I Licked My Lips And Tried To Appear Coy

Hooray, Sofia's just popped over and for once no one is around in the back garden to disturb me.

Daddy is out the front washing his car and River is absorbed watching him and barking at passing dogs while my other Daddy is banging on about something called a TIFF agreement that could potential be, according to his ranting, the end of any control the country has over it's own affairs. He really is worked up and I know when he's like that it's best to keep a low profile in case he tries to get you involved.

Anyway the sun was still out, it's been a beautiful warm day the hottest of the year so far, so I decided to have a little wander around the garden, see how Nadia was enjoying the heat when I spotted Sofia stretching out a sleep on the sunshine shed.

I ran over to her to say hi, she smiled back;

"Lovely day isn't it?"

I grinned back.

"It is indeed," I licked my lips and tried to appear coy, "almost as lovely as you."

I suddenly felt very self-conscious and looked down, hoping I hadn't come across too cheesy or forward. The silence felt like an age and I knew I couldn't continue looking at the floor, that would be rude so eventually, probably about 10 seconds later, I looked back up to see Sofia smiled back at me.

"Not too bad yourself." She mouthed back before giggling and jumping back onto the sunshine shed and over into one of the gardens on the other side.

Result!

.

I Had Totally Forgotten

I had totally forgotten today was Daddies birthday until I heard River catwalling her version of Happy Birthday so I decided I'd better make an appearance.

Wish him a fabulous Happy Birthday and all that. I went and had a lay down on the table amongst the bric-a-brac and had a little snooze, waiting for my mid morning Dreamies drop when all of a sudden great noise and casternation from outside.

Up to the window I jumped in time to see a load of men with poles in their hands coming up the path.

Such noise for an hour or so and ta dah! All that for one roof tile come off in the storm last month.

Oh hi Nadia! eaten anything yet? 

I then had a lovely afternoon asleep on the bed upstairs, all on my own, all by myself. As I smelt dinner being cooked I decided to return to the fold to be greeted by a very excited River with tales of her adventures that day and some art installation that's been put in.

No idea what she's banging on about, very rarely do but I do love her so.

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Mysterious Girl

Everyone went out for the afternoon and left me indoors alone with Nadia.

bless her she's lovely but she don't speak much and tucks her head in any time I go near, not sure we're bonding properly but there's only so much one can do.

Anyway I had a sleep and then a bit of an afternoon stretch outside and who was there, not the biggest surprise of the week, Sofia!

She didn't stick around which is a shame as I would have liked to talk to her, get to know her a bit better she seems mysterious,

Oh oh oh, oh, oh, oh
Mysterious girl
I wanna get close to you

Ooh better go River's just come in and seems determined to have a tussle!

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I Really Must Remember

Ooh that made me jump.

I really must remember Nadia's awake again and sleep up high because to feel a little claw scrap your back when you're asleep on the floor really does not help the old heart rate or the chilled out factor I'd been perfecting all morning.

I Heard A Noise Behind Me That Made Me Jump

It's a beautiful day today, it's got a real Spring feel and as everyone was out in the garden sorting things out I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a bit of a chat with The Wiseman. 

I have my plan for dealing with Flash and The New Cat Crew and didn't think it would harm running it by him.

I was just tuning in when I heard a noise behind me that made me jump.

I quickly ran nearer my daddies, they would protect me if anyone had crept into the garden to threaten me. 

But as it turned out I didn't need to worry, it was Nadia the tortoise.

Of course as soon as River realised she sat down for a long catch up as I sat and watched. River knows her better than I do, they've been friends a lot longer than I've lived here so I decided to let them get on with things. I didn't want to overwhelm Nadia, she's spends over half the year asleep so probably needs a while to wake up properly. 

I waited until all the catching up and bathing and feeding was done then made me approach.

But I think I scared her, as soon as I got close she quickly pulled her head in to her body and went all stiff. 

I do hope we get to be better friends this time around, she seems like a very interesting character. 

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A Work Of Genius

River's on a right one today. There I was trying my best to keep cool, it's boiling today, when the Daddies decided, in the hottest part of the day to start re-potting plants and digging and things.

I thought them a little mad to start it at that time of the day but there's no advising them. Of course River decided that she was going to get herself involved. I say involved, she seemed to spent most of the time playing with a snail that Daddy found in the pot and trailing dirt all over the place.

Not done yet, it was Nadia's turn for the special treatment, as much as River knocked her with her nose to get her to play she was determined to stay exactly where she was and dug herself in further. 

