Felinek - a sad post

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this.

Back in July, we "celebrated" the cat boys first anniversary in our home, with the special menu you can see above. It was exactly one year since we found them left to die in a deep forest on the border between Norway and Sweden. First, it was a hard fight to have them stay with us. H. rightly believed one cat and one dog was enough to love and spoil. But within a couple of months, the cat brothers managed to occupy an ever-growing part of H's heart. A few months after, he told me he now actually prefers cats to dogs. And his mother who didn't like cats _at all_ fell in love with the two lovely brothers.

They remained so attached, so important to each other. Still sleeping together from time to time, still washing each other, so dependent on one another. We knew we would never let them be separated. Felinek sort of took care of Lucky, who is a very calm, quiet, careful cat who prefers the company of my H. to any other. He's not very fond of me.

But Felinek, our lovely black and white little cat, had grown to a wonderfully positive, happy cat whose presence brightened everybody's life. Every person who met him loved him so much. Always curious, always ready to play, to cuddle, extremely social, you'd think his role was to make everyone smile.

Felinek, our little ray of sunshine was killed by a car a few days ago.

When he didn't come home one morning, we feared something might have happened, but it rained heavily and we hoped someone had taken him home. That night, I heard a woman's terrible scream at 2 am and wondered for hours what it could be about in this peaceful neighbourhood. That same night, H. had been admitted urgently to hospital and his leg operated the next day, nothing too serious. When he was leaving home, I felt that everything was going to go wrong. A weird feeling I can't explain. And Felinek didn't come back in the morning. Over the week-end, we put posters everywhere around here and we started getting calls from many, many people - so touching really - but the cats weren't the one we were looking for. Just as exhausted after a many hours' search yesterday, we were on the way home, we got a call. It happened that night, just meters away from our house. The nice man was keeping the little body as he had decided to ask around if someone's cat was missing. We took him home.

Felinek will be burried in a nice spot in the garden. We cried all night and today is only a little better. We just ordered take-away food as the little things of life seemed to hard to handle today. We are just devastated. Lucky is constantly looking for his brother and it just breaks our hearts to pieces to see him walk around, smell place after place, not finding comfort. Our vet told us to let him smell Felinek and he did it, licked him on the face (which brought even more tears on our side), but I don't think he understood. It is just heartbreaking.

We grow so attached to our little friends, don't we... I think it is harder for people who like us don't have children, I don't know...

Felinek was such an exceptional, unique little being and life without him will never be the same. Never ever. In the meantime, we try to double efforts to surround Lucky with love and care. For him, it's even worse.

This is the last short movie I took of them both in "their" room. We called it the cat room as we use it less so we just placed old armchairs for them to enjoy.

I'll be back with happier, crafty news, but at the moment, I'm having a hard time trying to cope...

Preparing to leave...

Days have been just *so* busy. I am sorry I don't have time to leave comments on your blogs, but I read them (a lot of them!) while sipping morning coffee and later during the day!
This stay was supposed to recharge my internal batteries... but I'm leaving very tired. I usually have zero work till the end of January, so my plan was to stitch a lot, read, have walks, enjoy life, enjoy nature... Turned out quite the opposite. I worked insanely much, slept little... We're taking the plane on Saturday and I will only have Thursday to pack and clean the house, so we can possibly have half a day out somewhere on Friday. I'd love to do some shopping too... not sure how much I'll be able to squeeze it till then.
So, big changes will start in Warsaw on Sunday. Some of you already know what and why... others will have to wait for the news a few days more, too pooped to write this evening! :)
On Sunday, I got up with an unhappy face and while I munched on my breakfast, I commented to H. that I simply don't seem to have the brain resources to work - and I have dozens of pages to produce! Dear H. looked at me and said: 'Why don't you have a walk with Happy?'. Hm. I looked outside and the day was grey and uninteresting, but I'd have done anything to kick my brain into gear. It was snowing lightly, just -12 Celsius, I decided to go. H. had to drive somewhere so he left me halfway to the nearest village and I walked back home. Turns out the idea was perfect, it cleared my brain completely!


