We Have a Guest for Caturday

You do know that whenever I see a cat on my travels about town, I try to encourage them to come and have a little visit with me. 99.9% of the time, they high tail it out of there, getting as far away from the overly friendly cat-lady as they can.

Here is the .01% exception to that rule. This little lady was sitting under a table in the shade when I spotted her. Having learned my lesson upon reviewing far too many pictures of a cat's behind as they fled the scene, I crouched to take a shot from a safe distance away. Well, this girl would have none of that keep-your-distance stuff. She jumped up and came right on over for a bit of petting and chatting. In fact, I had to keep moving away from her to get a decent shot, as she just kept right on getting very close to me.

Dinner at Our Place : Hanging With Three of My Favourite Guys

You've met our buddy Chops here on the blog before. What began seven years ago as a relationship where we only ever got together to rehearse and perform music in our band The Rails, has turned into a friendship where we now mostly get together to just hang out and have a laugh.

And as I've mentioned before, after from us, Chops is Eddie the Cat's best friend!

So on a lovely evening recently he came over for a barbeque in celebration of our 7 years of friendship.

Nick made some Mojitos using mint from my herb garden.

The Case of the Rose Bush That Knew Better

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/rambling-rose-pink.jpg" alt="rambling-rose-pink" width="640" height="426" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18078">We first moved into our home in the month of October, which meant that anything blooming in the garden had done its thing and we were left with leaf raking and trimming back all that had been allowed to grow wild by the previous inhabitants, who had thrown in the shovel so to speak, when they knew they were moving out.The yard was surrounded by a chain link fence that must have been the original one put up when the house was built in the early 80s. It was all busted and definitely needed to be replaced. Let's just say we didn't choose the house based on the beauty of the outdoor space.In fact, it was such a mess, requiring so much elbow grease that we even received a nasty note from someone who apparently walked by our place on a regular basis and couldn't believe the state of the yard! (Boo to the type of people who send notes like that. See a picture of the note in this post. Sheesh, we had barely moved in when Grumpy-Pants sent it!)Anyway, the place was what would be called a 'fixer-upper' and one thing that needed fixing come springtime was that old unsightly fence. Growing alongside it was the thorniest scratchiest rose bush ever, which reached over towards the front door. It was almost impossible to get by it without being pricked. Not the friendliest of welcomes to anyone coming by to visit. I felt that it just had to go.So, in getting ready for the replacement of the fence, I cut that rose bush down to the nub. I was ruthless. After cutting and cutting and being pricked more than once, right through my garden gloves, I was left with a gnarly stump. It had (and still does) part of the old chain link fence embedded right within it. The bush must have been planted around the same time that the fence was put up and then over the years the two melded together.But there was still so much growing energy left in that stump that it immediately began to send out new growth. Which I cut to the quick again.I knew I should have rented some sort of heavy duty garden digger thing designed to take out stumps, but there was no time for that as the fence builders were scheduled to begin work.Then I got distracted by other home things that needed doing and just let the rose bush grow, steering the thorny branches away from the door, and then tying them all tightly in the fall. Note that at this point I had not seen what the flowers on it looked like yet.The next June the regrowth gave me one rose. It was the loveliest of pale pink, and the aroma was the perfect rosy scent. Ok, I decided, the bush-that-wouldn't-die could stay.

A Rooftop Tiki Bar in Toronto

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/plants-at-bovine-tiki-bar.jpg" alt="plants-at-bovine-tiki-bar" width="640" height="424" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-18045">I met my friend Meghan for dinner the other night up at a rooftop tiki bar. It's at 542 Queen Street West and is part of The Bovine Sex Club (a place at which I've spent my fair share of time and where Nick and I went for New Year's Eve, discussed in this post). Being a new addition I was really curious to have a look at what was up there. I read here that they actually had to build a metal frame over the original building to support the patio, so a lot of work went into making it.The night was hot and steamy but I like it like that. We got a nice seat in the shade and ordered a couple of Coronas. My first choice of drink would have been a summery mixed cocktail from their menu but they were out of pineapple juice. No worries though, as I quite like a nice cold beer.We liked the food we got, which went with the casual theme of the place, but I don't think people were there for dinner as we seemed to be the only people eating on this particular evening. (We were there on a Monday from 6 until 8.)

Saturday is Caturday : Hanging in the Hallway

Cats go through phases. They might really love a routine and/or spot, until suddenly they change their mind and find something they like better. For the time being.

For months they might jump up onto your bed first thing in the morning, then find a comfortable place to relax while still being able to sit really really close to your face. And then stare at you while purring loudly, until you finally notice they are there.

Then quite suddenly you find yourself able to have a bit of a sleep-in because cat has moved his early morning lounge-party out into the hallway.