love cats

I can see why humans and cats have stuck together over time. In winter they act, quite conveniently, like a hot water bottle that you don’t need to fill up. They snuggle up to you and help keep you really warm.

The only problem is that often Fritz doesn’t want to sit near me, he wants to sit on me. He used to just sit on my legs. Recently, however, he’s taken to jumping up on my body, rather than the couch, and making himself comfortable. First it was my legs, now he jumps right onto my stomach. Although I appreciate the warmth and cuddles, this also entails him prodding his little feet into me while he circles round a few times trying to get his seating angle just right. I know, I’m a wuss, but he’s a reasonably heavy cat, and it’s bloody painful at times!

He is growing up to be a very cute cat though, and much more inclined to come and seek cuddles than he did before. He seems to do as he’s told more as well, and actually seems to listen to the ‘Stay’ command now when we open doors.

Now, if only I could train him to give back rubs and clean the house…

books, update 1

Today I finished ‘The Music of Dunes’ by Mike Williams (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2006). It was hard to put down and overall a total pleasure to read. I have to say though, everything I’ve read so far by Western Australian authors I’ve loved. I’m so impressed - our writers are producing some damn tasty fiction. But this book in particular, it really nourished the soul. It’s also one of the few books I’ve read lately that has had a happy ending.

If I wrote a book I’d want it to be like this. Well crafted, effortless to read. Full of beautiful imagery, emotion, a bit of philosophy, good humor, good music, good food. It gives value to the simplest but the best things in life. It was nice to read a story about characters who value the same stuff in life that I do. I also loved all the references to familiar music, musicians, and artworks. The adventures (or lack thereof) of Queen Anne (the protagonist’s cat) were hilarious, and the quiet companionship she provides really resonated.

So to update:

So far (in this challenge) I’ve read…

1. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K. Dick
3. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
4. Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin
5. In the Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondaatje
6. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
7. Paradise - Abdulrazak Gurnah
8. Gilgamesh - Joan London
9. Careless - Deborah Robertson
10. Milk and Honey - Elizabeth Jolley
11. The Music of Dunes - Mike Williams

Now I’ll finish reading:

The Well - Elizabeth Jolley (probably tomorrow if I’m so inclined - I’m about 2/3 way through - been a bit lazy lately and still haven’t knocked it off)

…Then I’ll return all my books to the library on Monday (oops - they’re overdue a few days) and hire some more. So I’ll post another update then on what I’m reading.

I hope to hire ‘Old Jazz’ by Mike Williams, which apparently precedes ‘The Music of Dunes’ and is linked to it.. or at least the protagonist is the same guy. I really enjoyed reading Ondaatje’s ‘In the Skin of a Lion’ and then ‘The English Patient’, so I was excited to find out that there was another part to ‘The Music of Dunes’. If I can find a copy of ‘Old Jazz’ at the library I’ll be reading them back to front, but oh well.

As I said in my last post, I have started reading:

White Noise - Don DeLilo (about 1/3 through)

No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan - Robert Shelton (about 1/3 through)

Come In Spinner - Dymphna Cusack & Florence James(about 1/4 through)

but I’ll see how I feel on Monday, and decide then whether to pick one of these back up, or to start on a library book instead.

Anyhow, cheerio for now.

books

Over at librarything I’ve started up a book challenge for myself - to read 50 books by the end of the year. This is completely unrealistic. I tend to be someone who values quality over quantity when it comes to books. But hey, I’ll probably get to 30 if I’m lucky. It’s not that I don’t have the time. I kind of just get distracted and start reading magazines or blogs and websites instead… I also have a bad habit of starting to read books, getting halfway through, getting distracted and eventually putting them back on the shelf or taking them back to the library.

So it’s unlikely that I’ll get to 50 books. But I guess it doesn’t really matter. The main reason I set the goal was mostly to keep myself reading something. The place I’m working right now doesn’t require me to do any reading or writing, and I’m afraid of losing my mind by not using it. It’s funny, too, that when you aren’t in a particularly stimulating environment, when you do read something you really suck it in like it has some kind of nourishment you need. I’ve always studied up to this point, so reading has been more a necessary chore than a pleasurable activity. So yeah. Anyway..

