This is the latest stray, who I call Whitby, because he is jet black. Keith, of course, has chosen another name - Sambo! (as in little black . . .) I think when he goes for the kindest cut of all in the not-too-distant future, he will just be "Sam"! It has taken me a long time to get his confidence, and for him to allow me to even put a finger near enough for him to sniff, but as long as there is food around, he will now let me stroke him and make a fuss of him and he purrs happily. The moment the food is eaten though, he goes back to being wary. Daft animal! Mind you, at least he is already purring. It took the really wild and completely feral Ghengis 2 years to learn to purr - or feel happy enough to do so. Now he is my little shadow and is with me wherever I go and the moment I sit down, he comes up on my lap.
This very intense stare is something he used when he arrived - there was NO WAY he was going to be chased off, he had decided he was going to STAY and that was IT. He has been someone's house cat, as he knows about houses and cat-flaps, but he obviously left home to find love, and never went back. It's hard to tell how old he is but his coat is brown in parts - which suggests he may be older than 5, but that said, black coats can be brown from poor nutrition and so we will see if he goes jet black again now he is being fed right royally.
A happy planting. I sewed an entire packet of Love in a Mist in this pot and only ONE came up. Then I put this Coleus in there (Henna I think it is called) and the blue of the LIAM (in sunshine) is amazing against the rusty foil of the Coleus. Both plants remind me of my mum - she always grew LIAM in the garden and she was always given a Coleus plant at Christmas, which she promptly put on top of the gas fire, and by New Year it was somewhat dead . . .
Finally (it is late and we have had a lovely but tiring day out today) an evening picture of one of my Hydrangeas. It starts off quite a bluey purple but then goes pink. I would rather it stayed bluey purple personally but . . .
Back tomorrow with a few pictures from our lovely day out today.
