Morning routine goes: wake F about 0530, regularly remind her to get up until she does at about 0630. She feeds me then (washes the bowl from last night's meal which I'd saved to snack on during the night - when its cooler - and refills it with breakfast). She sweeps up the dust angels on the balcony while I address my ablutions, then she waters the plants, and, if I'm lucky, she reaches outside the balcony railing and fetches me some of that weed.
F prepares meals for the cousins downstairs: Leftie needs his turned into soup, another eats only biscuits, .... She delivers the catfood orders on her way to go swimming. I watch her do a couple of laps of the bay (just to make sure she doesn't cheat), lose sight of her as she heads back into the corner and then watch to see if she brings any bags of rubbish up the stairs on her return. Sometimes she gets stopped at the garden, between sea and home, by a human who wants to discuss flowers, or a cat that needs to express its thanks.
Feline thanks takes the form of "you may give me a petting and a chin scritch now". I am familiar with such granting of largesse of course.
Back indoors she washes her hands, attends to my brushing, and takes a shower (which seems to involve washing seawater off every thing she had with her as well, and washing all the catfood takeaway bowls that she collected on the way back), and then she makes lunches for us both.
About now I try to find somewhere that it's difficult to extract me from.
Toothpaste.
I hate toothpaste. It happens just after she puts the lunches into Donkey's tummy, and loads me on top.
Toothpaste dealt with, shutters closed we set off to greet all the fans that line my route to work.
Today was different. Today a truck with a mystery machine parked below our balcony.
Today my toothpaste was done 'in situ'.
Today F left without me and I supervised the woman washing our pavements with a hose coming out of the mystery machine. That all seemed a bit weird. Every day women with brooms and rubbish bags come round and sweep up rubbish and plant debris, and clean up the rubbish that was thrown AT the bins rather than IN them. We're clean. I'm not sure what the washing achieves.
My lunch was delivered at breakfast time. I ate some and spent all day ignoring the rest. It dries out in this heat. Bring me something fresh and do something about this heat.....
your life is like ours, routines are followed, we love it that way and get upset if the routine is upset. sorry you had to stay home alone. we don't have a woman like yours, we have a huge very loud truck with large swirling brushes that spray water and drive slowly along the curbs washing out the gutters. ours is to keep leaves, dirt and debri from washing down the drains and clogging them. we don't get gentle rains we get monsoons that pour for half and hour puttind down inches that must have a clear path to run into the gulf. now I am wondering why she was cleaning it. perhaps you can ask and report next time she comes. your chin and closed yes made my heart feel full of joy
ReplyDeleteWe have one of those truck sweepers too but it can't clean around all the parked cars so most of the street cleaning is done by hand.
DeleteTigger, you should try a nice bowl of cold soup. That shouldn't dry out.
ReplyDeleteAll my meals are soup JayCee. Even soup dehydrates in this heat.
DeleteGail says: you had me at "a couple of laps of the bay". What a blissful way to start the day.
ReplyDeleteF admits she will miss it even though we live close to sea in UK. It's certainly a lot less challenging than swimming in a Scottish sea loch (as a friend of ours does all year round!)
DeleteIt does sound like a nice idyllic, if busy, start to the day. Sharing your morning routine with the ‘cousins’ is great…..but I wonder about your feline friends - will someone else take over when you both leave and will they do it with the same love and care that F has done these past few years. Hopefully so.
ReplyDeleteLots of people feed the cousins. F only specializes in two, one who doesn't know he has a trip to the V-E-T coming up for some dental treatment (he's an abandoned pet), and a feral one with itchy ears. The itchy ears are unlikely to get treated but F has noticed that as his general condition has improved, so has the ear problem and he is starting to 'venture forth'. Once the cat with sore teeth is better he'll be able to eat something other than soup and can join the general fray. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) most cats around here look in pretty good condition.
DeleteChin scratches are apparently the best, that's Bruno's weak spot.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteAll sounds very civilised and appropriate... especially all cares pertaining to your handsome self! Hugs and whiskeries, YAM-aunty xxx
I try to keep her disciplined and regular in her habits YAM-aunty. It's a tough job but.... Furrings and purrings Mr T
DeleteF is undoubtedly the most energetic early morning person ever. you must need to rest just to recover from observing.
ReplyDeletePossibly, but she's a potato by early evening.
DeleteI love having a routine. It makes life easier when you don’t have to run around thinking what do I need to do next
ReplyDeleteRelaxing home alone is one of my favourite things to do enjoy it I say