“Pussycat, pussycat . . . . . .

where have you been – I’ve been up to London to visit the Queen“. ( from a traditional Nursery Rhyme).

Well,  our puss hasn’t been very far lately.  The older she gets the more she likes the warmth of the house and her long sleeps.  She also has a very set routine. At night she insists on having my husbands lap for her evening snooze: I’m second choice if he’s not around!  The she has to be bullied to go out for a short while before bed.  Once back in she has a cosy little sheepskin lined bed in the kitchen, which initially she shunned; preferring  a chair.  Now she is stiffer and climbing up on chairs is taxing she has begrudgingly adopted her new bed  and is always curled up contentedly when I go  downstairs to make tea first thing.  However, after her breakfast she will creep up to my bed, have a little roll around and make herself comfortable for the rest of the morning.  If really cold she will secrete herself down under the covers, unseen, and has nearly been sat upon many a time.  If the winter day is dry and sunny she will stalk round the garden and yard for a while, but not for too long.  The days of batting swallows out of the sky as they swoop across the yard are long gone ( thank goodness) ; although, she still manages to catch the occasional mouse however slow she is getting!

(Little sketch done today)

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)