Just so you don't think I don't stitch ;-), here is a WIP I didn't finish in time for Christmas. This is a Mary Garry pattern I decided to stitch as individual pieces meant as ornaments for a Christmas tree or branch. That said, I'm showing the idea for the finishing, but I will add beads and some other decorations where the ribbon is sewed.

I thought you might like to see why Happy got the name he got :) (and a new collar!)

Just in case you're more interested in cats ;-), here is an older short movie of our cat-boys!

So glad that you enjoyed the winter walk :) Actually all the huge amounts of snow are still there since Christmas, we only got some snow showers after that. Now I hear Poland got the very low (-28 Celsius this morning) temperatures we had for 2-3 weeks. I'm leaving Norway in 10 days or so and I hope we don't get THAT again when the plane lands in Warsaw! LOL Here it's not so bad anymore but I miss sun, days have been mainly grey the past week.
I keep hoping for more time during the day to update this blog with presents I have received, other photos... but work seemsto inflow through doors and windows and I don't dare to complain after the terrible job slump I went through the last two years.
I already miss the cat-boys. It breaks my heart to leave them again soon for some long weeks. I'm hoping to return after 5-6 weeks but that's a loooong time, if you ask me. These two little creatures brighten every day we have. I'll repeat myself again, but I really didn't know cats can be *so* gentle, social, friendly, cuddly and dependent on people. They are around us all the time, whether to sleep on our respective work desks or to ask to have their bellies rubbed. Always so dependent on each other, always together, always caring about each other. They sleep together, eat together, go out together... you get the point. Beware if one brother is stuck closed in a room! Brother # 2 will let you know immediately. They start to show their individual traits as time passes, but one thing doesn't change, the special connection that ties them together. I'll have to set up a slideshow to show you what I mean.
I pulled an all-nighter last night to deliver a text on time in the morning and I only slept 2 hours during the day - more work was coming in. I just feel for finding my bed and crashing in there for the night, so I'll leave you for today with this short update.
By the way, Kathy Barrick from CHS has been listing lots of OOP charts in her ETSY shop since Sunday. Some are gone, so I'd recommend you have a look in her Sold section - I am almost sure you could ask her for them with a positive result. I picked some charts I didn't know at all, like Katy Horn (I absolutely love it!!!), and Fanny Small, and In the garden, and Sampler folk....Go have a look before it's too late! :)
I've sent my Blackbird exchange some time ago, so I hope to be able to show it soon.
In the meantime, here are some WIPs I started during by the end of the old year and that will keep me busy for some long weeks :)

So. Where do we start? First, a chart I got and kitted the moment I saw it. Vintage Lace by Rosewood Manor. Something about the colors I liked. Now, even on 36ct., the end result will be BIG and I am not sure I like it. Hopefully I'll find a place to hang it one day. The fabric is Lupine by Picture This Plus, who amazed me with how fast they sent it (next day) and how fast it reached me here in Norway (just one week). How do  you like it? There are 14 parts and I finished almost 3 so far. The charts are not always easy to follow and the bad light in this old house is killing my eyes, but I love the colors.

Next is my start on CHS Shores of... I only got so far, later distracted by the WIP above and other small designs. It's my first of the series I'm stitching and it's surprisingly agreeable to work on, like most CHS charts.

The boys have busy mornings these days. I couldn't get a good shot of Lucky, so here you can see only Felinek, very still, very dedicated...

The reason for all this concentration? Blue tits! I haven't seen them around a lot this winter, sadly. We've hanged the food balls on two trees for them but they only came a couple of times so far.

And just in case you noticed some icky spots on the kitchen window above, you were very right. Here's how this window looks like:

 ... little cat paws all over the glass... you see, snowflakes can be very entertaining and it's very important to catch each and every snowflake you see!

