Sunny memories.............

I always know when it is time to write my blog.....for days before hand I am drawn to the short cut icon on my net book. Its like I have to pluck up courage to write on here! How daft is that?
Anyway today has been the most glorious spring day. It has been warm and sunny and peaceful, and so calm. It's like summer is a whisper away, and the world is full of anticipation. The sunshine always seems to make people feel happy and full of smiles. The ticklish glow of sun rays touch the skin and it's like the whole world is on 'a high'. The clocks went an hour forward last night so you would think I would feel tired, yet all I feel is totally rested and relaxed. This is what a weekend off from work does to you, ha ha? Or at least it should do!
Yesterday was wonderful. My brother and his girlfriend met myself, my husband and son at my parents house for lunch. We chatted and laughed and drank wine, and generally had a great time. I even managed to interrogate my father about his past in the air force and grab a few details for my family history. Poor him!
This afternoon my parents popped over and we sat in the garden sipping tea, listening to the birds sing in the glorious warmth of the sun. My mother remarked on the trellis we put up during my last autumn holiday from work, last September. For a short while I felt sad at the memory that returned. How, as we all put up this trellis, Jonesy scrabbled about in the box it came in, and eventually curled up and fell asleep in one corner. He stayed there in the sunshine for ages while we huffed and puffed around him. Later on, after my parents left, I sat on our swing seat and rocked myself into a lull. Jonesy used to sit next to me on that seat, and place his front paws on my lap. I would read quietly and he would rest his chin on his front paws and nod off. I can smile about those times but this summer I know something will be missing, and it will be him. Thank goodness I have some very lovely memories of him, and the garden will remind me of all those happy moments.

Sunday afternoon snoozes............

It's a glorious Sunday afternoon and spring is definitely in the air! So, you may be wondering why on earth I am sitting here tapping away on my net book? Have no worries for I am seated in my sun lounge, with the doors wide open and the sun streaming in.......and this is a really good way of stopping me drifting off to sleep after a hefty lunch.
I have had the most lazy self satisfying weekend for ages and it feels good, I can tell you. to be honest I have done nothing but wallow and spend quiet time doing nothing, but sometimes you need 'nothing days' don't you? I refuse to feel guilty about days like this as I truly believe times like this are good for the soul. As I get older I find that I need to do this from time to time to re-cooperate my brain. Dear oh dear, the perils of ageing! all through my life I have been an 'all or nothing' sort of person. Either the life and sole of the party, dancing long after everyone else has collapse in a heap, or quietly reading in a room far away from anyone else. My father is like this, and apparently so was my paternal grandfather. Must be hereditary I suppose? What contrary people we must be?
Anyway, while sunning myself I have had a good look at my garden and, what a surprise, it needs sorting. Luckily hubby and I did loads of work in the autumn.....you know the stuff.....painting fences, doing a patio area, potting tubs and all that. Some of the last pictures of Jonesy were taken while we were putting up trellis and laying paving slabs, so that area will hold a special place for me as he sat and watched every day we worked. He was already showing signs of the disease, with the enlarged stomach by then, and had got lethargic, staying close to us. It makes me smile to think of those days as it was all rather peaceful, except when my father got stuck holding a piece of wood in a mighty awkward position, while the sun lounge wall appeared to collapse, as he was trying to fix it. The air was rather blue at that point.
I have also had a little peruse at the family history again. I have been doing it for a few years now and from time to time I have a mad moment and get addicted again, spending hours looking for ancestral information. Yesterday was one such day! Some of the new sites mention DNA and hereditary traits. I got to wondering if my cats have hereditary traits? Well of course they do, as I well know, from having a mother cat and her male off spring. There were remarkable similarities between them, not least the colour of their fur. Peanut is simply a very much smaller version of Jonesy, in character, as well as looks. Oh yes indeed, Jonesy was a BIG character!!
Well I should make the most of the beautiful weather while I am not cooped up indoors at work..........so enjoy your Sunday everyone, as I shall carry on enjoying mine.
PS. Even the cats are having a Sunday afternoon snooze!