The icing on the cake though, in her bag of tricks, was to run up behind Daddy as he cooked himself in the sun, tickle his back with her tail and run away. OK this one was a work of genius, he was convinced he was being plagued by the multitude of flies that have decided to come out today.

What on earth would I do without her? Such amusement! 

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An Awakening

"Would you mind hanging on a moment." I put my paw up to Mogsie and looked down and tried to clear my head.

Something was happening to me, a stirring inside, something unfamiliar, something new. I looked down and saw my fur was standing on end, bristling, it felt electric but I didn't need to see to known I felt it, like that moment you get when someone walks over your grave. I looked back up at Mogsie;

!I won't be a minute, please don't go anywhere." He looked at me earnestly nodded, the corners of his eyes pinching in on themselves.

I jumped down from the window ledge, I needed some fresh air and went running outside. I wasn't sure why but I craved a breeze and needed to shake the feeling and get back to me.

I ran past Nadia and River, enjoying the sun in the garden with my Daddies, before I knew it I was up in the Peace Garden heading towards The Wiseman, but he wasn't really my destination, I wasn't sure why I was here, I stopped to catch my breath. River was still laying in the sun, I had no need to feel on alert.

The feeling passed. I'm not sure why I needed air but it did the trick, I was ready to go back in again.

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Three!

I was just sitting here on our chair thinking about the riddle Greego posed to me, I'm still no nearer coming up with an answer I've a few ideas but I'm not going to put in my answer until I'm as sure as I can be, when River jumped up.

If that wasn't distracting enough she then kept on calling out for Nadia to join us, Daddy has been keeping her inside since she made her two escape attempts.

As if there's room? I mean I know she's tiny and all that but still this chair was made for one, two at a squeeze but three! Three is one too many!

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Secrets & Riddles

"I'll make a trade with you Greego." Greego looked at me and smiled, he was sitting on the table near the back door, the place with the best view over all the garden.

"A trade?" This time his face could be read so easily, a star sparkled in his eye, it was working I'd got his attention.

"Yes that's right, a trade." I sat and licked my paw, I didn't want to rush I wanted to build up a sense of anticipation.

"You tell me what you mean when you said earlier gotcha and I'll tell you a secret."

His mind was working overtime, weighing up the pros and cons or entering into such a deal. I knew Pixie's couldn't lie so I knew if he just accepted the trade I'd get my honest answer. To win with Greego I was learning you just had to tempt him and what's more tempting than the promise of a secret being revealed.

"What's this secret about?" His neck stretched like Nadia's moving his face a centimetre nearer to mind.

"Now that's a secret." I teased, I was having fun with this and could see he was trying to trick me into revealing before he made the agreement and was bound in to tell the truth.

"How will I know if it's worth such a trade?" He was really trying , OK this was turning out like a game of chess.

I looked his straight in the eye with the most serious face I could muster.

"You don't!"

Sometimes less is more as Daddy says.

Greego thought for a couple of moments, whatever he meant by gotcha he didn't want to reveal readily. I could sense tension in the air, a ticking mind clock but would be gamble.

Greego then turned to me and smiled.

"I have a counter offer for you." Ok this really was turning into a game of chess.

"If you can solve a riddle I put to you then I will accept your offer and hear your secret and tell you what I mean, if however you get the answer wrong, then I'll just hear your secret and keep mine to myself. If you don't want to accept that's fine then we'll leave it for today and both enjoy the weekend. The choice is yours." Greego smiled and rubbed his hand across his chin.

Damn he'd turned the table and put the ball back in my court, now it was my turn to make a decision. How much did I want to know what he meant? Obviously a lot or I wouldn't have been spending all this time trying to outwit him when he'd managed to do it to me quiet easily. I had a lot to learn when it came to dealing with Pixie's.

I guess I had nothing to lose, I'd managed to solve his riddles before, the odds were stacked in my favour if we went by the past.

"Is there a time limit? I mean can I go away and think about it for a while?"

"Oh yes, take all the time you want, I'm in no hurry."

Great just the answer I was hoping for, if I was going to take him up on his challenge I didn't want to rush an answer I really wanted to make sure I had a good one. I turned to Greego and nodded.

"OK then, I accept."

Greego sat back and giggled.

"What's comes and goes and goes and comes and yet has not a clue,
Something that comes and yet had gone another clue for you?"

WHAT! Oh my head.

Rummaging In The Dirt

Hey hang on a minute...

...what's River up to rummaging in the dirt?

