Turtle Pix

Chiro-sis Ruth & Rowan flew back from Scotland and I picked them up at the airport yesterday. I told her that Oly was now a "free-range" turtle and allowed to roam about the house. With the rain the last couple days, she didn't get her backyard walks. Here she is emerging from . . . somewhere this morning: 

Lady looks on with a wary eye.

She likes little nooks. Here she is parking herself like a Matchbox car: 

I let Lady lick out the coconut milk bag and  then this:

Don't worry--I didn't let her stay!

In Le Studio:

In the laundry room:

Playing with her reflection on the dryer:

Basking in the sun:

She's less and less fond of her makeshift plastic bin terrarium! But she still burrows down:

Hulloooooo:

She churns against the side when she wants to come out, tho:

"I'm awake!  Lemme out!"

This is still the easiest way to feed her. She came with clear instructions about favourite fruit watermelon being handfed to her:

Rarrr!

Going outside:

I really have to watch her because she can disappear and blend into the grass v. fast!

There she is:

Yoda Kitty sits below me when I'm "walking" the turtle:

View from backyard; Mama and her twins:

In non-turtley news, rainy day snoozes with Tabby Bobcat & Lady:

Lady spilling out of Tabby's bed:

All is well.  :-)

This week in photos

The Bed Battle between Beagle & Bobcat:

Yoda-Kitty:

We had a vet vizzie this week:

She was not happy:

A brief moment of sun:

This is actually from a coupla weeks ago. Sunrise:

Pretty glorious.  :-)

 

Yoda-Kitty

Recycling day.  *Le SIGH*

Skin and bones and big eyes, Yoda-Kitty came with my new house. She was a tiny little tabby cat with a HUGE personality!  I was calling her Sweetie the first few weeks. My sister objected to that name as I use that generically for PEOPLE. She was visiting one day when I had the misfortune of referring to them both as Sweetie in the same sentence. "See?!  We can't BOTH be Sweetie!"   

So I dubbed her Yoda-Kitty, because she flattens her ears out whenever I pet her: 

Her full name is now Yoda-Kitty Princess Swishy Tail Adorable Sassy Sweetie-Pie. I could add in "Box-Chewer" and "Beagle Ambusher" but that doesn't sound as melodious. She likes to hide in boxes or around corners and leap out at beagle-girl Lady and Tabby Bobcat--who are NOT amused, but there is an uneasy truce between them. 

Yoda-Kitty chirps and meows and does the most gentle little biscuit-making moves while she purrs. When I installed my hutch onto the half-wall in my entry, she immediately usurped it as her lair. I put her bed and blanket up there, but she pulled her blanket out and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out along the whole shelf. Any plans I had to use any part of the shelf for real books were quickly abandoned!  She sits up there and looks over her domain and retires there for all her cat naps. 

 

Speaking of Lady and Tabby, they sleep down below:

Even tho Lady has 2 beds, when she came to stay with me, she usurped Tabby's bed, and it is a constant contest between the two of them! Here's Lady wedged in:

Silly girl!

My Gallery Wall

  I posted this on my other blogs, but thought I'd cross post, since it's home-related!

This is my office area.  When I moved in, I set up my computer on the peninsula between the kitchen and living room and then the decor evolved from there. To the left of the monitor is book wallpaper adhered to the back of a small shelf unit that I use as a divider "wall."  And it's extra shelf/storage in the kitchen. Above the monitor to the right were two cupboard doors that I removed and replaced with the bulletin board (which I've covered with lace). It houses kitchen stuff that's accessible from the kitchen.

Close-up of bookcase wallpaper & plants on top of shelf:

To the right of the monitor is more book wallpaper adhered to a piece of foamboard, to give a cohesive look and hide the back of the microwave:

Corner:

Close-up of corner:

Photos are of Mum's mum as young woman and at age 5, looking very Victorian!

Copper book plate for a fern book & a painting by my artist friend Betsy:

Full gallery wall:

The fabric is a fern eco-print from Nik The Booksmith and it covers a printer. To the right of that is a framed collection of dried flowers that I got at a thrift store: 

On the back, it says:

 

Detail of homage to Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward: 

Free floating moths are from The Graphics Fairy.

Complete with a mini-Wardian case from Dollar Tree:

Underneath the little shelf thingie:

Left to right: Professor Anderson, director of Chelsea Gardens, Dr. Asa Gray, botanist at Harvard, and Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward.

I suspect these to be 3 of NB Ward's children. The photos are from the Literary and Scientific Portrait Club: photographs by Maull & Polyblank, circa 1855. They look like siblings, and I see a resemblance to NB Ward:

More 19th century botanical artists and authors: 

Top, Left to Right: Helena Scott, her sister Harriet Scott with Harriet's moth painting between them.

Bottom, Left to Right: Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening, Anna Atkins, & Louisa May Alcott

To the right of all of them is Jane Austen, of course!

This a print from author and botanical artist, Christine Andreae:

She's like a modern day Edith Holden!

Fern print that camouflages the heat register:

Beatrix Potter with her dog Kep, at Hilltop Farm and Elizabeth Gaskell:

Here's a link to a video walk-thru.

Here are a coupla bonus pix of the "Parlour" area, not in the video:

Tabby Bobcat asleep on the recliner. Lady is curled up in the cat/beagle bed. The book graphic is actually a shower curtain that I adhered to the back of a cupboard unit, that I use as a "half wall." It was a lot easier to do that than my original idea of doing the book wallpaper.

And up above, is Yoda-Kitty in her "Hutch Lair":

Zzzzzzz . . . .   :-)