On the subject of sunny balconies, we have had three or four beautiful Sundays in a row, when the balcony really warms up and the cats enjoy lying outside. Every now and then Frank will come inside and tell me in no uncertain terms that that shtupid sun moved again, and will I please come and move his chair? So I go out and move his chair into the sun again, and he jumps up and curls up to sleep - until that shtupid sun moves again.

Nikki is allowed to lie in the chair that Frank is not lying in. This morning, for the first time, birds were flying around close to the balcony (let me remind you that the balcony is glassed in), and Nikki raced up the cat tree to get a better view of the flying steaks of fowl. The tree is a bit rickety, and the cats don't usually like to climb it, but when there is fowl to spy, even a rickety cat tree will do. I'm thinking of getting them a better perch for bird-watching and spying on the builders on the building site across the yard.

We went out for walkies, too, and this time, Nikki bravely explored the whole backyard. Of course, she found a sunny spot on the concrete tiles to roll around on, and managed to cover herself in dust. Frank ventured out to the front of the house, but when a car went by (one car in ten minutes!), he thought it best to return to the safety of the backyard. I wasn't letting him cross the road, anyway, so he thought it was pretty boring. As you all know, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, or, as in this case, on the other side of the road.

Copyright © Marina Kurten
March 23, 2003