Till tomorrow, hopefully!

It's less cold this week-end, how nice! This week, I've beaten my life record: it was -28 (around 1 Fahrenheit?), totally crazy! The main topic in the Norwegian media was the COLD and when the Norwegians start to talk about cold, then it *is* cold. From what I am being told, it is not unusual to have -15 to -20 in the Oslo region for, say, a week during winter, but now it's been several weeks of much lower temperatures.
Hah! I'm brave. I wanted to experience how it feels being out at such temperatures and I had a 20 minutes walk with Happy at -24 Celsius. I can tell you it felt... special. He was fine as he had his coat on and even little shoes which he got used to quite fast. Beyond -20 he can't walk without them, it seems, he lifts his paws and is so suffering that it makes no sense to have him out other than a few seconds. And that's what we have been doing - we have a long line (20 meters?) that he runs on in the garden. We just open the door, he does his business VERY FAST and runs back home. And this many times during the day. Otherwise when it's warmer (-15 to -20) we have normal half an hour walks.
During the walk I started to write about, I experienced funny things for the first time in my life. That when you breathe (I had a warm cashmere scarf around my mouth), air freezes instantly at such low temperatures and 1) it freezes your eyelashes and glues them because of the vapor that covers them AND 2) that you get ICE in your nose.... Not funny! :)
Only later in the newspaper I read tips from the army winter-school in Elverum (where Americans and Brits are sent to just before they're deployed to Afghanistan, to prepare them for the cold and mountains) and other articles where they recommend to wipe your face from ice with your hand, skin to skin, once in a while, otherwise you can get frostbites (if you have your face covered with something). Lots of interesting tricks and tips. I didn't know either that wool is better than cotton as the inner layer against your skin (cotton is fine as long as it is dry).
Tell me, how did I land with a Norwegian better half? Me, who spent 11 years of my tender life in North Africa? Life is weird. From sun, sea and beaches to snow, cold and wild nature. But, the funny thing is, I love it.
My father would have screamed if I told him we sleep in an unheated room - I and H. both love it that way! The house has to be warm, sure thing, but we need to have it fresh in the room to sleep good, otherwise I wake up tired and sloggy. Of course, we sleep under goose feather sets, but no heating in the room :) I'd have opened the window a little bit but a) H. has his limits LOL! and b) they are frozen, the windows, with ice. So there.

Last week was so busy with work that I decided to spend this week-end doing nothing. N-o-t-h-i-n-g except for some cleaning, cooking, blogging and stitching, in good order.

Here is the ornament I sent to Ellen S. in the recent HOE Christmas ornament exchange. I love how it turned out and I just need to stitch it again one day for myself.

Homespun Elegance
"Festive Redbird"

I sent the ornament below to Hazel for the Prairie Schooler exchange.
Oh, that one took a good two weeks to stitch since I insisted on stitching it over one. It is done with DMC and overdyes of my choice. So glad that Hazel liked it!

Prairie Schooler
adapted from book #95 - Christmas Traditions

Some of you would like to see the cat-boys and I'll happily oblige! The photos below are of bad quality because I took them during the night.

They are always together. Always.

I mean, aren't the two brothers beyond cute?


Yep, they got a scratching post this week. When we drove to Sweden to do food-shopping (a tradition for Norwegians because across the border, everything is dirt cheap comparing to here!), we found this one for 1/3 of the Norwegian price. We're still thinking of buying a huge one one day, but on the other hand, won't they have more than enough climbing and playing opportunities in the garden once spring arrives?

So far, they love it... (well, excuse the pile in the background, H. is busy sorting old stuff)
I'll leave you with this picture of the enchanted winter world taken in the garden...


Have a cozy Sunday!

My Norwegian Christmas in pictures...

Christmas dinner at H.'s mother... her tree, though artificial, was splendid and I smiled seeing at least three ornaments I made for her during the years hanging there too..

