The 2nd Anniversary of our Gotcha Day!

🐾 A WINDOW EACH 🐾

Hello, Friends & Felines!

Gordie and Louie here, to let you know it’s the 2nd Anniversary of our adoption. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, let me tell you. And we are ever so grateful that Jennifer and Paul came into our lives at the Gander SPCA on this day two years ago.

But who really rescued who? Our peeps were sad and lonely for another pair of cats, and we were hesitant at first, but now we are completely bonded and imprinted and can’t imagine any other life.

GORDIE
LOUIE

Have you ever considered rescuing an animal in need?

Have a purr-usal and see why we think these are all worthy reasons to bring a lovely little cat like either of us – or a friendly doggie! – into your heart and home this fall.

TEN REASONS TO ADOPT A PET FROM A SHELTER*

1. Every pet adopted from a shelter, instead of purchased from a pet store or breeder, improves the pet overpopulation problem.

2. Adopting a dog or cat from a no-kill shelter can free up space for older or special needs pets that may not find new homes before the end of their natural lives.

3. There are plenty of animals to choose from at most shelters. They come in every age, shape, size, coat color and breed mix. You can find purebreds at shelters as well.

4. Compared to the cost of purchasing a pet, adopting one is relatively inexpensive. And if you get a slightly older dog or cat, there’s a good chance he is already fully vaccinated and neutered.

5. Adopting an older pet allows you to skip over the time-consuming, often frustrating puppy or kitten stage of development and takes the guesswork out of what your pet will look like as an adult – size, the thickness and color of her coat, and her basic temperament, for example.

6. Most rescues do assessments on every pet taken in, to determine things like temperament, whether the pet has any aversion to other pets or people, whether he is housebroken, has had obedience training, etc.

7. Many shelters also offer lots of new owner support and materials about training, behavior problems, nutrition, grooming and general care.

8. If you have kids, adopting a shelter animal can open their eyes to the plight of homeless pets, teach compassion and responsibility, and show them how wonderful it feels to give a home to a pet that might otherwise live in a cage or be euthanized.

9. An older adoptive pet can be the perfect companion for an older person. Many middle-aged and senior dogs and cats require less physical exertion and attention than younger animals.

10. An adopted pet can enrich your life. The unconditional love and loyalty of a dog or cat can lift depression, ease loneliness, lower blood pressure, and give you a reason to get up in the morning. A kitty asleep in your lap feels warm and comforting. A dog that loves to walk or run outdoors can be just the incentive you need to start exercising regularly.

*list adapted from source: healthypets.mercola.com

If this list prompts just one of you to adopt a pet, we have helped an animal in need. And if you share the list, you could help an animal too.

Think about it.

💙 Lots of love, Gordie & Louie 💙

Summer Memories Series: Inspired

What is it that inspires our desire to create?

What moves an artist to draw or to paint a picture? What sparks the passion in a writer to pen a poem or a story? What is it that prompts a photographer to run for her camera and try to capture that perfect shot?

Here are a few things that give me continued inspiration:

1.  The ocean, which surrounds me. No surprise there, right?

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Every day, it is a slightly different colour, morphing between shades of blue sapphire, steel grey, or deep, dark navy with racing waves and frothy white-caps. On other days, it is as calm and flat as a mirror. The sea is a living thing: mercurial, organic, merciless, and endlessly beautiful. 

2. I’ve always had a passion for all animals (no, not just my cats! 😉 ). Horses, dogs, whales, and birds… …natural beings of the forest and untamed creatures of the sea and sky.

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3. Teaching children about Nature, and why we need to respect it, appreciate it and care for it is a spark for my imagination. I love answering their many questions…… and listening to them tell of their own experiences in the beautiful, natural world.

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Have you ever noticed how Children and Nature go so happily together?

“As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us..”

~ Valerie Andrews, A Passion for this Earth

“Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them.”

~ Audubon Nature Preschool

First posted on this date, August 5, 2015

Whisker Wednesday: Can’t Share a Chair?

Gord: “Hey, Lou—I didn’t see you there!
Can we share this chair?”

“Never mind!

I’ll take the other one so I can stretch out.

🐾 🐾. 🐾 🐾

Happy Whisker Wednesday,

Everyone!”

💕💙💕

Wordless Whisker Wednesday: King of the Castle

”Home was a Dream…”

First day home 💕

”Home was a dream, one I’d never seen, til you came along.” — from Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell

Vivian’s View From Here: Weekend Blizzard*

Hey, everyone, I’m back!! blogw (15)

Vivian K. Perry here, to tell you all about the
snowstorm forecast for most of the island of Newfoundland tonight and tomorrow.

We’re well acquainted with winter storms in this neck of the woods, but I think we are in for a mother of a blizzard this time, with 30 to 50 centimeters and high winds promised for central, and for us, before it’s all over!

Here are Maisie and I, first this morning, and second, how we will weather the storm:

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snowy door

door

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Besides all of this, there is still work to be done. Please watch this little video clip below of me in Paul’s office. He puts me in a bed on top of his printer when I get lonely for his company. Be sure to turn up your volume so you can hear me purr.

Stay warm and see you all next time after we dig out!

*First posted January 29, 2016

Sunday Snaps: Our House*

“Our house is a very, very, very
fine house … “

… With two cats in the yard …

… Life used to be so hard … now everything is easy ’cause of you.” 💕

💙🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾 🐾💙

I know, I know. Lou and Gord don’t go out in the yard. They are indoor cats. However, we are considering buying leashes and harnesses to take them outside when summer comes. We’ll see!

