Cats in the garden!

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes

~Indian Proverb~

Following on my previous post, (oops, I am supposed to be telling you about our holiday and other things, not telling you about our furry babies again).... but I have more pictures of our delightful furry babies!

As some of you may have already noticed from previous posts, we have a cat enclosure built outside on our patio for the cats to use so that they both get some sun and fresh air as they are indoor cats.  Mitzi now also uses this area occasionally as she fits quite nicely through the cat door and often joins the boys on the terrace for afternoon cocktails and midnight snacks!

While the area is of generous size for said kitties and puppy, and has all manner of sleeping accommodation, the one thing it lacked was grass!  We had thought of extending their enclosure by a tunnel out onto the back lawn but have never actually got around to doing anything more than think about it - until this weekend anyway.

Now, while we haven't done exactly what we thought we would back in the beginning of time... we did have another thought which we think will prove even more successful for all parties involved!

Let me introduce you to Oscar and Felix's latest piece of real estate...

Oscar & Felix with their newly laid paddock!

We haven't quite finished the area yet as we have one more piece of landscaping to do for them.  Where the bricks are currently standing up, Hubby is going to take out the next brick behind that one as well, rather than cut the bricks into halves, and we will then plant some cat grass and cat mint in the brick and a half space for the boys to enjoy as well.

Oscar absolutely loves his new patch of grass, Felix is still a bit unsure what it is all about... and Mitzi - well Mitzi probably wonders what all the excitement is about - after all she has her own larger grass paddock out the back!

Oscar taking in the new soft sleeping / sunbathing arrangements!

Mitzi just wonders what all the excitement is about!

Fingers crossed that the grass settles in quickly and grows well, and then all three of them will have this lovely comfy spot on their terrace just the right size for them to enjoy a morning or an afternoon of sunbathing!

As for the mowing of said paddock..... that particular event is for thinking about at another later stage!

Well, that's all for now - will be back again soon!

Happy stitching til we meet again!

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there

She was once a true love of mine

Lyrics from "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkle

In Oscar and Felix's world, it is parsley, sage, coriander, cat grass and catnip!

The boys normally have cat grass and cat nip in their outside space, but recently we decided to re-do our herb pots and place them into the boys space never dreaming that they would fall in love with the coriander!

Oscar curled up in the coriander

Oscar & Felix

Luckily the coriander keeps springing back up after it has been slept on!  I saw Felix sniffing the parsley and mint the other day so I guess it won't be long before they get the royal kitty treatment as well.

I guess that I'm not the only one that loves the smell of this delightful herb.  Looks like I am going to have to buy some more coriander for us to use so that the boys can have their own pots of special herbs!

See you again real soon, happy stitching til then!

Fresh veg from the garden.....

I love fresh veg from the garden!  It is such a treat to be able to go outside and pick some lettuce or spinach and eat it within minutes of picking it - the taste is so much better than shop bought!  In fact the difference is that there is a taste as most of the time shop bought produce has lost it's taste while it's been in cold storage for weeks and months on end....

The other night I picked some silverbeet, spinach and lettuce for dinner and lunch the following day.  I put it in the sink in some water to rinse off any dirt, etc... and low and behold when I came back what did I find looking up at me???

Just goes to show....
all creatures great and small love fresh produce from the garden!!

A lovely green caterpillar!!!  I'm sure he wasn't going to eat that much but I didn't really fancy finding him in my dinner so outside he went.  No doubt I will find him again in the vegie patch another day.

And while I was dealing with the caterpillar, what happened to my asparagus????

Oscar jumped up on the cupboard and promptly lay down on the asparagus and went to sleep.  Luckily the asparagus was still wrapped up in it's plastic bag.

Oscar the asparagus loving cat!
Normally he has his nose in Daisy's schmacko packet behind him.....

The trials and tribulations of trying to cook dinner in our house!!

Til next time, happy stitching

The wonder of Mother Nature

One of the wonderful and amazing things about life on this planet of ours is the beauty and tenacity of Mother Nature.  Last year I had two Californian Poppies growing in pots on the patio.  They flowered but not very well and unfortunately they died....

But at some point they dropped their seeds and we now have a beautiful orange poppy growing in the patio!  That's right in the patio.... or rather in the dirt around the patio support!  Certainly not where I ever thought one would grow!

Isn't it funny how I couldn't get them to grow when I wanted them to grow but Mother Nature has worked her magic and one tiny poppy seed has grown to produce a mass of stunning colour!  I am looking out the back door while I type this and I can see them sitting up proud as punch in the sunlight.

I took the photo below yesterday and since then all of the other flower heads have opened up to show their faces to the sun.  While I was outside with the camera I also took a photo of our roses in the front garden as they are in full bloom at the moment as well.

The wonder of Mother Nature..... 

  

There is also a small catnip growing in the
same spot - this has also grown from seed!