Wednesday 4 December 2013

Cat in a Box


This is Banshee's winter quarters.  It was a box of discarded paper strips, with some finished puzzle pages on top, and she has decided it is very snug thank you . . .  better than her being on top of the fridge-freezer all last winter anyway . . .


Not to be outdone, Fluff decided Boxes Are Good . . .


Alfie is a little put out that HE doesn't get a look-in . . .


My lovely sewing table has a temporary home as a telephone table - the cupboard below the little lift-up lid is useful for the phone book and address books.


I spent yesterday morning making a big Fish Pie for the freezer.  It makes SUCH a change to actually follow a new recipe.

The recipe was one of Hugh's and fairly straightforward.


This ox yoke was one of the things we bought from Malvern  In hindsight, I dare say it is imported and last used on a Water Buffalo, but it has a certain rustic charm.

The dealer had this one wrongly descraibed as an old Thatcher's tool on the ticket.  I saved him having to alter it by buying it myself, cheaply.  It is in fact a horse gag for giving boluses of medicine, back in Victorian times.  The ring in the centre was where you put your hand, holding the medicine, so you could push it down the horse's throat.  Worming cures and "physics" were given thus.


Above and below, I couldn't resist this partly sewn colourful Crinoline Ladies cushion cover.  More work!


It was only two pounds.

This is a lovely large Torquay jug to enjoy for a bit . . .

You are probably now thinking, what on earth does she need THAT for - now she no longer has horses?  Well, a friend suggested using it to get a bad stain out of a valuable old Welsh blanket I have.  Apparently the Borax in the poultice draws out the stain.  Well, we shall see.  Nothing to be lost, that's for sure. Apart from the £5.99 I had to pay for this.  Things have gone up a lot even in the 5 years since I had horses.

11 comments:

  1. Cats and boxes seem to have a great affinity---same with baskets. I'm interested in the wooden bowl at Alfie's left--it looks like a vintage dough tray which I found at my grandparent's home.

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  2. I think that is what it originally was. A lot have come in from the continent (probably this one too). We use it as a fruit bowl now. It is made from a softish wood - I would love one made from sycamore and polished from years of use . . . but they don't go cheap, even at auction.

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  3. You are so good at finding interesting treasures on your buying trips to the Antique Fairs. I remember seeing oxen ploughing in rural France when I was a child ( so about fifty odd years ago). I would love to know the story behind your ox yoke.

    Our cats are always happy to move into a newly arrived cardboard box.
    Hasn`t Alfie grown into a handsome cat? I have a soft spot for ginger and whites.

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  4. Boxes are a firm favourite of Griffin-even better with paper to shred in the bottom, he particularly likes to wait for a unsuspecting passing pet and jump out at them. More lovely finds from your market in Malvern.

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  5. CatCat climbed into every empty box we had for ten years. A childhood cat loved empty paper bags and thought shopping day was Nirvana.

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  6. The Kitties and the boxes are so cute they look very snug and happy.

    cheers, parsnip

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  7. Interesting post BB. I have that recipe book. I always have folk round for a meal on New Year's eve and one of the choices is always fish pie - you have given me the idea - I shall make it early and freeze it that is one job done, so thanks for that.

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    1. Watching Mary Berry on the tv last night, she also makes a fish pie for Xmas eve, is there a reason I wonder. Fascinating lady, brought up in Bath has over 80 books she has written....

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  8. Anything with the word horse or prefix 'equi' costs a FORTUNE these days. When Trigger's eye was imflamed, the vet very kindly told me I could use human eye drops at a fraction of the cost. I used to use cheap human sun cream on my old horse's white nose rather than the horsey kind too!

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  9. Your cats look very cozy! Tom is just mooching around. He doesnt seem to have a favourite place at the moment. Jx

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  10. Thanks everyone for all your comments. I think cats and boxes are a given. I remember going to someone's house once and as we were chatting, a small brown box suddenly scooted across the kitchen floor - with a couple of kittens beneath it!!

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