One year ago today...

...I said goodbye to my dear Pabsy.

It feels like a hundred years since he was part of my life.

I miss you, Pabsy.

Cheers,
--Kate

A poem for Lucy

Hello again friends,

Just dropping by to thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers after Lucy's passing. It took Sue a little while to bring herself to read the previous blog post and all your lovely comments, but she was very touched when she did.

The Cat Blogosphere is a very kind place. Not everyone out there in the 'real world' knows how much it can mean to lose a feline companion. Here, we are among friends.

I wanted to share with you a poem that our friend Sheila wrote after hearing of Lucy's passing. A short and elegant poem remembering a long and happy life:

Once upon a time

there was a Lucy cat.

Only once,

but for a very long time.

Cheers,

--Kate

(PS: Happy birthday, Sheila.)

Farewell, Miss Lucy

Hi friends.

I'm breaking my blogging hiatus (and yes, I still have a few more Pablo posts to do, I can't seem to bring myself to put them together) to bring you some sad news that I feel Pablo would want his friends to know.

Our dear friend Miss Lucy, the feline matriarch of West Hobart, was helped to the Bridge, old and full of years, last month.


While Lucy had been in pretty good health for the majority of her remarkable twenty-three years, she did go downhill quite rapidly in recent months; she developed diabetes, among other complications. Her devoted mum, Sue, made sure she had excellent health care, including daily insulin injections, but in mid-September, Lucy began to let Sue know that she was ready to go.

We all know how heartbreaking it is to say goodbye to a dear animal companion, and to make the decision that it is Time. I'm so grateful that Lucy made it clear to Sue that she was ready, making Sue's hard decision just a little bit easier.

Lucy was a beautiful, gentle, peaceful ladycat whom I had the pleasure of visiting and feeding on many occasions when Sue went on holidays. Pablo was never a very affectionate cat; so I relied on Lucy for kitty snuggles.

Rest in peace, dear Lucy. Thanks for the love you gave to Sue, and to others, over your many years on this earth. You will be missed fiercely.


Cheers,
--Kate

Moving on

Our old house... in many ways, it's going to be hard to leave.

Hello friends. It's been a while.

My days as a cat blogger seem as long ago and far away as dear old Pablo himself.

I kind of left this blog a bit up in the air a few months ago. I intended to sign off in a more final way, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Alex going on a late autumn romp on the beach, May 2011

Life's been going well these past few months. We're in the midst of a very chilly winter. Our dear baby Alex is now a big, walking, talking, mischief-making toddler. I can't help but think about how he and Pabs would cope with each other these days.

I can't help but think of Pablo a lot lately... you see, we're moving house in a week. It's quite exciting; after years of renting and saving a deposit, we can finally afford to buy a place. We found one that we like a lot. It's old and needs a fair bit of work, and it's in the suburbs, not the city, but it's ours.

The process of packing and cleaning up our current place is stirring up a lot of memories of Pabs... and more than a few Pablo hairs! Many of you would remember that when we moved here in late 2007, Pablo hid in our bed for a week; he didn't come out to eat, drink, or use the litter tray. But he very quickly warmed to the house and its very cat-friendly terraced backyard. (Pablo was a big fan of vertical space.) Pablo was very much at home here.

My dear friend Pablo catching some early morning rays in his beloved backyard, November 2009.

Every room has its Pablo memories, and the yard is just full of them. Saying goodbye to this place - the place where Pablo spent the last few years of his life - is going to be quite emotional. Like saying goodbye to Pabs all over again. Leaving him behind.

As we head towards Pablo's fifth blogoversary on 16 August, I'm going to do a few posts sharing some of my favourite memories of Pablo... and some of our friends' favourite memories of him too. And I'll say a final goodbye on Pablo's blogoversary, with a fun little surprise for everyone. So stay tuned!

Cheers,
--Kate

The Right Time

Sunday marked one month since we said goodbye to Pablo, and I hadn't yet done anything with his ashes.

I knew where I wanted to scatter them.

I was just waiting for The Right Time.

Yesterday was a warm, humid day (26C/79F). The warmest day we've had in a month or more. It was fairly cloudy all day, but towards evening the sky cleared and there was a lovely pink sunset. The air had cooled a little too.

