The gulls are back!!

On my way home from breakfast at a local restaurant this morning I was greeted to the sounds of Ring-billed Gulls.  I saw them hovering near the road and did the proverbial double take!  I thought to myself "I guess spring actually is coming!"

This played out as I was rushing to get some groceries and head back home as another winter storm was about to hit us with around 20 cm of snow!  Yup - there is a blizzard out there as I write this.

I remembered writing a similar blog posting on gulls and was curious to see the date.  It was March 9th, 2011 and you can read it here.  It is eerily similar in that a snowstorm was about to hit then too.  

Gulls don't seem to have their schedule quite as finely tuned as Swallows (at least those in Capistrano if we believe the stories) but they are just as amazing to me.  Just like the return of Canada Geese and Red-winged Blackbirds, they are a welcome sight and sound!

Sweet-Young, Willow and The Beatles

I was browsing on the website Fine Art America and came across this wonderful painting called "And I Love Her".  You can see it here.  

The artist mentions how, when he hears The Beatles' song of that name, his late, wee tabby always comes back to him.

Well, I was moved by both his art and his words and I started to listen to The Beatles track on YouTube here.  

Suddenly my cat Willow appeared at my side and wanted to get up on my lap. She listened to the song with me.  I'd like to think that she felt the presence of Sweet-Young too.

She is the one on the right in the photo above, sharing a cat nap with Sweet-Young.

A lovely cat named "Sweet-Young"

I know it has been awhile since I made a posting.  I guess I needed some motivation. Well, a beautiful cat named "Sweet-Young" is my motivation tonight.

This sweet, gentle cat came into my life sixteen years ago and she left it four days ago.

I often told her, especially during these last months, how I fell in love with her at first sight.  A colony of homeless cats came to my attention those sixteen years ago and as I tried to help them, it became necessary to give them descriptive names and I often referred to her as the "sweet, young one".  The name stuck although I was embarrassed at the vet clinic and changed it to Tamu (which means "sweet" in Swahili).  Mind you, that was only for their files because she always remained "Sweet-Young" to me.  And she always remained sweet  - but alas, not young.

Her gentle nature was evident through all the years and through all the turmoil of bringing in homeless strays to live with us.  She often took a young one "under her wing" and became a surrogate mother.

One such kitten was a tiny black and white one that I named Darcy.  Darcy grew up to be a tall, handsome cat and he fell in love with her as hard as I did.  Although she was becoming more delicate these last few months, she never rebuffed his loving advances of face rubbing and cuddling although the look on her face betrayed her dismay on occasion and I had to intervene so as to give her some peace.

Darcy and I are both missing her terribly.

Another video - deer

Deer in the Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary - Ontario.

Fox videos

I recently have been transferring my old video tapes onto my computer.  I hope you enjoy this sampling.

(I suggest you do not make them full screen as I notice that the resolution is significantly degraded in the upload unfortunately).

Here is a 1 minute clip of fox kits playing.  It was taken a few years back.

And here is a 2 minute clip of the kits when they were a little older.  As you will notice, these kits were observed in a cemetery.

And lastly, here is a very short clip of the mother fox.  It should be noted that both parents help in the rearing of the kits who, having been born in the spring, stay with their parents until the autumn.

Cat mischief

I don't know what I did to make my cat Darcy feel a need for revenge.  In fact we had had a nice cuddling session just minutes before.  But this is what I found when I went into the bathroom this afternoon:

And here is the guilty party!  (He even looks guilty!)

Saying goodbye

Yesterday I made the decision to end the life of my beautiful, loving cat Firefly. 

Fifteen months ago the vet found a soft mass in her abdominal region.  Given her age (over fourteen years), I made the decision back then that I would not put her through invasive tests or surgery but would monitor her condition and provide euthanasia when I felt it was time.  The mass continued to grow but her appetite was excellent (lots of scolding on her part if her dinner wasn't on time!) and her activity level and behaviour remained normal. 

But yesterday I finally felt that I had to take action before the tumour created an emergency situation (they can burst and lead to internal bleeding and death) or any loss of quality of life.  It was, thankfully, a gentle death at the competent hands of a caring veterinarian.

Firefly came to live with me in 2001 and despite her life as an abandoned cat out on the streets for at least three years, she was one of the sweetest tempered cats I have had the privilege to know.  Firefly and Micha both lived on the streets and were great friends. 

When Micha disappeared I knew it was only a matter of time before Firefly would likely come to a bad end as well and I then brought her in to live with me.  We had twelve happy years together.  She always was a gentle creature who would get my attention by either "twanging" the door stop or by sitting on the table behind the couch and putting her nose in my ear.  Her soft breath and bristly whiskers would get me up to fill her food dish.

She leaves a space in my life that can not be filled.  There are many of these spaces left empty by other cats that once graced my life.  Yet despite the sorrow, my life has been enriched immeasurably by having known and loved, and been loved by, these wonderful, perfect creatures.