H. got us a lovely assortment of traditional Norwegian Christmas cakes... for your enjoyment, I added their names...

After dinner, my H. distributed the gifts... a lot of joy and smiles!

Back at home, we continued celebrating with a tradition we have in my family, introduced by my father when I was a kid... the tailed part of the family gets a gift too! When it was only a dog, a double sausage was hanging directly on the tree :)

Happy the dog got a gift as well but he was very quick at eating it, so - no picture! LOL

Answering questions: Toska stayed at my aunt... it was no sense to stress her with a plane trip just for 6 weeks.
The cat-boys names are Felinek (black and white boy) and Lucky (grey and white boy). I liked your suggestions around Loki and similar names, but H. wasn't fond of it... close to it, we chose Lucky - because he is lucky, isn't it? :)

Over the next days, we relaxed A LOT! Just the way we wanted it...!

We got tons of snow and low temperatures... -23 Celsius yesterday (9 Fahrenheit?) Here's what H.' mother neighbouring little house looks like:

Our garden looks idyllic but I could only take that picture as the rest of the land is inaccessible because of all the snow :)

Happy enjoys it... moderately...

He seemed to say - 'Am I a seal or what?'

More later....

Merry Christmas to all my friends! Enjoy these special days.... Relax a lot.... Stitch a bit... Blog a little... Laugh as much as possible.... ENJOY!

WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT!

We're back from Christmas dinner at H.'s mother... my first Norwegian Christmas... The cats and Happy loved going out in the snow... We're all tired after the last busy days and look forward to lots and lots of doing nothing the next days! :)

The cat-boys enjoy their first winter... Aren't they big? I swear they double their size within each month! :)

This conversation took place two days ago:

me, showing something: H., does it look like a pear?
H.: - Yeah, not really.
me: - Oh? Why not? I mean, it's a perfect pear?
H.: - Well...
me: - Pfffff. You have no sense of art. It's a perfect pear.
H. - So why do you ask me, if I don't know anything?
me: - Oh well.
me, trying again: - Hey, see, isn't that an absolutely beautiful, perfect pear?
H.: (...sigh...) - Oh YES, it's so beautiful, an absolutely perfect pear!! ...(silence...) isn't that what you wanted me to say?

I resisted the urge to... well, you know. He's just a man.

The pear, you ask? You'll have to wait to see :) A week or so.

I've finished and sent my PS exchange, I'm almost done with the finishing part on my BD exchange.... stitched a PS piece for myself, but need to do the finishing so I can show it properly... and tonight I plan to start on the LHN "Snow" piece that Gigi is offering on her blog and the benefits of which go to the Unicef. Two more designs come with the LHN, but I only like one of them. It is possible to pay with Paypal. To see and/or order, click HERE.

It's getting late, but I thought I'll post a short update about our cat boys. They got their next vaccines this week, they were also chipped (answering to comment: tattoos are much less popular here, I'll hope for the best that they don't get cancer - but then I am much more worried about the street and the risk of them being hit by a car next spring...) and they got their European Union/Norwegian passports :)
We weren't planning to that fast, but we just had to and the boys were neutered yesterday. I spent a long time searching the web for info about the advantages and disadvantages. Had I known it would be so painless and fast, I wouldn't have worried beforehand.

The boys upon arriving home...


Happy checked on them from time to time till they woke up. It was sort of funny to see cats sleeping with totally open eyes, it's the first time I saw it.

Our new vet has a home practice and I just stayed in the room and watched the whole intervention while it happened. The actual surgery part took less than a minute! What took time was all the preparations - injections of morphine, local anesthetics, antibiotics, vitamin B, shaving, cleaning... I and the vet (a woman) had a fun time observing H. who was really uncomfortable about the neutering part and just left for a 40 minutes walk! He became so pale and all... She said all men react that way! LOL

They were supposed to wake up after 4-10 hours and to relax for 7 days.
Well, they started to wake up after 2,5 hours and already at night, they were fighting, running, chasing each other, enjoying life at fullest. Nothing could be done to stop them - nothing at all! Like if nothing ever happened. We just had to stop worrying about the open wounds (no stitches, it starts to grown after 3 days, we were told).

