Cats

A Trip to the Vet

~ New Simple Life ~ 6 Comments

The Princess has been under the weather. She had been biting at her back paw for a few days, so we were keeping a watching brief to see if it developed into anything serious. She spends so much time stalking the hedgerows, we wouldn’t be surprised if she got a thorn or something lodged in her foot.

Of course, she waited for the weekend before showing any sign of being ill. On the Saturday morning, she lay in the study doorway and showed no signs of interest in breakfast or attention. Fearing that we had, indeed, missed an injury which had become infected, we picked her up and inspected the paw. It looked fine but she growled at us anyway and that was enough for us. The Calamity Cat growls at anything but it’s not seemly for princesses, so ours doesn’t do it very often. Fortunately, our vet has a Saturday surgery so we popped her into her cat carrier (I am making that sound much less challenging than it is, although she didn’t put up as much of a fight as usual, a sure sign that all was not well) and off we went.

Why, oh why do cats always come alive when they get to the vet? You give the vet a tale about how they haven’t moved all morning, how lethargic and unresponsive they are. In the meantime, said cat has leapt down off the table with great agility and enthusiasm and is prowling around the consulting room, sniffing in all the corners and finally coming to rest by the fridge, just in case there is something more interesting in there than prescription drugs. The Princess was so alert, she was keeping watch through the glass door when the vet went to get a nurse to hold her and they couldn’t get back in until I scooped her up and put her back on the table. We told the vet our theory about the paw and she prodded and stretched her limbs with only the smallest complaint from our girl. Just when the vet was giving up, she must have touched something raw and the growl came from deep within. So she touched the same area again – nothing. She tried the other leg and again, she growled. Aha! The vet went back to the same spot and got no response – all very contrary and confusing.

In the end, unable to find anything specific, she wormed her, gave her an anti-inflammatory injection and sent her home, with strict instructions for us to bring her back if she became worse. From the loud complaining coming from the carrier all the way home, she was fine and most indignant about being poked and prodded for no reason like that.

Grey and white cat sitting with eyes closed on a pale blue patio table
This is one of my favourite photos of the Princess when she is well – enjoying the sunshine on the patio table

Once home, though, it was a different story. She retired to the safety of the wardrobe to groom the vet smell out of her fur and then went back to her spot in the doorway. She became increasingly unwell throughout the rest of the day, barely looking up when I touched her or offered her water. Mid-afternoon, she dragged herself downstairs to be sick, then went straight back up to the study, not moving again for the rest of the day. Mind you, I shouldn’t think the rodent she threw up had had the best of days either.

I got very little sleep that night, worried sick. And then – in the dead of night, I suddenly heard a noise downstairs. Was that, could that be – crunching?? The Calamity Cat isn’t that fond of biscuits, whereas the Princess is known for her midnight feasts. I had to check. I got up and bumped into her on the landing, on her way back up from her snack. She followed me into the bedroom and proceeded to jump on me, headbutting my nose and purring very loudly. It seemed normal service was resumed. Heartily relieved, I fell asleep with her curled in next to me on the pillow.

The next day, both cats asked to go out before breakfast as usual. As the Princess seemed fine, we opened the door and out they trotted. She wandered up the garden, having a good sniff at everything to see what she had missed the day before. She was on her way back down the path, clearly heading back to the house for breakfast when, without warning, she collapsed. We rushed outside and brought her in, where she lay on the table, apparently unable to move.

As soon as we could, we got her down to the emergency vet. By then, yet again, she appeared to have recovered and was making her feelings known very loudly about being stuffed in a cat carrier and taken back to that horrible place. At least it wasn’t full of dogs on a Sunday. It wasn’t full of anything when we got there – including the vet, who had been held up at a previous call-out.

The upshot of the whole saga is that our beloved girl had had a seizure, probably brought on by eating something diseased or poisoned. However, after a raft of blood tests the next day, I am pleased to say that they all came back clear. We kept her in for a couple of days, much to her disgust, and then, our hearts in our mouths, we let her out again. It didn’t take her long to prove she is back to full strength, hunting once again and even paying the neighbour a visit, as he told us the next day: “I was sitting in my front room, minding my own business, when this little grey face peeped around the door …”

Grey and white cat on hind legs on a windowsill, trying to get out of the window
“Pleease let me out!”

