It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Well, ‘tis the season – as they say, and despite a marked lack of holiday spirit around here, poses such as this one can readily defrost the hearts of the most gloomy Grinches and Scrooges! Doesn’t Bandito look well? He is getting 2 insulin shots a day and I am pretty sure there is a weight gain, but sadly his teeth (what’s left of them) are still in bad shape, so another trip to the V-man is imminent. Poor Dito. It is very VERY cold here these days, and with yesterday’s wind chill factor it got down as low as -30 Celsius – now that’s cold! Little Chesney actually curled up under the covers with me last night – good thing they don’t ALL want to do that!

Here we have Manitou amid all the Christmas boxes – he decided this looked comfy and I was happy to see he decided to settle into one that didn’t have anything fragile inside! Oops – it say “fragile” on the box – I hope I’m not wrong! (This happened just yesterday).

Mr. Poole likes to see how long he can tolerate the cold - being all floofy like Manitou, these cats are made for winter, BUT, coming inside is always better: snuggling on the bed is best!

One of the joys of winter: winter blooms inside the house. Old florist azaleas which I have successfully managed to rebloom for several seasons now. Most folks that get them as a gift throw them away once they are done blooming, but if you do the right thing, they will continue to reward you with blooms years afterward. Of course, they are not as compact and bushy as when “new”, but in my house, any blooms are welcome blooms. This is what worked for me: after blooming, take the azalea outside after all frost risk has passed. Place in a semi-sunny location- fertilize and water regularly. As fall approaches, keep it outside, as long as possible as the nights grow cold, but no frost. Apparently, it is this cold that triggers the blooms to emerge. This year, the 2 plants didn’t look so promising and I had my doubts that I’d have any holiday blooms, but within 2 months, the flower buds formed like candles on old Christmas trees, and soon KABOOM – flowers! Lots of flowers! Just beautiful - almost looks like a rose bush.

Of course, the rest of the Amaryllis will take center stage soon.

More festive happenings are over at The Friday Ark and then

Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.