Yesterday (Father's Day) was a glorious day. We ate pancakes and soaked up the spring weather with afternoon tea in our front garden and first play session in the sandpit for quite some time.
But it was preceded by an up and down couple of weeks.
Our washing machine died. But on the up side, it had been on it's way out for some time, so I had already lined up the machine we were going to buy, and it's proving to be superb.
Then A had her first cold. With a chaser of fever, ear infection and bronchiolitis. Our smiling, settled, happy baby disappeared and was replaced by a washing generating, grizzling, waking-uping baby, who thankfully disappeared after a few days of medication, to be replaced by a gleeful, rolling, moving baby. Good, but a bit of a readjustment going on here now.
And then our cat disappeared. Walter has disappeared a couple of times before. But this time we sense that it might be for good. He hasn't been hanging out in his usual haunts, and we haven't had any response to the letterbox notices we distributed last week.
He was out of sorts before he left. A neighbouring cat has been frequenting our garden and staking a claim to his turf. He ended up with an abscess on his face from one fight, necessitating a trip to the vet, which is an experience he hates with a vengeance. He had been getting restless about his sleeping spot in the house, and seemed to have difficulty deciding on a new nook after I let him know that my knitting wasn't an acceptable option. And I suspect that the sight of a mobile baby, a baby whose standard response to the sight of him was to squeal with delight and wave her hands around in palpable excitement, may have made him a bit uneasy. So, after 15 years or so, he seems to have decided not to come home, just as his sister did about 7 years ago (we found out a couple of years ago that she lives about 3 doors down, over the back fence). Veritable proof that you don't own cats- they choose to live with you. No real good side to that story. We just hope he's OK, and happy, and knows that we'd welcome him back with open arms any day.
*Photo: hand prints the kids and I made for Daddy for Father's Day (without getting paint everywhere, by some miracle). When C was making his prints, I told him to imagine he was giving Daddy a warm hug.
Oh, Walter. I hope he's just off on a little restorative vacation before settling in back home.
ReplyDeleteThe upside to NOT doing Father's Day until a week after everybody else? All the FABULOUS tips and ideas I have for this weekend.
We used to have a cat that lived with us for about 7 yrs and then would only VISIT US when my grandmother came down for holidays! She loved cats and he must have known when she was back visiting because after a day or so there he would be waiting. This went on for a few years too and then he never returned and we dont know what happened to him. I do hope your September is much better than August and that Walter returns.
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