March stuff

 Cool Labour Day weekend around here! Celebrated my friend Gudrun's 70th birthday on Friday. She even celebrated with two birthday cakes, lol!
Then my friend Kathryn visited, for some sewing, drawing, and cutting in the Owlery. I was inspired to draw Sir Basil, a cat about town. Very relaxing activity.
I cranked up the Accuquilt Go and cut out these tartan strips for my fox quilt. I wanted one more, a bright yellow tartan, and found one today at Millrose Cottage. And I must add my haul to the next post...
There was a nice sunset a couple of days ago, so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots. Not too bad, but I had major problems photographing that gorgeous big, red moon last night. Back to the drawing board!

Facebook magic

Some years ago, I noticed that people were posting their quilts on quilt group pages, complete with kitty! I thought that was a neat idea, and thought other might also like to look at quilts and kittehs. And so, "Quilting Cats" was founded. I thought we'd maybe have a couple of dozen members at most, but the page took off and yesterday we hit the 500 members mark! Not only have we gained so many new, interesting cat lovers and quilt addicts, but most of them have actually stayed with us over the years! As these things do, interest has waxed and waned, but currently the group is really going strong and bringing lots of people lots of fun.We've seen fantastic quilts, met interesting people, magnificent cats (and the occasional d-o-g), laughed out loud at some of these felines' antics, and cried when they went over the Rainbow Bridge. The group is always the first thing I look at every morning, to see if anybody has posted anything. I love looking at all the photos on Sunday mornings and choosing the banner kitteh of the week. We keep the group closed, friendly, safe (we have young members), and free of advertising (although the posting of gorgeous cat fabrics is ok). I often curse Facebook for one thing or another, but I wouldn't want to lose this group, it's brought me so much joy and contact with nice people. We make everybody welcome, if you have an interest in kittehs and quilts and are happy to share stories and photos. Now looking forward to 1000 members - as one member said "Think big!". Indeed!

Friends, cats and disasters

Everything always comes at once - great happiness and sadness, minor and major disasters, bills, and blessings true and mixed. This was one of those weeks! Right on top of the floods, Queensland is again hammered, this time by cyclone "Yasi". Followed by more floods, this time in Victoria, and fires, over in Western Australia. And not to forget the snowstorm wreaking havoc in the USA. Extreme can be fun, but extreme weather isn't, especially if it doesn't stop sometime!
This week, a friend had to evacuate after the unrelenting rain dumped nearly 200mm of rain in 2 days. It had invaded her house, and neither sandbagging nor pumping was able to stop the encroaching waters. Taking dog, cats, birds, and husband, she moved in with family, to wait until the water had receded. Now for the cleanup! I wish I lived closer, so that I could help her in this crazy time. My thoughts and love are with you, Chris!
While families are surveying what remains of their once beautiful homes, all over the country, some silly and naive souls are finding pleasure in the wet surroundings, digging out surfboards and blow-up lilos to play in the churning waters. Even though it's a pretty stupid thing to do, especially when rescue services are stretched to the max already, another part of me understands that impulse. Who can say they've surfed down the main street of XXX, when XXX is 400km away from the nearest surf beach?! However, some of them must be candidates for the Darwin Award, like the idiots riding jet skis all the way into the back of other cars....enough said!
Amidst all the mayhem, a cat found its way into our lives - seconds from being roadkill, her curiosity about a stranger (me) meant she was whisked into my car and to safety. Not that she appreciated it, in fact, she protested loudly! And has continued to do so. Now, this is not your average moggy, this is a pedigree chocolate-point Birman. At $750 a pop, these cats are not designed to be outdoors, on the loose. At the very least, one would expect her to have a micro-chip for identification. But no, whoever her owners were, they didn't bother to chip their pet. So, if nobody claims her within 8 days, she's ours. I'm afraid we're hers already. After another friends suggestion, we'll probably name her Yasi, after the cyclone. She blew in and wreaked havoc....

Pets (3)

