Sometimes...

Sometimes I just want to be by myself with my camera so I get in the car and see where the road takes me.  Yesterday it took me to Calke Abbey in Derbyshire - I love that place. If I had acres of garden I would want it to be like Calke's; a tended wilderness with unexpected paths and overgrown meadows full of wild flowers. I don't like gardens that look regimented, I like them to look as if they had been designed by nature and could revert to a wild state at any moment.  I'd also want a kitchen garden like theirs with beds of pumpkins and cabbage, fruit trees full of buzzing bees, and a well-dressed scarecrow overseeing it all.  I can but dream...

Wordless Wednesday...

Cats on Tuesday...

A week when Pepper had her annual boosters and was pronounced flighty but fine, and with very nice teeth. Also a week when Charlie tried to attack the vet when he went for his check-up and was put back in his travel cage in disgrace.  A week when Ralph tried to move in but was sent home, and a week when I did a photo shoot with two very nice cats and their Mum.

Pepper...

Good cat.

Charlie...

Bad cat.

Ralph...

'Doesn't live here despite what he thinks' cat.

Suzy...

Model behaviour cat.

You can see another pic of Suzy with her Mum Debbie

on my last post for Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

Dylan...

Suzy's brother, an

'eat everything if it's not nailed down' cat.

For more kitty news visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday...

It's Sunday, I'm up very early, I've fed our three cats (and Ralph who popped by for some breakfast prior to going to his own home and presumably eating some more there), so I thought I may as well trawl through this week's shots to see if I can come up with any to fit in with the scavenger hunt.  Probably not the best way to do it, but hey, what the hell!

Summer...

Summer means flowers.
(And talking of summer, how can it be midsummer's day
next week and also the official start of summer?
That has never made any sense to me!).

Dance...

Yesterday the local riding stables kindly

let me go and take some pics of their dressage class.

It's the nearest I've come to seeing a horse dance.

Laughter...

Trying to get a cat and a human

to pose nicely at the same time.

Much laughter - and gnashing of teeth...

Helper...

Bees help us so much.

If you've never realised how their decline

could affect us all, and why we should

be doing our best to help them, then

take a look at the next image...

 (courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/GrowingOrganicEatingOrganic)

and finally...

 Water...
Taken yesterday at Thornton Reservoir,
which we're lucky to live only about a fifteen
minute drive from.

Cats on Tuesday...

This week in the world of cat:  Mrs P has been doing some sterling modelling work for the camera despite yet another ear infection which saw her back at the vets last Friday.  Charlie has been carrying on his war of loathing against Ralph (who is now an almost daily visitor to the garden), and Pepper has been sticking close to home after her misadventure.  She has however, along with Mrs P and Charlie, been enjoying relaxing in the garden this week when I've been pottering about (supposedly 'weeding', but more often 'messing around with camera' instead).

For more kitties visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Cats on Tuesday - Pepper's Big Adventure...

We had a bit of a drama with Pepper last week - she disappeared for twenty four hours.

In the morning she was upstairs with Charlie and myself.

Then she vanished.

What we think happened was that she was either chased or attacked by another cat in the garden (possibly Ralph!), and jumped over the fence to escape - then discovered she couldn't get back.  We had an absolute downpour on Tuesday that lasted all night and we were out of our minds worrying about her.  We called her, we walked around the local streets searching, we asked people to look out for her, but nothing.  It was a long sleepless night (well unless you were Charlie who took complete advantage of the situation by stealing Pepper's spot on the bed).

By Wednesday morning I'd informed Pet-Log (she is identi-chipped) that she was missing, I'd put an alert on Facebook, and a local radio station asked people to search their gardens/sheds etc for her.  I decided to try calling to her one more time from our garden, so out in the rain I went with umbrella and Charlie (who always likes to know what's going on). Amazingly, after calling her name (without much hope it has to be said), I heard a plaintive miaow coming from the gardens behind ours.  Standing on some bricks to look over the fence I was able to see Pepper running frantically backwards and forwards, crying pitifully but unable to get to me as the gardens there are at a much lower level than ours.  I tried encouraging her to jump up and climb the fence but she couldn't, and so I tested each fence panel to see if there was one I could life up or remove, finally finding a narrow one right in the corner that I was able to pull off.  Then suddenly there she was jumping into the garden, very wet, cold and muddy, but with no injuries apart from a couple of scratches.

We were so glad to have her back safe and sound .  She seemed rather subdued, stiff and uncomfortable for a day or so, but after a few good naps and meals seemed back to her old self.  Thank you so much to all those who helped and who spread the word about her, and especially to Corrie the nurse at the vets who got in touch with the radio station.  

Getting dried off in her towel...

Fur a bit spikey from all the rain and mud...

Glad to be home...

And finally... I'd just like to let everyone know that I now have a website for my pet photography! It's a work in progress at the moment but I'm pretty pleased with it.  So if you're in the UK and want some beautiful pics of your pets please get in touch.  It's at www.focusonpetsphotography.co.uk

For more kitty news visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Cats on Tuesday...

A week in which we had a visit from Ralph! You may remember Ralph from the tense finals of the Kitty Olympics last year (click here).  We haven't seen him in the garden all winter but it seems he's decided to start partaking of the odd snack here again - yesterday he had the temerity to come into the kitchen where David and I were lurking, and snaffle five dishes of cat food!

'Please sir can I have some more?'

Ralph does his Oliver Twist impersonation.

The resident cats' reactions to the interloper were mixed.  

Mrs P briefly look up,

then decided it wasn't worth the

effort of moving from her spot

in the sun - and promptly

went back to sleep.

Charlie decided to hide

behind some flowers

in the garden.

...and Pepper just rolled about like this,

and begged us to make him go away!

Which all means that he'll probably be back today...

For more kitty news visit Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.