For Leonard, With Love xxx

    I draw cartoons for a number of reasons: the simple act of drawing/painting makes me happy; it eases and calms my mind; it entertains and cheers my beautiful Husband when he opens his lunch tin on break at work every day; it creates a record of our lives as seen through the world of our cats, who we love so dearly; and lastly, the process and end product speak for me when words just aren't enough to express the feelings in my heart.

 

    This week, we said 'Goodbye' to Leonard, our beautiful, bouncy baby boy. He was a foundling, discovered by my elderly kitty, Harvey, who insisted that he become his friend and play fellow. As very much as Harvey was my absolute soul, Leonard became my heart.

 

    He was a true innocent; a gentle giant with such a sweet nature and simple brain. He had the most basic of needs - to love, be loved, and to play. And eat biscuits. A lot. He has been a pure bright light in my life and a whole world to my Husband. 

 

    His health has never been good, but he has taken his meds every day like the goodest boy. He suffered with an enlarged heart - he had too much love for a regular one - and in the end it couldn't hold him in and it gave him up to become a dazzling shooting star that will forever remind us that true magic exists and can be found in the most unexpected places.

 

    Right now, our own hearts are broken, but we will heal and every time we look at these cartoons we will remember Leonard with smiles. I will continue to paint him, and his brothers who are with him in the Rainbow Meadows...they will always be alive for us as long as I can put pen and brush to paper. I paint with love and send it out into the Universe and share my sweet beloved cats so that anyone who sees them can add a smile to their day. 

 

    Goodnight my beautiful baby boy. Shine brightly now that you have the whole sky in which to run and play. I love you. xxx

 

 

 

A Personal 'Thank You' to Her Majesty, Queen Ellizabeth II

 

 

 

    This last week has been a little surreal. The death of Queen Elizabeth II has been a shock to the system - more than I would have anticipated. I think times like these shake the bedrock of life and remind us of all the times when grief has been so overwhelming that the universe stood still and every second felt like trying to breathe underwater.

 

    Compartmentalising only works in the short term and the loss of an icon, whoever it may be, allows us to open up the proverbial box, break open the floodgates and let grief take hold in a way that may not have been possible at times where loss has been so close, so keenly felt, that the only way to find a path forward was to restrain, control and suppress.

 

 

    This week I have mourned the loss of my family, friends and beloved pets, fading memories of sunny days, and a child that might have been. It has been turbulent, overwhelming and ultimately cathartic.

In an earlier year I would have journaled extensively, written my mind and heart clear of tears, but I don't feel that call any more. So I came back to my happy place, my now, my life here and the peace it brings me, and I finally managed a piece of painty paper that sums things up for me. 

 

 

    The pain of loss and the hole that's left when a loved one departs this world is all consuming and it's easy to miss the love that's waiting to fill the void, and the simple moments of beauty that raise an involuntary smile. I am grateful that I have love in my life, friends who fill my heart with joy, and a home filled with happiness. In spite of all that has been, what is now is more than I could ever have hoped for, and I thank the universe for all those instants of beauty, those glorious helplessly funny moments where a smile or a laugh lights the darkness. I can heal and begin to unfold the tightly bound memories that have collected dust for so long and reconcile my past with my present - marked not by loss and pain, but by those bright unbidden dazzling moments.

 

    Thank you, Your Majesty, for this one last gift - this one just for me. Thank you for sharing some peace. I hope that your loved ones left behind can share some small moments of beauty and joy, together, and remember you as a mother, grandmother, friend. I hope that the sparkle that remains for them doesn't come from your jewels but rather from your smile. 

 

 

    We are all just people, moving between moments. May your moments be bright, bold and beautiful. Here's to smiling a memory to mark the day. Sparkle, you gorgeous beauties, for you are all a dazzling cascade of amazing moments. Go share some xxxx

 

I Believe in Mirrorballs...You Sexy Thing!

 

    Aaaaaaaha....Missy has been busy. Little Miss Fabulous has decided to impress and share her stunning fabulousness with the world by becoming a living mirrorball, the embodiment of shining glory. Sapphira's job is to shine the torch beam as she swings from creaking rafters, blinding the bedazzled eyeballs of admirers for miles around. 

