Someone recently asked me if I would put a photo here of my cat! So... here he is! This is Mr Smaug. From a MPN point of view, he is wonderful therapy. Mr Smaug takes me for walks nearly every morning, and we go for a ramble through our little bit of woodland together. It is spring here, and the garden is going mad with enthusiasm. I can hardly recognise the place from one day to the next, as trees suddenly burst into leaf, flowers pop up, and grass and wild plants grow. It is a tidy gardener's nightmare, and a place of joy and wonder for an imaginative child, or someone young at heart!! What Smaug manages to do for me is to make me really notice the little beautiful things that are happening all around, and to love life, and that is a really precious gift.
Peter & Mr Smaug xx
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stillkicking
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Quite right! It is wonderful to see something that loves life itself, and can roll with complete abandon in dry leaves, or climb trees, or run up and down at great speed! xx
Get him painted or pastel .....must say tho ,the biggest nightmare for me is a black dog or cat or horse, such a hard colour to capture.....In my other life,I had a black 'English Blue' queen cat,,she always walked with me and dogs around the farm,then draped herself like a fur stole around my neck on the way back!!!
Hope Laura is improving and you feeling better,I go to U K Thursday,have to check with Dr tomorrow ......he might say I can't travel.....Panic ,Panic.
Hope you got the All Clear from your Doctor and were able to travel to the UK.
My old art history tutor had a blue-grey coloured English Blue. It remained so inert, and so like a large fat cushion that you really had to be careful not to sit on it by mistake. It usually was carried from room to room, rather than it making its own way! It was nicknamed "The Gothic Cat", because of its unfortunate resemblance to a gargoyle!
We had a ginger cat for a few years that loved to be carried on the shoulder. I would walk with him down our little street, and return with him on my shoulder. He enjoyed the view from that altitude as he could see over the hedge!
No ,not all clear,worse actually......but I was determined to come,now I am here...long trip by road and boat as we bring the dogs,so now we both,hubby and me that is are shattered and shivering!!!!!!!!
Dogs love the farm here play and run wild with daughters lurchers so great for them.
Hope you and Laura are picking up ,Spring on its way for you.I cannot do a photo of the wild cat here,it stays up aloft in the barn away from the dogs with its hair standing on end!!!!Same as the three We have in Fr.Les chats Sauvage....they are called they are every where ,'mine' have obvious Siamese origins,we feed them ,but they stay really wild ,very pretty tho...Keep drawing,Best to both ,Sally
Lovely to hear you Sally, but sad that life is so difficult for you. Glad you were able to find your way back to the UK and the farm. Laura and I managed a trip to Dunedin today, the first since her operation, and although she did get rather tired, white and frail at one point, she did manage to have a most enjoyable walk in the botanic gardens whilst I did the supermarket shopping. I think the gardens did her a power of good, and she showed me a dramatic display of orange coloured Crown Imperials which she loves.
Lovely post Peter and your cat is gorgeous!! Wholeheartedly agree time with our four legged pals along with the beauty of creation around us is a wonderful thing, good for the physical and emotional self!! Puts us back in touch with the natural things we were made to enjoy and does help us deal with the not so nice parts of life that we deal with. Thanks for such a cheery post despite all you are dealing with.
There is a man on my street who walks his dog and the cat goes along sometimes too. I thought it was a fluke the first time I saw it - but have witnessed it more than once now. I find that amazing.
What fun to see someone walk a dog and a cat at the same time! A friend of ours did have a Dachshund and a cat that shared basket together at night. It was so sweet to see the two of them cuddled up together fast asleep. I think they had been brought up together from a young age.
Beautiful - both your cat and everything you said. We're going to meet a puppy this weekend to see if she'll come live with us -- her name is Hope, which is fitting. I hope getting a little friend will give me as much comfort and therapy as Mr. Smaug gives you. Also agree, Aime, that grandchildren are some of the best therapy there is. Spring sounds wonderful -- here, we're heading into fall and the trees are turning -- lovely.
Mr Smaug, the name suits him! Thank you for the wonderful post and the beautiful picture. And I have so enjoyed reading what others have said here too.
