One Year of Lockdown: My Normal

I work pretty much in isolation. My work as an archivist in a very small university library necessitates a quiet and reflective environment: those who study there are expecting silence and that is what they get. But it is not a bustling place. As for myself, I have worked in this solitude for over 35 years, and therefore, this lockdown is not a hardship for me the way it is for others, and I feel sorry for them. Even my personal life is quiet and largely uneventful: no big family reunions, no large circle of friends, and so weekends and evenings are also quiet and peaceful. Usually. We like it, and the cats like it. 

Every moment is a fresh beginning.
T.S. Eliot

A recent Amaryllis festival in my window garden.

August Already

Ginja poses with Carnations in honour of my sister's birthday,
tomorrow actually, but birthdays here are a weekend event!

Same flowers with a filter I just discovered.
Cool eh?

Old Chair - New Chair, and Keeping Warm

Little Elvi catches some rays on the "chair-to-be thrown-away-but-cannot-now-because-they-love-it-so-much!"

My new chair which replaced the above, but the above is now much coveted.
It does not fit, it is ugly, it is worn out and torn. But they love it - how can i throw it out?!
Maybe later on....when no one is looking!

Ginja - golden boy in the sunny window garden.

Ah - love that old ugly chair!
"Mummy no, don't throw it out!"

The window-scape - what gets me through the winter. Five type of blooms: Oxalis purple shamrock, overwintered begonia (trying to be an orchid/vine, flowering maple, orchid and amaryllis of course.

Antarctica and Minerva

Pink Impression

Red Pearl

Rembrandt van Rijn

Happy Spring!

Late Summer Tones

 

The summer porch
 cheery and bright with
Hibiscus and Elephant Ears

A fiery and beautiful dahlia,
her name is Hawaii.

The season for Hydrangeas and rubeckias... 

Rudbeckia Goldsturm

Rubeckia laciniata Herbstonne

Ginja Ninja in a quiet pose.....

But always ready to wrassle!

Lots more to post - catching up for lost time
if that's even possible.

Ending here with a stunning daylily:
Final Touch.

And so she was, the last of the daylilies for the season.

Shelter from the cold

Our Zena loves the outdoors,
despite her history of being a street cat.
So we put a nice warm kitty hut on the porch,
Shelter from the nasty wind....

But what's that?
The door opening?

OK then, enough fresh air,
time for snacks and a warm lap!

Where do the humans sit?
Good question!

Ginja Ninja snuggles with spotty,
in a rare moment of calm.

And speaking of warmth,
here is the spicy Merengue,
a cybister type of Amaryllis - an unusual and beautiful form.

Cat on a hot tin roof?

.....well, no - on a cool garden umbrella. Silly Ginja decided it might be fun to climb aboard - it even spun around a bit - too funny! At first he was dubious about getting off, but once he perfected his technique - he hops on an off - just for fun, and the insects underneath.

King of the world!

The Ginja Ninja

What a sweetie huh?

We have a feeling that this little guy was never socialized by mummy - so sad - God knows what these little ones have gone through by the time they find "sanctuary".
For the time being he is being isolated at night, due to his tendency to ambush and "play" a little too roughly, and a little too long.
Zena too must be isolated, due to her "hunting" our poor gentle Manitou - such a mystery, and very difficult when one has few rooms and we have the others to accommodate as well.
It was bound to happen one, that integration would not be an easy thing. For well over 25 years we have been lucky, and mostly everyone has learned to get along - most of the time.
Oh well - one day, and night, at a time.
(Btw, apologies to Willowhousechronicles for not approving her comments before now.)

Meanwhile, little LV has grown up, and lost most of her kittenish ways, which is a bit sad, but her size has not increased by much - still very small, and kitten-sized.
Such an adorable little girl.