Cats’ memories are relatively short. It may take us a little longer to recover. Every time she lies down, we jump up and feel the need to check on her. Every time she leaves the garden, we don’t totally relax until she is safely home again. We have been reminded that our precious girls’ lives are so much shorter than our own, with dangers at every turn. All we can do is value and make the most of the time that we do have together and shower them in all the love and care they deserve.

 

A match made in Heaven?

Grey and white cat sitting in a raised garden bed
~ New Simple Life ~ Leave a comment

It is often felt that cats and gardening do not mix well. Where a dog is hailed as a suitable faithful companion for the gardener – Monty Don’s Nigel and Nell have made careers out of it after all – the cat seems to be seen more as the gardener’s nemesis. After all, they dig up beds, hunt birds and other wildlife and use gravelled areas as litter trays, don’t they?

When we bought our house, the cats’ needs were very much at the top of our agenda and we loved the garden for its feline possibilities as much as for our own. It has been one of our greatest pleasures to share the outside space with them and watch them enjoying adventures only they truly understand. Spring has again given them a new lease of life that belies their 13 years and we feel we have proved that it is possible to be gardeners and cat-lovers at the same time.

The lawn has become a playground since we found a bright yellow bouncy ball in one of the borders and the Calamity Cat particularly loves to chase it across the grass, reaching speeds we never thought she could. When the grass is long, it turns into their own private jungle, where they stalk bees and butterflies (never catching them though) and occasionally each other, hiding behind a bush and jumping out at each other before they both tear off like crazy things under the hedge and into next door. The grass is also a valuable source of fibre in their diets, which has in turn inspired us to take an organic approach to our lawn-keeping. It is rewarding our hard work by greening up nicely.

Grey and white cat lying on a lawn, washing behind its ear
The Calamity Cat enjoying some spring sunshine

Yes, the cats dig the beds that we have lovingly prepared but mainly when they are empty. After all, they have watched us dig in there too and they want to help. They also want to try out our assertion that they are “beds”, settling down for a quick snooze in the sun now and then. As soon as things start to grow, though, they tend to lose interest and find somewhere flatter to sleep. And if they do dig up a few seedlings here and there, what are a couple of plants between friends?

Grey and white cat lying in a raised garden bed
“Well, you did say it was a bed …”

We did wonder how they would react to the gravelled paths in the veg plot as we had heard that gravel made a good substitute for cat litter. We made sure we bought the larger kind and we have had no problems at all. In fact, the Calamity Cat doesn’t even like walking on it.  On the whole, they both prefer to come in and use the litter tray anyway – their view seems to be that they would have to be mad to go outside when they can use a perfectly comfortable toilet area indoors – and who can blame them?

They both show an interest in our gardening activities, with one or the other of them usually accompanying us up to the kitchen garden to keep an eye on our efforts. They have explored the new greenhouse and decided it is worthy of their presence, being a cosy space when it’s a bit breezy outside. They have learned the hard way to be wary of the dreaded watering can. They keep us company while we work, then return to the house with us to demand their tea, exhausted after a hard day’s supervision.

Grey and white cat and a pair of secateurs sitting on a green garden kneeler
Can I help?

The wildlife is a harder one to stomach I admit. They rarely catch the insects they go after and fortunately the birds tend to be quicker than they are too. Unfortunately, the Princess has more success with small rodents and we are waiting with trepidation for her to start her reign of terror in the hedgerows this year. So far, she has shown little interest, preferring to sleep in the house for most of the day and then lounging around on the woodshed roof in the evenings. We are also waiting for the frog season to start in earnest – the Calamity Cat has already started to check out the drystone wall daily to see if her friends have returned but there is no sign yet. Perhaps, with the new rose bed replacing the water feature, there will be fewer this year.

And it isn’t just our cats who enjoy our outside space. Several other cats from the area use our garden, either as a cut-through from the back to the street or simply to sit and take in the view. After some fights and arguments last year, our two seem to have decided that it isn’t worth objecting – they usually pretend they haven’t seen anything and the guest moves on before it becomes an issue. Both the Princess and the Calamity Cat make sure they patrol carefully after these visits, reasserting their claim on the territory, but in a suitably pacifist sort of way (i.e. when they are sure that the other cat has gone and they will not be called upon to defend their garden further).

Two grey and white cats lying on a blue patio table looking out in opposite directions
On guard – sort of. Keeping a watchful eye anyway

I am, therefore, proud to say that we are living proof that it is possible to be both cat-lovers and gardeners and that owning cats (although we all know really that they own us) has very much enhanced our gardening experience. In return, sharing our garden adds a new dimension to all our lives. It has become a valued family space for all of us, one I hope we can all enjoy for many years to come.