Hello Peter and Mr Smaug, lovely picture, I too have two cats called Smithy and Milo, and they both love to come into the garden with me, but instead of behaving and just walking around sniffing out things to play with they both chase each other round and round the garden putting on a display of fisticuffs, they have me in hysterics never nasty, such fun to watch, and if I am digging they come and help, then leave earth all over the place, and when I am not looking, they sit in the hole and leave me a present, still love them to bits though, they are such good company.
We are now going into our Autumn, the leaves on the trees putting on a beautiful array of colours, had a couple of frosty mornings here in Kent, but beautiful days, lovely in the sun but cool in the shade, after such a hot summer it’s all come as a bit of a shock and so early.
So funny Jean, you had Laura and I both having a giggle over your description of Smithy and Milo helping in the garden.... and the present left in a hole!
Kent.... I have some Kentish bluebells out in flower at the moment. I lived in Pembury near Tonbridge between the ages of 5 and 9, they were the happiest years of my childhood.
Oh Pembury, is such a beautiful place to have lived, My Daughter Laura lives in Wrotham and her husband works in Tonbrige but know Pembury well, and to see an amazing show of Kentish bluebells is in places like Ightham Mote and Sissinghurst in the spring.
What a beautiful boy. You are so right about animals. My pets (3 cats, 1 dog and 2 horses) are my reason to get out and enjoy the countryside and keep fit, even on days I feel like just staying in bed! They are there for the moments that I feel I am burdening my family with the emotional stress of this illness, not that my family is not supportive, but sometimes it is all just overwhelming.. So much comfort from four legged creatures. Enjoy Spring as we slide into Autumn x
Lovely to hear from you. Goodness, quite a household with 3 cats, a dog and 2 horses! All of them great alarm clocks in the morning no doubt! We are getting daylight earlier and earlier now, so the morning call to breakfast from the cats is between 5 and 6 am now, depending on if it is overcast and dark, or bright and cheery!
Spring is swinging between a scorching sun, that I have to hide away from after 10 in the morning, to almost snowing. It really can't make up its mind!
Just the right sort of feline for a spot of magic.
The apricot poodle curled up beside me utterly useless for that sort of thing. No stillness. No mystery. Excellent personal bodyguard / doorbell alert etc though. 😁.
I have 2 mini panthers myself Loki and Pan, both rescues and both the biggest pains in the bum, zooming, chasing, fighting, stealing!
But they know when it’s meds night, and come and snuggle for an early night. They know when I’m a little under par and behave themselves and most of all they get me up every morning for breakfast. Even when the last thing in the world I want to do is get out of bed, I’m up and at it, or face getting sat on the head. Once I’m up, my energy levels grow and I’m ready to face the world.
Mr Smaug would love to be thought of as a mini panther! It is wonderful how empathetic cats can be. Some people seem to think cats are totally selfish and uncaring, but we have always found them very loving and caring when times are difficult. Glad they look out for you.
Funny about the "sat on the head", Nigella Stopit, our other cat, will walk over my head very heavily when she is trying to get me out of bed, or if she wants to snuggle under the blanket with me, because she is cold (goodness she can have cold feet sometimes!).
Thank you so much for your lovely comments, I really enjoyed reading about your 4 legged companions, and Mr Smaug is feeling quite an international celebrity, what with his photo traveling from one side of the globe to the other!! I would like to reply to each of you, but have been in the city today to see my hematologist and to attend a meeting of the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer Society, and am now utterly exhausted so will have to curl up in bed and recoup!
What a beautiful photo. Mr Smaug even 'looks' like a very relaxing cat. Very laid back! I have a 'Maisie' who helps me. My very first small dog with the biggest heart and power to train humans that I have ever come across.
Lovely picture. Our two dogs are great therapy, I can talk to them and tell them anything, they reply in their own way! I enjoy the cartoons on Facebook called Simons Cat - they are very good. See if you can find them, I think they are on You Tube as well.
Simons Cat, yes... a great favorite in our household. Interestingly our Nigella Stopit will actually look at the screen for a while when we have an episode of that on. It may be the "meow" sounds, but I do think she responds to the black and white images.
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It is wonderful to see something that loves life itself, and can roll with complete abandon in dry leaves, or climb trees, or run up and down at great speed! 
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