 

    Those mirror pieces are going NOwhere any time soon, stuck fast with Sapphira's super spit, so she sashays along the garden path like a goddess on Earth, blinding badgers and builders alike with her reflective glory. 

 

     I'm not sure this will end well....At some point her overinflated ego will be met by her puffed up curvacious body and those shards of dazzling glass will ricochet far and wide, inevitably leaving a trail of beheaded rodents and feather-shaved sparrows. It'll be a Missy massacre!

 

 

Missy Karenina

    

    It's cold out. Frosty. The garden was a white crystaline palace this morning and the beauty of winter was breathtaking - almost literally in the icy air. Who could fail to be impressed by the frosted splendour? Who could gaze upon the landscape, luminous under a clear moonlit sky and be unmoved?

 

     Missy. Missy took one look, lit her first morning cigarette and hacked up a sneering response to nature's glory, the remnants of last night's sambuca and kebab rave party still resplendant in a cascade down her neon onesie. Using a chipped, painted claw to hook the spandex out of her ample buttocks, she blew her acrid smoke into our eyes and rasped, "Fak that," and waddled back to bed.

 

     This is Missy, in all her glory. She's our pretty-perfect-party-pop-princess and she knows it. In those seconds where she leaned casually on the doorframe, she pictured herself as the romantic and luscious fragile female icon of some great Russian literary classic. Reality was never really 'a thing' for Missy.... We left her asleep, drooling over her half-spent glowsticks. She's happy. 

 

    She's Missy.....bask in the allure....

 

The Lion Merely Snoozes.....

 

    There are many bonuses to Leonard becoming a house cat once again....he's excellent company for a start - a well behaved boy and utterly adorable; his happy little face is enough to brighten even the grottiest of days; he's a patient listener and never criticises my singing or judges my rants... he's quite the little star. 

 

    The MAIN benefits of having Leonard locked up firmly indoors, however, are the distinct lack of headless, fat-bottomed rodents deposited underfoot and the absence of a need to check every inch of him for warrior's wounds, random holes and missing bits thanks to his continuing belief that he is, in fact, a lion of Herculean proportions. 

 

     He's terrified of fireworks, thunder and the rumble of the bin collections. He has a weird aversion to brushes and brooms. He's perpetually disconcerted by the inevitability of Thanos spiders and he is STILL intimidated by the chickens who berate him for disturbing their tea and scones and distracting them from their crochet. He will, on the other hand, take on rabid gangs of murderous bears, rampaging gorillas, herds of stampeding elephants, invading aliens and zombie hordes with not a flinch. He has no concept of limitations due to his size or species and will take on any adversary with what amounts to legendary gusto.

 

    Now anchored to his castle grounds our Knight of the Golden Biscuit has been forced to turn his aggressions on Mr Shroo, his favourite pink ribbony mousey-onna-stick which is proving to be an admirable and formidable nemesis. For now, the boxing gloves are shelved, but the claws remain razor sharp and ready should wandering yeti barge through the ramparts with murderous intent. 

 

    House kitty Leonard is the eternal guardian. Cuddly fluff-butt curled up with whiskers a-twitch, lulling the world of monsters and demons into a false sense of security with his wake-up drool face and savagely adorable little pink nosey. 

 

    For now, at least, the lion soundly sleeps.....

 

 

Sleeping Cutie

    Seriously???

 

    No matter how many snuggly beds we buy, how many wubbies, how many comfy nests we make up for him, Leonard will inevitably choose the most awkward, impossible, uncomfortable looking place to settle down and sleep. Anything precarious, pointy and possibly life threatening and he's there, snoring like Jabba The Hutt with a hangover. He's taken the whole 'being a cat' thing to the limit. 

 

   Who knew 'extreme sleeping' was an actual thing??

 

To Boldly Go....

    Gizmo decides to celebrate Bill Shatner's voyage into space with a journey of his own. After all, there's something to be said for trying to emulate your heroes.  

 

    Unfortunately Gizmo neglected to consider the negative side of confinement in the same sealed environment as his own particularly juicy and expressive trousers....

