Our little market

I love meeting up with old friends. This is Susan and we met years back when she called to have her cat sat.  I cared for her cats for 15 years.

I was on the hunt for local, organic honey and the retired-guy was thrilled with home-made strawberry/kiwi freezer jam.

 Huge tomatoes, yams (for Kanie), onion and kebabs for the bbq tonight.

Ahhhhh.....summer!

Annie

I adore this cat.

and the livin' is easy.

hugs, Deb

I see you.

our Sierra waiting for the mailman.

He gives her a hug and a kiss on the head. :)

I am joining http://camera-critters.blogspot.ca/. Drop over.

hugs, Deb

A post from my kitchen

(source)

"Ha..hahahahaha! They'd certainly know where the cat-sitter lives.

I made some Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies yesterday.

They are so delicious & moist and have a spicy flavour.

They, of course, go perfect with tea. Try to eat just one.
I am so loving these blue and white dishes.

                          Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

"

"Good morning, Annie"

The weather this week is wonderful. Summer is here. There is so much joy on the screened-in deck.
They want to be fed out there now. That's right...I now am a delivery service.

I'm off to cat-sit Buddy. Remember him?

"Happy Friday, everyone"

hugs, Deb

"AUDREY!!!"

While dishing out a snack for the vultures..eh..I mean cats this morning I heard a crash in the dining room.

"AUDREY!!"

"Oh no, Audrey." Like a bolt of lightening, her tail-end disappeared at the top of the stairs heading for cover. I am down one vase and mangled flowers have been added to the compost.
She's ok and thankfully did not get cut by the glass. She actually enjoyed every split second of it. She is walking a little lower to the ground right now and refuses to look me in the eye but she'll be back to her 'bad' normal self sooner than need be. Some poor moth will meet it's demise before the day is out and all will be good again in Audrey's world. Yes, she recovers quickly from hearing me bellow her name. Me...I'm beginning to think I should live in an unfurnished cardboard box like Annie.

"Move over, Sweetie."

My heart aches for these feral cats. I have seen 4 at this site but I know there are many more. In the Lanark area there are hundreds of feral cats. I have zoomed in here but this is an improvement over many months of feeding this particular one.

It is now coming to the food before I leave and although it watches every move I make, there seems to be some trust building. For 4 months it would hide in the grass, only visible by it's ears, and would not move until my car was out of the parking lot.

Now it comes up to the rocks and starts to eat before I am back in the car. I believe it is very young yet and although I may be kidding myself,  I'm going to try to befriend it.

Please don't lecture me on feeding and not neutering these cats. I took this over from someone who, because of an injury, was unable to get to the site. She has trapped many and found homes for the ones she could adopt out. Our shelter is full to bursting right now and feral cats will just be euthanized if trapped. We are hoping in the future there will be a TNR program put in place. But for now, I won't let them go hungry in this one spot where I feed them. 

hugs, Deb

You can't see the deer for the tractor

When men look at vehicles of any sort, does the rest of the world around them magically disappear?

 Does all else fade away and the machine comes to life?

 I tell ya, these two guys had to be in a trance to miss out what was happening only feet from where they stood worshipping an old tractor.

I sat in the car and had the privilege of seeing this little family saunter by.

Yes, they walked right behind the men and neither of them noticed.

What does this say? It must be true that a man's brain is 75% steel, paint and pistons.

Btw...we bought the tractor.

off to cat-sit Josephine =^..^=... Another beauty!

hugs, Deb

Audrey & her clone

Audrey weighs 8 pounds today. I weighed myself and then picked her up and subtracted the difference. 8 lbs. My weight will remain a secret.
Apparently, that is a good weight for an almost 10 month old kitten. I'm hoping to keep her weight there as she looks long, lean and healthy. Oh, yes, and she's bad...bad...bad! But, she's a beauty.

"I'm bad"

We went used-tractor shopping today. Yes, I'd rather have been flower-shopping but I made the best of it.
The tractor is just up the road from us. It's huge, it's old and it works so the retired-guy wants it for cutting and clearing at the property.
While he played 'farmer in the dell' I played with the chickens.

They all came running to see me and clucked and frolicked around. I felt very welcomed or they were hungry, not sure. I must have broken the boredom of their day, though. This farm is really nice. It has a gorgeous log home on the property and a little farm house, too. The barns are kept maintained and all the animals looked happy. There was a huge vegetable garden right outside their door. Beautiful!

 I even love the smell of the chicken coop. But, you know I was at the barn looking for cats and was not disappointed when this Audrey clone appeared.

This cat was very friendly and didn't want me to leave.

You can see our weather has changed a bit today. It is sunny and cool. Rather nice, actually. The humidity is coming again soon, though. That I can do without.

