Hi Friends!
Happy Tuesday! Hope you are having a good week. I’ll keep it short today as I’m having eye issues and can’t be looking at screens for long. The last week has been a bit stressful, the storms damaged the garden, fences, and the house sprung a leak. Then I had to take Miss P to the vet for her annual check up and boosters and that is never fun. The vaccination boosters also seem to really affect her physically making her very sleepy and possibly she feels unwell, who knows. Last year she went out to the garden afterwards and didn’t come back till the next day, so this time I kept her in all day and she slept solidly for 12 hours!
Last week was my vegan/plant-based anniversary (if you missed that post read it here) and Mae asked me in the comments about vegan pet food. I do not feed my cats vegan cat food, I’m pretty sure they don’t sell it here but I have seen it available on US sites. Cats are natural carnivores so I think it would be wrong to force them to eat a vegan diet and they would also need a lot of supplements to compensate. I think the crazy people who want their cats to be vegan would have to keep them inside otherwise the cat’s natural instincts would send them straight out to murder birds and small rodents! We have a lot of cats in the garden including one of mine, and that is one aspect that I don’t like, but it is nature, so cats will do what cats will do. (of course we encourage this with all the mouse and bird toys we give them to play with too lol)
Today’s Art . . .
Today’s art is this art journal page for Vicki’s Keeping it Light theme over on Art Journal Journey. I made it last night and the photo is taken under lights but it’s not too bad considering. I was thinking about what a lot of people think about at the beginning of the year (lose weight, get healthy etc) and also following Miss P’s visit to the vet, I was thinking about the weight of my cats. She had actually lost a little and I had expected the opposite because I feed her more wet food in the winter (very expensive tins of 90% chicken or fish) because I feel like when she comes in from being out in the cold and wet, she needs something more than some dry biscuits. (The other two don’t get this kind of food as they both have digestive problems.)
So Miss P is a good weight for her frame, Miss Lily is very petite, and they are both represented on the “light” side of the scales. Mr G on the other hand is very heavy cat and seems to be just solid muscle – he’s the heaviest cat I’ve ever weighing in at nearly 8kg. He’s not fat though, just big boned lol. He is also very clumsy for a cat and “inner ease and grace” is so not him! So he is represented by the fat ginger cat on the left, though all three of my cats are black or black/white, I just thought I would inject some colour into the page. I also added a daily feeding recommendation cut from the back of a packet of cat food. I thought it was funny as the range only goes from 3kg to 5kg and as I said Mr G is nearly 8kg – it fact this chart doesn’t really represent any of them as Miss P is 6kg and Miss Lily is nearly 5kg.
Currently Reading . . .
My current read is this book by Gabrielle Zevin – has anyone else read it? I’m really enjoying it so far!
“This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It’s not a romance, but it is about love. When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one morning he is catapulted straight back to childhood, and the hours they spent immersed in playing games. Their spark is instantly reignited and sets off a creative collaboration that will make them superstars. It is the 90s, and anything is possible. What comes next is a decades-long tale of friendship and rivalry, fame and art, betrayal and tragedy, perfect worlds and imperfect ones. And, above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love.”
Genre: Literary Fiction
TOTAL for 2024
17 book so far
February Books so far – 3
(re-reads if any are in bold)
Currently Crocheting . . .
This is the same photo from last Tuesday as I forgot to take an updated photo but I have now reached the halfway mark of 40 squares and last week I had only completed 16.
T Stands For . . .
My turmeric milk latte. This one has quite a bit of turmeric in it, but I need it for my joint issues and I drink more of it in the winter anyway. Here is also today’s breakfast which was overnight oats with banana, blueberries, pumpkin seeds and papaya or paw paw. I always knew them as paw paws, but here they call them papaya. What do they call it where you are?
Let me know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and Happy T Day!
