Well, it had to happen sooner or later, I did warn you! Having shared in my previous post what joy can be found in the simple things of life, especially in nature and wildlife (namely, Sweet Robin!), I think this would be a good time to introduce our two cats (although, of course, cats are far from simple and they aren’t exactly wildlife, but they do bring us immense joy – for the most part anyway). As one of my sons once said: “We get fifty percent of our laughs from the cats!” Whether that means laughing with them or laughing at them, well, all you cat lovers out there know that they can do the craziest things at times…
We’ve always had kittens and cats. My mum bred Siamese cats when I was growing up and she and my dad once ran a cattery business from our home for boarding cats. When my own children were growing up, as well as cats we had dogs, fish, birds, rats, hamsters, one mouse, a box turtle, terrapins and now a corn snake. They were/are all special in their unique way (although we have had a few, how-shall-I-say, mishaps along the way, say no more) but there is one extra-special cat who was adored by the children and it started like this:
One hot, Californian summer’s day, when my oldest son was five years old, we drove miles to look at an old car with a view to possibly buying it. The first thing we noticed when we arrived, however, was not the car but the numerous cats and kittens running around all over the place. Turned out that the lady who owned the car also rescued cats, lots of cats. You can be sure that the entire time we were talking to her about the car, my son was kneeling down in the grass nearby lost in delighted play amongst a sea of kitties and in particular, a little black fur-ball of a kitten who had, quite naturally, instantly bonded with him. For life.
Forget the car, it was a clunker. We came home with that little black fur-ball instead and called her Willow.
- Willow in a Basket
(c) copyright Sherri Matthews 2013
I’ve written an article entitled ‘Cats Happy Reunion’ which is soon to be published in ‘Your Cat’ magazine. It briefly tells the story of Willow and Maisy (who we adopted from a cat shelter several years after getting Willow) and their long journey across the Atlantic. In 2003, my children and I had to leave California (sadly, my ex-husband and I split up) and move back to the UK. But not without our two cats!
Maisy as a kitten
(c) copyright Sherri Matthews 2013
Sadly, we no longer have Willow with us but we do still have Maisy, now almost 11 years old, and our ‘Boy’ (real name Eddie), who we acquired thanks to a ‘kittens for sale’ ad in our local paper almost 7 years ago. Maisy still retains somewhat of an American accent (although we say she looks more like a French model with her high cheekbones and amazing almond-shaped eyes). Eddie, on the other hand, has a distinctive West-Country twang to his meow, having been born on a farm in the wilds of Dorset, brought up on fresh rabbit and pretty much left to his own devices with his naughty brothers and sisters to run around as they pleased.
These two cats of ours get on very well for the most part although Eddie is a bit of a bruiser at times and seems to enjoy leaping on Maisy when he wants to play but she just wants to enjoy a lazy cat nap. Consequently, after a few growls, hisses and several clumps of fur literally flying, she runs off and Eddie ends up taking her nice, warm spot. He looks a bit perplexed at first and sometimes calls out after her with a rather sad lament… ‘yeoooow, yeooow’. He recovers very quickly, however, gives us a look as it to say, “what?” and then curls up and falls contendly asleep. Conscience clean.
Eddie is also the king of comfort and certainly no fool. When he hears the soft click, click, click of the central heating boiler as it fires up, he knows this means that the radiator in the kitchen is very soon going to be very warm and he knows just what to do…
What a Life
(c) copyright Sherri Matthews 2013
Oh, to be a cat…
A View From My Summerhouse 
Lucky Eddie – can i swap places with him please? !!
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I’ll have a word with him and see what he thinks about that…x
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Keep writing about the cats. 🙂
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Thank you Beverly, I certainly will 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed what I’ve written so far and will be taking a look at your blog shortly.
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Great article!!! Enjoyed it very much and as I’ve said before the photo of Eddy is the best!!!
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Thank you Diane, so glad you enjoyed it. I love that photo of Eddie too – I wish I could get that comfortable and relaxed 🙂 x
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P.S. I miss Willow!!!
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Awww, I know, we all do so much and even now talk about her all the time. You will remember those days when she was just a kitten and then how much fun the kids had with her as they all grew up together. Willow is gone but never forgotten. x
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This is the first time I’ve seen your blog and I love the photo of Eddie on the radiator. Thanks for posting it and the story.
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Thank you Jacqueline for visiting my new blog and so glad you enjoyed reading the post and seeing the photos…the one of Eddie lying on the radiator is one of my all-time favourites for obvious reasons!
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Aw… I am a total animal nut… for sure, but I have never bonded with a cat….yet. Having said that, I was brought up with dogs and hamsters and I suppose you tend to stay with what you are used to. Your cats sound lovely and lucky, might I add!
I’m looking for a dog at the moment but I am being very specific! It has to be a rescue, it has to be a boy, it has to be able to cope alone for at least 4 hours before eating the contents of a living room and he has to be cute! Easy huh? Not so much… while we wait and search I make do with Edgar, the male degu who lives with us in the living room and Tino the bearded dragon. (They only live with us as their homes match the furniture… 🙂 Then we have two dwarf hamsters in seperate cages, Ares and Apollo….they should have long since passed but they hang on in there! Upstairs we have Dragon, the bearded dragon in my sons room and then into my daughters room we have four more degus all called Belle. (Its easier) 🙂
I look forward to more cat tails (tales)
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Glad you enjoyed reading about our cats, I did enjoy reading all about your pets, made me laugh out loud! Your house would be heaven to my daughter who would happily have a house full of all the above if I let her! Every time we go to the pet shop she oohs and aahs over the degus in particular but we’ve never actually had any. Great idea to call them all Belle, ha! I love how your pets’s homes match your furniture, nothing like coordination! As for dogs, we always had dogs, a lab/collie mix called Bonnie we got when my son was two and then Monty, our pure lab later on. Both lived to be 14. I wish you all the best in your specific hunt for your dog and as with our home, let’s hope that nothing gets eaten 🙂
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🙂 Did I mention it has to be a brown dog to match the carpets… hehe only joking. I’ve lost my muse… I haven’t felt the urge to write for a while so you have to write twice as much to keep me reading… 🙂 Snow is here again… Why oh why did I have to move to that blinking hill! :):):)
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Ha Ha! Don’t some people dye their pets these days? I’m sure I recently saw a photo of a poodle dyed pink…the less said about that the better 🙂
That’s always a downer with the writing…I know that feel. I take the hint, I’ve just posted my recent blog, another cat one, hope you enjoy! Will keep it coming more frequently, been a strange week, hence the delay.
Enjoy the snow…to a point!
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