Memories of a long ago cat.



Memories of a long ago cat

It has been a while since I posted anything up here or on my other blogs, mainly due to illness, but also due to an unhappy event in our family.  Just a couple of days before Christmas, the 21st, my husband's eldest daughter died, she was just 49 years old, we were notified on the 22nd by his youngest daughter.   A couple of weeks previous to that I had a bad angina attack that put me in hospital, since then I have been feeling really ill, due to the medication.  That has now been changed and I am beginning to feel like a human being again, and getting my energy and enthusiasm back.

Rappy, Jet and Calli have been a comfort to both of us, and kept our spirits up with their antics and affection.  After seeing someone else's cats Christmas tree, we went out and bought a small live tree for our cats, we really were not in the mood for dragging the huge artificial tree down from the attic and decorating it.  So I bought some bird decorations and small golden baubles for their little tree, they found it quite interesting, Rappy in particular was fascinated by the birds!    
 
Just this morning Jim and I were discussing the antics and personalities of our cats, prompted by a commercial on TV for a doormat that soaks up wet footprints, Jim said maybe we should buy one for our cats as they are always coming in with wet, muddy paws.  I said it probably wouldn't do any good as they would walk around it instead.  We've tried that before.   Anyway, it brought back a memory from my childhood, one of my grandmother's memories in fact.  She used to talk about a cat they had long before I was born, his name was Nicky, and he was a mischievous tabby.  One thing he loved to do was to go out in the garden and trog around in the mud, particularly on a day when my grandmother was scrubbing the kitchen and hall floors, then he would come running in leaving a trail of muddy pawmarks, not only on the floor, but also on the wall, he would kick up his paws against the wall every now and then.  He was such a lovable character though, she couldn't get mad at him.  He also used to wait at the garden gate for my mother and aunt coming home from school, and for my grandfather coming home from work, as soon as he saw grandpa, he would run into the house and halfway up the staircase, and as grandpa walked past, a paw would fly out from between the banister rails and take a swipe at grandpa's trilby hat, knocking it off.  They do love their little games!

We did manage to carry out our Santa and Holly duties, though I found the last couple of days a strain, we did our last day on the trains on Dec. 20th.  But as usual it was a lot of fun.



Santa and two of the many children who came to vist him on the Santa Special

Santa and Holly Claus with some of our many helpers.