 

 

 

 

The joy of cupboards

Grey and white cat on a pale blue patio table
~ New Simple Life ~ 3 Comments

A closed door is an affront to a cat. I am firmly convinced it infringes their feline rights. When it is shut, our two sit fixedly by the patio door (their usual exit into the garden), occasionally glaring at us with an accusing “Why is this shut?” sort of look. As soon as we open it, they thrust their noses into the space to have a good sniff at the outside world, just making sure that their empire is still intact, but they show no inclination to actually go out. They are simply exercising their right to have the option. During the summer, we leave the door open for them to come and go, although it does occasionally backfire when other cats are about, as it did last year. However, in the winter even we draw the line at sitting in the cold, just so they can get some fresh air. One day recently, I had the impudence to try gently encouraging Calamity outside with my foot. She looked round with an expression of utter outrage on her face and backed away from the door. “I was only looking!” she seemed to be telling me – and loudly too. “Would you want to go out in this weather?”

Another of Calamity’s demands recently has been to explore all the built-in storage in the house. There is a whole collection of tantalising closed doors, just teasing her with their possibilities. You may remember we hid their Christmas presents in a cupboard in the study and it seems to have left a lasting suspicion that she is missing out on something interesting. The hall cupboard holds a particular fascination and she will sit and cry outside it until we open it for her to get inside. Once in, she realises that there isn’t really anything worth her notice to be found, and she wanders out again nonchalantly. We close the door and half an hour later, we repeat the whole process. Sometimes it is the fitted wardrobes in the study – she may never have been in a particular cupboard before but she is suddenly desperate to get in and her cries can be heart-rending. Occasionally, she will curl up inside one of them for a nap but most of the time she has a good look, and then comes back out, looking bewildered, as if she isn’t quite sure why she wanted to be in there in the first place.

Grey and white cat in a cuboard storing fabric
“Hmm, this looks interesting … “
2 grey and white cats in a cupboard storing fabric
“What are you doing in there?”

This very peculiar habit hit a new low recently, when we were awoken in the night by a blood-curdling howl. We shot up in bed, convinced that there was something seriously wrong with one of them. We found Calamity sitting mournfully next to the wardrobe in the bedroom. “It’s shut”, she appeared to wail, “and I need to get inside”. We tried to distract her with promises of cuddles but she would not be moved. In the end, we opened the door and, once she had convinced herself it didn’t hold anything more interesting than our hanging clothes and their travel baskets, she came back to bed and settled down.  A couple of nights later, we went through it all again. In order to get an unbroken night’s sleep, I spent the next Saturday morning clearing out the bottom of the wardrobe and turning their travel baskets into 2 cosy cat beds. We now ceremoniously open the doors each night as we go to bed and haven’t been disturbed since. Of course, Calamity has spent every night curled up with us. She has the option to get into the wardrobe and that is the battle won.

2 sheepskin cat beds side by side
The comfy beds remain empty while Calamity snuggles in with us

Pruning the apple tree

Apple tree leafless canopy in winter
~ New Simple Life ~ 3 Comments

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and other social media will know that we have been very busy in the garden over the past week or two. I’m sure you are dying to know what we have done in the veg patch, but I am going to make you wait another week. First, I want to tell you about our apple tree.

We have been working up the courage to tackle the apple tree for some time now. It is very beautiful and gave us more cooking apples than we could eat last year, but it has clearly been some time since it has been pruned properly. Huge branches overhang next door and loom large over our veg patch as well. Being novices at this gardening lark, we are fairly reliant on what we read and watch to tell us when to do things and, according to the guru Monty Don, late winter is a good time to prune apple trees. So we girded our loins, took the saw and the ladder up the garden, and set to.

Man sawing branches off a tree in winter
D working hard up the tree

According to the Gardener’s World magazine, you can be quite ruthless with apple trees. Monty Don’s advice is to open up the branches sufficiently for a pigeon to be able to fly through with ease. I’m not sure that was really what we were aiming at – we would settle for it not taking all the light from our neighbours’ vegetable plot. Up the ladder D went and started to saw. It felt pretty brutal to me, watching from below while steadying the ladder and receiving the shorn branches, some of which were fairly big, but I knew it had to be done. The little boy next door, who at four is extremely bright and totally fearless, helped us from his side of the fence, lifting offcuts larger than himself over to our side. Trying to keep their dog from bouncing around just where the branch was about to fall was a bit more of a challenge though. Sensibly, the cats kept out of the way while we worked, although they took it in turns to supervise from the new woodshed roof, making the most of the winter sun and ensuring that we did a good job.

