Flo showed up for dinner tonight. Perhaps she was just sleeping off the vaccinations in the wood shed. I didn’t realize how much her disappearance this morning effected me until I saw her walking through the snow to the barn. The heaviness in my body slipped away in an instant.
I have to admit, I was hurt and annoyed when she didn’t show up for breakfast or respond to my meows. My mood didn’t improve when I hit my head on a rafter climbing into the attic of the woodshed to look for her. “I’m glad we didn’t get her spayed too,” I grumbled to Jon, feeling we had reached out to her and then she fled. Oh projections, again and again the animals remind me, they are not the stories in my head, they are animals. Just doing what animals do.
Smart and savvy cat, I’m so glad to have her back.
I’m glad she’s back too!! Happy for you all!
Three cheers for the return of Flo! : )
I am so glad she is back too – I am a cat person – (not to say I do not love other animals ) but I have always felt a connection with cats – I imagine I might have been a cat in another life — when I was in my mid twenties I got my first house cat – and it was thru her that i truly understood what love was–
yay! glad she’s back — glad she found you — love your previous posts (quilt, cold, receipts) — you are great — happy new year 🙂
Animals sure can keep you guessing. I’m also glad she’s back. Smart cat.
Maria, I’m glad Flo’s back too. I was worried about her too. I’m wondering if she might be an in-house cat as she seems pretty tame. Nothing like a warm bed, good food and someone spending $300 on her to get her all spruced up. Cats are quixotic, are they not. No telling about them, no predicting what they’ll do, completely moving to their own whims and needs. But they’re awfully cute.
SandyP
I’m glad, too, Maria. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad when I heard she was gone. I was looking forward to hearing about her. I’m glad we as readers of both your and John’s blog will get the chance to know her!
Glad that Flo is back! Amazing how our animals burrow into our hearts, and how it affects us. Animals doing what animals do and not our stories…….the story of my life, Maria! So many lessons to learn, so little time.
Oh, I’m so glad, I felt sad too! It had me perusing Jon’s
pictures of her again to see her. It would be nice for Minnie
to have a companion of sorts. 🙂
EXTRA! EXTRA! Maria scoops Jon on Flo’s return! Woohoo……
Only because he wasn’t home Cheryl, but thanks for noticing!
I’m so happy to read that Flo has returned. I was sad to read she wasn’t around this morning…hope you have a talk with her about leaving without permission 🙂
How easy it is to blame an animal and not look within. I had similar emotions today. I’m glad Flo came back!
Maria,I love this windowsill with buttons. You know, we feel saddness in our hearts when an animal is gone. I felt it with Mother and I didn’t even know her. To miss Flo is natural and it brings sadness.Even though we express this outwardly by being sullen or angry. I think those are easier mediums. Those that we’ve learned from childhood. Those familiar old coping mechanisms. You must have been positively thrilled to see Flo! I would have been. All this on the heels of Mother. I intellectually know that animals are just that and no more and ya,da,ya,da…But feelings are still there and every one we feel is 100% ok.
It’s true Cindy, I was truly upset she was gone and thrilled when she was back.
Oh good, glad Flo returned (figured she would, she clearly chose you it seemed). I can see you meowing :)). Lovely “Good man” quilt, red thread finishes it nicely.
I bet the vaccine left Flo feeling under the weather and she just slept it off until she felt up to eating again. She has your number and will hang around for the food dish for the long haul. I bet she thinks you serve up some good eats!
For the last few years I have had only a cat which I would keep inside my home and on the weekends when I was home all day she would be allowed on the patio to enjoy a small taste of the outdoors. My wonderful Kiki was with me through so many of my most difficult moments (death of my husband, death of my mother, my position eliminated where I worked, etc.) so I guess she was telling me “enough all ready” so she managed to jump to the greenbelt which is next to my condo. I searched, had my extended family members come over and search, left food out, asked all my neighbors but no luck. Then I decided she had really left so I stood at the window and told her how much I loved and wished her well on her new journey. Was I surprised when I looked down (I’m on the second floor) and saw her just sitting there looking up at me. Needless to say it was the beginning of my own personal journal to letting go and embracing the here and now. She died at home in 2006 and I will always be thankful for her and the lesson she taught me.
You and your husband have so many wonderful opportunities, not to mention all the responsibility with the many animals in your care. I would like to thank you for both blogs as I truly look forward to hearing both of you tell the stories and what the different experiences mean personally to you both.
Beautiful story Betty
I’m glad she is okay and is back with you and Jon. Cats are weird.
That kinda sums them up CS. Cats are weird!
I am glad she is back! She seems like a sweetheart.
Such happy news this morning. It sure is tough to rein in one’s thinking at times like that, even with a hit to the head, we still continue. Relieved for you as I think Flo is a very special one!
Such good news – we have an indoor-outdoor cat who spends her time inside in the winter. We took her for her annual checkup a few weeks ago and she had a couple of vaccinations. The vet told us that one of them (I forget which one) might make her feel out-of-sorts for a day or two and, sure enough, she just kept to herself, didn’t eat much and slept for the next day or so and then was back to her old self. That could be what happened with Flo. You and Jon are so kind to take her into your family.
I don’t think cats are weird…I love & admire their independent, sassy attitudes!!
I love the your photo. The variously hued buttons against the lovely wood reminds me of brightly colored shells on a sandy beach.
So glad to hear that Flo is back 🙂
I just finished reading all of the comments about Flo’s disappearance and her triumphant return. How wonderful to see how she has already touched so many lives. I have never been a cat person; I think I inherited that trait from my mother. We’ve always been dog lovers, but you and Jon (as well as some of my cat loving friends) have opened up a whole new world to me–the world of cats, especially barn cats. Mother, who is missed, Minnie, who thrives, and now Flo. I call them blog friends and I am so grateful to you and Jon for sharing them with all of us. It is most meaningful to me that you have such empathy with animals; your ability to communicate with them, to understand them and to love them as much as you do is nothing short of miraculous. The thought of you and Flo bonding from the get go, even before she became yours is heartwarming. Isn’t it amazing how all of these creatures just sneak into our hearts and take up a spot there as if they had always belonged there and been a part of us?!What joy they bring to our lives. Thank you for sharing.
Jane
We once had a big orange tom living in the hedge at the back of our yard, years ago. All summer the kids agitated to let him in so even though it made us a 5 cat household, eventually he moved in. Sampson was one of those incredibly laid back males typical of his appearance. When finally we took all 5 off to the vet en masse for their rabies shots, etc etc, they did not all fit in the carriers. He was such a lump that my teenager carried him. He never used an ounce of energy he did not have to. AFTER the shots, the exam, the neutering, the whole 9 yards, ( the big bucks! which were hard come by then!)on the 15 foot walk to the car he leapt out of my son’s arms and was never seen again. I too know how you felt! Hurt, sort of, or unappreciated- “here I do this nice thing for you and you repay me like this??” It took a long time to stop feeling personally affronted! They do get under our skin and to us in so many different ways, don’t they? Of course, he was just being true to himself. My son now has another orange tom named Sampson in memory so he sure made his mark! This was 20 years ago, or more.
I heard a similar story from the vet about an orange Tabby. They do have a mind of their own.