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Grover Kitty

Grover kitty. Such a pretty girl.

Now that I’m moved and getting settled, I am finding I have the opportunity to get to know my roomate’s cat a bit more. Her name is Grover.

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She’s a sweet little cat, with a “boy’s” name because initially she was thought to be a male. Turns out that at her first shots, she was a girl – but rather than renaming her, Grover’s name was kept. She’s got sass and attitude (like any young cat) and loves to play with everything. She’s not really a “cuddler” like most of the cats I’ve owned, but that’s ok since I’m just “surrogate” person who is there for occasional ear scratches.

That being said though, she’s lovely – especially when I see her sleeping comfortably on the back of the couch in the sunshine. It makes me hum the Soft kitty song.

Grover kitty. Such a pretty girl.

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New Bridge House

A couple of months ago, I went with my friend J and A to the New Bridge House and Farm in Demense, Ireland. J volunteers with the Alone group every couple of weeks. Alone is a volunteer run organization that matches volunteers with the elderly and home bound. They work together to also put on volunteer / elderly outings and socialization programs. I was asked to tag along and to pictures of the group for their newsletter, which I was only too happy to do.

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The New Bridge house and farm about 30 minutes north of the city center. The building itself is a Georgian era home with multiple out buildings including a carriage house, stables, old pig / chicken homes, victorian walled garden, and plenty of park land and animals. Some of the history of the location is as follows:

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On June 19th, 1736, Charles Cobbe (Cobb), then Bishop of Kildare, paid £5,526.5.6 for the townlands surrounding Donabate, Lainstown, Haggardstown and Newbridge, containing 490 acres. In 1747, the house itself was started on part of these lands, in a traditional Georgian style. For inspiration, the Bishop used another fine Georgian house which he had visited in the city center. In 1751, Charles son, Thomas, married Lady Elizabeth Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. She brought money into the family, and redecorated and updated the house including adding the famed Red Drawing room. The house has been occupied fairly consistently since the completion under Lady Elizabeth, and remains occupied part of the year by the Cobbe family today. The surrounding parkland, house, and property now belong to the Fingal county council who manage and run it as a public and visitor’s attraction.

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The day that I was there was bright sun most of the day, but also intermittent showers. We toured the house (no pictures allowed) and went out into the petting “zoo” portion of the animal farm and the out buildings. One of the highlights was watching the peacock strut around in the courtyard. We also got to see a very old guilded carriage that used to be used to take the mayor to the swearing in ceremony in Dublin.

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One of the amusing parts of the tour was actually seeing the sign on the blacksmith’s shop – and getting a chuckle.

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If you’d like to see more on the house (including pictures of the beautiful inside) you’re welcome to check out their website at:

http://www.newbridgehouseandfarm.com

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More Feral Kittens

The bird

Back in October, I posted about my feral family of kittens. I’m pleased to let you know that they’re still around, happy and quite healthy. This winter in Dublin has been quite mild, and on the colder days (when the frost is on the ground) I’ve found that the kittens have made it through the night snuggled up inside their box, quite warm, dry and happy.
This last week, I was amazed to come home from work and open the bedroom curtains to see this:
Miss Piggy is after the bird

Yep, that’s Miss Piggy up in the tree and after the bird pictured at the top. At the same time she was in one tree, Two socks was sitting on the ground under the other – prepared to go up as well – should a bird come near enough. It made me giggle at how confident and determined they are in their adolescence, and at how fast they were in going from branch to branch in order to even think about getting a bird.

They quickly realized that I was about, and Two Socks slunk back to the bushes – and then observed me observing him.

Two Socks

When his brother, Runt kitty came out from under the bushes, they looked a bit like bookends as they both watched me.

Runt Kitty

Finally, I decided to pop out and feed them, and Miss Piggy came down from the tree – (u fed me lady,I come down now) to eat. And surprise surprise – guess who appeared but a pudgy Bibs kitty – who I’d not seen since October – well fed, well groomed and wearing a collar. I guess someone decided he deserved to be adopted into a forever home.

Miss Piggy

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