Jack and Katrina's Place

Guy loves his little plastic motorcycle. Our neighbours gave us their childrens bicycle helmet and although it is too big, Guy has really taken to wearing it, even when he rides his trike in the lounge! To give him a bit more space we took him down to the waterfront park alongside Te Papa. In the late afternoon sunshine he went for miles, really a kilometre or more, on the pavement, through the construction gravel and onto the grass, brmming to himself the whole way.

Maybe it's the 70's style retro jacket, but doesn't he look a bit like a tiny Steve Austin? (6million dollar man) Perhaps it has something to do with all the old reruns Katrina watched on daytime telly while she was pregnant!

We celebrated Easter this year with an Easter Egg hunt organised by our neighbours, they hid the egss around our garden, because it has lots of hiding places and they could do so unobserved by their older children. It was great fun and Guy enjoyed the older children running around. I carried him from place to place and he spied the small foil covered eggs nestled amongst the flowers and trees. He made a good job of munching his way through a marshmallow egg too, (and he has been known to gnaw his way into a Cadbury Creme Egg.) Just for comparison, here is a picture of Guy last Easter, when he only 3 months old and we propped him up with pillows.

A sad thing occurred when we returned from our honeymoon. Cass the Cat who was being looked after while we were away was unwell. We took him straight down to our wonderfully kind and caring local vet who checked on him through the night but he passed away from kidney failure. Cass was about 10 years old and had been with me since Auckland when he'd come to me as a tiny kitten with his brother Bealey. They'd been found when a work colleague and the SPCA had gone in to clear out the home of an old women whose house was overun by cats, Bealey and Cass where the last to find homes, so they came to me. Bealy unfortunatley didn't develop enough road sense and was run over after a year. Cass was the runt of the litter and was always small but was a very loving and loyal cat. He drove down from Auckland on my knee, only digging his claws in to me on sharp corners!

Strangely he spent a lot of time with Katrina while she was pregnant (maybe because she was often lying down!) and would sit watching her belly but never on it in that knowing way cats have. When Guy was born he was great and as soon as Guy could crawl he would let him crawl right up and even endure Guys first attempts at patting him which were more like swatting the cat. Guy quite quickly learnt to be gentle and not poke his finger in Cass's ear. One of the first recognisable sounds Guy made was a high pitched squeak in response to the greeting sound Cass made when he came into the room, Guy used to talk to the cat often.

On reflection we have hardly any photos of Guy and Cass (they were both elusive targets) but here is Guy in the bath with me and Cass just leaving, you can see from the look on Guys face how much he delighted in Cass. We buried Cass under the rata tree. The little girls from accross the road wanted to see him (they often used to feed him) I wrapped him in his old fleecy blanket. When Guy saw the blanket he gave a little laugh and then a happy shout when I pulled the blanket back to show the girls as if to say ''There he is! " But he watched in quiet concern as we sprinkled the earth over the blanket.

Now Guy still delights in cats, he has a book about Hairy McClary the little dog who chases all the neighbourhood cats and Guy smooches each page with a cat on it except the last one which is 'Scarface Claw' the meanest Tom in town. Guy just shuts the book when we get to that page!

So with that, it is farewell to our loving and loyal Cass.