder, should we have invited the ginger cow home?

When She came back

It was dark and the moonlight lit a path to the front door. We heard the car and we waited, all at the door with our tails held high. And we told Her how we had not been fed for a whole week and how glad we were to have Her back and could She light the fire NOW as we were a bit cold and some food would be good. All except Elmo, who had discovered that Mr Griffiths had a fire and was very welcoming.
And after She had fed us (again as the lady from next door had already given us supper), and Elmo had come home, we felt that we just had to turn our back on Her so that She would know that She should not go away and leave us. Because we miss Her.