About Matilda..........an update

The BIG FELLA!

.

What a wonderful Fella he was. We miss him so.......

January 5th. 2013

Oscar The Fella on his 15th birthday.....

February 12th.......

We so missed THE FELLA when he passed away..........he was 15, such a gentleman,  such a warm cuddler, and was such a great, trusting companion to Jeannine - and then to me. He loved the garden at our home in Denver........and how he would have loved the contact with the wild environment here in The Pinery. The birds, the squirrels, the rabbits, the deer and the voles.....oh, my, he would have been beside himself.

Hey, hey....

Matilda and Theodore came into our lives a couple of years ago from the Dumb Friends League.

 We thought that no pussy cat would ever replace The Fella.

We were right, BUT........We were so, SO lucky.

Matilda and Theodore brought with them all of the cat delights one can imagine.
And more. What a couple.

Theodore, the little fella.......no one loved him before....

Some pictures taken when we first had Matilda and Theodore:

Theodore hid from us for the first few days.....

Matilda checked every room

She liked hert new bed.....

...and her scratching posts

She checked out the computer

And Theo had his first cuddle..

Matilda's cushion

When someone came to visit, Theo hid....

When we moved home to the open prairie land south of Parker, Theodore stayed indoors and watched from the deck as
Matilda soon befriended the deer, admired the birds, and kept her eye on the tiny voles running through their grassy tunnels.
When she had a minute or two spare, Matilda wrote to her friends at the Dumb Friends League:

Dear Friends at DFL,

I’m sorry that it has taken us (I’m writing this on behalf of my friend, Theodore: he hasn’t yet learned how to use an IPad or my laptop) so long to write. It’s been a very busy time since we moved from our temporary home at your wonderful resort, The Dumb Friends League.

You won’t remember us. I’m now Matilda, and my friend’s name is Theodore. We decided to change our names when we adopted Jeannine and John.

You may remember them. We adopted them one Friday in February at the Dumb Friends’ ‘Choose a human to live with’ afternoon.

Matilda with Theodore.......licking the back of his neck......Theodore, Theodore, who left us almost a year ago.

They were such good, loving friends.

I took to Jeannine right away. Like me, she’s beautiful, thoughtful, kind and extremely intelligent. Theodore chose John because of similarities, too. John is somewhat eccentric and, just like Theodore, speaks with an odd accent. We (Theo and I, that is) look after them both and I know that they are really thankful that we chose them both.

Anyway, we thought you might care to know that we are really happy. Late in the summer, we moved away from city life in Denver when we acquired a home in The Pinery, a wild and beautiful area just south of Parker.

It’s a wonderful home for us all, and overlooks a huge open space. Each day, we are visited by deer, grown ups and their young, frisky red squirrels, bouncing bunny rabbits, and hundreds of birds (they sure make a noise when they want their breakfast - especially the maggies.)

John tells me he’s seen a couple of coyotes way off in the distance, so I keep my big eyes open and my ears pointed when I’m out and about. You know, just in case.

I take John out for a walk each day, you know, so he can get some air and fiddle in the big gardens.
 that surround our house. He's always looking for rocks and stuff, you know. Funny that, isn't it? Rocks? Who needs a rock?

The reason I’m writing is to thank you, Dumb Friends League,  for letting us stay awhile with you, and we enclose a check to cover all our expenses.

Please say ‘Hi!’ to all the friends we made when we stayed with you. 
We miss them and would love for them to come and visit.

Love, Matilda and Theodore.

Oh, here’s a picture of us both – that’s me on the right.

Can you remember us now?

Matilda felt very proud when her letter was published. She, Matilda purred, was a pussy cat author now! Theodore thought about it for a bit, but decided he'd rather just email all his old acquaintances - well, to be precise, he asked Matilda to write the emails for him. She, as always was kind and agreed.

Then, one night, the worst happened.

Sadly, we lost Theodore........He decided to wanted to be living with the birds, rabbits and squirrels.......and out he went, without a word to the three of us. We called him, we whistled, we put out food, but we never saw him again.

We miss him so............and, every morning and every evening, I walk in the prairie land and call....."Fella, Fella, c'mon, Fella, we love you and we miss you."

I will continue to do that as long as I have breath in my lungs.

Matilda was so upset.........her cuddling and soul mate had gone to another place.

This week, another devastating tragedy....... Matilda has lost her sight.............its gone, gone. She can't see.
Completely gone away. Why we know not.

Matilda now is using her senses (smell and touch) to navigate her way around our home......through open doors, up and down the stairs, on and off the bed, to her cushions, the indoor spots made warm by sun, to her water fountain, her breakfast/lunch/dinner spot, to our bed, and more.

And, it seems, navigating SO well.

As Matilda purrs close to our ears, flicks her tail and twitches her whiskers, she lights up our life, every second, every minute of every day.

Matilda has lost her sight.........but, in doing so, she has helped us see her so much more clearly.....we see her for what she is......an amazing, warm, loving, cuddly Princess.

We love her so.

In bed, keeping her momma warm

A sip from the outside bar

Matilda's favorite grass......

Wearing her Christmas bow tie....

January 17th

The vet came today and gave M a thorough check. She has, indeed, lost her sight, but not because of cataracts or eye disease. Just, I'm told,  the aging process. And, the vet tells me that M is not in any pain, nor experiencing any apparent debilitating stress through losing her sight. 

I take her out, well, walk with her, three times a day.....and it's amazing to see how M uses everything she's got to figure out where she she is. This morning, four deer stared at her and started to come close. M moved towards them (using her senses of smell and hearing, I assume) and they appeared to be pleased to see her again.

I have decided I will not be traveling abroad now this year..........instead I will stay with M and ensure each and every day is a happy and safe one for her. A small cost.

Today, Matilda heard the mice in the garage, eating their way through the bird seed. 

She sat, she listened, she thought of days gone by........

And so the weeks have gone by, and each day Matilda sleeps, gives us a cuddle, and eats...........each night, she lies between us so we both have the full benefit of her soft fur, her whiskers, her wet nose, and her comforting purr. A day doesn't go by without her reminding us what a wonderful, loving, generous bundle of loving joy she is. We love her so.

Matilda moves around the home and occasionally bumps into things.........yet always gets to where she wants to be - more often than not, on my lap, where she rests her head and closes her eyes.

I am amazed when I watch her walk from the kitchen to the bedroom. She knows when to turn, when to climb up to the bed. I wonder..............can she count her steps?

Can she?

I break a cottonwood twig and dedicate a star to her each day.

Please, please, I whisper, please keep twinkling!!!!

Matilda with her baby.........

March 17

Matilda had the best of early mornings when, after three big breakfast helpings, she sat and listened to the two little mice who had spent the night in the bird seed container, tucked away in the garage:

I think she wanted to play with them..................um..............

They (sometimes one, sometimes two, and, one evening, three) come every evening and tuck into the seed and then rest until I let them go to their place of safety.