To spur myself on more I think I’ll post up my progress here on the blog, too.

Here is what I’ve read so far this year (pretty dismal effort, but the plus side is I enjoyed all of them):

1. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K. Dick
3. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
4. Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin
5. In the Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondaatje
6. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
7. Paradise - Abdulrazak Gurnah
8. Gilgamesh - Joan London
9. Careless - Deborah Robertson
10. Milk and Honey - Elizabeth Jolly

Now I’m reading:

11. The Well - Elizabeth Jolley (about 2/3 way through)
12. The Music of Dunes - Mike Williams (about 1/4 through)

And on-and-off I’m reading:

White Noise - Don DeLilo (about 1/3 through)
No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan - Robert Shelton (about 1/3 through)
Come In Spinner - Dymphna Cusack (about 1/4 through)

As you can probably see, my taste in books varies. I love post-colonial fiction and Australian fiction, and also really enjoy speculative fiction and some biographies. The theme that tends to tie the books I read together is generally that they’re quite gritty, realistic, confronting, and bare the ugly but profound bits of life. A lot of what I’ve been reading lately is stuff recommended while I was at uni, but now that I’ve nearly read most of them I’ve started to venture out to the local library. I mainly pick anything that has a ‘Premier’s Book Award’ or ‘National Book Award’ or similar sticker on the front. I also often pick books because they have an interesting cover or title.

If you know of a book that you think I might like, tell me! I’m always looking for more titles to add to my ‘to read’ list.

and i wonder, still i wonder, who’ll stop the rain

I couldn’t manage to get a shot of the sky outside, through the window,
without capturing the reflection of the light shades inside!
Kind of looks like there’s lanterns in the trees

It is forecast rain for the rest of the week. Which I usually don’t mind. However, today, I had to run some errands and get some groceries. I was wearing shoes like this. The rain was so heavy that it was flooding the sides of the road, and gushing down the carpark (the shopping centre is on a hill). Walking to the shops, my shoes got full of water. So I squish squishy squeek squished all through the shops. On the way back home I got even more wet, struggling to hold a huge umbrella and bags of shopping at the same time.

So I don’t mind rain, but I have to say, it sure can make you feel a bit cold, squishy, and miserable at times. It does make getting home a lot nicer though. Everything seems warmer, dryer and happier.

what’s on your fridge?

I wonder where the preoccupation with sticking stuff to fridges came from?

Our fridge is decorated with a calendar, a poem, some random magnets from businesses and the like who have given us their magnets, and other semi-important household stuff that we got from the local council.

Oh, and the must-have, very standard ’slogan magnet’ which reveals a little something of the fridge-owner’s personality. Mine was given to me by my Mum. It’s a picture of a pig, with the words ‘I’m not messy, I’m creative!’ written on it. She gave me this when I lived at home and my bedroom was a constant mess, but it was kind of useless then because I didn’t have anything in my room that was magnetic that I could stick it to. So when I first got a fridge and unpacked all my belongings in my newly rented house, it suddenly became useful.

Alas, that moment has now passed, because now I have a fridge covered in crap - none of which I actually look at much, other than to rearrange the magnets occasionally, or to re-stick the calender when a magnet comes lose and it falls off.

I do like the poem though. And the mini magnetic versions of Pink Floyd cover art.

What does your fridge look like? Pics welcome!

drinking chocolate - best brand?

Both of these brands of instant drinking chocolate are on special at Coles at the moment, though the ‘La Bella’ brand (~$4) is about $1 or so more expensive than the Cadbury brand (~$3). Earlier this week I bought the La Bella one, but today I saw the Cadbury was on special too so I thought I’d try that as well and compare them.

