Farewell my beautiful friend

 Today I lost one of my best friends- Phoebe, my beautiful Himalayan cat, passed away at the ripe old age of 21-that's over 100 in human years. By any standards Phoebe was a remarkable cat. Not only did she live to an extraordinary age for a pure bred cat but she was always gentle and friendly.

 The only time she ever scratched me was when I was giving, or attempting to give, her medication. Otherwise she was always passive and ready to give me a purr. 

Everyone loved Phoebe. She was an integral part of our family. The grandaughters grew up with her. She had her favourite places to sit and sleep. She was part of the furniture.

She was majestic and she was beautiful. Even as she was wasting away with illness she kept her lovely fur coat. On her final day she was still a grand old lady.

I came home from the vet this afternoon and it really hit me. The empty food and water bowls on the floor. Her absolute favourite green blanket on the setee and no Phoebe.

With Val very ill in palliative care and now no Phoebe this is a very sad house. 

If you want to read Phoebe's view of life in her own words click on this link IN HER OWN WORDS

Some photos of Phoebe across the years.

A final photo-16th January 2021-always beautiful.

The yawn

At 20 going on 21 Phoebe reckons she's entitled to sleep all day and most of the night. She wakes up at aound 5.00 pm and today after waking she gave a monster yawn before thinking about dinner.

A penny for your thoughts

It's winter. A wet winter after the drought and the bushfires. It's been a very bleak few days after a bleak nine months. Personal drama. Covid-19 raging across the world and now reappearing in Australia, in Victoria, just when we thought that we might be safe. No foreign travel. No exotic places to visit. World leaders behaving like moronic thugs. It's difficult to be upbeat but, as usual, as I sat reading this evening my loyal old friend, Phoebe, came and snuggled upto me and when I picked up my camera she just stood still apparently thinking. What do old cats think about? Food, probably, although she had just finished off her dinner. Maybe her mind was just in neutral. She always brings a smile to my face. Unconditional love.

Photo taken with my new toy-a Leica Q2. Photoco in Adelaide had a mint-as new Q2 for sale at an excellent price so I have moved my 4 year old Q on and I purchased the Q2. It's just like the Q except better although in the 5 days since I acquired it I have had very little opportunity to use it except to photograph Phoebe.