Settling in.

Even tough She keeps saying things like, "When I was in Italy...."we think that She is glad to be home.
Debs missed us so much she came back for a walk this evening and Ffion came too, wearing lots of orange things out of respect for our fine Gingerness. She is quite nice, and even her black dog is ok, though it has quite a small head. We miss Billy. Haven't seen him for a long time.

Something darker....

Before She went away we were worried because She was looking at blogs of strange cats who were dressed up and wearing clothes. Very disturbing. Now She comes back from Italy with a picture of a huge dressed up cat. Also in Her notebook there are things about an island in Venice, The Island of the Lost Cats. Somewhere here is the germ of a very dark tale.

Postcards from Venice.

While She was away we had a lovely time. Debs, with curling hair looked after us and we were cute and wound her round our paws with our charm. We took her for walks with the dogs, so she would not get lost. We let her fill our bowls, and were glad that she did not want to share our food, but seemed to bring her own, and we brought her mice and other splendid things.



Meanwhile She was delighted by our ginger cousin who lived at the hotel in Venice. We had been in touch so that when She arrived there were three cats curled together in the hotel garden, Topina, Thomas the Tabby and Melinda. But the best we saved until the next morning, so she woke up in Venice and walked out into the garden to see Rosso, the handsome, fine and Ginger.




And Venice was full of cats, running in the alleys, cat puppets and masks and other cats, behind windows, on rooftops and round corners. Statues of cats, pictures of cats, sealing wax stamps with cats on, cats of all colours and sizes, and courting cats singing songs to the moon, of love.







And there were markets that sold the most wonderful catfood.
We did not miss Her, but we are glad that she did not fall too much in love with the red cat Rosso and the land of narrow streets and water, for there we would not be able to walk the hills, would only see the sky reflected in the canals, but we would be able to chase huge dragonflies and crickets and watch canaries in cages, to lounge on long black boats in the hot sunshine and sleep all afternoon.

She did not come home last night.

She packed a big bag and drove off in the noisy car. The man came back and we were worried that he was going to eat all of our food. But he didn't. He fed us and walked the dogs. But he does not let us sleep on the bed with him. Maybe if we catch him a big juicy rat he will let us curl on the soft bed. He is funny and smaells a bit of compost.

Something is happening......

......and we are getting worried. A man came round this evening and she showed him where our food is. She has a big bag, good for sitting in, and She is putting clothes into it and muttering things about having nothing to wear and italy. She should grow ginger fur. Then She would not have to worry about clothes. We hope the man does not eat all of our food.

Studio cats.

Well, it seems that we were mistaken and that Brody is not a studio cat. It is Ellie May who lives in a studio and sits upon her person's lap while She paints. Ellie May was shocked when she saw that Brody who lives in the house was claiming to be the painter of the family.
Ellie May used to run a gallery. Now she sits and thinks and paints and watches chipmunks. They are a bit like mice but with fluffy tails.

Introducing the dogs

Two dogs we live with. The first is Floss. Her favorite place is by a pond. She cannot count. She thinks there is one of us, and that we move really quickly and can be in more than one place at a time. She speaks in words of one syllable. When Floss came to live with us she chased cats. Now she stares rudely at Martha, and sometimes smiles at us, but we have taught her manners.



The second is Bella, who is kind and who Pixie loves. She likes to make sure that Pixie is clean and when we were little she let us use her as a cushion.

Violets

The wall by the path that leads to the top of the hill has violets on the side where the sun shines. From the top of the hill you can see the big blue sea whichever way you look.
In the evening the sun makes the shadow-cats long.

Far away across the sea

across the water, Brody the cat, who lives in a studio, has been reading about us. Ginger and white, with long long whiskers, Brody helps to paint in the studio, and he wants to come walking with us and we want to know how he got in to the studio because She will not let us in and let us help. We cats like Mac's.
It is cold and raining where Brody is, but here the sun shines and today Elmo met a slow worm.

Camping it up.

Some cats were born to make mischief.

Tuesday

Finally She put down the book and went to the room where She will not let us go. After a while of sleeping in sunshine and finding warm places and watching birds fly we walked over the hill. The wind sang in the bushes but today it did not push our ears flat so we could hear its song.
In the newspaper we sat on it said that we live on a deserted hilltop. We think they mean here. Once people did live here. Now it is the realm of the twilight ghost cat.

In the evening, with a polar bear.

It is dark outside. Soon She will walk the dogs and we will walk too. Every night now we hear the badgers laughing in the fields and foxes scream. But now we wait again. Last night we left Hannah some bits of mice in the bed, for her night-time snack. She did not seem to be impressed and says we cannot sleep in Her bed again. It is not Her bed, it is our bed. Maybe we will not let her sleep in it!

While Maurice was levitating.

Pixie was gardening, soaking up sunshine and watching Her read and read and read.

Walking with the black dog.

Today we walked with Ffion and her black dog who was scared and would not walk past us. Ffion is very small and drives a boat, and she takes bats for walks. Pixie slept in her jumper when she was a kitten. The black dog likes to carry sticks. It was cold on top of the hill and the wind blew our ears flat to our heads.
Yesterday we saw some cats on a website. They live inside and don't go out and were all dressed up. We hope She does not get any ideas. To cover up our ginger glory with clothes would be wrong. We need to shine in the sun. The cats in clothes had big ears that would blow very flat in the wind if they could walk with us, except they would probably wear hats.

What I have been doing today, by Maurice.

Today I have mostly been learning to levitate.

We are waiting.....

Late in the evening and we are waiting to go walking. She has done nothing but read all day.

More resting

Maurice is not the most comfortable cushion to sit on.

The bus cat.

Too hot to walk in the mid day, so we let Her walk alone to the top of the hill and hope that She does not get lost.
We like the clever cat that rides on buses, with his mismatched eyes so bright.

Resting.

In the newspaper, on the radio. Media stardom is exhausting. So, Maurice hid in a box while Elmo rested, holding paws with Max, long time star of illustrated books.



Later in the cool of evening we walked while the sky turned purple.

Fame

Too hot to walk today, but we are basking in publicity. Today we are in the newspapers, The Sun and here, online in the Daily Mail. And as every good cat knows, newspapers are good for one thing. Sitting on!