Through our local SPCA‘s newsletter I learnt that someone was in need of photographs of her cats, which I took for a sign to do something about regaining my mobility. So I offered my services for free, in exchange for having my name as the photographer publicised. Here’s a handful of the results of our one-hour photo session:
I’m half-way through my third week of sick leave, and nothing much has changed. Which hits me even harder as last week I had a couple of days when I actually believed the worst was over and done with – and then suddenly found myself back at square one. I’ve never cared for roller-coasters, but this kind is the worst!
Temperatures around 28-29°C are forecast for the next 5 days, but all in all cooler weather has made it to Malta, even some rain. It’s so enjoyable to be outside without breaking out in sweats by simply being there! Mornings and evenings I walk around in the garden; I’m probably fooling myself if I think that counts as putting my muscles to work, but it’s a start, no? I’m beginning to feel like a hermit, hardly seeing the world any more. I’ve resolved that this afternoon I’ll start a routine of properly walking outside the confines of our property, probably to Ta’ Pinu and back. Let’s see how that goes!
Took these pictures this week… it really is time I went out for something else to shoot, isn’t it?
Tonight the house has an extremely still atmosphere to it. Hubby left home with his Harley at the unholy hour of quarter past three in the morning. He went to Sicily with a group of his biking friends. Last I heard from him was that he was having lunch on Mt Etna. Hope everyone is fine!
And Tim Burton has returned to his rightful master in Malta. He sure kept us on our toes. “Us” includes all of the members of this household: Hubby, Simba & me! Man, if I only had a quarter of Tim’s energy, I’d be just fine!
The good news is, that Simba and Tim actually became friends after about four days.
A last few shots before he left us yesterday afternoon – in a pose I didn’t get to see too often (while Simba’s is all too familiar LOL!):
Simba has been a very clingy big cat ever since I came home from work today. Evidently, he’s missing the action with Tim!
…haha! Don’t know which Tim Burton you expected, but this little devil is named after him. My son’s kitten is our house guest this week, while Daniel is rocking with friends in Prague. Tim is cute in an extremely unnerving kind of way.
You really don’t know whether you should laugh or curse… Always on the go, always exploring exactly the places he definitely should keep out of. And on top of it he’s making Simba’s life pretty miserable. Simba doesn’t know what hit him; and the more nervous he becomes, the more he keeps flicking his tail… which in turn just serves to tickle Tim into attack mode. I haven’t succeeded yet to take photos of the two together – because when they are within reach of each other, the action is usually rather fast-moving!
Thankfully in a few days’ time the spook will be over; I hope both cats will be still alive by then – and my sanity (or what’s left of it) intact.
More kitten shots… Human presence still seems extremely intimidating to the little guys, something that I really cannot figure out. From far, they do see us interact with the other cats (most importantly, with their mother!), but one step in their direction, and they just run like hell. Max (pictured below) is slightly less scared than Moritz, who is a real escape artist. He’s so quick, you wouldn’t even notice that he’d started running.
I can't see you... so you can't see me either - right?!
Don't come any closer!
You think you gonna catch me? Keep dreaming. Ha!
What do you want from me anyway?
As you can imagine, my life has been playing out in a very tight radius recently. Mainly stationed on the living room sofa, I do occasionally venture out into the garden; an attempt at keeping sane. Still trying to make sense of what’s happening to me, really. I mean, I’ve never been really ill and this cholesterol thing really scares me. The funny part is, I lost two kilos in the last couple of weeks; if I start a diet now, where will that take me?! I feasted on bread with ‘cholesterol-reducing’ margarine today (just remembering the taste sends shudders down my spine), and I even switched from coffee to tea – if only for the reason that it tastes slightly less yucky with skimmed milk than coffee… *huge sigh* Stupid question on the side: Why does margarine have to be salted??
Let’s change the depressing subject, shall we? I was pleasantly surprised to find out this morning that a fellow deviantArt member has uploaded my pic of Roger Hodgson to a Radio Paradise forum thread about ‘Even in the Quietest Moments by Supertramp. By the way, Radio Paradise is a really cool internet radio station, playing mainly prog rock. I’ve been listening to it since I found out about my photo. Great stuff!
Less than two months till Tollwood now; I pray that nothing else will pop up and cross my plans unexpectedly!
Wish y’all a nice Sunday (or what’s left of it!) and a good week; I’m going back to work tomorrow, too!
I already re-titled this post twice before even starting to write anything LOL! Confusion reigns. This morning I went – undrugged – to the doc and had lots of blood drawn; well at least it seemed a lot. I hope it will produce at least some conclusive result. I spent over 90 minutes in the waiting room, there were that many people… In the meantime the pain continued unabated, and I wanted to kick myself for not at least having taken two panadols or something. Oh well, that passed, too. I finally got a referral for the outpatients clinic of the local hospital, but that appointment can take ages to materialise… so I’m keeping fingers crossed I’ll be still alive by then.
