Cats on Tuesday...

Well what a week we had with Posky!  He went for a blood test for his kidneys last Wednesday and the results were much worse than they had been, so on Thursday and Friday he had to go for fluid treatment (where they drip 150ml of fluid under the skin of his back).  The blood test they then did on Friday showed that his kidneys were even worse so he had to be admitted on Saturday morning and spend the weekend on an intravenous drip (although the vet was not optimistic this would help).  There was a moment of humour when I phoned on Saturday afternoon and asked how 'Posky Jackson' was - the new receptionist asked if he were a gerbil - Posky would not be pleased to be thought of as a rodent so I've kept quiet about it...

Anyway, I was allowed to bring him home first thing Monday morning, his blood test results had improved, although they still weren't 100%, and we have to be very strict diet wise with him.  He does look more comfortable than he did and was even out at the gate to meet me when I got home last night.

Here's a pic of him showing off the little dressing he had on his paw...

... and later having collapsed with exhaustion and relief on the back of the sofa.

Because of the Posky drama we haven't had much time or inclination to do anything in preparation for Halloween, the other three did however come up with these last minute accessories;

 Pepper - fetching in purple...

Mrs P - vibrant in orange...

... and Charlie.

Ever the individualist, 

Charlie chose to appear not only in black and white,

but also wearing an evil ruffle 

with something unpleasant hanging on it.

Visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday for more cat news - and have a happy and safe Halloween x

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

Machine...

Caroline looking glam,

with ye olde flying machine in background

looking not quite so glam.

Signs or Logos...

I hate it when firms use letters instead of words,

'Spud U Like' etc.  I'll forgive this one

as it involves pumpkins.

Pattern
Almost abstract pattern...

Rocks or Stones... 

Cotswold Stone Church in the mist.

Sparkle...

Sparkling sunlight on a 

misty River Avon at Stratford.

The conditions for photography were,

shall we say, 'challenging.

Black Cat Awareness Day...

Cats Protection now host Black Cat Awareness Day as an annual event to highlight the fact that these beautiful animals are often overlooked when people are looking for a kitty.

For more info visit the Cats Protection website.

I was only allowed to take this photo

on the provision that *** and *****

remained completely anonymous.

They obviously have something to hide...

Go on - give a black cat some love :O)

ABC Wednesday and Nurture Photography...

O is for...

Out and about in October with my camera. In the Arboretum.  Add atmospheric mist and sublime autumnal colours.  Nothing.  Better.

Also linking to...

Cats on Tuesday...

Another cat week gone by!  And another guest appearance (which just goes to show how kitties are queueing up to get their faces on the interwebz).  Those with long memories may remember Dora the pumpkin farm cat from a couple of years ago when she gracefully sat on a pumpkin.  The pumpkin farm has moved location but thankfully Dora went too, and on Saturday we became reacquainted.  This time she'd decided to go to sleep in the middle of the pumpkin shed floor so that people had to step around her.

We also heard about the sad death of Old Cat.  Old Cat was about twenty two and lived with the nice receptionist who works at the vets.  She was a little tortie who used to like to frighten people in the street, and who once made David drive our car up on the pavement to get around her as she refused to move from the road.

Dora amidst the pumpkins...

Charlie looking morose on the stairs,

tastefully lit by our Halloween fairy lights.

Meanwhile back at the Jackson residence... Charlie now has his own glucometer in a fetching shade of purple. Sunday was spent jabbing his paw every couple of hours, and he behaved very well in the morning.  By the afternoon he'd got fed up especially as his paw refused to give up any blood and had to be jabbed at repeatedly. We  He now has a reprieve for a couple of weeks until we repeat the afternoon tests, as his glucose was quite a bit higher because of the stress by this time (as were mine and David's) compared to the morning.

And finally... this Thursday sees the return of Black Cat Awareness Day.  Did you know that black cats are often overlooked in rescue centres and take longer to rehome than cats of other colours?  Cats Protection now have an annual event because of this, and you can join in by taking a photo of yourself (or your intended victim) transformed into black cats.  See their Facebook page for more info.

For more kitties of all colours, see Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

It was back to work this week - that's all I have to say before deep gloom descends...

Orange or Pink...

Or both :O)

Some tiny squash holding a gathering of some

sort on the garden bench.

I knitted the two with black eyes and

my clever sister in law Liz crocheted the 

other two and sent them through the

post to me as a surprise.