So, to continue with the stories of the pets in my life....
I left Germany in October 1980 and headed for Melbourne, Australia. Luckily, I had found a partner who loved animals almost as much as I do, and soon enough, a little tabby kitten adopted us! Fritz came from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital in De Villiers Street, so he got a fancy name - "Fritz De Villiers". Fritz was a cute tabby, with a white tummy and four white paws. He grew into a magnificent cat, with a big tabby purrsonality! Fritz was up for anything - I could wrap him around my neck, carry him, he'd sit on my lap quite happily, I danced with him, and took silly photos of him. He wasn't a very domineering cat, welcoming new arrivals without much fuss. My mum loved him when they came to visit, and called him "Fritzl Schnitzel". We moved into a bigger flat with a balcony, and he enjoyed sleeping on an old chair in the sun. By that time he had been joined by Muesli, a dainty little black cat lady from the Cat Protection Society. Her fancy name was "Muesli of Greensborough". She and Fritz got on quite well, they were both kittens together. Muesli was very affectionate, and loved hiding under a blanket. All one saw was a small lump in the bed! Incidentally, there's a hill near Euroa which we refer to as Mount Muesli, because it looks like Muesli under a blanket! We eventually moved to Sunbury, into our first house, and were joined by a little ginger tom, Morris (of Kingston). Morris spent most of his kittenhood draped around my neck! Fritz and Muesli were quite accepting of the newcomer, and it was fun to see the three cats lines up in front of their respective food bowls. Morris disappeared when we first moved into the house, for about 3 days. We thought he had gotten lost and were very happy when he did turn up, meowing loudly and VERY hungry NOW! The three cats lived happily together for a while, and then one morning I found poor Fritz, run over in the street. I took him home, and we buried him in the garden. Morris was with us for about 10 years, then he became sick with kidney disease. Muesli was with us for 17 years. She was later joined by Silvester (The Brook Street Cat - more about him later). Another cat we adopted was (Sunshine) Gomez. Gomez (aka Smokey) lived at Sunshine Hospital while I worked there in the late 90s. He lived in the hospital gardens, and people fed him, with the catering staff looking after him quite well! He was a very friendly cat, looked like a Russion Blue, with dense blue-grey fur, fat chipmunk cheeks, and startling green eyes. Eventually, the hospital was renovated and Gomez lost his habitat. I offered to give him a home and he came with us to Gisborne, keeping Silvester company. The thing about Gomez was - he was a full tom, and the first trip he made with me was to the vet, for a little 'snip'! Well, almost overnight, his personality changed! Gone was the laid-back, relaxed, friendly cat, and here was a pouncing, playful, cat monster that swiped at you when you walked past and loved nothing more than rough play! We recognised his 'moods' eventually and stayed out of his way when he had that telltale gleam in his eye! Poor old Silvester would have rolled his eyes if he could! We don't know how old Gomez was when we adopted him, but he lived a good many years, outlasting Silvester. Now Muesli, Silvester, and Gomez are all buried in the left back paddock - and do you think the birds feed in that paddock? Nope! Not a one. I sometimes like to imagine the three cat ghosts making mischief together.
And now we just have the one cat, Mitzi (of Burwood), a black and white long haired domestic cat. She came to us from the RSPCA, and looked very much like Silvester, which is probably why Wayne picked her. Her personality was VERY different from Silvester's, however! She is a bit of a grumpy cat when not getting her way! She doesn't like being picked up, and never sat on my lap until just recently, when she started to realise it's not all that bad. It's only taken her 6 or 7 years to figure that out. She likes a pat though, and has a lovely purr. Mitzi always sits behind me on the chair, sticking her foot into my ear or cleaning my hair along with her fur! She's very sedentary and sleeps a lot; I guess she's getting quite old now. Wayne sometimes takes her out and sets her down in the paddock. And she sits, and sits....the cat that sat!
So, that's the story of our Aussie cats. Next time, Silvester's story.

Pets (2)

To continue my story about the pets that have shared my life....
In Frankfurt, I lived on the 11th floor of a high-rise, in a village called Schwanheim. This was very close to the airport, where I worked. The high-rise ("Hochhaus") consisted of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments, and had an interesting mix of inhabitants - the first 7 floors were occupied by elderly folk, who were quite independent. The upper floors were rented out to single women, most of them airline staff. Many flight crew shared rooms there, and ground staff as well. I first shared a two-room apartment with a flight attendant from Cologne, then moved into my own 1-room bedsit. It was quite cosy, with an alcove for the bed,  a large-ish living area, separate kitchen and bathroom and a balcony overlooking the Main river. More about that another time.
After living there for a while, I thought the company of a kitten might be nice. I can't quite remember now where I got him from, but soon a little tabby tom joined me. He was very cute, with a white tummy and socks, and I called him "Julius". He provided endless hours of fun, loved to curl up on the window sill and watch birds flying past. I couldn't let him out on the balcony, for fear of him falling from such a height. Instead, I got a lead and we went for walks. Well, he went for walks, and I followed! He grew into a magnificent cat, and I couldn't get home from work too soon to play with him! At night, Julchen slept in my bed. When I went to sleep, the pillow was mine - by the time I woke up, it was his!
By the time Julchen was a year old, I had met DH and knew I was going to live in Australia. It would have been enormously expensive to take Julchen along, and the idea of leaving him in quarantine for months on end did not appeal to me either. So, sadly, a new home had to be found for my kitty! Luckily, a lady at the cattery saw him and wanted to adopt him immediately! It turned out to be the best thing all round - Julchen lived a long, happy cat life being pampered by his new owner (she wrote to me for many years telling me about his exploits), and spending his days in cosy comfort, with a garden to play and chase things in. He had indeed fallen on his furry paws!
Once in Australia, one of my priorities was finding a new kitty. I was lucky to have found a partner who also liked animals, so we ended up with the three mouseketeers.....more next time!