Guest Kittens - the Breakthrough.

It's been two weeks since Guest Kittens 2 and 3 moved into our improvised Sunflower Kitten Hotel.

During that time they have grown like ... well, sunflowers, and after a painstakingly slow process of acclimatisation and a small amount of blood spilt - mine - they have finally stopped seeing us as a threat.

Two days ago, we experienced a major breakthrough. Turn up the volume and check out the result here:

It's been quite an adventure, getting this far. Confrontational, too. I'm not the most patient person on the planet, so this is a life lesson, a story of apprivoiser, like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's little prince who had to go through the necessary steps and rituals to approach and befriend his fox.

What a fragile and hard-won construct trust can be - and rightfully so.

But now we've come this far, we've got a good chance of finding this precious duo a warm and loving home.

They're still a bit shy, but I'm sure that with continued TLC they will blossom into the most affectionate cats you can imagine - just like their mum and their big sister. And they make great entertainers - the perfect distraction while you're trying to write ...

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Lucky 13: Women Writers about Imagination.

“There are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. But there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don't work.”
- Anaïs Nin (Henry and June)

“When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it - or rather, it is like living it.”
- Dodie Smith (I Capture the Castle)

"I have crossed over to a place where I never thought I'd be. I am someone I would have never imagined. A secret. A dream. I am this, body and soul. Burn me. Drown me. Tell me lies. I will still be who I am.”
- Alice Hoffman (Incantation)

“You will recognize your own path when you come upon it because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.”
- Sara Teasdale

“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
- Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
- Sylvia Plath

“I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”
- Ursula K. Le Guin (The Language of the Night)

“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander."
- Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird)

“The imagination needs moodling,--long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering. ”
- Brenda Ueland

“Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.”
- Ann Patchett (Truth and Beauty: A Friendship)

“Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master.”
- Agatha Christie (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)

“Are we all living like this? Two lives, the ideal outer life and the inner imaginative life where we keep our secrets?”
- Jeanette Winterson (Sexing the Cherry)

“Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.”
- Patricia A. McKillip

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Photo 'Reach' by Keith Garner, available under a creative commons license. © 2011, Keith Garner.

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Kitten Said No ...

(No comment.)

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Sunflower Kitten Hotel.

2012 started well for Guest Kitten 1. On the second day of the New Year, she moved to a big house in the historic centre of Bruges (how lucky can you get ...) to live with a loving couple, their wonderful little girl and two big-hearted Golden Retrievers.

Since her departure we've managed to capture her two remaining siblings and now they too enjoy the perks of our temporary three-star Sunflower Kitten Hotel (formerly known as: The Conservatory).

They're still very shy, but each day they become more curious, playful and at ease. Earlier this morning one started purring when I was near, which makes me hopeful they'll want to check us out soon.

It means that in a matter of days, these two cuties will also be ready to go to a new home.

Therefore, if you're anywhere in or near Flanders, Belgium and you have a big heart, house or garden, drop me a line.

Below I've enclosed two more videos - for your entertainment and okay, maybe a bit to play on your emotions ....

Feel free to pass them on to your family and friends! ;-)

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