It was just the kind of evening that Pablo loved, particularly because it was garbage/recycling night. Pabs always escorted me as I took the garbage and recycling from the backyard to the front kerb and we spent a little quality time together outside afterwards.

So after I put Alex to bed, just as the sun was setting, I knew that it was time.

Nick said a prayer to thank God for the life of our dear Pablo. Through tears, I then scattered his ashes in his favourite hangout spots in the backyard:

Under the apple tree...

...on the grass...

...under his favourite leafy plant...

...in the daisies...

...in the pot of the lovely memorial tree that
Nick's mum Judy bought for us...

...Nick even thought to scatter a few over the neighbour's fence,
where Pabs did spend quite a bit of time!

Then I spent a bit of quiet time outside by myself in the lovely balmy garden. It wasn't hard to imagine Pabs slinking up beside me, rubbing himself against my leg.

It was most certainly The Right Time.

I'm so glad I waited.

Cheers,
--Kate

The saddest gotchaversary of all...

Today marks nine years since Pablo came to live with me.

On a warm evening in February 2002, I drove around to my friend Heidi's house with a brand new cat carrier in the back seat and a joyous smile on my face. I was picking up Heidi's two-year-old cat, Pablo, who was coming to live with me. For good.

Heidi was soon to move into a new house where cats were not allowed, so she needed to find somewhere for Pablo to live.

I'd known Pablo since he was a kitten; he had a reputation for being wild and untamed, and I'd had many a bite and a scratch from him over the years in my attempts to convince him that I was a friend. Still, I'm not sure that my housemate Rachel and I knew what we were in for when we decided to take joint ownership of Pabs.

Pablo was sunning himself in a chair on the front porch when I arrived at Heidi's. He was most put out when I picked him up and wrestled him into the carrier. He yowled and yowled during the short trip from West Hobart to our sharehouse in Sandy Bay. He peed in the carrier too.

As soon as I let him out of the carrier when he arrived in his new home, Pablo nervously scuttled to the safest place he could find - under the couch in our living room. He stayed there for a number of days, only coming out to nibble on a bit of food and pee in a corner of the dining room. Pablo hadn't exactly taken to being toilet trained in his kittenhood.

I sat patiently next to the couch for those few days, trying to win Pablo's trust and goodwill. Every now and then I slipped my hand under the couch to give Pabs a little pat on the head. It took the best part of a month to convince him that I was on his side (and to toilet train him). But he slowly became more comfortable in our house, and with our housemates. And I knew that I'd won him over one night when we chased each other up and down the hallway. When I moved out of the sharehouse to get married a few months later, it was a given that Pablo was coming with me.

One of my friends who knew Pablo in his kittenhood described him as Byronesque. He may have been mad, bad and dangerous to know, but somewhere inside of Pabs was a shy and nervous kitty who wanted to be loved on his terms. It was my great honour to have been that person for nine years.

Missing you today, my dear friend.

Cheers,
--Kate

A week without Pabs

Pablo's chair...

... and a detail of the beautifully embroidered tea towel
on the chair, made by our friend Debbie who stayed
with us a few years ago.

Hi everyone,

Well, it's been a week (and a day) since we said goodbye to Pablo.

Life without Pabs has been even harder than I thought it would be.

Everything, everywhere around the house reminds me of him. He had his own 'spots' in pretty much every room (like his chair in the living room, pictured above with all his pillows and blankets gone), and many favourite hangouts in the garden. His absence is painfully palpable. Many tears have been shed.

But I've been so touched by all of the lovely comments that our friends have left on Pablog, and the tributes somecats posted on their own blogs. It's a comfort to me to know that Pabs is being mourned and celebrated all over the world. Thank you all so much... I'll get to each of your blogs to thank you personally. I've helped Pabs write many words of condolence on others' blogs when someone has gone to the bridge... I didn't realise quite how much it meant.

Often when I've thought of Pablo this week, I've thought about the song 'Strangers' by The Kinks. It's a beautiful song. Here are some words from it:

...so we will share this road we walk
And mind our mouths and beware our talk
’til peace we find tell you what I’ll do
All the things I own I will share with you
If I feel tomorrow like I feel today
We’ll take what we want and give the rest away
Strangers on this road we are on
We are not two we are one.

I'm going to wind this blog up in a few weeks, but I've got a few more posts planned before then. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
--Kate