They're just the most adorable cats on Earth I know. Watching them play is endless joy - and then they are perfect companions, they're more like dogs than cats. Humans are so important for them... They sleep close to where I type and they're on my lap when I stitch... they follow H. till the shower cabin... And then Felinek is vocal (his brother is not at all), he asks for water, for food, he complains when he's forbidden smthg (Felinek - no! - meeeeow!! I said NO! - meeeooooo!!!!) LOL
They come for hugs in the middle of the night and they generally are always around.
H.? He's so fond of them!! He made a clean space on his work desk where we laid a soft plaid for them to sleep on... He's planning to clean a sort of hall room in the basement where we plan to put a climbing/playing furniture for them, money allowing. They're such a joy!
(answering to Anonymous comment - thanks for the tip about wet food, I didn't know about that issue. We won't have them on wet food only, much too expensive, but they get some daily and they drink a whole sea of water in addition to their dry special food so I think they should be fine. Actually I almost worried at first seeing how much they drink!)

(I kindly ask you not to zoom on this one - who looks good after a 3 hours ride?? LOL)

We're back from our vacation in the (cold) wilderness since so many days, but days have been busy and maybe also I didn't have the inspiration to write. And since I fully subscribe to the idea of blogging without obligation... :)
I'll post photos and write more about the vacation in the following days after I have delivered a job for tomorrow, tonight I shall spend the evening typing away...


However, I just couldn't resist showing this last finish. I made three major changes: 1) I replaced the year with Jul (Merry Christmas in Norwegian), 2) I extended the red bar to the right in the window with the pine tree - a part was missing on the chart, I am not sure if it had a meaning I didn't understand or if it is an actual error but trust me, it looked weird the way it was. I mean the bars under the two red bells - see photo up.


and 3) I didn't use the brown linen included in the kit. I used 32 ct Belfast Planinum Pizzaz from Zweigart - see the blueish opalescent elements! It is just marvelous and I plan to use the half yard I got for many future works, especially ornaments. Just love it!! It played so well with the Crescent Colors floss from the kit. I wasn't so fond of the previous yearly kits - but now I see I might stitch them again on something else than the brown linen included in the kit - anything looks better than its sad color!!


This was such a fun stitch, like with all PS charts!! I especially love this finish... plan to turn it into a bigger pillow one day, but not very soon - Christmas gifts making has to happen first.
Till later....

Oh, I was about to forget - if you have nothing, I mean really nothing better to do after reading me, check THIS LINK to see our furry friends in real life. There are 4 more short movies uploaded (More from...). The quality is not so good because I filmed with the new iphone and the light was not easy. Some were made in the cabin and some in the old room the kiddos are using here downstairs. Enjoy!

Isn't he beauuuuutiful? :) How could anyone, really...

Traveling...

On the way up north, the boys refused to stay in their transporter. Made for a funny trip (not)! On the way down to Oslo, they were just perfect.

Some solutions... (Yup, H. is a saint. Confirmed.)


Poor Happy trying to make himself small... Having Toska that close means nasty things. Trust him, he knows - and even if she is very calm and nice when in the car, doggie remembers...

Expectation....


Late night junk food at the gas station Homemade pizza leftovers I packed for the trip... we just stopped there to "empty" the menagerie and get some light from above to see better :)


And then two weeks of happiness.


Yup. Traveling and good food, good wine. Some elements of a good vacation time.


This is the Spicy Bacon Chicken - got the idea reading Tanya's blog and made it twice already. Fantastic!!With mashed potatoes, heavenly.