Rude awakening

I woke up this morning to a cat chomping down hard on my leg! I think it was Mewthos – it was still dark. I have no clue what possessed him, I can only guess some insect he was chasing, settled on my leg for an instant. I was not impressed, to put it mildly.

Last night he needed cuddles badly – he kept walking over me, mewling, but when I reached out, he’d shy away. Eventually I turned so there was a cuddle-cave on his preferred side (he only wants it on my right side, for some strange reason) and when he came for his next walk-over, I grabbed him and shoved him in. He immediately settled down and started not only purring, but ‘saying purr purr’. You know, when they also put their voice into the purring?

Today they all have me baffled, since, for some reason they all now want to sit or lie in the bath! Even Romeo! While I was brushing my teeth, he went and stretched out in the bath! Seriously? What’s that about?

It’s a warm summer day today, so I thought I’d spend some time in the garden. I started by taking a photo-walkthrough – which was about enough to start burning my shoulders! But I got some lovely photos of all the flowers everywhere! All cats were under my feet, and Romeo even photobombed the Geranium, ha ha!

 

Cute, isn't he?

The path alongside the flat is in the shade, so I can at least work there for now – but only in 15 minute bursts, as it is very hot! 28°C in the shade, so you can imagine how hot it is in the sun!

Well, I’ve cleared the path up to the veggie patch – which is a sad story by itself! I had planted peas there and they were coming along beautifully! Full of flowers, then pods – promising a bumper crop for months to come! And then … that pesky white mildew attacked all my pea plants and killed them within days! I’ve just pulled them out, now. It really is vexing the way parasites destroy so much in my garden – yet none of the neighbouring gardens are affected! There are a whole lot of marrow plants growing in that patch now – I suppose they must be Gem squash, but I can’t be sure, since I didn’t sow any new seeds last year. It’s looking lovely for now – but I’m not holding my breath, I’m afraid. There are also loads and loads of Vieruurtjies coming up; since they are indigineous, I’m hoping they can counter the white mildew; hopefully for good one day!

 

Veggie-patch - wilted peas in front, Vieruurtjies between them, Marrows on the right
and Geraniums in the back

Even my Alyssums were destroyed by some sort of white flecky gunk – I didn’t look to see what it was, just pulled them all out. Some Nasturtiums were afflicted with some black pellet-like parasite; I’ve pulled out all affected plants – hopefully I caught it in time.

 

That empty patch is where I pulled out all the white-flecked Alyssum

With the exception of the few packets on my birthday, I haven’t sown any seeds or planted any new flowers – since I’ve been expecting the order to move since May. So, everything growing and blooming in the garden now is from last year’s flowers! The Cosmos & Nasturtium were engulfed by bees and the seeds were clearly fertile! You can’t even see the Spekboom among the Nasturtiums at the moment!

 

Somewhere between the Nasturtium are the Spekboom I planted

I started cleaning my first bed, since that’s now nicely in the shade – and near the end there are hordes of Vieruurtjies trying to grow, but the buttercup-like weed is taking all the sunlight, and they seem to be wilting. So I’m transplanting them. That garden will be overgrown with Vieruurtjies one day! That will be all Frankie’s fault, he he! About two years ago he went missing, didn’t come home for several days and Rose and I went looking for him. We came across some pretty wild flowers, and I pulled some up and planted them in my garden. They don’t like pots, but they do very well anywhere in the ground! They produce a whole bush filled with flowers, and each flower produces one seed – when it was finished, the whole ground was black with seeds! I picked them up by the handful and tossed them just about everywhere I could think of! That’s how they got into the veggie patch and in the rockery. I gave Rose a lot of seeds as well and she’s got bushes of them coming up as well, now.

 

I still need to weed this patch, but this is where I plonk all the Vieruurtjies I rescue from under
the Rhubarb, buttercup and Nasturtiums

I had a chat with Rose and she confirmed what I had surmised: the more attention I give Romeo, the less unpleasant his behaviour! He doesn’t chase or attack females and he sprays less. Rose says she hasn’t had a spraying incident in a while.

Gardening has also changed over the years, for me, here, at least. When I first started puttering around the single bed I had then, Abby-cat would pick a spot in the corner of the garden where she’d spend the day sleeping – highly upset if I accidentally disturbed her. Frankie would find a spot, well away from me, where he could supervise my activities. That was the whole of the cat-activity in those days!

And today? Well, Abby no longer comes outside, I’m afraid. She stays on the bed all day and all night. Frankie still supervises me – but not all the time, nor always. He’s confident that I won’t do anything he’d disapprove of. But then there are now five more cats: I can expect Romeo to either snuggle under my arm or headbutt me at any time, Lady Jane and Mewthos could be jumping onto me – my back, my shoulder or my lap – at any time; Ziva to come for a roly-poly-rub-my-tummy and even Shadow comes to see what I’m doing every now and then! Any one of them could also decide to climb into my weed-bag at any time or decide to roly-poly on the very spot I’m trying to weed – since my hands are busy in that spot already, they’re certain to get attention! It’s ‘anything-can-happen’ – and usually does!

Lady Jane is such a busy girl! Often, when I come outside, I see her busily trying to catch insects or birds or just investigating something here, then rushing off to investigate something there! Today I watched her jump incredibly high to catch some fluttering insect, twisting in the air – she is quite amazing! Even now, when she’s ‘resting’ on the carpet by my feet, her eyes follow some movement, he head turning this way then that! Mewthos is more relaxed – he just mewls at me when he wants either entertainment or food! Like now, when he’s decided it’s time for a treat, ha ha!

I was just closing the bedroom curtains when I saw a funny sight: Rose is busy watering her rockery and a step away, Frankie is watering himself from the bird bath!

Hello? I like your mat! It's very welcoming :)

Best cushion in the world!

Indeed!

I had our gardener dig that trench a while back. You see where the 'drain' ends?
All the water used to come down, run down my path then pool at the bottom of the stairs!
It took him an entire day, and he had to work with a pick-axe because of all the rocks,
but it makes the world of a difference!
I no longer have a pool of gunk collecting on my path, nor do I have to wade through ankle-deep
water every time it rains!

Spring has certainly sprung!

Beautiful, isn't it?

The newest flower bed, along the wall!

All cleaned up on this side of the wall

And this is what it looks like behind the wall!
They must have cleaned up recently - it was even worse last time I looked

These look like used diapers! Urgh!

This is the patch between the fallen Tecoma (right) and the Hibiscus (left)
It was totally bare, with only weeds growing there!

The cactus is starting to flower as well!

Alive with a variety of succulents, Vieruurties and the tomato plant in front of the flowers!

Two beds covered in Nasturtiums!

The buttercup-like weed, with Rhubarb in front

The flower - melt-in-your-mouth butter!