Mary has changed during the time she has been with us. As she has aged, her fur has steadily become thinner, as it would. This photo shows that she still has enough to shed, come summers.
Also clearly visible in this photo is the nick in her right ear. We assume this was caused in a fight, but do not know – she had it when she adopted us.
As the father of the Queen, I have decided to post every so often a photo from the Queen’s past showing an aspect of her character, her history, or just of her – in a hopefully long-running series of posts I will call the Reign Of Mary Photo Set.
This marks the first post in this set, and shows Mary adapting to the rather turbulent nature of our year spent in Jeffrey’s Bay – we lived in four different places during that time, creating an environment that would obviously upset any animal, especially a cat, as they tend to enjoy and prefer peace and stability.
Since the Kitten (the new face in the neighbourhood) introduced itself to Mary and to us, I have noticed a change in her. She is no longer mommy’s girl, she is now daddy’s girl. Somehow I have fallen out of favour, and my husband is the flavour of the month. During the past week I played with her like I normally do and she actually growled at me – a sound that had both my husband and I quite surprised because we have never heard the sound before!
In the beginning when she came in to our lives, she wanted almost nothing to do with me. There was a clear bond between my fiancee and Mary and I was a third wheel. I worked VERY hard to build up a solid relationship with her, and in the process she became my baby girl.
I don’t know what I did to hack her off, but hopefully it won’t last long and things will return to normal.
Friday night saw the return of The Stranger (the Kitten). Our neighbours downstairs made a racket and I went down to check what they were up to. When I opened the door, lo and behold, Kitten was outside our front door. Mary, who was inside, came out to investigate with me, saw Kitten and did not react in the slightest. I went inside to get the camera and take photos of the interaction and sat outside with the two of them for a while. Kitten initially kept its distance, but it became braver and eventually sat with me at my open front door. Next thing, Kitten ran straight past me inside the flat (Mary had lost interest and returned inside). I immediately ran after it and took it outside again, but Kitten would have none of it. It was a hassle to get and keep it out. Mary took all of this pretty much in her stride.
Kitten at the railings, and Mary taking it all in her stride (taken from Mary’s window)
Things calmed down, Kitten left and I went to bed. In the early hours of the morning, I woke up when I heard my husband say “the kitten is inside”. Kitten came in through Mary’s window and was sniffing around the flat. I immediately took it outside, but the moment I turned my back, it would come straight back in. Mary just sat and watched the whole spectacle – I would take it out, it would come straight back in. Eventually when I saw it come back through the window, I clapped my hands loudly to give it a fright, but unfortunately, Mary was the one who got the fright. So I had to calm Mary down while trying to keep the kitten out. Finally Kitten got the message and left. And back to bed I went.
I had just fallen asleep (Mary was sleeping on top of me), when I was woken up by a cold wet nose sniffing my face. Kitten was back inside and was wanting to come and snuggle. I would not have minded, had it not been for Mary. Our relationship is tenuous and I don’t want to do something that might alienate us further, such as giving Kitten permission to snuggle with us on the bed. Mary was again just watching, seemingly not worried at all. I picked kitten up, and gently moved Mary off me. This did not work at all. She gave a menacing hiss (something she has not done before either) and jumped off the bed and ran out.
Kitten and I started our whole song and dance all over again: in and out and in and out. In desperation to get the message across, I took a syringe full of water and squirted it every time it tried to get back in. It left and I have not seen it since (today is Sunday).
Saturday night was less eventful – we all settled down on the bed for some Stargate. Even Mary tried to get her spot on the bed when we got up to make something to eat.
Settling in for Saturday night in front of the telley
Right now, she is lazing in the Sunday morning sun, quite relaxed and happy. I hope to keep it that way!
