Feline Friday with Rory

 We recently returned from a trip to Texas and got to spend some long-overdue time with our daughter & her fiance -- plus sweet Rory!

 

It does my heart good to see how happy this rescue kitty is in her home. Her house has low windows with wide sills, perfect for a kitty to perch and keep an eye on the wildlife. 

 

Outside are bunnies, squirrels, birds, tiny lizards, ducks, and of course neighborhood dogs and cats. All this outdoor activity keeps her busy from morning until night! I don't know how she finds the time, but somehow Rory still manages to work in a few naps.

 

While we visited, she only let me hold her for a few moments but that's ok. All I care about is that she is safe and loved, and there's no doubt about that!

Happy Feline Friday, y'all!

Feline Friday with Rory

 This past week, we visited Texas to see our daughter and her fiance...as well as sweet Rory! We hadn't seen them since last June so it was GREAT to be together again.

I'm pleased to report that Rory was quite friendly and didn't hide from us at all, as she sometimes does when new people come around. She wouldn't purr for me or sit on my lap for more than 10 seconds, but she was cheerful and playful. 

As a side note, Rory has HUGE feet. You can see in this photo how large they are, espcially when you compare them to Lily's dainty little feet!

 

 

 

 Rory has a new food puzzle which she proudly demonstrated. Her meowmy found it HERE on Chewy.com. She adds Rory's dry food to the puzzle to slow her down and provide a little intellectual stimulation!

To set up the puzzle, you simply put the dry food morsels into the little openings. Kitty has to swing the leaves to the side to access them. For extra smart kitties, you can drop a morsel down into the red ladybug, and kitty must slide the ladybug to get to it.

 

 Kitty is supposed to use her paw to fish the food out, but who has time for that? Rory just shoves her nose down into the puzzle!

It was great to see Cousin Rory again! Let's hope it's not TOO long before we can visit again!

HAPPY FELINE FRIDAY, Y'ALL!

Tray Obsession

We just returned from a nice few days' visit to Texas. We allowed a couple of days for the drive home, giving us extra time to stop in some of the many, many antique shops along the way. It was cold and drizzling (even spitting snow), making for the perfect atmosphere to spend some time perusing old stuff. It's been about a year since I've spent any time at all inside an antique shop and I'll confess, I felt a little out of practice at first. But it didn't take me long to get my bearings!

 

When in antique shops, I am on the lookout for these items, in no particular order:

* milk glass
* jadeite (at a reasonable price...trust me, it's NEVER at a reasonable price in an antique store)
* metal trays
* certain kinds of glass trays
* Hull pottery
* McCoy planters (My mom collected these planters, and now I understand why she loved them. I only kept one of her planters and sold the rest...something I deeply regret now!)
* dishes to match those I already have
* anything else that speaks to me... 😉

On this trip, I happened upon a set of 9 small trays for just $4.99. These trays match two large pinecone trays I found separately awhile back. I have a particular weakness for trays, and mid-century modern trays with pinecones are even better! These little guys couldn't be cuter. They'll be perfect in a drawer or on a bedside table. I use my trays all the time when crafting, organizing, or just for display.

I'm sort of obsessed with vintage trays, but not EVERY vintage tray. I like trays with a certain look -- typically modern, retro, or mid-century style. 

I've loved trays for a very long time. In fact, back in high school I came across this small tray featuring a primitive painting of a parade in Paris on Bastille Day.  I've kept the tray all these years tucked in a drawer or on my nightstand. Wherever I've gone, this tray has gone with me.

 

Recently when our elderly neighbor lady moved to a care facility, I stopped in at her family's garage sale. And what did I see? A larger version of my beloved tray! Of course, I immediately snapped it up. 

Who knew that there were large and small trays of the same design?

If one tray is good, then two (or ten!) must be GREAT!

Feline Friday

 Where's Lily?

I literally JUST opened the cupboard door and stepped away for a minute, only to return to this!

The cupboard was in dire need of cleaning anyway so I just let this intruder situation play out...

Soon she found that the going in was a lot easier than the coming out! Eventually, Miss Lily backed her way out, stepping gingerly onto the kitchen floor.

Oh, well...this was a good excuse to give the pots and pans cupboard a good tidy!

When I asked Lily about this little episode, she hid her face! She knew she'd been just a little bit ornery! :) 

 

No worries, she knows that her meowmy adores her -- and every little ornery thing she does!

Happy Feline Friday!

Feline Friday

 

What a sweet girl! I just love this photo, but what's even MORE remarkable about it that SPOUSE took it! I'd like to believe he recognized and wanted to capture Lily's extreme cuteness!

Whatever his motivation, I'm glad he took this adorable photo!

 

Happy Feline Friday, everyone!

Feline Friday

When you're Lily, EVERY DAY is LEG DAY! 😎

 

 

 

Feline Friday

Friends...truly, one of these days I intend to get back to posting more often than on Feline Friday. I have been busier than ever during this past pandemic year and I just can't seem to get my blogging act together! 