Orange...

Beautiful Batsford Arboretum yesterday.

Faceless Portrait...

Well not so much a faceless portrait, more

a pic of my feet in the leaves.  

View from the Top...

Alms left for the Buddha at Batsford.

Personally I think he'll get more

pleasure from the leaves than the 13p.

Cosy...

Me feeling cosy in 

mittens, scarf, 'I'm a nineteenth-century fop' velvet coat,

and woolly hat.

Cosy #2...

Dora the pumpkin farm cat,

snuggling down in the straw.

I last met her two years ago,

if she remembered me she wasn't letting on.

Cosy #3...

Excellent tea room in the Cotswolds,

(Tisanes of Broadway).

Stacked...

Oh my there's a word with a range of possibilities...

Anyway, here's some veg stacked up outside the deli :O)

Nurture Photography Autumn Photo Challenge - Orange/Warmth

I love the colour orange - there's something so warm and cheerful about it, plus there are so many variations of it that there's something for everyone. It ranges from the subtlest burnt orange to the most screaming-out-loud-running-from-the-room-with-your-eyes-bleeding-oh-my-god-I-shouldn't-have-worn-this-top-I-look-like-a-space-hopper pumpkin orange.  What's not to like?

Orange Squash...
I used the unedited version of this for a Scavenger Hunt
t'other week.  Here I've warmed it up and added some
contrast, plus a bit of judicious cropping.

Cobweb and berries...
This is from the Scavenger Hunt too...
taken on a misty morning in the cemetery.

Chinese lantern...
Note the difference direct sunlight can make to colours.
This was taken shooting into the sun to get that glow.

Street lamp...
A little rest for the eyes with
the welcoming glow of a sodium street lamp
on a misty autumn path...

Autumn glow...

And to finish - orange at full throttle :O)

Cats on Tuesday...

Another guest appearance to start off today's CoT.  We met this handsome and very friendly chap when we visited Broadway in the Cotswolds, so without further ado here is Broadway Pub Cat.

And on the home front... Mrs P graciously agreed to help me with a photo challenge for my group on Flickr.  The theme was Low Key or Low Light photography so with the aid of some small orange fairy lights we came up with these.  No use asking the others, they're either a) too flighty, or b) too unpredictable to be trusted with electricity, and anyway, Mrs P does dramatic like no other cat...

Today's photographic tip to make your kitty/dog/human/skink (or insert other appropriate species) look their best... always focus on the eyes, and make sure they're sharp.  If the subject is turned so that one eye is closer to the camera than the other, focus on the eye nearest to you.

For other photogenic kitties visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

Another Sunday, another Scavenger Hunt.  You'd have thought that as I've been on holiday from work for two weeks I'd have got my act together and not have to have scrabbled around at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning to put this post together. You would be wrong though... I can't believe it's all gone by so quickly and I'm back at work tomorrow morning, I've only just started to relax! (Cue fog of gloom descending on head).  In the past fortnight we've done two photo shoots, travelled all over the place, I've read a couple of books, yelled at cats for doing various bad things (and also David for same) and taken gazillions of photos.  Ah happy days... anyway I digress; here are this week's pics.

Water Droplets...

The Swan Fountain in Stratford upon Avon,

taken with a very fast shutter speed.

Faithfulness... 

I was a bit flummoxed by this one.
Anyway, here's Fiona from last weekend, 

(in All Saints Church, Leighton Buzzard, 

with prayer book - it was the
only thing I could think of!).

...apart from this that is;

here's a lovely, friendly and faithful dog

who came into the aircraft hangar

at Bruntingthorpe yesterday.

(We will assume that the cats will not agree with 

this description of a canine).
The dog's owner said that the dog
used to be a pilot.  I think he was telling fibs
but you never can tell...

Then and Now...

I make no apologies for a repeat

posting of one of my favourite shots

of the year.

These are the cemetery gates in 

February this year...

...and this was them last week in the fog.

I was in the same position for each shot but

you can see the difference that using my brilliant

wide-angle lens makes to the bottom one.

I love that lens.

Fingertips...

Fiona with fan.

An item from the Bucket List...

in this case a visit to a Fairground.

This is the Mop Fair which takes

over the streets of Stratford upon Avon

for two days every October.
It's very noisy, and generally irritates
the hell out of me but at least
there are some good photo ops.