Grey and white cat walking up roof of an outdoor log store
“Make sure you leave enough tree for me to climb”

Slowly, the tree started to take shape, with me advising from the ground on what to cut off to try and tame the worst without losing the overall shape of the tree. I quickly discovered how compulsive it becomes – there was always just one branch more that needed to go. The discarded wood, looking almost like reindeer antlers, piled up and up on the grass until we started to fear there was more on the ground than on the tree. You still couldn’t fly a pigeon through the middle but one of the starlings that nest in our eaves might be able to have a go.

Pile of tree branches on grass
Just some of what we took from the tree

In the end, we decided to stop before it got totally out of hand. Then, as it was still early February, the race was on to cut the wood and move it before dusk fell and we ended up working in the dark – again. Chopping it into pieces small enough to go into the garden recycling was a long and extremely tedious job. It would have been great to keep it all and to use the smaller twigs for kindling, but we decided life was too short (well, the day was anyway) and we had no chance of cutting it small enough to use before it went dark. We did manage to save some of the larger pieces for the fire but it will need some drying time, as it was too green to burn – a good job we have a nice dry woodshed!

Hopefully the tree will respond to our well-meaning attempts and continue to thrive, bringing the fleeting beauty of blossom in Spring and fruit in Summer and Autumn for many years to come.

 

Pink apple blossom
Last year’s blossom

 

Winter mornings

2 grey and white cats sleeping on a chair
~ New Simple Life ~ 4 Comments

I spoke at the beginning of the year about how inspired I had been by Monty Don’s Nigel to be a better writer as well as a gardener and one particular chapter, about how Nigel the Golden Retriever goes about getting his breakfast, resonated with me even more than the rest, reminding me of our own Calamity Cat and her morning routine.

The Princess and I are not morning people, especially at this time of year, when it is cold and miserable. Every morning when the alarm goes off in the dark bedroom, she and I both curl up tighter and pretend still to be asleep. D and the Calamity Cat, on the other hand, see each new day as an adventure waiting to be had, springing from the bed wide awake and chatting to each other about the first excitement of the day, which is, (at least for Calamity) – breakfast.

Grey and white cat asleep on purple bedding
“I’ll just stay here … “

If D dares to stop off in the bathroom for a shower or a shave first, she sits on the edge of the bath and tells him off. Occasionally, she even comes back to the bedroom to complain to me that he isn’t moving fast enough and she is quite hungry now please. The Princess and I react exactly as we do to the alarm – we pretend we are still asleep – so, in the end she goes back to D and continues to protest to him until he is ready.

I hear the clatter on the stairs as she bounds ahead of him, her legs almost going too fast for her, often getting under D’s feet on her way past. Once down, she has a quick check of any bowls left down overnight to make sure she hasn’t left anything and finishes anything still there as a quick starter before her main course.

While she eats, D usually takes the Princess’s breakfast up to the landing and tries to tempt her with it (a hangover from when she was ill a few years ago and we would have done anything to encourage her to eat). In the summer, she is up and waiting for it, her usual regal “You may serve me here” expression on her face. However, the winter is another story and she is just as likely to decide not to bother. She snuggles yet further into a ball as I drag myself out of bed and stumble downstairs, bleary-eyed. If she comes down at all, it isn’t usually for long – just long enough to confirm that the weather really is as bad as she feared and she really shouldn’t have made the effort to get up. Within minutes, she takes herself back to bed, grumbling about being woken up in the first place.

Meanwhile, Calamity has usually cleared her plate (and sometimes her sister’s) and decided that is enough hard work for a while. She leaps on to the radiator bed and settles down for a morning snooze. I watch all this, as a cup of tea slowly brings me round to face the day and I increasingly find myself wishing I was a cat too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to look at the weather and think “Hmm, maybe I’ll just stay here in bed”. I admire and envy D’s attitude, embracing the day with a new energy and enthusiasm, but I can’t do it – I have tried.

Grey and white cat on a sheepskin radiator bed
“Now for a hard day’s napping”

However, until my next incarnation (I am definitely coming back as a well-loved feline companion), I must continue to get up with the alarm and face the day as best I can. It will get better as the mornings get lighter and as we start to put our 2017 plans into action. We have made a start already – more on that next week – and I can’t wait for spring to arrive.