Arriving back home I popped a couple of sopadeines and drank a litre of water. AND did some serious relaxing out in the garden. A couple of days ago, our new ‘mom’ (funny, we actually haven’t given her a real name yet!) brought back her two little ones, but they are awfully shy. And extremely quick when playing hide-and-seek! I interrupted my relaxing session a couple of times for a few shots, they are just so irresistible!
The white-black(ish) one is a little less shy and did let me near him a few times. The other one is more elusive… And even when I get a shot at him, the noise from the shutter release (even from several metres’ distance!) alerts him and he runs as if the devil was after him!
He would never let me get this close… the above is actually a crop of this one:
And after that he promptly knew what I’d been up to…. he gave me chance for one last go, and was gone!
Again, here’s the full frame of the pic:
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We haven’t given names to the little ones yet, either… at first I was drawn to Laurel & Hardy, but the family didn’t approve. Today Max and Moritz came to my mind… two little naughty boys from the German fairytale by Wilhelm Busch (see picture on the right – almost spitting images of our kittens, wouldn’t you agree?? LOL!)
Weighing in at over 10kg, Simba loves to watch the world around him upside down!
In contrast to Simba our new momma must be about a quarter of Simba’s weight… This is the last shot I took from the cardboard box yesterday. Late this morning Momma decided her babies were given too much attention, and moved them elsewhere. We haven’t found out the new location yet. Seems to be close by though, as she’s around frequently. I hope all goes well for the little ones…
Today I shall more than make up for yesterday’s photo-deprived post! That photo-shoot turned out slightly chaotic, bordering on comedy even. The original intention was to give that extension tube some more work to do, nailing little critters and tiny flowers in the garden.
In the beginning all went according to plan. The first one is just a gimmick in celebration of my wedding ring finally returning to its rightful place this week. (It had been cut off when I broke my wrist last year.)
Then I spotted this baby lizard (well, I think it was a baby – it really was small!) that kept watching my comings and goings from the little drain hole of a flowerpot. I started talking to ‘him’ (how do you determine the gender of a lizard??); I called him Joey. So Joey actually started a game of peek-a-boo with me (that’s where the comedy part came in)! With incredible patience (if there’s anything that I’m not, it’s patient!) I moved my gear closer in teeny-weeny stop-motion movements, which Joey observed with bemused interest, always ready to duck back into his lair when he thought I got too close too quickly.
And then… I abandoned Joey in favour of this awesome discovery that had been there right under my nose. Last autumn another stray had made our garden her new home. I had blogged about her arrival; well at the time I actually thought it was a male and named ‘him’ Bully (I’m really terrific at guessing animals’ genders!)
OK, so he’s a she, a very skinny little thing with a cleft between nose and mouth, which seems to give her trouble breathing and eating. Honestly, we didn’t think she’d survive for long. But not only did she survive; she also contributed to the survival of her family tree!
We had an idea that she was pregnant, though she wasn’t exactly huge, just her usual skinny self with a little bulge in her tummy. A week or two ago, she suddenly made herself rare and was only seen at mealtimes, appearing much, much thinner than usual. Until yesterday: she took up residence in an old carton box in a sheltered space under the stairs leading to our roof – and brought her little family ‘home’!
You won’t understand my amazement at Simba’s behaviour if you don’t know that he’s not at all like a “normal” cat. He doesn’t eat fish (ok, a teaspoon-full of sardines in oil, sometimes); normally he won’t touch anything except for his regular food… So the fact that he should fall for the temptation made in Malta, Twistees®, is extraordinary!
Happens every year on the first day of winter time… I wake up way too early! But it’s a very beautiful day to wake up to: sunshine, hardly any wind left. And so I didn’t keep grumbling about lost beauty sleep but took a little morning stroll in the garden instead.
The new boy in town; this time it is a male, and he’s asserting himself as a little tyrant among the two girls. I’ve started calling him Bully…(see note below this post!!)
Never mind that stupid photo - gimme foooood!
Bully playing hide-and-seek...
...and checking out his new terrain
Then I found yet another “new boy” – or perhaps girl. In the absence of morning dew (that figures, doesn’t it? – me out and about early in the garden, and no dew. Tsk tsk tsk…) I resorted to the gentle squeeze on my water spray bottle. Yes, I admit, I’m ashamed. And it almost backfired, too: poor spider thought it was raining and escaped to the nearby lair it had built in a leaf… and it was moving damn fast!
Gotta get outta here!
Water droplets on spider web
And there’s still colour to be found in our garden!
Yellow
Rose in neighbour's garden
and another one
And I almost forgot our olives!!
Olives, not apples!
Have a happy Sunday!
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Note: I was absolutely certain that Bully was a male because of ‘his’ swaggering kind of walk… I seem to be a hopeless case in this respect, because he turned out to be a female, too. *blush*
