The Winter Solstice is here in the Southern Hemisphere and it is a cold dreary day. The tuis are still filling my garden with their song. I love having this pair residing in my trees.
Someone however, does NOT think it is a good idea to get out of bed…can you guess who ???
Yesterday when we went for a walk it was chilly enough that we decided to both wear our winter woolies. Chevvy loves her new coat. So much that I get THE LOOK when I dare take it off. THE LOOK says quite plainly…and all in capitals…GIVE THAT BACK, IT’S MINE !!!
On our walk we did enjoy seeing some ducks having fun in the stream.The pukekos had raided someone’s vege garden and were enjoying their ill-gotten gains.And though they were far away, the kingfishers were out and a delight to watch zooming over the mudflats looking for dinner.This year I am proud to announce I have planted garlic for the first time. Yippee…now I just have to wait for the Summer Solstice to enjoy my favourite spice in the world. Though technically it is not a spice but a vegetable. As however my favourite vegetable in the winter is the trusty, tasty brussels sprout I am going to call garlic a spice and be done with it.
And to cheer up my dreary day I am going to share this kitty with you. I love the look on its face when it realises it has been caught.
What object do you always have with you when traveling and why?
Why…because it has become another limb.
What subject would you like to study in depth, if given the time to do so?
Mythology. So I can invent my own a little better.
Which would you prefer: a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure–intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks; or a contented bordering on happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by friends and family without such wide swings of fortune and mood?
Okay…so do I look or sound like a person who wants a contented bordering on happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by friends and family ??? Do I ??? There are moments it would be nice…but it has never been MY LIFE. The one I have got will do just fine – a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure–intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks.
You do remember this I hope…
Jo is a WILD THING
What are your favorite spices?
Most of these are in my garden. Except for the garlic, ginger and the bottled ones of course. Sadly coriander season has finished here but as it is one of my favourite herbs I keep a bottle handy.
thyme
rosemary
garlic…can’t get enough garlic
ginger
chillies
these are always on hand…sadly the coriander in my garden is over for this season
fennel…one of my new favourites
chives and garlic chives
sage
marjoram
lemongrass
oregano
parsley
basil
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week I was grateful for all the love and support that came my way, from friends, from bloggers, from family in dealing with of the loss of Crash and what it meant to me. I was also grateful to my wonderful vet and her staff who cared for Crash and then took the time to care for me.
As for what I look forward to this coming week…spending time with these guys.
Running Free with Chevvy
Cuddling with Charlie
Don’t even think of trying to take this away !!!!
Taking walks around Katikati.
End of Park Road, Katikati
And whatever else comes my way.
Thanks Cee…for the chance to share a bit of my world. Oh and…just for the heck of it and because it is sooooo cute. A video of goats riding horses.
First I want to say thank you to all of you have expressed your sorrow and sent your hugs in the last couple of days. It has meant more to me than I can ever express. Chevvy, Charlie and Jackie are all taking very great care of me.
On Tuesday I buried Crash close to the house so that he will never feel alone.
A friend was kind enough to drive me to our vet in Tauranga to pick him up and bring him home. They had wrapped him in a lovely patterned towel and placed a blue flower in with him. Celia took me for some food on the way home. And we both raised a glass of wine to toast my sweet boy. She was kind enough to ask if I wanted her to stay and help with burying Crash, but I said no…this was really something I wanted to do alone.
After finding a box suitable I added some toweling and went and picked a bunch of lavender sage leaves from a plant Marianne gave me when she visited last year.
Their smell is beautiful and soft so I lined the box with them and laid Crash on top.
I replaced the blue flower [which is now by his photo] with a bunch of the lavender sage flowers
and some brilliant red hibiscus flowers from the garden to make a blanket for him.
I knew the spot I wanted to lay him to rest. Not only is it close to the house, but it has a very serene feel to it.
Crash rests under these palms next to the small bush.
I talked to him a lot during this whole process. Told him I loved him, I missed him. Laughed about his silly antics, and how much I missed the sound of him throughout the house. I cried…a lot. As I filled in his resting place I said goodbye to Crash with this poem.
Invocation ~ by Rod McKuen
It may happen
that in some hidden
middle night
you’ll rise up
and come to me
in solitude or silence.
We will meet
as we have met
on a train or at the end
of some new train of thought.
My little boy Crash is not well. I rushed him in to the vet this morning. When I got him up he was on the floor of the cage, very lethargic and wobbly.
In the past he has had respiratory infections. I came close to losing him when he was still a baby really. It took a month of getting up every four hours to medicate him, as well get water in to him and food and changing his hot water bottle so he didn’t have to use his energy to keep warm.
Trouble is, with birds being prey animals they cover up being sick until they can’t cover it up anymore. So the vet says he is really sick. I am lucky that she is also really clued up about birds. She runs a wildlife trust that treats lots of injured New Zealand birds.