We wish you a Merry Christmas …

~ New Simple Life ~ 3 Comments

Yes, I know it is still early, but we are in full swing here. Tonight, I made the gravy for Christmas dinner, which will be frozen and then taken with us when we go to visit family on Christmas Day. It is a vegetarian gravy recipe I have never used before but I’m hopeful it will be perfect on the day. I nearly fell at the first hurdle though, when I realised I needed leeks for it. It was 6pm and dark. “D – I need a leek” was always going to be an interesting conversation. Five minutes later, we were both tramping up the garden in the rain, so that I could hold the torch while D located suitable leeks in the veg patch, pulled them up and trimmed them, putting the waste straight into the compost bin. The rosemary also came from the garden, although sadly we had to buy thyme and carrots. Our own thyme has not survived, being totally trampled by the chocolate mint, which grew like crazy throughout the summer. It’s a cut-throat world, that herb garden!

The kitchen soon smelled beautifully of roasted vegetables, garlic and fragrant herbs, which I then simmered in stock and cider. Once strained and reduced, it suddenly became a delicious gravy. It is now tucked into the freezer, waiting to be joined tomorrow by the cranberry and chestnut stuffing.

Roasting veg for the Christmas gravy
Yes it looks like soup but it’s gravy-in-making!

In spite of all the “help” from the cats, most of the gifts are now wrapped. We made sure we waited until they were asleep before we wrapped theirs. Just for a second, common sense prevailed. “Am I totally daft, wrapping presents for the cats?” I asked D. “Maybe”, was the answer “but let’s do it anyway. It wouldn’t feel right when we all open our stockings together on Christmas morning if their presents weren’t wrapped.” We remembered that last year, our first in the house, they received a toy that they both wanted and there was a real battle on the bed. We have learned this year, and have enough of the same toys to hopefully keep them both happy. Cats and small children – there are lots of similarities.

Mind you, the Calamity Cat is still keen to earn her keep. The logs have been inspected and the coal bunker is so full, she can’t get into it to check that is all satisfactory, so she has had to look for other employment. She has been catching up on the blog and was fascinated to hear about Sonny, Nina’s feline office assistant, who dropped in as a guest some weeks ago. “Hmm,” she thought, “that’s a job I haven’t tried yet”. She gave it a go, but supervising D all became too much quite quickly.

Grey and white cat asleep on a laptop
“It’s hard work, this …”

Next week, I am up in Scotland, enjoying an office Christmas with a Secret Santa and undoubtedly enough decorations up to make our twinkly Christmas tree look dull. My colleagues really know how to do Christmas! And then once I am back, it will be Christmas Eve and I will be all excited, waiting for Father Christmas to come down the chimney. We are hoping he’ll pick the dining room one, or it might be a bit warm for him! We have hung the stockings in there so hopefully he will know where he is going. We’ll be leaving a mince pie or two for him too, and a glass of home-made bramble wine. If anyone follows my Facebook page, you will know that we visited D’s family last weekend and one of his sisters gave us a bottle of wine that she had made. It seems fitting that even Santa will be getting home-brewed wine from us, even if not made by us.

So, I will be taking the next two weeks off from the blog, and I will see you all again in 2017. On behalf of myself, D and both the cats, I wish you a very happy, peaceful Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Bottle of homemade red wine, a full glass and an angel tealight holder
Merry Christmas everyone!

 

 

 

 

Advent antics

Christmas tree with bright coloured lights and gifts underneath
~ New Simple Life ~ 5 Comments

So December is here and Christmas is peeping round the corner. I am feeling particularly festive this year. Last year, we were so busy with the move that Christmas was just a chance to catch up on our sleep, so this year I really want to make the most of it.

It starts, of course, with the Advent calendar. I’m afraid I am a bit of a traditionalist, and there is no chocolate in sight in our calendar. It’s part of our family tradition that our dad sends us all one each year, always from the same range and I look forward to it every year. This year I have a house, and each window shows a family preparing for the excitement of Christmas. It is a real treat opening the window each day – one of the simple pleasures that epitomises the life we are creating here.

Advent calendar of a house
Phoenix cards advent calendar
advent-calendar-2
Detail of calendar

We couldn’t decide what to do about the tree. We have one in a pot that I have used for several years – it came down with us from Scotland and lives on our patio. Over the years, though, it has got bigger and heavier, and is in sore need of a bit of a prune to bring it back into shape. Reluctantly, we decided that bringing it in this year and getting it into the living room wasn’t an option. We had it in the dining room last year but it wasn’t the same somehow as having a tree twinkling in the corner of the lounge. So we went out to buy one instead. I’m not sure I have ever done that before and it was very exciting! We ventured into a village we had never been to before (which was beautiful. If we win the lottery, we may have to move …) and chose the perfect tree from the collection sitting in the corner of a farmer’s field. The car smelled gorgeous all the way home!

