Dolly's Dreamings

Poor Kira - AGAIN

Having had a wonderful day with the big cats yesterday I have returned to being worried about my little cat - Kira. She was so much better and indeed when so many people were asking about her yesterday I was able to say she was better. She was fine when we got home yesterday but this morning she has a porr little face covered in sores. She has 8 of them all round her upper eyes, forhead and the front before her ears.

I just can't figure it out. She was fine last night and this morning her poor sweet face is all raw again. We took her to the vets and saw the locum vet, not our own Tom. The locum seemed rather afraid of her (yet she is as docile as anything and we had just clipped her claws) and when he picked off a scab from over her eye leaving a huge raw spot I was very upset. She never even cried.

He seems to think it is an allergy though didn't say to what. He did say it could be her food bowl. He asked if we had a flea problem to which I said no - we never have fleas, but he didn't check! He gave her a short acting steroid (last time she had a long acting one that lasted 5 weeks) for 5 days and we have to take her back. My worry is the other steroid would have worn off this weekend.

I have several concerns and issues. How on earth did the sores develop so quickly - just overnight? We have been vigilant in checking her.

Did she only heal as the steroids were working? Cos she cannot stay on steroids for the rest of her life?

If it is an allergy why it is making her skin break out like that and just in that place? She is NOT causing it herself scratching. We never see her scratch her face. Living with Boo for 6 years who is an allergic cat and scratches and overgrooms to make herself raw, we are used to the signs.

So what is making her break out in these horrible sores? It looks like we have not nearly got to the bottom of Kira's problems and my worry now is that she is going to go through the whole losing weight thing again too.

Looks like we are in for more tests, biopsies, food trials the lot and I hate it. We are good people. We care for our cats so much. They are spoilt rotten, sheltered from everything and cherished beyond words. So why do we seem to have so many sick cats. Kira will be out 4th sickly cat needing daily medication. Pretty high odds out of only 6 in total!

I haven't been scrapping for days now and that strain is starting to tell as well. this was a quick page - that I don't like - that I did early last week before my life became manic and all ideas of scrapping went out of the window. I haven't even scrapped today as I have spent most of my free time (trip to the vets was over an hour round trip with a wriggling upset cat who then needed an hour of fuss to calm down) has been spent printing pictures for Scrap Camp. I seem to have needed a hell of a lot for just 2 days!

Anyway - I will stop moaning now and go back to tending to my poor little Kira. Please send some positive thoughts for her.

Big Cat photo shoot

Nigel and I have just come back from the most fantastic day in a  long long time.

Linz (of Crafty Pastimes) and her hubby Gary arranged a visit to a big cat wildlife park not normally open to the public for an encredible day of close up big cat photography. It was incredible. We spent hours getting up close and personal with the many big cats and getting the chance to take incredible photographs.

We started off with the three male lions, all brothers. They were called Manzi, Kafara and Tiny. The staff fed them and so we watched them feeding and then grooming and just posiing. They were utterly spectacular and we arrely see lions. Marwell, our local animal park, has no lions any longer. These three boys were awesome beasts, very very handsome and we were so very close to them. What an incredible start to the day.

We moved on to the Bengal tigers - a trio of beauties, one male Nias and two females Puna and Indy. I hope I have added all of their names correctly as I was just so over-awed by it all that their names have largely all blurred together, Their markings were stunning and again they were fed titbits to encourage them to move around and interact, enabling all of us to get great photo opportunities. When they stood on their hind legs against the fence you got a real idea of how huge they were. The girls also played in their pool which was fab. The sun came out (It has been terrible weather but didn't rain at all when we were there and in fact it was hot in the sun for much of the day) and lit up their coats.

We saw the huge - and very chilled and sleepy - Amur (Siberian) tiger Tamir and then went to see the Amur leopards Artur and Xizi, perhaps the most endangered of all.  The male was the one cat you were not allowed to get too close too and we were given strict warnings about how far he could reach out of the cage and what he could do. He was stunningly handsome though. We moved on to his mate - or who they hope will be his mate - and she was much calmer and equally as beautiful.  Having watched them feast it was time for us to have a buffet lunch before continuing on.

During the afternoon we had the chance too see the snow leopard pair called Mizi and Ranschan who were beautiful and very affectionate with humans. These are rare animals indeed and David Attenborough called them the spirits of the forest. We were priviledged to see them so close.

We moved on to the cheetah Pepo and I think that was one of my favourite parts of the day. The sunw as out, he was more actuve than he usually is apparently and he was just so gorgeous. Being so close with no bars or mesh in the way it was like taking pictures in the wild.

We carried on to two more tigers and this was perhaps the most special part of the day ofr Nij and I.