*Our House, a song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Author Interview: Darlene Foster

Hi Everyone! It’s been a while since I tossed a Blogger Bouquet or featured a Friday Fiction post. My guest today, Darlene Foster, makes for a perfect opportunity to feature both.
A fellow Canadian blogger and writer, Darlene is the author of the Amanda Travels middle-grade fiction series. The latest in the series is Amanda in Ireland: the Body in the Bog.

Darlene Foster grew up on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, where her love of reading inspired her to see the world and write stories. Her Amanda Travels series features spunky Amanda Ross, a twelve-year-old girl who loves to travel. All ages enjoy following Amanda as she unravels one mystery after another in unique destinations. Darlene is retired and has a house in Spain where she writes full-time. Her constant interest and enthusiasm for everything keep her young at heart. When not travelling, meeting interesting people, and collecting ideas for her books, Darlene enjoys spending time with her family in Canada and with her husband and entertaining dogs in Spain.

The blurb for Amanda in Ireland: The Body in the Bog

Twelve-year-old Amanda Jane Ross is invited to be a bridesmaid for her cousin’s wedding, in Ireland! She falls in love with this emerald isle the moment she lands in Dublin. The warm, friendly Irish people immediately make her feel at home. Towering castles, ancient graveyards, and the stunning green countryside are filled with fascinating legends, enthralling folktales, and alarming secrets.

Things take a dark turn when disaster strikes. Amanda wonders if there will be a wedding at all. As she joins the search for a missing horse, she stumbles upon a world of screaming banshees, bloody battles, and dangerous peat bogs. The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous things become. Will she become another body in the bog?

Thank you for joining me today, Darlene. I love that you do, but may I ask why you include an animal in each of your Amanda books?

Darlene: I have always been an animal lover. We had all kinds of animals on the farm, including a pet antelope, and later I had dogs and cats as pets for my kids. I now have two adorable rescue dogs here in Spain. It was only natural that Amanda would be an animal lover too. In the first book, Amanda meets a camel called Ali Baba when she visits the United Arab Emirates. Ali Baba became a favourite character for many readers. There is a dancing pony called Pedro in Amanda in Spain, Rupert the bookstore cat in Amanda in England, and Joey the abandoned puppy in Amanda in Holland to name a few. Kids have an affinity with animals and they add something to the stories.

I remember that camel Ali Baba in your first of the series! What are some of the books with animals you enjoyed as a child?

Darlene: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell immediately comes to mind. I loved that book so much. Others I loved were Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, The Yearling by Marjorie KInnan Rawlings, and Beautiful Joe by Quinn Currie. I tear up thinking about these books even after all these years. 

Yes, you mention a couple of my own favourites there. Is there an animal in Amanda in Ireland?

Darlene: Yes there is. A beautiful horse called Aiofe.

Excerpt:

After leaving the airport, Amanda enjoyed the drive through the countryside, past rolling green hills, fields dotted with black and white cows, and white-fenced paddocks.

Taylor pointed to the left. “Over there are the stables where Roisin keeps her horse.”

“Do you own a horse?” Amanda’s eyes widened as she pushed up her glasses.

“Yes. But I don’t get much time to ride her anymore. Would you like to meet Aoife while you’re here?” Roisin opened her phone and showed Amanda a picture of a gorgeous white horse with a dark brown mane.

“That would be awesome. I love horses. And she’s beautiful.  How do you pronounce her name?”

Roisin grinned proudly. “Her name is pronounced Ee-fa. Almost like Eva with an f. And it means ‘beautiful’.”

 Darlene, I wanted to mention that I have another of your books on my “To Be Read” list: “You Can Take the Girl From the Prairie: Stories about growing up on the Canadian prairies”. I’m looking forward to that one as well. 

Social Media Links:

• Website: https://www.darlenefoster.ca/

• Blog: https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darlene.foster.777

• Twitter/X: https://x.com/supermegawoman

• Bluesky: @darlenefoster.bsky.social

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darlene6490/

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Darlene-Foster/author/B003XGQPHA

• Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3156908.Darlene_Foster

Buy Links:

https://books2read.com/u/4EYQ2A


September Revisited: Gotcha Day

Happy October, Friends and Followers!
It’s been a busy few weeks for me lately, but I didn’t want the date of September 27 to go unnoticed here on my blog, as it marked the first anniversary of our adoption of Louie and Gordie.

Gord and Lou in the first months

In some ways, their Gotcha Day seems like only yesterday. But then I think of how much these two little darlings have flourished in the space of a year. Remembering how Gordie was so skittish and food insecure, and how at first he didn’t know how to use the little flap door to his litter box, it seems like eons ago.

And then there was Louie’s behaviour when we first brought him home, hiding under my treadmill or the spare bed until he felt more comfortable with us.

Nowadays, they are both well adapted to life here with us on Perry’s Point. And we can’t imagine a single day or night without them!

They are still young cats at ages two and four, so we look forward to many more years—and anniversaries—together.

There are no ordinary cats. – Colette

Photo Challenge: The “Window” Seat

Lou and Gordie’s favourite seat? Any window ledge in our house! And by the way, we don’t have another cat in the microwave. 😉😻

Photo Challenge: Pull Up a Seat