I thought the cats might be vaguely interested in a tree in the house but, after a quick sniff, Calamity decided it really wasn’t worth her while, at least until we had put some breakable ornaments on to it. The Princess barely even noticed it was there.

Grey and white cat by a Christmas tree
“So, where are the decorations then?”

There is something really special about bringing the Christmas boxes down from the loft, rediscovering lots of things from Christmases past. The nativity sets are always the first to appear and take pride of place in both lounge and dining room. And then the lights go on the tree and suddenly everything feels Christmassy. I have never had a themed or elegant tree – I believe Christmas is about fun and family, not looking like an interiors magazine. However, I would usually put plain lights on a tree and let the ornaments and the star shine through. D, on the other hand, had other ideas. He suggested buying new lights this year and picked up a set of multi-coloured lights with 8 different flashing sequences. Not quite what I had in mind but, you know, they make me smile every time I look at them, flashing away in the corner. We used the plain ones around a picture in the dining room to give that room a bit of sparkle as well. (Apologies for the size of this video – I can’t resize it!)

 

Putting the baubles on is my favourite part. We try and buy a new one each year (a Scottish Father Christmas was last year’s treat) but there are so many from previous years too that I love. We have one each for the cats, with their names on, and one in memory of my previous cat, who died at a ripe old age several years ago. A Christmas tree is so much more than just a tree – it contains so many happy memories and soaks up new ones, storing them for future years. A new star was the final touch (although it is a bit heavy and is currently sitting at a jaunty angle, as if it has been hitting the Christmas Baileys).

The only thing left to make it perfect is, of course, the presents. We had a lovely day last week with a friend who was down from Aberdeen, exploring the gift shops in York and buying gifts that are hopefully a bit different from the norm. We also sampled the mulled wine and cider at the Christmas market – well, you have to, don’t you! After the tree went up, we had a frenzy of wrapping and suddenly the cats started to see the point of Christmas. “Ooh, can we help? Let’s just sit here on this crinkly paper and supervise … ”

Grey and white cat sitting on Christmas wrapping paper
“What? I’m supervising!”

Having a pile of gifts for those we love under the tree gives me such a warm, happy feeling – it makes me smile almost as much as those crazy lights. We aren’t completely mad though. The cats’ present is well hidden in a cupboard – we wouldn’t put it past the Calamity Cat to find it and open it if it was under the tree. As it is, she keeps sitting outside the cupboard and letting us know she isn’t stupid and she knows it’s in there. Little does she know that we will be sending it to Father Christmas any day, so that he can deliver it safely into their stocking on Christmas Eve. She, like the rest of us, will just have to wait!

 

New Simple Life Mark 2…or, a cautionary tale of one woman and her tabby office assistant

Logo for Nina the Writer
~ New Simple Life ~ 2 Comments

So, as promised, this week I am delighted to welcome Nina Jervis as my very first guest blogger to talk about her own version of finding a new simple life. Without further ado, I give you – Nina the Writer!

Hello, please allow me to introduce myself.  I’m Nina, and I’ve been an avid follower of the lovely Lisa’s blog since she started it back in March, so when she asked me to write a guest post I jumped at the chance (rather like a cat onto a comfy sofa!).  I’ve started a new simple life too, you see, albeit a dissimilar one to Lisa’s.

One of the biggest differences between Lisa’s and my new simple lives is that instead of the natural, pastoral beauty of North Yorkshire, my story is set in the heart of TOWIE-land – Southend-on-Sea to be precise. That’s where I live, and I make no apology for it…most of the time.   It’s got a beach, and the longest pleasure pier in the world, and the cast of EastEnders go on holiday there a lot.  Come for summer!

Anyway, Southend just happens to be an hour or so’s commute from Central London.  I spent the longest fifteen years of my life travelling back and forth on the zombie commuter train to my rather uninspiring job as an HR Manager, before deciding I’d had enough, quitting in June, and starting my own business as a freelance writer.

