Life by the Lake 1

Those who follow my Facebook page will already know that I’m in Ireland for a while, staying with my mother while she recovers after a hip replacement.

The days are different here. Scheduling meals brings me back to the days when the girls were small and meals had to be on the table in time. A hungry Tansy was not a pretty sight. Or a rational being, for that matter. Still isn’t, now that I think about it.

Planning meals is interesting, too. I’m used to cooking for two, but Granny eats about a third of what the LSH eats, so we had a lot of leftovers initially. I hate to see waste, so I have been eating a lot of the surplus. I may be too wide to fit on the plane home at this rate.

There are no dogs here, but there is a cat to look after. Black Lily is a feral who was literally dumped on my mother’s doorstep by her own mother. It was very cold and raining heavily and Granny wasn’t sure what to do with this very tiny kitten. She ended up putting her inside a boot for shelter and she put milk and food out for the mother, who was watching from a distance. Later that day the kitten was gone, presumably reclaimed by her mother once she was fed and feeling better. For a long time, my mother just caught occasional glimpses of the the little family in her garden but she continued to leave food out for them. Some time later, Black Lily returned, still very small, very thin and very pregnant. My mother has been looking after her ever since. Lily cached her kittens under a tree at the edge of the rockery and, once they were old enough to leave their mother, they were caught and sent to a local animal shelter. Second Chance Animal Rescue also do a Trap, Neuter, Return program, so Black Lily won’t be having any more babies. She’s a sweet little thing and she’d love to be a friendly cat (and Granny would love her to be a friendly cat) but she’s just too scared to let anyone within touching distance. (I decided that I wanted a photo of Black Lily for the blog two days ago. I didn’t produce the camera, mind you, I just made up my mind that I would take a picture of her. I haven’t seen her since. She sneaks in, eats her food and scarpers before I see her. Sigh.)

There’s a less camera-shy visitor to the garden, who had been seen several times by the handyman who helps out here. I put some leftover meat scraps on the grass outside the kitchen window and managed to get some nice photos.

I suspect it’s a female. Initially, she crammed as much meat as she could into her mouth and ran off with it. I assume it was to share with her cubs?

There is something strangely familiar about that little face…

Every morning, I take a photo of the lake from the front door and post it on Facebook. I’m afraid it’s becoming quite boring. Grey sky, green foreground, grey lake.

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It has rained every single day so far. Ireland is doing it’s best to convince me to stay in Provence.

I do a little yoga and walk every day. Today I plan to walk all the way around the lake, which is 8km (5 miles). I hope my knees are up to it.