My world today

Nowadays my world consists of gardening with the thrice-weekly able assistance of my gardeners, John and David (and Simon once a week), with two dogs, Angie and Megan and a two cats, Shadow and Clarice nearby. Eddie our Jack Russel also has breakfast and then lies on the patio in the sun for the rest of the day.  The other four cats eat their breakfast, delicately wash their faces and wander off to a place within ten meters of the house and flop down to sleep. Tigger, my oldest cat at fourteen-and-a-half, sleeps at Grant's feet in his workshop. Chip, who will be eleven in December, positions herself on the motorbike seat and sleeps there for the rest of the day. Puff and Felix wait until Emily has finished vacuuming the sun porch and then they find a spot in the sun where they curl up and sleep!   This is after a solid night of sleeping here in the entertainment area. I read once that cats sleep for twenty-two hours a day. Well, I can vouch for that. My cats do sleep for that long.

 We have a large wooden cover protecting the pool table in the recreation room/sun porch. I've covered this surface with a woven tablecloth and a lace cloth over that. Recently I noticed that one of the cats was sleeping under the cloths. I wasn't sure if it was Felix or Puff.(It could be only one of them as I could see black fur through the lace)  I soon found out: I lifted the cloth and was greeted by a puff-adder-like hiss. It was Puff, my very nervous cat - even today after being in our household for seven years

Felix also uses the tablecloth to hide himself, but he isn't at all nervous. He is the most adorable cat; always relaxed and good-tempered. To me he has a smiley face!

I have a wild garden beside my second pond. I leave the grass unmowed although it is at the stage now where David will have to come in with the lawn scissors and snip it a little shorter. Birds such as robin-chats, starlings and thrushes love this type of undergrowth and can often be seen fossicking in the depths for yummy snails, insects and other meaty snacks. Here Megan explores the wild garden

For the past two weeks I have been hard at work in the garden with my trusty gardeners, John and David. Grant says they probably wish I would go away again as he has never seen them working so hard! Here Shadow sits on the pathway next to a bed of newly planted agapanthus.  (see strip of sunlight over them) The plants WERE there, only they were clumping. So we lifted them all, split them and replanted them. We have done this with the bulbines, tulbaghia (wild garlic) and eucamuis autumnalis (pineapple flowers) That is not counting the trees and shrubs we have pruned, dug around and mulshed with compost or the plants we have taken out to take to Wendy's garden for Simon to plant!

Even though there are water bowls placed all around the patio for the dogs and cats, they all  love to drink from the ponds. Here Megan has a well-earned drink after lazing in the sun all day

 Angie always makes time to smell the roses

And lastly, my waterfall in slo-mo especially for Betsy and George of Tennessee

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