Now I know what you might be thinking; that doesn’t sound very simple – and you’d be right!  But there are some aspects of my new working life that have a touch of genuine simplicity about them.  Such as my shopping habit, which has had to be deftly curtailed since I’m not earning the money to cover it so much, or keeping myself warm by wrapping myself in woollens and a hot water bottle to save money on heating bills (I knew there was a reason I started this business in sunny June!)  There’s also my new office assistant, otherwise known as my tabby rescue cat, Sonny.

Tabby cat sleeping on a blanket in a home office
Sonny “supervising” in the office

I’ve started to think my transition to a new simple life has affected Sonny more than it has me.  The biggest challenge for him has definitely been getting used to having me around all day, when he’d been used to having the entire house to himself until the early evening – and when I suspect he spent lots of time lying around on all the furniture he shouldn’t have been anywhere near, judging by the little tufts of fur I’d find on my ‘nice’ armchairs!

And it’s not true, I’m afraid to say my dear Lisa, that cats sleep anywhere.  At least, not in the plush places specifically designed for them.  Sonny sleeps on various mats and teatowels, or the space on the sofa next to me where my boyfriend also likes to sit (very often, there are battles). But not, for example, the cosy hooded cat bed on which I spent my last £25, because it was getting cold and I wanted him to be extra-warm as winter comes.  I tried putting treats inside it, like the nice lady at the pet shop said to, but this only earned a “Sonny just thinks of that thing as a giant food bowl, now,” from my boyfriend.  Which was true.

 

Tabby cat sitting next to an igloo-style cat bed
Cat bed? You mean the giant food bowl?

But I call Sonny my “office assistant” because while he doesn’t actually help me with my admin (perish the thought, with those claws!) he makes my working days a lot more calm and happy than my old office colleagues ever did.  Sonny spends most of his time these days curled up next to me on the sofa, or on his fleecy mat in my makeshift office, and if I start to worry about my uncertain working future I only have to look over at him purring away in his sleep to know that not only did I make the right decision to work from home, but also that my lovely cat chose me to live with – hooded cat bed or no hooded cat bed – and so everything will be OK in the end.   In a lot of ways, I like to think Sonny has chosen a new simple life too.

Thank you, Nina. It’s great to hear that your new simple life is working so well for both you and Sonny – he is a very handsome chap! To find out more about Nina and follow her own blog, go to www.ninathewriter.com

It’s a big wide world out there …

Aberdeen rooftops in the sunshine
~ New Simple Life ~ 3 Comments

As regular readers know, I love my home. I love the cosy house, the garden and being with my little family and I need some pushing to get me out, even for an evening. We have had a few social events recently – a friend’s birthday party up in Scotland (good excuse to catch up with some old friends and wow people with our dancing) and our semi-regular visit to the village club for the quiz night. Don’t be too shocked but last week, we actually won! For a team called “Bottom Again” (as that’s our usual finishing point), we were pretty impressed. It was probably down to the music round, which was TV theme tunes and sounded like a musical romp through our weekly viewing – Antique’s Roadshow, Grand Designs, Countryfile … You get the picture. By the time we got to Gardener’s World I think we had lost any credibility with the two twenty-something young women who were on the team with us, but how else are we supposed to learn how to manage the garden? Monty Don – my hero! (Not to mention Nigel and Nell, the dogs, the real stars of the show).

I do have a couple of weeks away now anyway. This week, I am on my monthly pilgrimage to Aberdeen to go into the office. It’s a warm, sunny Autumn up here as well and it reminds me just how beautiful this city can be. The view from my bedroom window up here is a bit different from the fields at home (the one at the top of every blog page) but I’m sure you will agree no less impressive:

Rooftops view of granite buildings in the sunshine
View from my bedroom window in Aberdeen

Then, once I get back from Aberdeen, it’s down to Nottingham for the second week of my curtain-making course. I am so excited! I have been practising hard, matching patterns, finishing valances, creating another curtain sample and now I am ready to go and face Roman blinds and swags and tails. Last weekend, we went to Waltons Mill (http://www.waltonsfabrics.co.uk/) in Boroughbridge to buy what I needed. I was like a child in a sweet shop – I have never seen so much fabric in one place. They had a range of Roald Dahl fabrics that caught my attention (once a librarian …) and I was so tempted by the one covered in scary black spiders. In the end, though, I decided that probably wouldn’t be good to include in my portfolio, so I went for the Giant Peach fabric instead. So, this was my collection for next week – what do you think?

Collection of fabrics on a table
I can’t wait to transform these!

