Polly

Well, here she is, Polly, who is about 3 we think. The first night she miaowed like a baby, but I stuck it out, remembering what Maya said, not to let her become a 'fussy pants'. She was right, Maya, that is ... not a sound since. Saturday was the end of her first week and coincided with a sunny and warm (relative) day. So we sat in the porch (first time this year) with the door home and she made a few forays around the front of the house. She perseveres with Mum who gives in and strokes her.

When we got her she was rather matted - she has long and thickish hair - and we were advised to take her to the vet and get the lumps cut out under sedation. Well, we did, and she wouldn't speak to me for 24 hours afterwards: i think to do with putting her in the cat basket. The girl at the vets is Sandra's (Lunna) sister. We recognised each other and she asked after Gudrun ('heard a lot about Gudrun'). Anyway, I bought a comb so that we could prevent Polly getting matted again. I tried it out yesterday and found out quickly why she had got matted in the first place. One stroke of the comb and, as quick as a cobra, she wrapped herself around my hand with drawn claws, took my hand in her mouth and bit, not to break the skin but just enough to let me know what she could have done! We looked at each other. 'Okay,' I said, and she walked off with her tail in the air. Trouble is that it cost 30 quid to get her dematted in the first place. Any advice cat lovers?

Saturday, I tried Gudrun's yoghurt soup recipe. It's the sort of soup you take, either before you go out in the freezing cold for 4 hours or when you've just come in after 4 hours! And, I only put in the minimum of hot stuff. I really liked it but unfortunately Mum didn't, now I have about five pints of it in the fridge. Mind you, when I made minestrone the other day I found that Mum was pushing all the kidney beans aside. I did a little rearranging and I had kidney bean soup and she had minestrone-lite.