Bear with me......

I just wonder if anyone reading this blog finds it rather depressing? I don't want people to think I am unhappy because I am not. I have a pretty good life...although I would like more money, lol, but don't we all.......and am content most of the time. It is only in my 'quiet alone times' that I feel a bit bereft. No I will change that word. I feel sad. just now in the bath I felt a tear trickle down my face. I know it is the sadness over not having Jonesy any more that starts it, and I do feel totally mystified that it happens after so many months. Yet this is what this blog is all about. This is why I started it. Jelly cat therapy is my way of dealing with my emotions after Jonesy's death.
I do feel terribly guilty, though, and I have mentioned this before. An old school friend of mine is suffering the trial, literally, into the death of her son. He was stabbed last year, and consequently died. In my past I have had to deal with some things I would rather not have done, and I feel an affinity with her. The trial is happening at the moment, and hopefully the person who stabbed her son to death will go to prison. She has been distraught since it happened last year. I only recently added her as my friend on Facebook and haven't seen her for years. I know how she feels because of the posts I have seen since she added me as her 'friend'. So for me to feel so sad over the loss of my cat cannot compare with what she has had to deal with? sometimes I do a certain thing and it reminds me of what Jonesy would have done at the same ytime. For example I often read a book in bed. Jonesy would sit right close next to me and place his two front paws on my left arm. His body would gently rise up and down as I turned the pages, moving my arm. He would not move and it used to make me smile that he was so comfortable like that. Jonesy would sometimes 'sigh' when I turned a page, as if it was such an inconvenience for him! Strangely enough, at the beginning of last year Ripley started to do the same thing. I would end up with both of them, side by side, resting their front paws on my left arm. It got jolly hard to turn the page I can tell you. Ripley did it last night again and it reminded me so much of Jonesy. I suppose cats copy each other and that is how they learn, similar to children? The one thing I do miss is carrying Jonesy in my arms. One of the pictures in this blog shows him with his paws on my shoulder. I loved carrying him like that and miss it madly. Weird huh? None of the other cats like being carried that way...in fact they wont be carried for long if I do try it. he would stay for ages in my arms. How much more must my friend miss holding her son in her arms for a hug? Maybe it is all relative but I also do wonder if I really should feel like this over a cat?
I do have fantastic memories of Jonesy...and my calender for this year has a picture of him on each month. I do sit, sometimes, and think about the girls though. Ripley seems pretty perky these days, at least for an older cat. Both she and Peanut are 16, almost 17 I suppose, and certainly Peanut is starting to show it. She is looking a little 'tatty', but still manages to howl the place down, as if she is starving to death, when the roast chicken is being carved for Sunday dinner! Ripley is pretty much tone deaf now. We have tested her hearing and she really cannot hear hardly anything. Mostly, the two girls sleep and eat, and meow like everyone is ignoring their needs, when they feel like it. All in all it can be pretty noisy in our house at times!!
So, is this blog helping me? Yes I think so. I don't seem to need to write every day now. Sometimes I get moments when I go over in my mind what I want to write, but often that is forgotten by the time \i get to use my laptop. Sometimes, as I have already said, I will get an over whelming rush of a memory and feel the need to write about how I feel, but again that is usually gone by the time I get to the blog. What do I expect to get out of this blog then? Hmmmm, now that's a question and a half. I suppose I want to get back into writing about my life, like I used to. I love writing, or should I say typing, lol, and want to do it more. There are many things I have memories of in my life and it would be nice to share them, but for now it is all about my cats. I know I will move on to things that interest me, like family history and all the stories that come with that. I love history, and information programs, and art and flowers, and reading and all sorts. So much to write about!!
So bear with me, and bear with this blog, please. I will try to start being upbeat, if only not to drag you all down, lol. If you read it I thank you, and I hope you will carry on. Jelly cat Therapy has loads more to offer, I promise..............