(More) Lessons learnt... from a cat!

• Make the world your playground.
• Whenever you miss the sandbox, cover it up.
• Dragging a sock over it helps.
• If you can't get your way, lay across the keyboard till you do.
• When you are hungry, meow loudly so they feed you just to shut you up.
• Always find a good patch of sun to nap in.
• Nap often.
• When in trouble, just purr and look cute.
• Life is hard, and then you nap.
• Curiosity never killed anything except maybe a few hours.
• Variety is the spice of life.
• One day, ignore people; the next day, annoy them, and play with them when they're busy.
• Climb your way to the top, that's why the curtains are there.
• Make your mark in the world, or at least spray in each corner.
• Always give generously; a bird or rodent left on the bed tells them, "I care".

Lessons learnt

• Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
• Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.
• Open door and remove cat from closet.
• Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
• Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
• Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc. . .
• Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
• Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
• Remove present from bag.
• Remove cat from bag.
• Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
• Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
• Try and smooth out paper, realize cat is underneath and remove cat.
• Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
• Throw away first sheet as cat chased the scissors, and tore the paper.
• Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting cat in the bag the present came in.
• Place present on paper.
• Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize cat is between present and paper. Remove cat.
• Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.
• Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
• Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
• Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
• Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
• Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
• Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
• Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
• Put present in box, and tie down with string.
• Remove string, open box and remove cat.
• Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for locked room.
• Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.
• Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close and relock.
• Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear cat from outside door)
• Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)
• Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because cat helped with this last year as well.
• Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
• Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.
• Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
• Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.
• Spend 15 minutes looking for cat until coming to obvious conclusion.
• Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
• Go to store and buy a gift bag

Mnr Sphynx

Nothing is more majestic in this world than catching a glimpse of a cat lying proud, arms stretched in front of him, head held high -- mirroring the great Sphynx who came before him. - Larry H. Corbett, Jr., 20th century philosopher

Thomas en sy (ander) groot liefde... Mitzi

To err is human; to purr is feline. - Robert Byrne

Spieëltjie, spieëltjie aan die wand...

...wie is die mooiste in die land?

"The thing about cats, as you may find, is that no one knows what they have in mind." --John Ciardi

Cats & dogs ;-)

A dog thinks:"Hey, those people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me.....They must be gods!"

A cat thinks:"Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, me, and take good care of me..... I must be a god."--Unknown author

Kos, eet, kos, eet...

Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties. - W.L. George, American writer

Die beste geskenk...

... is Thomas!

Toe ek begin het om geskenke toe te draai, het hy sommer in die sak by die ander gaan klim!

"When a cat adopts you, there is nothing to be done about it except to put up with it and wait until the wind changes." - T.S. Eliot

My vriendin, Emtia...

Ja, ja! Sy is my vriendin en dit kan net werk omdat sy weet wat Theophile Gautier geskryf het. Hy was 'n Franse filosoof... ek neem aan jy het dit geweet?

Wat? Jy weet nie wat hy geskryf het nie? Dis hoekom jy nie my vriend is nie! Hier is dit...

If you are worthy of its affection, a cat will be your friend but never your slave. It is difficult to obtain the friendship of a cat. It is a philosophical animal, one that does not place its affections thoughtlessly.

Thomas is een jaar oud!

Thomas verjaar die 16de Desember (want ek het so besluit). Vir sy verjaarsdag het hy Catnip en Fancy Feast gekry. Hy het die Catnip uitgeruik en oopgemaak voor hy verjaar het. Ek het geskrik, want hy was letterlik in die plastieksak en ek het gedink hy gaan versmoor in al die opwinding. Die Fancy Feast is verorber voor ek dit kon afneem, maar die Catnip effek is duidelik sigbaar op hierdie foto...



Unlike us, cats never outgrow their delight in cat capacities, nor do they settle finally for limitations. Cats, I think, live out their lives fulfilling their expectations. - Irving Townsend

Emtia het haar Marokkaanse goed opgehang, maar...

... ek is die mooiste op die foto!



The cat is nature's beauty." --French proverb

Wat is die punt...

....van ons uitsig as 'n kat dan nie eens die voëls van nader kan beskou nie?

Thomas hou van die balkon. Ek is nie seker waarna hy saans kyk nie, maar op hierdie foto (Donderdag voor werk) het daar 'n hele klomp voëltjies amper op sy oog-hoogte rondgevlieg. Of dalk... het hy sommer net gekyk hoe die son opkom of dalk... het hy ook gedink die son lyk goed op sy pels ;-)

"If you, like me, were made of fur and sun warmed you, like me, you'd purr." --Karla Kuskin

The cat who doesn't act finicky...

...soon loses control of his owner. - Morris (the cat)

En net die volgende dag...

...was hy weer 'mamma se seuntjie'! Geslaap.... en geslaap en bietije gaan eet en drink en weer geslaap...

"Drowsing, they take the noble attitude of a great sphinx, who, in a desert land, sleeps always, dreaming dreams that have no end." --Charles Baudelaire

Tom en sy trawant het die hele dag in die koppie gespeel...

... en hy het nie kom eet nie, kon my blykbaar nie hoor nie.

Ek verstaan nou...

For a man to truly understand rejection, he must first be ignored by a cat. - Anonymous

MAAR, aan die ander kant...

The best exercise for a cat is another cat. - Jo and Paul Loeb, American animal trainers and writers

Thomas maak soos 'n kat!

A Cat's hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. - Stephen Baker

En wanneer hy nie slaap nie....

Cats are soft-furred mammals, who are mildly and clumsily predatory. They have anywhere from two to a dozen neurons. The baseline intellect of a cat has two states. (1) Chow state (feeding frenzy); and (2) Sleep mode (unconscious on your bed with whiskers twitching). - Elaine Richards

Snoozzzzzz....

Cats sleep anywhere; any table, any chair, top of piano, window ledge, in the middle ... on the edge. - Eleanor Farjeon

Op die bed, in die middel of op die kant as jy dit sou verkies of op jou plek op die bank, in die kas .... en my Thomas is nie die uitsondering hier nie!

Hy word duidelik groot en ek reken hy slaap omtrent 15 ure per dag op die stadium.

Versierings...

"Cats are living adornments." --Edwin Lent

En daarom het ons nie ander Kersversierings nodig nie (dink Thomas blykbaar). Hier het hy die Kersfeesballe bekruip en net voor dit het hy die liggies probeer afhaal.

Wat maak hy?

Ek weet ook nie... dalk is ons nie veronderstel om te weet nie? Hy sit-hang soms so uit by die vensters. Soms met 'n gehoor (mense of katte) en soms sommer op sy eie.

A cat is a puzzle for which there is no solution. - Hazel Nicholson

Al die juniors kry name!

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, "Can he name a kitten? - Samuel Butler

Belinda het die toets geslaag! Die babas het name... Nemo, Sandals, Arial & Sylvester. Die foto is van die 'gesinnetjie' se splinternuwe naamplaatjies.