Now we are three

Last night, after a long work day I returned home with the idea of some chicken legs in the oven and a very large glass of wine. The dogs seemed to be OK, I made sure that they had been outside and I retired to my room. As I entered the house I shouted hello but nobody answered or if they did they didn't put much of an effort into it so I just assumed that they wanted to be undisturbed. Because it was so late I didn't ask if anyone wanted to join me in my late evening repast and while the food was cooking I prepared my room for the evening. Lights, camera, sound etc. No, but really, I set my laptop up and I chose the film "Ring of Bright Water" a film I first saw when I was a very young person. Over the years one forgets things but I have always remembered the role of Angus and his terrible deed. None-the-less, it still made me cry.

After the film and one or two glasses of wine I was ready for bed but before retiring I had to take the dogs for a walk. There is a beautiful autumn full moon at the moment and last night the skies were clear and the light was magical. The girls had less enthusiasm than I, but the cats made up for the dogs reticence by escorting us with a loud meow and an elegant swagger as we went along. We came back to the house and it was just too delicious to go back inside and so I sat on the door step and the girls sat around me and we just looked into the night. What was going through the minds of the animals as we sat there in the middle of the night starring at the stars in the sky I can't imagine but it was a very nice moment. Eventually of course we had to go in. I let the dogs in and then went to the toilet. When I came out I locked the door for the night and started for my room. To get to my room I have to climb the little staircase from the hall to my room and I was surprised to see Luna sitting there instead of being snug as a bug in a rug in her basket. Then, when I looked into her basket I could see why. There in the half light I saw a neatly curled up figure of the tortoiseshell cat. (I don't have a name for her). I didn't have the heart to move her. She is really rather poorly at the moment with a bad eye and she seems to be very old and more than a little blind. In my tipsy state I made the split decision to let her stay in for the night. I climbed the stairs to my room, collected the dog's day blanket and took it into the hall to make a new bed for Luna. She obediently lay down on it but gave me a look to kill. Something of mix between total shock and obtuse disbelief. A cat, and in her basket to boot! Well, it was enough to make me laugh and so I did.

This morning I awoke somewhat too late to extricate the cat before anybody saw her and so later when I was coming out of the toilet Lisa commented that the cat had been inside the whole night. I decided to play dumb and didn't really say anything other than to ask if the cat had done anything terrible in the house during the night. It was clear that Lisa was telling me in no uncertain terms that the cat should not have been let into the house but I really wasn't interested in hearing her opinion. The poor cats have to sleep outside every night and it is getting colder now ans she is old and well, what the hell do people have pets for?

Tomorrow I will put a picture of the cat on this site.

So for yesterday my three beautiful things were:

1. Giving a poor old cat a wonderfully warm and safe refuge for the night snuggled up in the dogs basket.

2. Seeing the most beautiful display of colours and weathers all in the space of a few minutes of each other. Washy blue cloud encrusted skies, black/blue cloud banks of menacing moments and oh, how the sun picked out the golden tops of the trees. It was the most beautiful sight to see.

3. Watching a lovely film and seeing that gorgeous scenery of heather land, mountains, sea, rivers and whitewashed cottages. I felt positively homesick.