Let me have a look little one.

Oh it's only Nadia, thought it was some buried treasures or something she'd found!

Let's see if I can get in there with her, it would make a great garden hiding place.

Ouch, thorny!

You're welcome to it all by yourself Nadia, not a pleasant experience at all!

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Something I've Never Done Before

I'm so proud of myself, today I've done something I've never done before. 

It all started when my Daddies staring doing things in the garden again, they've been very busy this weekend. The door was open, the sun was shining and I was feeling adventurous. I had a little peak in the garage, my favourite place outside, it's great to tease River as I can get in their and she can't, then I had a sniff around the rose bushes before spotting my best friend sitting by the back door.

I felt a little sorry for her, she looked so lost. Even though I was in investigation mode I asked her if she would like to join me exploring. Of course she jumped at the chance and off we both ventured towards the Peace Garden, see if we could find any buried treasures after all the digging my Daddies have been doing. 

Bless River and all that but she gets so easily distracted and after waiting around for ages I decided I'd had enough and went off exploring on my own. That's when something suddenly overcame me and I decided I was going to see if I could climb the wall at the back of the garden.

It was a lot easier that I thought it would be and in seconds I was up by The Swinging Heart of Love. Wow it was nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be up there. 

I could hear my Daddies talking and saying that I was doing very well, that spurred me on, I like it when I get compliments from them, which to be fair I do get every day.

There words spurred me on and off across the back wall I trotted, us cats have excellent balance you know, it's all in the tail.

As the end of the wall I had four options as I saw it. Jump straight down right onto the hard bark my Daddies had just laid, turn around and go back the way I came, but that would seem a little too model for me, turn right and go up the side of the garden on the fence, I wasn't ready for that feat yet or turn right and go explore the sunshine shed and see what was over the other gardens.

And that is exactly what I did. It's amazing, a whole new world over the wall, flowers and tree's and things and I'm sure I saw another cat looking at me but I thought I'd done enough today so I wouldn't go any further but turn back and see if River was finished with what it was that she'd got all intrigued with.

Tomorrow maybe I'll go over the wall and make friends with that other cat, who knows?

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Well It's True What Was Said

Well no one can accuse me of not trying to get Nadia to have a little chat. After River ran out the back to bark at the man cutting his lawn I jumped down and said hello. Nothing. I tried nudging her, which only made her move her head into her shell even more, I even then tried licking her, that often works with River and I but again nothing.

Ages I was there chatting away, I heard Daddy say he's not ever heard me talk so much, little voice he sometimes calls me, but nothing.

Well it was true what was said Nadia doesn't talk much, or in this case say anything and in the end I decided to just give up for today, if she's been asleep for half the year maybe she's still just waking up. I won't be giving up though.

Still she makes a good foot rest.

What A Revelation!

I've never met a tortoise before, what a revelation they are! 

They are just so different from us cats and dogs. True they can move fast like we can, proportionally to size I mean, but there's so many other differences. They eat things such as lettuce which to be honest just stuck to the back of my throat when I attempt to scoff a bit that fell to the floor once and they don't do or say much, in fact River said Nadia hardly ever speaks.

I'm going to make it my mission to engage her in conversation, I'm going to attempt it when we are alone, see if I can tease it out of her without the distractions of River getting herself involved which by the look of it isn't going to be too long she's spotted something going on out the back. Go on River go see what it is!

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Lucky Thing

Much noise, so much noise in this place it's hard enough to sleep as it is without Daddy cutting the grass and now this!

I was trying to sleep under the sofa when all I could hear was River shouting and jumping around, I gave up attempting to snooze and came out to see what all the fuss was about.

What!

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, there on the floor in a bowl of water was this little shell thing and everyone was sitting around watching it attempting to swim.

This was all so new to me, who/what was this thing that was making everyone so excited? According to River, this is Nadia the tortoise and she lives here as well. Why on earth has no one told me about this before and where's she been hiding all this time?

River then told me that she goes to sleep in the garden for half the year. lucky thing! I circled her trying to get her scent but I guess the water must be masking it as all I could smell was dirt.

Daddy then took her out of the water and River ran straight to Nadia to give her a kiss.

But Nadia was on her toes before I could formally introduce myself. For such a small thing she's a fast mover.

I had to jump to catch up with her. 

Then she decided she was going to hide under the sofa, then River told me it was one of her favourite sleeping places. WHAT! That's my favourite sleeping place. How on earth could no one have told me about any of this? I'm flabbergasted! Whatever next?

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