Moonflower Blooming

This is the Moonflower that I mentioned before. I can't wait to plant the seeds again this year!

Time To Play (For The Cats Anyway)

Cricket is showing off her big catch. These three mice had a nice roll in catnip, then they were perfect for playing with. The tissue paper that she is sitting on didn't last very long. I had a scarf wrapped in it and after unwrapping it I left it spread out on the floor. Cats seem to like smooth surfaces to lay on. Well Cody and Cricket had other ideas. After I took this picture they shredded it. Cody actually took a running start and landed on it with all of his claws out. The poor mice flew all over the living room. Cody did the most damage, but Cricket raked her claws through it briefly. I think the crinkly noise startled her. (Oh, those guitars are from my daughter's video game.)
She is kind of a nervous cat and some sounds send her running out of the room. She hates aluminum foil, so I try to wait with using it if she's eating in the kitchen. (the things we do for our cats!) It has been pretty quiet around here. Still cold, still snowing off and on. Blah. There was some excitement near our area yesterday. Just East of us is a neighborhood called East Town. It's an eclectic area of all kinds of shops and restaurants and the homes around it are older late 19th century. In the shopping district there was a natural gas explosion that destroyed the building that housed several stores. Seven people were injured, none severely and pieces of the building flew through the air. Car windows blew out, the neighborhood filled with smoke, flames shot up at the explosion site and many people lost power. Many residents were evacuated and the area will be a mess for a while. My daughter is worried about a coffee shop that she and her friends frequent and one of her friends actually lives in the neighborhood that had to be evacuated. We haven't heard from her yet, so they could be in a hotel for the day. That must have been terrifying for everyone! I'm glad no one was seriously injured. I think I'm grateful for nice, quiet days. That's the kind of excitement nobody wants to have! *-*

Mouse in the House

How cool is this toy? It's a bit expensive. But, I bet your cats would love it. I know mine would. I don't think my husband would be thrilled to buy it though. :)

A Little Soft Light

Cricket likes to curl up on the arm of the sofa. I'm not sure why, I guess it's just a nice little perch for her. Yesterday we had weak sunshine streaming through the windows, not enough to warm, but enough to give her flattering light. :) I haven't been feeling very good and I just didn't have anything interesting to blog about. But, my cats are always inspiring. I saw my doctor Friday and she wants to send me to a new Rheumatologist. My fingers are curling in more and my eyes have a bit of inflamation. They just look kinda bloodshot *-* and I'm a little light sensitive. So now I go see this new doctor in May. I'm told she is very nice and very thorough. I'm still hoping for mobility in time to play in my gardens. I bought a new candle Friday night. It's called Sun and Sand and it actually sparkles like sand when you look closely at it. Maybe they put some in the wax? It smells like cocoa butter and has a background note of fresh citrus. It reminds me of when you get to the beach and you immediately smell suntan oil and fresh air. It's so nice! The color is a creamy, sandy color and imparts a sense of calm and well being to people and pets. (According to my candle color chart) Cricket looks pretty calm huh? It hasn't worked on Cody yet. He seems to get bored quite quickly. I'm wondering if cats can have hyper activity problems? He's 13 and not calming down. We have had him since he was 8 and his friskiness has never wavered. He does sleep a bit more now and he is not nocturnal at all. I'm just glad he's healthy. That's the best we can hope for with our fur babies. Life would be sad without them. Well, I think it's time for me to take a hot shower and have some more coffee. Cookies won't bake themselves!

Cranky Cat

Cody is not happy. Winter is wearing on him. It's too cold to sit on the porch and the snow is too deep to walk around the gardens. He wants to eat. A lot. He has been begging for nip more often and he has started picking fights with Cricket just so he can chase her around. She will only tolerate so much of that before she starts hissing and crawling under the sofa. I can sympathize with him because I am so sick of the cold and snow too. Maybe in March we will finally turn the corner. I'm thinking that I might pick up some new cat toys this weekend. I need to find something that will appeal to his stalking and hunting instincts. My poor little cat bear! Hurry Spring, please!

Precious To Me

The man in the picture is my maternal Grandfather. He was a lovely, kind Irishman who grew catnip in his garden for my Grandmother's cats. He made violins by hand with no modern power tools. He was always humming, especially while he painted. The kitty salt and pepper shakers are circa 1950 something. They are exactly like the ones my Grandmother had on her Knick Knack shelf that Grandpa made for her. After they passed away (nine months apart from each other, first her, then him) I never saw her knick knacks again. Then one day I found these kitties in an antique store. I think it was their way of saying hello. :) The flower print box, it's Tookie's ashes. Now, I'm close to crying. Just typing that hurts so much. Anyway these treasures are on our antique buffet. They mean very much to me and I wanted to share. You can bigafy if you'd like. What are some of your treasures?

Happy Birthday Mo!

Today is Mo's Birthday!
Mo is everyone's favorite blogger from It's a Blog Eat Blog World and Purrchance to Dream. He's a super nice person and he's as cat crazy as I am! :)
I love to acknowledge people's birthdays, so if you want to tell me when yours is I'll make a note of it and leave a message in your comment box about your special day from my Hidden World of Birthdays book. And I'll try to mention it here too. So many of you have had birthdays already; Miss Peach, Daisy, Karla, and I know there's more. (That's why I need to write them down.) Now, let's all have a treat today and raise a cup of tea, coffee, or beverage of your choice to Mo.
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