Home is where the cats like

Oops ... think I am displaying a big carbon footprint.

This is such a good home for the cats. They can sit outside all evening slaying moths and stalking cockroaches to their hearts content. Wish they could do something about the blasted cricket. And the cicadas during the midday sun. And the bats high in the tree. And the cockatoos that trash my yard. At least they keep the Noisy Minors noisy.

Outdoor living

Details from my courtyard prior to going to Melbourne.


I will clean it all up tomorrow and Friday, recover from the 30+ days, and then show you some more at the end of the weekend. I have decided to cease buying cut flowers for inside, so will think about a Peace Lily and a Golden Cane palm to go with the Aspidistra and the Money plant.

Missing? Who me?

I was just stooging around the bin area in that dopey looking block of flats 10 doors along in Glenmore Road. She shoulda known that smart sassy cats (loik me) always go on scrounge-patrol when its dark!

Geez, I got her a beauty when she tried to pick me up, though. Was okay being back "home", I guess. Dying for a drink!

Care and responsibility

This was taken on Tuesday evening, yesterday. I have not seen him since he scarpered up those stairs and out of sight. I have checked the roadside gutters. I will give him more time. Having heard that animals can somehow navigate their way home, tomorrow I will go over to Kirsten's apartment to check. Then, I guess, I have to ring them.

And I think he was having a good time, at least he said he was.
Bugger ...

Thurs 31 December
Still no sign when I awoke, so went around the back and through all the lanes and alleys. Nothing. I texted D&K. I walked over to Double Bay and combed the joint: inside, on the balcony, in the fire-well, in the garbage disposal area, in the gutters. Nothing.

Let K&D know again. This afternoon. I pinned up two MISSING posters on poles in walkway areas. Then combed the area again taking a wider arc and walking down every every every alley I noticed. I cannot see his body in any gutters.

I met a lady who said there is a pack of feral cats down near White City, cross Alma Street, walk alongside the murrayas, cross the little bridge and then stand there ever so quiet. They will come out. Won't let you get within a bull's roar though. I will do this tomorrow.

Fri 1 January
Wrote out two more big posters for light poles. One outside the corner store. Spoke with two neighbours. Wrote out 16 smaller notes and put them into letter boxes on either side and me being on a corner are the wedge. Looked over the large grounds of the nursing home where my Dad is. Nothing.

Nothing nothing nothing.

Grass without a lawn

Joan had a clump of delightful looking silver Fescu near the entry to her driveway. The green eyes immediately glowed - I must get me some of that!

However, being a little less mobile than before, I have settled for the achievable instead. May I introduce to you two clumps of "Purple Fountain Grass" which, the label trumpets, is a Sterile Hybrid. Mmmm ... manufactured specifially for we the indescriminate consumer. If we want more, we have to buy it - not breed it.

As Diana "Bubbles" Fischer used to say, "And it comes in such lovely colours!"

Lavender - lavandula dentata

There are quite a few variations upon Lavender down in the nursery. I have not investigated, but I think the lavendula may be a poor man's lavender: one not grown for cut flowers, or for oil but purely for pleasure. Corrections welcome.

The flower spike to this one is quite different for others down there.

And the container from yesterday was a gift from a couple of friends for my 60th last year. I had asked for "something old and junky" and they found this which was labelled turkish.

Baby's Breath is really gypsophila and is a bit like an incredibly small daisy.

New additions

After the kids brought over their cat for his sleepover whilst they jet off to a wedding in Hawaii, I wandered up the hill to the Paddington Markets in the grounds of the Public School up on Oxford Street. I bought this lavender for $6, an alyssum for $2 and 5 Babys' Breath for $2 each.

My lemon tree, lime tree, daphne and two of my gardenias have new shoots. Two other gardenias are in grave trouble.