After trying both brands, the only conclusion I’ve come to is that both are in need of improvement. La Bella is better for its chocolatey-ness, but you have to use a fair bit and it doesn’t have much sweetness, so I ended up adding some sugar (which I find annoying because I don’t want to have to do any work - I just want to put it in the cup and have it taste good - not have to adjust the sweetness myself).

Cadbury’s is Ok - you use less, but it has a sweetness that, if not used wisely, could be sickly. And it’s not very chocolatey compared to La Bella.

My solution so far is to put a spoonful of each brand in a cup. Top with hotwater, stir, and add milk.

My longer term goal is to try the other brands of drinking chocolate and see which is better. I think Vittoria might be better, but at ~$8 a pop it’s pretty pricey. Granted, the container is about twice the size of the brands I’ve bought so far, but I’d hope it was good for that kind of price. Anyone tried it?

it’s a cats life

I’ve noticed recently that when I go shopping I end up spending more time trying to choose flavours of food for my cat than I do for myself. The choice is overwhelming. When I didn’t own a cat I assumed all cat food was stinky stuff with sardines in jelly, or miscellaneous cubes of meat in a gravy-like goo. Now the stuff doesn’t smell too bad at all (as far as cat food goes) and comes in flavours like ‘Seafood and Chicken Mornay’, ‘Fine Salmon Mousse’, ‘Tuna Fillets and Whole Prawns in Seafood Sauce’, ‘Tender Lamb Morsels’, ‘Turkey Morsels in Mousse’, and so on. The other day I even spotted one that had ‘Foigras’ in the title!

At first I thought they were all probably the same kind of thing but just in different forms and textures. But there does seem to be differences in flavour between them all. Some Fritz loves, some he won’t touch.

When we first got Fritz we researched what was the best thing to feed him and everyone recommended food brands that are stocked at pet stores (Hills Science Diet, Advance, Royal Canin, etc.). Although these are supposed to be healthier than supermarket varieties, the price is just ridiculous. And as much as I love my cat, I refuse to spend more on his food than I would on my own.

Ironically, too, I’ve tried feeding him the more expensive food and he doesn’t touch it. His favourite food is the Dine wet food range, especially the mornays. For dry food he loves the Optimum range, but he also surprisingly chows down ‘You’ll Love Coles’ dry cat food (in the orange packet). When he was a kitten we gave him wet & dry food from the Whiskers Kitten range, but he’s gone off Whiskers since. We also occasionally cook him up some fresh meat so he has something warm to eat - we just put it in a bowl and microwave it. Which was a bit of a mistake actually, because now when we microwave anything containing meat he catches a whiff of the aromas and runs over, sits patiently, eyeing you off, waiting to be fed.

Ah, it’s a cats life!

love cats

Thanks Amy!! I loved it!

22 years of good food

After the turbulence of the weekend, my birthday didn’t really turn out as I had planned, but overall it proved to be one of the most memorable, albeit very laid back. The boy ’schwein woke at 5.15am for work, and before leaving made me a breakfast of the best homemade granola with a small jug of milk and a bowl of King Island Dairy yoghurt. I was so impressed - his granola is good! If he wants to make me that every day, I won’t complain!! Then he brought me a warm plate, fresh from the oven, with two croissants from the local bakery which he filled with honey ham, Swiss cheese, and Dijon mustard. Although I was initially a bit grumpy because I had to wake up at 6, everything tasted fantastic and I felt very spoilt.

The house was in dire need of a clean, so seeing I was up early I decided to tidy up, which eventually got extended to a full-blown dust, vacuum & mop. Then I gave the cat a bath, gave the bathroom a scrub, and then a shower for myself. Because I started so early it was all done by 10am!

We had initially planned to go out for lunch, so he came home from work early. But after the huge breakfast I wasn’t really hungry enough. So instead we stayed home. We bought some organic potatoes and 2 leeks from the supermarket the other day, and it was a chilly enough for something warm, so I decided on a dinner of potato and leek soup. It turned out really really well, and tasted pretty luxurious once topped with a slice of bread and cheese, and toasted under the grill.