Now it is a wait and see game, They are giving him antibiotics, vitamins, fluids and someone from the practise will take him home and keep an eye on him overnight.
Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for Crash. I am not really ready to lose him just yet.
Texture – according to Cee this week is about: “This first week is texture which is a touchy feely type sensation to me.”
There is nothing more touchy feely to me than an animals coat. So here are a few textures I love to feel under my fingers.
Misty the supermodel kitty.
charliC
Our Jackie
Chevvy’s soulful “please get up’ look
My pretty boy Crash
And a few other textures I found while roaming around Katikati on my walks with Chevvy.
Ever thought of becoming a vegetarian ? Do you have a friend that is looking in to becoming a vegetarian ? Well, here is a great little book written by Fea O’Shea [a lovely Kiwi lady who happens to be a vegetarian] that will help you make the decision. There are some great tips in it. If it isn’t for you maybe this would make a great gift !!!
Now I realize that the topic of this book: “Why be Vegetarian” may not be to your thought pattern, please, rest assured I’m not trying to convert you to vegetarianism. This book is targeted to those who want to be Vegetarian, but have, what they feel is, a valid excuse, so the sub-title is “Debunking your excuses”. – Fee O’Shea
Isobel is holding a Pet Remembrance Day at her blog in memory of Cat, her beloved moggie that she lost three years ago. She has inspired me to tell you about some of my dearly missed and always loved pets.
The first pet I remember was a budgie. When he died I horrified my mother when she came home to find the kitchen smelling rather funny. I was eight at the time and I put his cold wee body in the oven. No…not a cremation, I was praying that if I warmed him up he would stop being cold and still.
The next pet was a puppy named Penny. She died way too young when she fell asleep under my brother’s car and he ran her over.
Penny and I
Then there was Tiny. I came home one day to find Tiny gone. After my mother died I was living with my brother, who took an intense dislike to her…I heard from family friends that he took her on a trip and dumped her.
Tiny
It wasn’t until I grew up that there was another dog. Her name was Tia. A staffordshire terrier I rescued from the pound. She had distemper, and it was a long battle to save her but we did. When I went overseas Tia went to live with another brother. A much kinder one.
Me with Tia on a road trip to Queensland. She loved ice cream.
While living in Holland my ex and I had Jab. He had a funny habit. No male could put his hand in Jab’s cage. He attacked every time. But females were always welcome.
Jab and I checking out the camera together.
It wasn’t until I was married and living back in Australia that I had another dog. While living in Queensland the ex and I went to a Jack Russell breeder and both fell in love with one puppy. We were sadly told he had already been picked by someone else. So we decided to wait. One day I spotted and ad in the Courier Mail for a male Jack Russell puppy that someone was selling because they were moving.
Sep and Tia
Turned out that puppy was the same little male we had seen at the breeder. The ex was in hospital at the time, so I arranged to have the breeder pick him up and put him on a plane to Bundaberg and me. The ex was a bit put out, but I had Sep, and that was just meant to be.
Sep was my Houdini puppy. When we moved to Napier, he escaped once and the lady we got him back from was full of stories about how he took on her rottweiler and refused to back down.
One day this trait he had of wandering would end his life. I found him after another escape laying on the road. When I picked him up he folded like a book in my arms. My only consolation was that it would have been quick. When I buried him under a rose bush our other dog took to sleeping on his grave.
Sep and Tia
Our other dog was Tia. A kelpie cross, she had had a hard few weeks of life when we got her. Raised in a cow barn, she was a tiny ball of fleas. Tia was with me for 17 years. She had such a wonderful temperament. When her time came it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
Not long before Tia passed I also had to make a similar decision for Katie. Katie was a maltese terrier. But she was so inbred that her life was short. Just 18 months. She had Cushing’s Disease. My post ‘The Capacity of Katie’ is about all the things this wee darling taught me in those scant 18 months, and the legacy she left me with.
Katie and the daughter
So…to these beautiful souls, I say thank you. Thank you for being part of my life, Thank you for your love, your joy, your being. Each one of you have left your mark on my heart and in my soul. I will forever be grateful I knew you, that I loved you, but most importantly…that you loved me.
So we have had dogs and their secret lives. A few of you mentioned wanting to see what cats are about…here you go.
For one week 50 cats were armed with cameras and GPS systems to show what they actually get up to when they go out their cat doors. It was one heck of an operation getting all the data together to paint a picture of these cats and what they get up to.
I was fascinated. Cats are changing how they behave. But why ???
We do have some certifiable people here in NZ. And certifiable when backed by millions tends to make these people even more crazy in my opinion. They think they know the answer to everything.