The two tigers were Bruno and Padi and Bruno is very very special to us. Twelve years ago next month Nigela nd I had a very special interaction with Bruno. We were able to stroke him, lie next to him, cuddle him and play with him. He was then at Paradise Wildlife Park and now he has retired he is here with Padi his mate. We were so thrilled when we realised Bruno was here.

He looked a much older gentleman and Nigel is sure he remembered him as he purred and came straight up to him. (He then turned his back and sprayed - but heck - maybe he was just remembering Nigel and marking him as his. ) It was just wonderful to see him again. We watched them both for ages and Padi played in and out of her pond too,

Our final stop was Malawi the Serval (nicknamed Hissing sid as he does LOL) and although much smaller still beautiful. We could also see our Bengal cats very very clearly int he spots and the body shape and the movement. In fact they are now breeding Servals with bengals as pets.

It was an incredible day - very very special and we have just downloaded the pictures. I managed 980, nigel just over 200 (which is a LOT for him) and I have to say his are awesome. I have a few good ones, but to be honest I am too tired to go through them tonight so the pictures here are just a couple I have selected, not necessarily the best. I'm gonna be scrapping big cats for a while!

Thanks so much Gary. Linz and all the staff at the park for an utterly incredible day xx

A Postcard From ....

This week's challenge has now been posted on the Collectively Yours blog. I love doing these challenges and I hope lots of you will pop over to the blog, have a look and feel inspired to do one yourselves.

 

The theme this week was ‘A Postcard From …’ and it left lots of scope for different interpretations.

Having just returned from a wonderful holiday in

Canada

and

America

I toyed with the idea of a postcard from the trip, but then I decided to go a little differently to that .

I loved my holiday. We saw wonderful sights, took thousands of pictures and had a great experience, but there were times when we were both very sad as we missed the cats …. Yes even Fiki! Leaving them back home in the cattery is the hardest thing we have to do and we miss them dreadfully. We tell ourselves they are safe, they are cared for etc, but it’s hard. It wasn’t helped either by coming home and having Kira poorly which, it seems likely, was stress elated as we left her behind. We don’t have children and they are our babies o we really do feel bereft without them.

I decided therefore to base my page on how much I missed them and took the quirky approach of what I might have said if I had sent them postcards whilst I was away. (Yes I did do that once – not this trip but a log time ago …. I sent the cats a postcard …. I am seriously deranged you know!)  That bit was great fun to do as I made the little mini postcards. The backs were printed onto white card, complete with stamps and hand-drawn postmarks. The fronts were photos we had taken with text and logos added so they looked more like a postcard.

The centre section is a photo montage of our three fur babies and the very heartfelt title of Wish You Were Here. Because I did – all the time. There is a tag under the picture which explains how I felt and how, after Kira being so poorly, I think it may have been our last big holiday.

That doesn’t worry me at all. I have been blessed to go to some amazing places around the world and see some incredible sights, and so if I never go again, so be it. I chose to have them so owe it to them to give them the best possible care. If we go away for short breaks we plan on leaving them at home and having a cat sitter for them.

Do go and have a look at the challenge blog and hopefully you will feel inspired to make your own page based on the prompt.

FREE Remember word art

I am having so much fun making these word art overlays. I also like the fact that you can make a light and a dark version so they work for different sorts of pages.

I hope that this one is useful too and thank you everyone for your comments on 4 shared on the other downloads.

I just love doing them and so it seems a shame not to share them  If you want this one then it is here for download.

Free Remember word art

In Just 5 words

The new challenge over at A True Friend has been launched and it's a cracker. The girls have again come up with such great things.

When Laurie told me the theme of the challenge for this week I laughed. It was to have 5 words to describe your pet. mmmmmm. Fiki sprang immediately to mind and so did at least 5 words, but none of them were terribly suitable to put on a scrapbook page! He seems to incite some very bad words from Nigel and I!!!

I toned it down a bit for my part in the challenge and this is what I came up with. The pictures are some of my favourites of my bad bad bad boy (though there is also a bad girl in them as he incites his sister into naughtiness too) I had taken the dining room drawer out to search for pictures and he was in there quicker than you could say STOP! And I confess he looked so cute I HAD to snap some pictures. The words used were some of the calmer, more socially acceptable that suit him, but the last is the most important of all. He is a nightmare, he is the devil inacarnate, he is bad through and through but he is, completely and utterly irreplaceable and I wouldn't part with him for the world.

Remind me of that the next time I am screaming at him as he has broken soemthinge lse - like the almost full container of milk he knocked off last night and spilt everywhere!!

Fab Digi Designs

For a long time my absolute digital idol has been Katie Hadfield (whatkatiedid)

Her work absolutely rocks and I have been able to work on a design team with her when Creative Scrapbooking was running. She makes digi work look so tactile and layered and clever and - fun! Her pages are stunning, she gives such great instructions for things and has helped me out so many times.

