Mother's day

(photo of our back door on balcony)

I had a absolutely lovely Mother's day; gorgeous weather and spoiled rotten by dh and dd's.

We've been looking anxious for any signs of the cat we're looking after, to see when she will have her baby's. On this particular Sunday Morning, Mies (the expectanc mom) was looking green. So we were quite curious if she had picked Mother's day to do a difficult job: having her first litter of kittens. I've been roaming the house with her the past weeks to find a suitable spot: little bit dark, little bit cozy and peacefull. Well, Mies decided in the end to stay the whole day in the dog's basket.... and the dog of course had no voting rights in this!

While we were enjoying the sun outside with iced thea and (I was crocheting granny squares while husband was playing with the girls), Mies was counting the hours. We went to the neighbours to meet them "officially". As she invited us "unexpectedly" I wondered what to take with so I'll not arrived with empty hands. I thought to give her the blue potholders... she was an old lady and their house didn't make a modern impression. Potholders here is a touchy issue... Well she loved it! And by chance: her kithchen is blue so it fitted perfectly and she love the rings to hang it from. Very very interesting well known artistic old couple who made their galerie in an old school. Because of their beautiful wild garden, we enjoy the singing of birds, the view of pheasants and being a save haven for hedgehogs and other small wild creatures. I got a signed biography "Tussen oog en hand" of the lady: Emmy Eerdmans. I love her drawings of the black ladies the most. We quite enjoyed the work of her husband too; Ben Joosten a graphic artist He prints on these old printing tables, I love them. Beautiful. And he has a lot of humour in his artwork: printing images with the alphabeth. He has lots of cabinets with little drawers and then all these different types of font letters. The sites I've found on them is really not a good impression. In real life it is quite extraordinary. They're a very very friendly and humble couple.

When we arrived back and I checked on the cat. She was still in the dog's basket. When later on I went inside to get some more drinks I thought I saw a contraction! So I stayed, husband came later to check where his drink was lol. I stayed with her and counted the contractions and slowely but surely they were closer together and she was purring all the time... At last they got heavy 9 directly after each other and she gave a sigh after the 9th one. Then I saw the little head and called husband and girls who were playing outside. They had to run up the dyke to get in the house and the youngest was firs; just in time to see the firs kitten born! A black and white male. When the dh and dd7 arrived they saw the second one being born. A female white with cyprus spots. That was it. I thought there must be at least one more but mom ended the job there. As we looked after her I didn't know her that well, she is a petit black and white cat and very friendly but i'm only allowed to touch her head and her shoulders. AFter her ordeal and my welcome assistance I can now even turn her on her back and pet her tummy! I guess I've entered her circle of trust.

Here the two kittens are one day old.

Arent' they cute!