Take our Mr Gareth Morgan. Now that he has loads of money he has decided to tell NZ what to do about a whole range of issues, because of course, he knows ALL the answers.
One of his nutty ideas is to rid NZ of cats. No…I kid you not. He has his own website dedicated to educating the dumber NZers on why this is a great idea. Called…wait for it…Cats To Go.
According to Mr Morgan: “That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer.” Mr Morgan asks us to imagine a NZ without cats.
What NZ looks like without cats
Imagine a New Zealand teeming with native wildlife, penguins on the beach, Kiwis roaming about in your garden. Imagine hearing birdsong in our cities.
Sure, we are seeing more tui and kereru these days, thanks to some good work on rat and possum control in some areas. But many other species are still endangered; such as the cheeky kaka, beautiful kokako and curious weka. These birds once ruled this land. Some species can’t coexist with cats and rats at all, such as mohua, saddleback and robins, so they rely on a few pest free refuges for their survival .
The returns are not just beautiful but there are also economic advantages as well. New Zealand has an image of being 100% pure. In reality this marketing tag line could not be any further from the truth and the world is finding out. In order for us to continue being a premium clean, green tourism destination we actually need to start making steps in this direction. Whilst there are many issues to address, getting one step closer to being a pest free New Zealand would most certainly be a step in the right direction.
What Mr Morgan doesn’t mention is that NZ also has rats, stoats, hedgehogs, possums and mice. Now I am not sure if the local moggie could take down a hedgehog, but they can and do keep the rat, stoat and mice population down. In areas where previously some fool has worked on offing the cat population, decimation of the local bird population has actually increased. Completely getting rid of one ‘pest’ species changes the balance that nature has adopted.
Yes, we do need to address the feral and stray cat problem in NZ. But it needs to be done in conjunction with other pests that harm our wildlife.
The simple truth is that introduced species do affect the balance of an ecosystem. But the horse has already bolted Mr Morgan. There is no way to go back to a New Zealand free of introduced species. If that were the case then we also need to eradicate all humans from these islands. We as a species do more harm, with our introduction of farming animals and practices that rape and pillage native forests, than any other species around. We humans have forever changed New Zealand. FOREVER !!!!
We have torn down forest to build cities and towns, our waterways are polluted from farming and industry. One small town in New Zealand is going to have to boil their water for the next 12 years !! The video on this page will shock you ! So maybe we should start by eradicating humans from New Zealand before we do any more damage.
After watching this video I actually think it may not be too long before cats change so much that they lose the natural hunting instinct to such an extent that this might no longer be a problem. But if Mr Morgan has his way…the moggies of NZ will already be gone.
Oh and BTW…we do get penguins on beaches. This idea of having Kiwis in our gardens though…God saves us from fools who spend too much time in the midday sun !!!!
Just to really cheer you up…what about Kevin Bacon and some dancing. This 55 year old still has it as far as I am concerned.
Can you believe
that it is 30 years ago the movie FOOTLOOSE came out
Update: Chevvy’s lump is a lipoma. It is not going to be a problem hopefully. It’s a start at least.
Speaking of dogs…this video made me weep for Sonya. First from sadness, then from joy. I hope you’ll watch and maybe share and I hope Sonya will find the forever home she deserves.
Mum and Dad are away for the weekend. In a house where a little fox terrier is growling at her from under the bed, Shiraz is begging me with her beautiful green eyes to explain what she is doing here and why. She misses her German Shepherd buddy and the two cats who play with her. Only Charlie makes her feel at all welcome, I feel useless to ease her confusion. We will go for a walk soon. I hope that makes her feel better.
Yesterday was change the bedding day. Jackie’s favourite day of the week.
My Jackie is just about the softest cat I have ever been lucky enough to have deign to let me cuddle them. So when I hear the word SOFT…Jackie is what I see.
These may not be the clearest images of her, because not only is Jackie soft, but she is incredibly fast when I am making the bed. I have the claw marks to prove it as she zooms around trying to catch me out.
Don’t even think of trying to take this away !!!!
Stop taking photos and play woman !
Poised for the sideways scoot.
My what BIG eyes you have !
Taking it ALL in…
Outta here !!!!
Ailsa has plenty more SOFT posts for this week’s Travel Theme so go on…pop over and have a look. Heck join in with the rest of us. It’s loads of fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The girls had fun…writing their Chinese names in the sand.
Wind, rain and pretty chilly at first, though it did warm up once we got walking.
The birds were out in force off shore having a feeding frenzy.
Chevvy had a ball running around.
Smelling …
Chasing birds.
Jumping.
Causing general mayhem when ever possible.
She made sure that she left her mark in the sand as well.
The sea was fairly calm considering the wind.
On the way back home we saw this pheasant running around.
When we got home the girls went about cooking me dinner.
Which was pretty darn good I must say. All in all…a good day.