Ingredients
my handmade journal, Pitt artist pens, neocolours, collage materials, black pen, pencil, white gel pen,
Challenges
T Stands For
Art Journal Journey – Keeping it Light
It’s always a trial to get the kitties to the vet. Poor Quill hates the ride and he gets depressed and hides under the blanket in his carrier. He’s not fond of the carrier either. Your page made me smile. I’ll have to apply that quote to myself as I am a bit Ruben-esque. Calli is petite like Miss Lily.Quill is like your Mr. G though not as having coming in at 6 kg. I call him my house tiger. Calli has petite and dainty moves. Her stretches remind me of a ballerina. There is nothing dainty about a tiger. Happy T Day
Wow “inner ease and grace” hadn’t thought of that?
Happy Friday
Much?love
You may correctly infer from the lateness of my visit, that I am quite ill. Sorry if I am brief tonight.
I’m glad you wouldn’t give your cats vegan cat food. I noticed when I changed Bleubeard’s diet to older cat, Squiggles stopped trying to steal it.
I am sorry to read about your eyes. I hurt everywhere, including my eyes and eyelids. Not fun being sick. I can tell you know that from reading about your joints.
i adore how you balanced those cats on the see saw. Very clever take and a great quote for it, too.
I’ve never had a turmeric latte. To be truthful, the only time I’ve used turmeric was to dye fabric. Thanks for sharing your fabulous art, your reading, granny squares, milk latte, and fruity breakfast with us for T this week, dear Elle.
Sorry to hear about your eye issues and hope it heals soon for you as well as your new week! I absolutely adore the kitties on the scale! Your art with this is wonderful and Miss P really makes me smile! Such a fun and great way to use the “light” theme for your inspiration! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and art!
Sorry about your eye issues.
I love your fabulous and funny journal page. We once had a very heavy and chunky cat! Hubby loves Turmeric Lattes. Your breakfast looks delicious! Have a good week, hugs,
Oh! Hope your eyes are better by now, this is scary.
Here we are so not up to date with Europe’s weather.
Vegan pet food, oh, no. LOL, yes, better keep them inside then!
Love your art and the explanations that go along with it!
And your crocheting is very cute, too. Your drink sounds yummy! Must look out for that!
P.S. QANTAS does not fly Germany since… dunno 10 years, so we have to take another airline.
BUT!!! Tomorrow (Thursday) we take QANTAS to get to Adelaide, I so took forward to that! Hugsx
I love so much the way you look after your cats, Elle. I’m with you when it comes to vegan (or vegetarian) diet for cats, I don’t think that is a good idea. I once knew a woman who fed her German shepherd a vegetable diet and his fur lost all its shine and he just looked miserable. They are carnivores and we should feed them accordingly.
I’m sorry to read about your eye problems and I hope that they will get better. Looking at a screen for a prolonged time can be very tiring for our eyes. The leak certainly is no fun and I’m sorry that the storm caused some damage in your garden.
That’s a beautiful page, those cats are wonderful.
Thank you for letting me know which lesson by Melanie Rivers that art journal spread I made was – you’re right! Thank you for reminding me.
Happy T day, hugs – Carola
I with you when it comes to vegan cat food. Your would need to supplement high levels of protein, wouldn’t you? I remember my vet saying that cats (when we had the 2 cats) need high protein diet, much more than dogs do. Sorry to hear about the leak in your house and your garden mess. A few years back we had a leak and it is NOT fun. But I do love this week’s kitty art. The kitty on your page looks like my kitty Leo did. He was not light though, and was definitely a cat who would make a lot of noise when he walked. According to my vet his ideal weight was 22 pounds (around 10 KG) so you can see he was one large cat. But a sweetie. I miss him even though he would now be 20 years old had he still been around. Your crochet squares look great, and that book sounds good. I’d actually read about it before, and I’ve added it to my list. I’ve been looking for some different types of read lately. I hope you had a great T day too, and thanks for linking up to Vicki’s challenge at AJJ. hugs-Erika
Sorry about your eye issues.The PC screen can really be hard on them. Really lovely page. I think I would like to try your drink. I will look for recies. Your breakfast looks like what I have in the morning too. It is so good. Have a very nice day.