Josie
Gone, but not forgotten
She was the light of our lives... she found us in Wales over 12 years ago... mooched around for a few weeks, when I saw her a couple of times with a baby squirrel and then a baby rabbit in her mouth... to eat.
Eventually, after she realised there were no dogs barking nor children whizzing about, she chose our home as hers... and entered one day, sniffed around, went upstairs, jumped on the bed... and fell asleep for a few hours... then awoke to eat with us... afterwards more sleep... such is the hectic life of a cat.
She must have been all of 8 moths old at the time and had fended for herself for most of the spring and summer... but winter was approaching and she wanted a dry, warm nest... a roaring log fire... and more food.
She spent most of her life either on my lap as I sat at my Mac... following me around the vegetable garden (digging her own holes there too!)... plodding alongside as I pushed Trish in her wheelchair up and down the mile or so of our deserted hillside lane every evening before sunset... snuggled into my side of the bed and settled down against my ribs tucked-in by my cradling arm...
And when we came to France she forced her way out of the wickerwork cage in the back of our VW Combi and jumped onto the passenger seat where she slept or sat and looked at everything strange and new appearing before us on our long journey south to warmer climes...
And now she lies in our garden, buried with rosemary, sage and lemon balm... under her favourite clump of cat-mint and in the shadow of the tilleul tree which she climbed every day, often sitting on one of the pollarded lumps for hours surveying her personal domain...
She was a happy cat... and made both of us joyfully happy too... and now we feel desperately sad and lonely. But life has to go on... and one day we'll be honoured to be chosen by another pussy cat and we'll live happily together. I always think it will never - can never - be the same again... but it always is because although I thought of Jo-Jo as the most beautiful cat I'd ever cared for... in truth, all cats are beautiful... as are all living things...
9:22:58 PM 
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