The Cat Pack.

If the cats and I are inside they keep a very close eye on what I am doing.  I am, for example, unable to go to the toilet without a black paw or two snaking under the door.  If I shut the door in their face the complaints are loud and long.

Similarly if I am in the garden they are very attentive.  Jewel in particular loves me planting bulbs.  She comes along behind me, digging them up and snorting the fertiliser I plant with them.  Crack cocaine for cats.  She has also been known to dig the bulb out and position her dainty black behind over the hole.

Despite being both black, they are very different.  Jewel is probably about a year older than Jazz and is half his size.  This very short video shows Jewel with her most favourite toy - an acorn shell.

Limp falls on the carpet are a relatively new trick.  The idea is for one of us to give them a belly rub.  Typically they position themselves so that one person cannot rub both bellies at once.  If Jazz feels he is missing out he attacks Jewel.  Or me.

There was never any chance that Jazz was going to fit into this box but he amused himself (and us) trying for well over half an hour.

Jazz has a fit if someone tries to put him in a bag.  Jewel climbs in of her own accord.  Both black, very different, much loved.  And shamefully indulged.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.  

Kim sent me an email this morning to say that she will be posting late today because she hass a ceramics workshop to go to, but she has not forgotten us.

Like River I usually have a theme to my Sunday Selections.  This week it is balloons.  Each year Canberra hosts a balloon festival, which I love.  They are magical to ride in, and it is nearly as much fun to go along and watch them take off.  A few years ago we treated ourselves to a breakfast cruise and viewed the take offs from a new vantage point.

Surprise

One of the books I am currently reading is this:

I was given it for Christmas last year.  I do not agree with the title, but there are some interesting snippets in it, and it does make good bedside reading.

I came across the following quote a few days ago and it surprised me, and I have been thinking about it on and off ever since.

The topic the quote was included under was Divorce.  The divorce in question was that of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.  The quote was:

"She is such a sad soul.  It is good that it is over.  Nobody was happy anyhow.  I know I should preach family love and unity, but in their case ....'

I don't disagree at all.  What surprised me was the person who said it.  Mother Teresa.  I would have thought that saying any divorce was a good thing was anathema to such a devout Catholic, though I may be showing my ignorance.

On a much lighter note and still on the topic of divorce, the following quote by Dorothy Parker made me smile out loud.

'It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard'.  Goodness how I admire that woman's ability to come up with the perfect quip for the occasion.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

On Thursday of last week I went to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra and took many, many photos.  The lovely Ms O'Dyne liked the ducks and carp I featured in the post about that trip, so I am putting some of the other photographs of them for her.

Japanese Gardens

The Smaller Portion has been telling me for a while 'We never go anywhere, we never do anything.'  He is right.  Guilt got to me this week and I agreed to go on an outing with him.

He chose to go to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra, some two and a half to three hours drive away.  We have been there before years ago and both liked it.  It is hot at the moment, and I am not at my best in the heat, but off we went.

It was truly beautiful, and I love the meld of the exotic and the native plants.  There are two ponds both stocked with koi carp and both frequented by ducks.

Have I mentioned it was hot?  Perspiration was running down my face (goodness how attractive) washing off my sunscreen.  I got burnt.

When we finished our wanders we were both parched and hungry so we wandered into the cafe.  Full.  Himself was not prepared to wait.  I grabbed a juice each and we headed off.  He refused to look for anywhere else to eat so we drove home.

Today, unsurprisingly, I am knackered and paying the painful price for an overfull, overheated day.  Was it worth it?  I don't know.  It was beautiful, and I did love the gardens.  Just the same at the moment my pain/gain barometer is falling into the negative zone.  Perhaps when I am no longer so tired and sore I will do the equation again.