Friends from the past

When my sons were little we moved from the city to the country. We lived in an old farm house that had been used by a biker gang as their "clubhouse" for a while and it was in pretty bad shape. The deal I made with the owner of the property was that we would fix the place up instead of paying rent for two years... and we did... all of us contributed. Even the boys wielded paint brushes in their own rooms.

My husband installed the new bathroom and we paneled it with barn board from the drive shed that was falling apart. We added a small wood stove to the summer kitchen on the back for heating and it became the place where most often people would gather - it was large and comfortable... but what also gathered there was mice.

So we decided we needed to get a cat. Neither my husband nor I had ever had a cat in our families before. This was going to be something new!

My youngest son came home from school one day and told us of his new friend who had a milking barn and they had a litter of kittens. That family was trying to find homes for the kittens because in my son's words at the time: "The kittens like it warm where the cows lie down and when the cows get up they go and lie in the warm spot, but they don't move when the cows lie down again and they get squashed....So we need to go and get one before it gets squashed."

We bundled into the car after a quick phone call and went round to the farm. Both boys ran into the barn with my youngest's friend. They each came out with a kitten and lots of persuasion for why we should take each baby. Oh dear what to do. My husband asked how much they were. "Twenty-five cents each," came the reply... okay for twenty-five cents we can have two.

There was great cheering. Today's post is of those two kittens grown - best friends - Puss - the calico and Boots the orange one. Not original names - but certainly original cats... they did their jobs as mousers and were with us for many years and then with me when I moved back to Toronto on my own.

I have many pictures of Puss and Boots together and separately, but this is one of my favourites and is kept in my photo journal... hope you have stories for your photos as well, it's fun to remember.