Off to cat-sit Ebony. This is my last visit with her as her people are home tonight. I'll miss her.

hugs, Deb

.

in search of a special tea-cup

Tea-cups

 I've loved them since I was a child. When I had the opportunity, I  always played with my grandmothers' tea things . She had a large floor to ceiling cupboard in her summer kitchen and it was loaded with china and clear glasses. Tea cups of every colour. I wish I had a picture of the one I always looked for. It was red and gold with a black dragon on the side and the saucer was red & black. It had a wide brim and a little gold handle. It doesn't sound like something I would go for now but as a child, I loved it. Many wonderful cups of tea and coffee (mostly milk & sugar) were enjoyed in that cup. And her home-made cookies were scrumptious. Her cookie cans were tin with a red and white flowered pattern on them. They, too, sat in the old cupboard or by the wood-stove. They were never empty. The popular cookie was the Hermit. I'll find a recipe similar and post it soon. Her chocolate chip cookies were my favorite.

The pretty, colourful cups are the best. To this day, I always look for that little dragon tea-cup when I am in a thrift shop. I think I'd faint if I found one.
           When you mix certain colours together it's magical.
                            Our pastel calico cat agrees.

She thinks a little peach on the coat is the cat's meow. Her knee-socks aren't too shabby, either.

Here's what I think is the 'cat's meow'

Banana Bread Cookies


1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup walnuts
Oven 375 degrees

Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda & cinnamon.
Mix well.  Mix in bananas, oats and walnuts. Drop by spoonful on a greased or parchment paper lined cookie tray. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Hugs, Deb

Pink & Blue china

June is moving along at a fast pace. It feels like we have had a month of summer already.

                               (a very thoughtful birthday gift from my sister-in-law, Donna)
                               Special Flowers, Queen's Fine Bone China, Made in England

Royal Standard - Fine Bone China

Pink and blue are so pretty together.

Molly agrees 

I'm joining Blue Monday at Smiling Sally'shttp://smilingsally.blogspot.ca/

and Sandi at http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.ca/for Tea Time Tuesday

hugs, Deb

and now there are three

"Please have my parents call Debbie to take good care of me as they travel."

There must be lots of prayers going up as I am getting busier by the minute. I am meeting some of the most beautiful felines I have ever laid eyes on. 

This face met me at the door

so he could show me where the fridge was.

"Hello Presley.

I have heard so much about you."

He was adopted from our local shelter back in September and now lives with Molly & Buddy.

Remember these two beauties?

Chocolate sundae paws

Molly

& Buddy

Well, now there are three.

Presley

(Smashing in Stripe)

Three's company, right?

Black beauty

                                                                    Ebony
She is a senior cat and very pampered. She takes her time to warm up to you but once she does, she is very present.
To keep Ebony healthy, her owners give her soft and dry food fed in intervals throughout the day & fresh water twice daily. Before serving her food, a little warm water is added to make it a little easier on her tummy. She loves it and laps it up.

I wondered if my crew of oldsters would appreciate having their food warmed up with a little hot water before I serve it to them. I tried it...they liked it. Especially Mr. Ed. He really liked it and ate more than he usually does in one sitting. So, we may have a new addition to their feeding regime. Yep, just what I need. I'm never fast enough as it is for Audrey.  "I'm dying here...can't you hear my tummy rumble?"

"I'm about to pass out from hunger, you know"

 Then promptly jumps into my face. She has some manners to learn but she is just a baby still. 

Ebony also gets Tonic Lax twice weekly. That is a gel that is in a tube and meant to help rid the stomach of excess hair from grooming. A 2 inch amt. is placed on the side of her dish and she eats it along with her dinner. I have used that on my cats and recommend it for some cats. I have also seen where it causes digestive issues and loose stool so in that case adding pumpkin to their soft food will move the food through and pick up lots of hair on its' way. It is added fibre and just like humans cats can benefit from it.

It's a hot day again today but we have had rain and the humidity is gone. This is more like the summer I love.
I may even get Kane out for a long walk about town today.

Enjoy that sunshine and drop by again to meet the most gorgeous new client who looks smashing in 'stripe'.

hugs, Deb

My sun-shiny teacup & a pampered puddy-tat

A pretty tea-cup.

 It looked like something that would have sat on my grandmother's summer kitchen table along with this vintage creamer.

I couldn't leave it behind. I'm gonna love having it in my cabinet and use it often. That is the fun of 'junkin'...finding that little treasure that you can't live without.

Tea-cups are little pieces of art. So is this beautiful cover on Linda McCartney's cook-book from years ago.

She was a collector of blue and white china.

So beautiful!

Another beautiful girl. My pampered puddy-tat, Sierra

She'll stay on the deck 'til her tummy starts to rumble. She has an inner-clock when it comes to mealtime.

I'm linking up with http://dianaevans.blogspot.ca/ for Sweet Saturday. Drop over and see all the beautiful blogs.
hugs, Deb