And what better way to kick off afresh than with a story?
I reckon I've got quite a good 'un on my hands, and with any luck (and maybe a little help from you, dear reader) the weeks to come may even provide it with a happy ending.
To set the scene a little, ten days ago we returned home after a week's camping in the Alentejo (which was very lovely indeed). This story starts just before we left, when Nascimento and Mario across the street pointed out that our wisteria could really use a trim (couldn't it always?!) as it was tickling passers by on the pavement...
Well you can't ignore good neighbourly 'advice' like that, least of all when you're trying to be a good ambassador for your country, so, along with the epic task of pruning and re-supporting the rose tree in the back garden (which had pretty much collapsed after someone had cut the fantastic chinese lantern plant away from the other side of the fence) ((luckily some of our own physalis have sprung up and are doing very well)), I hastily hacked away at the wisteria out front, leaving the cuttings in a scooped-up pile just to the side of our front door. We were a bit pressed for time that morning, but I'd be sure to add them to the compost when our holidays were over.
We loaded up the hire car and off we went.
Well, after the epic Easycar/Guerin creditcard/insurance deposit nightmare, that is, but that story's for another time.
On our return from the wilds of Portugal, we noticed that the whirl of dead wisteria cuttings had been hollowed out into a cosy little nest. "Ha-ha!" - we thought - "Cheeky Charlie (our adopted cat friend who we sometimes feed and always talk about, but who is really a feral lone wolf and never quite lets us stroke him) has made himself a new den and will be living even closer by than ever! Sweet!"
And yet, happy as he was to see us (or at least, to be fed), laze around our garden and explore the house a little once more, he never went near the thing. "Must've got too dry and crunchy - a little too prickly for him to lie on, now", I thought.
Not so.
For last Monday morn, upon waking and opening the front door, a very different face greeted us from within the snug. We'd seen her around before, this slinky chestnut siamese, but only occasionally, and only from a distance. She's so beautiful we'd never imagined she could be a street cat, but as the neighbours have since filled us in, her owner died a few years ago and she's not had a home since. She has, however, had several litters, they say.
...Or, rather, several OTHER litters!
For tumbling about with her and periodically mewing in quite the highest pitches you can imagine (to remind you of their adorableness) were three tiny wee fluffballs: one ginger, one black, and one grey and white!
Much as I admired her choice of waste-sourced (a litter in the litter!), sustainable (believe me, that wisteria grows at a rate of knots!) home, I was, of course, much more taken with her gorgeous little bundles of squeak :)
They have already provided us with smiles and stories aplenty (watch this space) and have given me a good few creative projects to work on, too (again, watch this space).
We're so happy the new neighbours moved in! Here's a video taster of the little beasties in action.
Introductions (for they've almost all got names..) will follow in the next post, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear your stories of unexpected (baby?) animal encounters! If you've got one, why not leave a comment below?
No comments:
Post a Comment