Learning to fit in

Lovely weekend: music, art, conversation and fine cocktails on Culture Night, followed by a reasonably lazy couple of days.

The kitties are settling in: there's a lovely stone sunspot-seat in the garden (aka Pear Land), which Max takes full advantage of in the afternoons.

And they're both enjoying the evocation of tetris afforded by the building work going on nearby :-)



Trying not to clock-watch, yet thinking there's time for a bit of reading *and* eight hours of sleep if I'm quick about it...

Mid-week

The door dried better than expected; not at all furry or Dougal-esque :-)

I sanded it back and repainted it anyway, obviously, but that was down to my own stubbornness rather than any hirsutism on the door's part.

It's been an overcast, humid day here: the kitties are stretched out either side of me, sleeping so deeply that I can trim their claws without disturbing them. Today's To Do list progresseth...

Back to Word Work for me :-)

Mapping out your space

Yesterday whirled by in the British Library. I was able to get my Reader's Pass renewed (yippee), so I shall base myself in there two or three days a week. That done, off I went on a guided tour of their 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition, whose basic premise is that maps were only hijacked by geography in recent centuries; they were wielded to denote power and disseminate propoganda.

Fab, eclectic choice of maps, well laid out, and the curator kept us joining the dots across centuries. The medieval world maps are a personal favourite, featuring the known world, stretching across to the Garden of Eden and filled with all the wonderful creatures that populate faroff oceans and lands (such as the upsidedowney Mandrake Man, left).

Leaving the BL and returning to regular city street traffic was a jolt: I'm still adjusting to the sheer number of people here, and the different etiquette of interaction.

The kitties however, are in seventh heaven. Koi carp to play with, oodles of buzzing flying creatures to chase through the garden, myriad places to lounge. They're living in their own map of wonders.

Disturbia

The kitties rush to the chaise longue to look out of window: it's a thing they do for the arriving postman, and for the kids who stop to wave at them and praise their cuteness.

But it's not the postman, or passers-by. A man is across the road, looking through the debris outside the builders' yard. The kitties watch, super-alert: Max is hunched over, all intent; Dubh is up on hind legs like a meercat.

The man picks something up and turns: it's a hefty hunk of concrete. He walks - towards my car at first, which gets my full attention - and then turns onto the pavement, past my house, and goes in next door. My new neighbour.

Maybe he doesn't have a copy of War and Peace to use as a yoga block. I expect that's it...

Have a scrumptious weekend, all!

:-)

Home, safe and wet

Test-driving the new kitty-proof fish tank:



The thrill soon wore off for Max; he thinks fishies are like, sooooo five minutes ago. Dubh however, is as fond of them as TV, which is to say, very fond indeed.

Even though they're not made of ham.

Rosie & Guildenstern coped well with all the attention. They live still, and are I suspect creating a whole series of mythic tales about The Great Black Paw.

And in other news:

the undefeated champion

Max wins yet another game of hide and seek.

What chaise longues were made for

Gorgeous bright day; driving back from Skib, the sunlight through the trees was honeyed gold...

And then, coming up to a blind corner, a car seemed to be reversing from a by-road back onto the main road. As I slowed, I saw it was only backing up a little so that it could make a very sharp turn.

Into a field.

And then I noticed that the brown sign directing people to the ever-picturesque Lough Hyne had been twisted, that instead of pointing along the by-road...

Sigh. Nothing waited inside the field but neat bales of hay and an acre of tar-pit strength waterlogged mud.

And in other news, for the lovely EmergingWriter, here are the kittens on a break during an epic bout of Stealth Ninja Wars. Don't let the innocent expressions fool you:



And here's how they while away a rainy afternoon:



There's much to be gleaned from their approach to life :-)

Rainy day games

I'm scribbling away, happily ensconced in Art Deco New York.

Meanwhile, the kitties have been keeping busy with Stealth Wars and a napping extravaganza. They're now playing a more amicable Hide & Seek.

Max is winning.

Elusive textures

Oh how the kittens love chasing the cursor along the screen...

Well, the bank holiday weekend turned out to be extremely holiday-esque for me: cooking and friends and late-night drinks. I did manage to dabble with a story, but it's at the dough-proving stage now; I just need to leave it in a warm spot and let it rise.

So, back to weaving sub-plots into the book. Some have a fine silken texture, which makes them kinda fecky to work with, but you just need to foster patience :-)

The photo below is from Annaghmakerrig - the fence by the boathouse. There was a fabulous array of lichens there, in every shade of green - silvery and wet-moss and verdigris... they highlighted the most mundane post or stone, drawing the eye to its decorative texture.


Meanwhile, the kittens can't quite figure out why they can't feel the texture that they can plainly see.

Kittytalk #1

Name:
Dubh

Spiritual persuasion:
Rather not say

Favourite colour:
Well duuuhhhh!

Favourite book:
Any newspaper. Absorbent :-)

Greatest fear:
That the world will run out of ham

If you had a superpower, what would it be:
Ability to turn things into ham



Words of wisdom:
Purr loudly, nap often, inhale all the ham in sight.

New arrivals

Okay here are the little guys; a selection taken over the weekend.



Clearly, they're spending a lot of time on the couch. I expect it's just a phase...

Full to the brim

Early start le matin, so this post will be superer-quicker than yesterday's.

A friend&family-filled day; the great Kitten Adoption Plan seems to be going... well, according to plan (see above). And Editors in the Olympia were fantastic. They'd clearly put a lot into the stagecraft side of things: from the running order to the lighting, all aspects were well-considered, and phenomenally entertaining. Could have watched them forever :-)

Okay, sleep before my expedition to the land of artists. Nighty night x