Today we continued the birthday celebrations with an extravagant afternoon tea with his Mum (who also had a birthday recently) & her partner. We made homemade scones with strawberry jam and whipped cream, and bought a coffee & walnut cake, and another cake that was kind of like a giant Swiss pastry filled with custard and walnuts. With a few plungers of good coffee, a few cruisy records on in the background, and some great conversation, it turned out to be a nice and relaxing arvo for all.

Ah, the power of food to make things seem brighter.

Potato & Leek Soup

1. 1 medium saucepan - fill 2/3 with potatoes, roughly cubed; cover with water; boil until softened.
2. Tip out 1/2 the water, and replace with approx 1 litre milk.
3. In a separate pan, saute finely sliced leeks in some butter until translucent. When ready add to potatoes.
4. Add 2 stock cubes.
5. Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes.
6. Cook and mash until soup is thickened - by this time the potatoes have broken up enough to no longer be lumpy.
7. Add salt and white pepper to taste.
8. Ladel into bowls. Top with a peice of crusty bread, sprinkled with a generous amount of grated cheese and a crackling of pepper.
9. Toast under grill.
10. Serve and enjoy!

it doesn’t rain, it pours

Our beloved Fritzybubby.

There was no ‘Sun’ in our day today. Yesterday we had 3 chooks and 1 cat. Today, we have 3 chooks buried in our vege patch, and 1 missing Fritz. We woke up this morning and something had got into our yard. We suspect it was a fox. The chooks were all headless; feathers scattered across the yard. Our chooks are were very friendly, and very very docile, so from what we can see there wasn’t much of a struggle. Going by the feather trail, they were probably woken sometime early this morning while roosting in their wire hutch. One was killed near the hutch, the other two at the other end of the backyard. It’s pretty common for chooks to die as a result of fox entry; they have wiped out our flocks before on two other occasions. We’re pretty sad though; they were really good chooks and like all chicken’s we’ve raised they were saved from a battery setup. So they had a good life for the 2 years they were with us, but it’s still really sad.

With the chooks buried, we went to go investigate whether Fritz was Ok. And sadly, we still have no idea. It’s currently 6pm and we haven’t seen Fritz all day. He has never stayed away for this long; he always comes in for a sleep in the afternoon, especially when it’s cold like today. We have a few theories.. the worst is that the fox got the cat too, and has taken the body away somewhere. The other also-bad theory is that the fox chased the cat away and Fritz is lost and/or injured somewhere far enough away that he’s not responding to our calls. My Mum’s more optimistic theory is that he’s gone off on an adventure somewhere in the neighbourhood and will probably come back.

I guess all we can do is wait and hope he’s Ok.

Update: Sunday, 11pm - 24hours since we last saw Fritz. Not looking hopeful; but fingers crossed he might show up in the morning. Not sure he’s anywhere near us though - one of his rival cats was eating the food we left out for him earlier. And with some coaxing, the cat even stuck around for a pat. Poor Fritzy If you’re still alive, I hope you get my message by human-to-cat telepathy that I hope you’re ok and please come back!!

The early days

“Are you my Mummy?”

On his favourite sunny windowsill

All grown up

Update #2: FRITZ IS ALIVE!!! and also now a permanently an indoors cat once again. He was picked up on our street by a ranger, with little details given to us about where or why. His tag is missing, which is weird, because the little metal ring that held it on is still on his collar, and crimped together well enough that it wouldn’t have allowed the thickness of the name-tag to squeeze through. Looks to me like its been removed by someone. And if so, I’m pretty sure who did it. Our neighbour hates cats. But no point theorizing now. The $50 that was going to pay for a nice tasty birthday lunch instead went towards getting the cat out from the pound. But what can I say - it’s the price you pay for love. And after going into the pound I’m glad we went to see if he was there - that place is truly sad and awful. Cement floors, no cushioning, cold, and all the pets in there are so lonely and sad. If the world was ideal, and I owned the pound, I’d employ someone just to go play with them all.