Since my last blog we now have a new roof thank goodness. It is a dark green coloursteel one and was finally finished earlier this year around February. Now months later we find ourselves in the grip of winter. Hungry birds are fed in the back garden. I made a bird cake with lard, seed, nuts and fruit...popped it all into a string onion bag and now it is suspended from a tree in the garden. Heaps of birds feed from it. We also have a constant supply of sugar water out for the nectar loving birds...beautiful Tuis, Bellbirds and Waxeyes. Peeled apples are stuck on to rose branches for them too and leftovers are always appreciated by the sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes and hedgehogs. I posted my latest artwork yesterday on here in my gallery, it was called Cats in Winter Hats. Inspiration came from the freezing cold temperatures here in Dunedin, and as some of you may already know, I have a fondness for cats. The big news is that we have now got a second cat.we have named her Tilly and she found us. Just after Easter I noticed that a little kitten was out in the back garden and she was eating eating some stale hot cross buns I had thrown out for the birds, she was very hungry. She was very scared and ran at the speed of light straight under the house. I would sometimes glance her eating bird food, so we started feeding her each day with some cat biscuits on a plastic plate which we would push under the house. We could hear her making sounds with the plate when we were inside the house, through/underneath the floor. This went on for about 6 weeks and I was starting to lose hope we would ever gain her trust. Each week it was getting colder and colder and I hated to think of her crouching under there, all alone and cold. I phoned the local SPCA and inquired if anyone had reported a lost kitten fitting her description in the area, nobody had. So I guess she was an abandoned kitten. The local SPCA is bulging at the seams with unwanted cats and kittens, and has about 200 at the moment. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago it got very cold, we had snow early that morning. We had briefly coaxed her in the night before but she was still so scared and escaped through the cat door. That night late when I was in the bathroom cleaning my teeth she appeared at the window mewing, looking so cold. I opened the window to let her in but she shot away again. That night we had a few inches of snow and it was about -4C. When I got into bed I could hear her mewing outside. I got up several times and opened the door but she would not come in. Finally the next morning when all the snow was around my husband managed to grab her when he put down some food outside. She was finally inside and we blocked off the cat door. She rushed into the corner where she was unreachable near the pine dresser and bookcase. She mewed on and off. I dropped down a woolly blanket so she could be comfortable and put some food and water near her. We also put a litter tray on the hearth near the fireplace. She stayed in the corner all day and just before we went to bed she ventured out. The next day she let us stroke her and was so affectionate. She purred and was so happy and pleased to be inside in the warm. We kept her in for a week and she relaxed and really made the place home. There was some hiccups with Sam our elderly big tabby, he has been tolerant of her but anti us, jealousy. He is getting much better now and I know things will improve. Amazingly she is so clean despite having a rough start to life, immaculate white and shiny black fur. She is a bright little button and makes little chirping noises, loves attention and looks up to Sam as being her mentor. Here is a photo of her relaxing on the sofa in the warm. We are very fortunate to have her.