In the meantime, who ever tires of a cute Lily picture...or three? 😀

Lily often waits in the hallway while I'm doing yoga in my craft room/yoga "studio". One day this week after I finished, I walked out to see her and she coyly curled into a croissant shape. Look at both sets of feets!!!

 Next, she reached out her back toesies to touch my foot!

Then she touched both of my feet and my heart melted! This girl is just the sweetest kitty.

Happy Feline Friday!

Feline Friday: Bread Bandit Strikes Again!

A few years ago at St. Patrick's Day, I happened upon a display of Irish soda bread at our local grocery store. Long story short: I became obsessed. I've bought it every St. Patrick's Day since, even after my Ancestry DNA confirmed I'm no longer Irish as I once thought I was!

Flash forward to this year. Our grocery store is out of business so I decided to take matters into my own hands and try making a loaf of Irish soda bread myself. To my great surprise, it turned out well!

There's no yeast in this bread and only a bit of kneading so it goes together quickly. 

Our grocery store used to put green sprinkles on their bread so we tried it, too. We should have skipped the sprinkles or gone all-in with them as they don't show too much in the end!

 

 

 

 So the bread looked like this just out of the oven -- a bit shaggy but it's close to how it should look. I probably should have shaped it a bit better as it splayed out quite a lot in the center.

 

 

 

 

 But inside, it was nothing but Irish goodness!

 

 

Now here is where the story takes a turn (cue dramatic music):

 I froze some of the bread and left half of it out on the counter. 

Later, I was in the living room when I heard a peculiar THUD. It was Lily jumping up onto the counter. She sauntered across the sink and made her way directly, without hesitation, to the Irish soda bread! I could not believe my eyes as she OPENED HER MOUTH WIDE and started to bite down on the plastic wrap!

 

I stood there long enough to catch a picture but caught her before she punctured the plastic. I gently lifted her down to the floor. Of course, I gave her a tiny sample which she happily gobbled down with no butter added! It's clear that this wee bandit  is Irish, too!

Happy Feline Friday AND St. Patrick's Day
from our Wee Irish Soda Bread Bandit!

 

 

Feline Friday: Toast...er...Butter!

As I mentioned last Friday, Lily is a huge fan of parmesan salad dressing. She's also a huge fan of toast...er...butter! She loves little bites of toast, but only if they have sufficient butter. Lily says NO to dry toast!

Lily can detect the sound of the butter lid opening from anywhere, and even from a deep sleep! 

 

As soon as that lid cracks, she springs from her comfy napping spot and zooms to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, she positions herself near the toaster so the minute the toast is done, she's ready for her taste.

Special note: This happens to be raisin bread. Kitties (and definitely dogs) should never eat raisins. When Lily gets a taste of this kind of bread, she gets a tiny piece from the edge with no raisins. But usually, she just gets a taste of the butter!

 

Lily doesn't have to wait long because her meowmy likes toast that is barely toasted!

 

And luckily, Lily's meowmy likes butter, too! A little melted butter on Meowmy's finger is a great way to start the day!

 

 

 

 

Happy Feline Friday, friends!
jp and Lily

Feline Friday: Parmesan Cheeses!

Of the many types of people food that Lily adores, you can rank certain salad dressings at the top of her list, notably RANCH and PARMESAN. She always manages to get a tiny lick of whichever one is on the table, and lately it has been PARMESAN.

I don't know how, but she can detect it before the container is even open. Once it's open and on a salad, she is laser-focused on getting her tiny taste.

 

  And I do mean LASER-focused! She will stop at nothing!

 

 

 Don't believe me? Just watch!

Happy Feline Friday!

Here's to a great weekend!

 

Feline Friday

Lily has been up to her old tricks! Recently she became obsessed with sitting in the laundry room cupboard. Go figure! She would not rest until I made a spot for her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once inside her new perch, she surveyed the laundry room then quickly determined that doing laundry wasn’t that fun after all.

Good observation, Lily! 

Feline Friday

Wow, it's been crazy, dangerously cold for so many days now that we're losing track of time. We are very grateful that we are safe and warm. It's truly heartbreaking that so many people and animals are suffering.

We are keeping close tabs on our Texas peeps and so far, they are doing ok with no loss of power or water. Rory is staying as warm as she can and is reportedly spending most of her time like this:

 

 

Meanwhile back in Iowa, the situation is nearly the same! It's really quite amazing how many napping options Lily has at her disposal.

 

First, there's my white fuzzy robe:

 

There's her Expensive Cat Basket, always a favorite: 

 

 

Just to mix things up, there's the old Thermo blankie:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and there's also the inside of my brown sweatshirt (not sure how it got on the floor):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Then there's the old state fair blanket, supplemented with an old baby blanket:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there's the fuzzy cat mat, accented with same baby blanket:

Oh, there's my white robe again! Must be quite toasty. I wouldn't know...LOL

And her beloved white rug:

Hope everyone can stay as safe and warm as Lily!

Happy Feline Friday!