For now, though, I am looking forward to being back at home with D and the girls. He is in charge down there at the moment and it sounds like, with the weather wetter than here, he has two grumpy cats on his hands. “We want to go out” they keep telling him. Not that he is stopping them but they don’t like the rain. “Make it stop” they wail at the patio door, as if it must be his fault. In the end, they go upstairs to sulk. D has a particularly challenging jigsaw to do and for some reason, they both seem to think it makes a cosy place to sleep (Cats sleep anywhere, remember?) The Princess was particularly disgruntled at being moved the other day and poor D got bitten for his temerity. Not that she hurts – but she certainly makes her point. It’s amazing how quickly they forget the great outdoors once that fire is lit though, and I miss my evening snuggles in front of the TV with them all when I am not there.

So, as I will be away on my course next week, I won’t have a regular post for you. However, I am very excited to announce that I will be hosting my very first guest post instead. I will be leaving you all in the very capable hands of the lovely Nina Jervis (https://www.ninathewriter.com/) who has been successfully pursuing her own New Simple Life and is dropping by to tell you all about it. I am sure she will keep you all entertained and I would ask you all to give her lots of support as she is fab at what she does. And by the time I am back the following week, I will be a nearly fully-fledged curtain and soft furnishings maker!

 

“Cats sleep anywhere”

Cat on scratching post bed and cat in armchair
~ New Simple Life ~ 2 Comments

Does anyone remember the poem:

Cats sleep anywhere,
Any table, any chair
Top of piano, window-ledge,
In the middle, on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe,
Anybody’s lap will do,
Fitted in a cardboard box,
In the cupboard, with your frocks-
Anywhere! They don’t care!
Cats sleep  anywhere.
                                                                                    (Eleanor Farjeon)

My aunt used to recite this to me when I was a child and it has always stayed with me. I have been repeating it to myself a lot in recent weeks as the cats are settling in for the winter. We don’t have a piano and I don’t remember anything in the poem about an old rucksack lying on the study floor (a favourite spot for the Princess) but you definitely get the idea. As the season draws on, both cats have decided that they are warmer indoors, so they are both often to be found snoozing in a variety of beds around the house. The Princess loves the sofa bed in the dining room and has also adopted Calamity’s radiator bed. Calamity isn’t too bothered – she has rediscovered her all-time favourite home: her giant scratching post. It has three sleeping platforms inside it and a cosy bed on the top. She used to love it in Scotland but hasn’t really used it since we got here. As it is so huge, I was considering getting rid of it and she was clearly horrified by that idea. “You can’t do that – it’s mine!” We only realised she was using it when D went to move it slightly and she shot out of one of the holes, complaining loudly at being woken up. Since then, she has stuck to the bed on the top, safely visible, and has been there every day, making it clear that I am not even to think about putting it on Ebay.

Grey and white cat sitting on top of scratching post
“Leave my scratching post alone!”

They are also obsessed with cupboards – they have clearly read the poem too. We have a lot of storage in the hall and the study and one or both of them often sit gazing hopefully at the doors, trying to get in. Calamity has been known to sit crying until we open the door for her, even if it’s a cupboard she has never shown any interest in before. D recently converted a spare wardrobe in the study, to make a cupboard for me to store fabric and sewing machine for my curtains. Calamity was desperate to help and insisted on getting in to inspect his work on a regular basis. Even the Princess has deigned to have a peek inside. It doesn’t quite live up to the airing cupboard, with its stack of cosy towels to curl up on, but it will do at a pinch.

Of course, nothing matches up to the fire. We are lighting it every night now, following a log delivery last week (our log store up in the garden is totally full for the first time since we arrived here). I have learned the hard way that spreading my curtain samples on the rug in front of the fire to do some hand sewing was not a good plan. Calamity was convinced I had spread out a new blanket especially for her and took great pleasure in sitting on it, meaning I couldn’t do anything with it at all. Maybe she was reminding me that I still haven’t made them any cushions for the bookcase under the window in the study.

 

Grey and white cat lying on a curtain
“Hmm, nice soft interlining – I approve!”

 

The combination of less exercise, the fact they are still eating us out of house and home and the arrival of their winter coats means that both girls are looking pretty enormous at the moment. The Princess, in particular, always looks splendid through the winter, tending to lose condition in the summer. It is getting harder to tell them apart from a quick glance.  Often, the easiest way to tell is by seeing where they have chosen to settle.

Cats sleep anywhere, it’s true – but they definitely each have their special spots.

2 grey and white cats asleep on a brown knitted blanket
Snoozing peacefully together