She has been so generous sharing her work and I have loads of her beautiful digital elements on my computer.

I made this page the other night using loads of her things which are so bright and vibrant and worked just right for this picture too. I was thrilled when she commented on it too!

I love digi scrapping - though I am afraid I am a paper freak at heart and could never give that up. But I can digi scrap in the lounge with the cats so it makes it a great art form for me.

FREE Age word art

I was having a  bit of a giggle at this quote and wanted to use it on a page and so made it into a little bit of word art.

It seemed silly not to share it.

There are 4 variants - with and without borders and pale and dark text.

You can find it free here

I hope you have fun using it, but more importantly I hope you have fun living the quote! Personally, I don't plan on ever growing up!

I have had an exciting day today listening to a presentation about a school TV channel that has heaps of possibilities and so my head is buzzing with ideas. So buzzing I am making this one a quick one today as I have been too excited to do all the things I should have done and so I am off to do them now.

Family pride

We were so chuffed tonight to receive a parcel int he post that was very special. Nigel's brother, Jim, who lives in America, has had a book published and we recieved our signed copy. We have read much of it before, but that doesn't matter. Jim writes for the Concord Journal and his essays have been collected and he has published them. It is thrilling to have a proper published book with the authors name so prominent and so personal. He is a wonderful writer and his essays are short thoughtful descriptions of life and family and nature. Very moving, very thought provoking and very well written.

I am also thrilled that he has used one of my all time favourite pictures on the cover. It was a picture he took at Walden Pond, just down the road from his home, and he used it for a Christmas card several years ago. It is one I have scrapped, including for this December calendar page for Scrapbook Inspirations this year. So he is not only a published author but a  great photographer too.

I will scan the cover of the book tomorrow and post that here as I am so proud for him.

Reflect

Reflect is a very short word for all of the connotations it has isn't it.

It's been a strange old weekend one way and another. Nigel has been at work all weekend. It's been a tough weekend for them all - working two full .... and I mean full .... physical days after a busy work week and another one due to start at 8.00 am on Monday. The staff must be in meltdown. Nigel came home again filthy and shattered and stiff and just exhausted really. No way to spend a weekend which is meant to be a break from work isn't it? I have just spoken to him now and he may or may not be home by 7 this evening, I feel so sorry for him. He is wiped out. So I have been reflecting on that a fair bit, as you can imagine.

I have busied myself doing some scrapping. I have completed my next True Friend piece, but of course I can't share that now LOL. I have also made a page entitled Reflect. It is a picture I love from our Canada trip, Nigel gazing out at the truly awesome reflections on Emerald Lake and looking very reflective himself. I used supplies I bought on holiday too - lovely Heidi Grace papers and chipboard. The only other bits are the chipboard letters at the bottom and the stamps to stamp the circle.

I have also been reflecting on the holiday again as I was looking through all the pictures. It was an amazing trip. The Canadian Rockies are so accessible. Yes you can hike some amazing trails, but you can also see a lot of the wonder from the car and by walking very short distances. They are far more easily accessible than their higher American cousins. It was a trip to remember but I wonder if it will be one of our last for a long time. Kira seems to have perked up and is steadily gaining weight, fuelling the idea that it was all stress related whilst we were away. She is a very highly strung cat so it is quite feasible. The strange thing is, if I don't get to go on any more incredible exploration holidays, it doesn't worry me at all. I have seen so many incredible sights it grows increasingly hard to top them each time.

Finally I have been reflecting on weekends. I love the weekends usually. Lots of time to scrap, lots of time to chill out and be with the cats, lots of good TV (I only really watch TV at weekends) lots of nice food, the satisfaction of the chores all done. Sadly this weekend, though it has had most of those things, has not been a nice one. Somehow none of that means anything without Nigel here. Guess that means I still love him then!

Free Frame and tropical dining

I fiddled with a doddled swirl frame overlay so please feel free to snag it if you would like it.

It is here

I have bveen working on some new simple digi creations, but they are not quite ready yet. Hopefully I will get to finish them later

This is one of the pages that I made for the Banana Frog blog. When we stayed in Newport Beach Ca we stayed in a lovely hotel and one of the best things was having breakfast outside in the Californian sun, surrounded by palm trees and sharing our space with hummingbirds.

I wanted to try and capture the tropical nature and so the tropical bloom stamps were just perfect. I kept the page simple and let the flowers make the tropical feel.

I have had fun today making a very poignant page for the next Collectively Yours Dare. The latest dare is up and looks fab.

Don't forget the dares are bow being uploaded on a Thursday.

Nigel is at work all day, moving the company from one premesis to another - not a nice day for him, so I have been shopping and scrapping. Tough life, but someone has to do it!