Stray Cat Strut and Other Tales

We had a wonderful weekend, visiting, wandering about and seeing the sights. Mr. DD picked up Young Mr. DD at the bus station on Saturday morning.  Young One came from Vancouver to pick up the rest of his things and take them back in a UHaul trailer.  He was only here overnight, but we were all happy to see him, Morris especially:

On Saturday afternoon, Young Ms. DD and I went to PetSmart, where she volunteers to play with the cats waiting to be adopted, clean cages and make sure the cats are healthy, well-fed and watered.  There were four kittens of various ages and sizes there.  I forgot to take my camera along and Ms. DD is none too fond of having her picture posted, but there is no shortage of cats around.  Ms. DD has five "foster" cats.  (I put that in quotations because there isn't a chance she's parting with any of them.)

Helena, who lives next door to Ms. DD, helps run the Okanagan Humane Society, which has a no-kill policy for its animals.  Sad to say, as of yesterday, there were 320 cats waiting to be surrendered. Helena is understandably rather passionate about animal rights. She rescues many animals from drug houses and takes a lot of cats into her home.  At last count, I was told she has 35.  (Her house is charming, by the way, with a wonderful garden.  She dropped off fresh pears for Ms. DD this morning.)  There's a large cat run in her back yard and the upper floor of her house is modified to suit the cats.

If you've read the Wanda Gag story, "Millions of Cats," you'll get the idea of what life is like around here. I love it, but it's rather unsettling for Morris, who can't understand why he's not allowed to play with all those furry creatures.

Here is Mia, who is deemed to be rather unfriendly to most strangers, but who apparently likes me:

This is Lex.  He's annoyed at me because I flashed a camera light in his face, but he's a real cuddler and a most handsome cat.  He also likes to stir up trouble with Rambo, the other male cat in the house:

Chloe and Heidi are wary of strangers.  They both came from abusive homes.  They love Ms. DD and spend every moment they can on her lap, but they just barely tolerate me and run when they see the camera.

I managed to hit Art of Yarn in Kelowna, the day after we arrived here.  It's hard to believe, but I did not buy a single skein of yarn or a bit of fibre.  That's not to say that I didn't manage to buy anything at all; there is now a new Namaste Harlow bag in my possession. It's an even better travel bag than my Laguna-it's large, has a zippered opening (the Laguna uses magnetic closures), lots of pockets, handles and a body strap.  Besides that, it's purple.

I have finished Sybil, Project Number One of Road Trip Knitting.  She's drying in the back yard now.  The last time I checked, she was surrounded by a trio of tabbies who were sitting around, although not on, the damp knitting.

When I'm not knitting or playing with cats, I walk and walk and meditate.  I am filled with great, good fortune.

Namaste.