My two favourite gardeners - OH & Snowball

One of your favourites looks remarkably like my stepfather!

Which one, Pimpernel?

Lol... great pic :o)

Yes, they're both great at digging, one to put stuff in and the other.......Well, you get my drift. :-D

Buon giorno,Signore Gattina and Snowball! ( hope that's right )..looking very cosy together,aren't they ? I didn't know you had two cats..company for Leo.:o)

Dear Bloomer, we have 23 (at the last count)! Yes, the Italian is almost perfect - I don't want to sound patronising, but Well Done, You! (You need to knock the "e" off the end of "Signore" because it's followed by a name)

B.... y Google ! It's their fault..they told me it had an "e".
or I misread it.Lol...I wouldn't have added the last letter..but thought they knew best..:o))..23 cats? are most them feral,or domestic? .wouldn't like your pet food bill..or then again,they are probably good hunters...

Oh, Bloomer - NEVER trust Google to translate stuff - they are useless! Some of the translations they come up with are TRULY appalling and just plain wrong.
Well, as you must have sussed by now, we are stupid softies when it comes to animals. ALL our cats started out as feral, but the younger ones think they are domestic and are a bit of a handful. We only buy massive sacks of cheap dried food for them, and if they can't make a living out of catching mice, etc., then they know where to come. None of them will starve while we are around, but they don't expect the Ritz. The feral population increases in these parts every summer when people who bring them on holiday abandon them. We do what we can to round them up and get them sterilised. The death rate is, or would be very, very high, especially when females become fertile when they are less than a year old, and can have 3 litters a year. Starvation, poison, cold and cars carry most of them off. We have lost so many, but the ones who remain seem happy.

I did not know you are married to a professor Gattina. This is how your husband look like and I am sure he is. Don't ask me about the cat because I..............them.

glad you blamed google too! Lol..I only checked as I didn't want to get it mixed up with the Spanish "Senor."
..at least I was in the right Country !
We have a massive problem here too,about cats being dumped...so cruel..the Cat Sanctuaries are finding it very difficult to cope ..I have never had a cat,but nor do I want one,but I hate to see them uncared for..or any animal,for that matter..

You may not want one Bloomer....But when you are called to take on the privilege of feline servitude you will respond.

My mum and I once had six little kittens who were abandoned in a large garden we had,don't know what happened to mum..so we fed them,and they responded to us after a while..then we had to move back to Yorkshire..so had to call the RSPCA ..they had a right job catching them..it was heartbreaking..we just hoped they found loving homes..and we felt so guilty for nurturing them,and gaining their confidence....hence,no cats ! so yes,we did respond..but maybe wrongly..

Costas - LoL: Not a professor, just a lovely fella!

It's a lovely photo!

Lovely photo and don't they both look so content.

ONE day, I'll try and get one of them asleep together. Snowball loves OH's beard and climbs up his chest so he can nestle underneath it, purring like a tractor engine. He's just slipped down a bit here, I think.

Awww lovely pic

Couldn't imagine you (as you put it yourself "a wrinkly" - imagined you as a youngster!! I on the other hand am of wrinkly age without too many wrinkles - good genes I suppose!

Saggy on the outside, Rebellious and immature on the inside, Cammomile!

OK Gattina which one of you, Snowball , OH, or you ? ; )

Oh honestly, Pimpernel, does Snowball LOOK saggy on the outside?

You didn't mention before that your OH is Santa! He looks so lovely....a real gentleman...and a lovely contented cat too!

Oh yes, KS, whenever I lose him, or he needs to be identified in a crowd, I describe him as "Quello che si assomiglia a Babbo Natale" The locals think it's hilarious and know immediately who I mean. We were in a pizzeria once, when a very pretty little girl came up to our table and stood staring at him, wide-eyed, finger in mouth (her, not him) and as a little joke I leant down and asked her if she knew who he was. She gazed at him and said "E' Babbo Natale?" so I said yes, but of course, since it was summertime, his beard wasn't so long...... (Terrible, aren't I?) She rushed back to her parents' table with such excitement and we could see her whispering and pointing. Her whole family roared with laughter and waved to us. Of course, no-one would be so cruel as to disillusion her. I think it made her evening. Bless!
And yes, I am very lucky, he is a real sweetie.

Brilliant! I love it! :)))))))

That was a lovely thing to do,Gattina..I can just picture that little girls face..I love it too :o)

I'm just a mad old woman really. It embarrassed the H**l out of our daughter. I think that's a parent's role in life - to embarrass our children. It pays 'em back for all the rotten things they did when they were teenagers.

I think it's hilarious....I don't know why children get so blooming sensitive when they grow up! lol...between the ages of 7 and about 17 mine had no sensitivity whatsoever! They embarrassed me whenever and wherever they wanted to....but now...oh goodness me...ever so touchy! lol....;))

I'm so glad it's not just me, then!

Most of us have been there,Gattina and Karen..you felt like cracking them one round the earhole...! I did,anyway....all down to hormones,I guess..which I didn't even know about,when I was that age ...but 'allegedly' I had my uncaring moments too..which I have always felt bad about,on looking back....

I tried to embarrass my Mum when I was about 13. We were having coffee in Kendal's and I asked in a loud and cocky voice "So where do babies come from?"

She stirred her sugar and retorted with equal velocity " If I had worked that one out Richard... you may not be sitting there."

Oh, P., I truly HAVE just laughed out loud! Good for her!

It wasn't funny at the time...I expected her to at least blush..But after 7 kids I guess I was on a loser from the start.

That is brilliant,Pimpernel,it made me laugh too..your Mum's reply was just magic ! Lol.

Richard 0 - Mum 1 ! Result! :)))

I used to be embarrassed by her accent more than anything else...well no , not her accent, the way she would use words was a constant source of amusement to my mates.

erm..and parents can be embarassed by their kids too ! ..often ..:o)

Whenever I brought my friends home (especially boys) my Mum would go all posh accented and terribly bright and breezy, and get a fit of the verbal diarrhoea. Her language was impeccable though - just too much of it. I used to want to crawl under the sofa and die of embarrassment.

Bet your Mum didn't say " Get you in My Boy/girl? "

"Where be he? Be She?" and use the word YONDER.

No, but I do. She wasn't a West country girl, was she?

Just thinking your OH is busy for the next few weeks......Whisper Allotment in his ear...Shout if you have to.

Yonder was used a lot round here,Pimpernel..and when you were staring into space,oblivious of seeing or hearing anyone..which for me,was often,.it was said " she or he is Yonderly ".! ..I would have said gormless .:o)

Not west country..Rural Wiltshire.

I was asked by a dinner lady if I wanted seconds.. Foolishly I replied in the crowded dining hall " No thank you, I have a surfeit, more 'an ample." It did NOT go un-noticed.

I've spent the day whispering "Allotment" in OH's ear, and he's been off to check, and the reindeer say they'll stage a walk-out if they're expected to haul real estate round the sky. So sorry, the answer for now is "no." Sorry!

Ok...Mrs Santa. I will try to be gooder next year, honest. thank you Lil Pim

Have you thought of signing up for Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall's landshare scheme? Not sure if it operates oop in the wilds of Manchester. Silly, isn't it - round Altrincham and Timperley way where most houses come with at least a bit of a garden, allotments, if not going begging, are at least in evidence. Life ain't fair, is it?
Please don't try to be any gooder, Lil' Pim, all the fun will go out of life.

Taas pilt,mis mu tütrele väga meeldib

Mul on hea meel, et sulle meeldib see.