 

#bumsmells #fartinaspacesuit #onefelixsouptoomany

 

 

 

Tricksy Treaters

    The kids went trick-or-treating this year. They were allowed to choose their own costumes, which is always a risk, but I think they did quite well - although I'm not sure where Gizmo was going with his selection... The last thing that old boy needed was a spectacularly voluminous set of flamboyant trousers....even his companion, the ubiquitous rubber chicken - eternal deflated champion of "humour" - was endeavouring desperate escape from the windy well of despair...the gaudy pantaloons of doom... 

    ...And NOTHING good was ever going to come of Leonard's balloon obsession.

     Missy's recollections of the whole event are fuzzy at best, thanks to her "special" home brew and Sapphira loved her little devil onesie so much she had to be forcibly peeled out of it three weeks later... 

    They managed to menace six catnip toys, a packet of jammy dodgers, three socks and an extremely worried hamster. 

    Not a bad haul considering....

 

Medication...That's What Ya Need...

    Tablets, injections, syringes, sprays, gels, oitments, more tablets....this house is like a largely disfunctional emergency department. Aside from Missy and her 'breaking bad' sideline, medications are NOT a welcome part of our daily activity. 

    The only one of the feline four who's happy to imbibe is the only one who has no current official medical requirement, even though she 'falls over' regularly in front of Daddy on the garden path...."Oh, look, Dad! I did fell over an' evryfin'! Oh no - now I duz needz sum medsin an' tablits an' shit. 'Elp it down wiv a sambuca an' a kebab Dad. Love ya Dad. Oh! I did fell over agen!Oh no!......"

 

 

Love's Labours....

* sigh* Leonard in love.....

 

    Now that Leonard's housebound - thanks to his medical issues - he's pining for the love of his life. Her name is 'Boots' and she lives in her gilded castle next door. She's quite a mature lady, but in Leonard's eyes she is a creature of glowing and radiant perfection - an angel who fell from heaven just for him to worship and adore. 

 

     For months now he has been found on next door's property just gazing at the door awaiting his Love. Of course, this being Leonard, upon seeing her, all suave and debonair intentions are out of the proverbial window, and he rolls over and waggles all four paws in the air, rolling around like a daft kitten who's just discovered catnip. 

 

     Boots, for her part, is quite the coquette, and teases him with playful pats and scampers, flicking her tail and twitching her whiskers. She's not overdone the make-up, relying on her natural beauty and curves to captivate her boy toy!

 

     Alas, it is a doomed romance. Aside from Leonard's now permanent incarceration, Missy is opposed to the match in no uncertain terms, as Boots is her NEMESIS! Missy (somewhat ironically) refers to Boots's flirtations as "an embarrassin' display of slaggin' it up" and says she'll "knife her" if she sets paw on our land. She patrols our borders in her lazy way, flicking the odd sparking dog-end over the garden fence and eyeballing Boots's doorway with all the venom of a permanently pissed off rattle snake, flick-knife in paw and crotchless knickers hiked right up to the very top set of her kitty tits. She's not messin' about.

 

     Forbidden love. All that remains is for the two star-crossed would be lovers to gaze at each other through the window, bridging the expanse with their mutual adoration, while Missy plays aggressive gooseberry forever marking the eternal boundary between the two.

 

 

 

Daddy's Little Helpers

    When Daddy had to take a little time off work when he was injured, the kids pulled together to figure out how they could help..... Gizmo turned his paws to baking - mainly sausage-based dishes. Oddly the pies are always hollow when they're served...and a bit sucked.

 

     Sapphira and Leonard offered their dusting skills....an irony, given that Sapphira is a whirlwind of muck and Leonard's capacity to muster filth from any environment is famed worldwide. The spiders were an issue for Leonard, who sees them as small evil eight-legged alien 'shrooz', however they provided wriggling snacks for his miniature psychotic sister. 

 

     Missy had her own plans, falling back on her 'shady trading' to cover food bills...The medicine box was raided - AGAIN - and the neighbourhood filled with spaced-out hedgehogs and tripping badgers, the result of a couple of lines of the good shit (max strength Lemsip cut with hayfever meds). We've not seen a penny from her dodgy deals, mind you - she rolls in stinking of tequila, nicotine and pungent herbals, dodging the fuzz like a proper shady crim. (Also, she's saving for a summer in Magaluf so .....yeah...)

 

    Gizmo just likes pies. It's that kind of life...