Sauntering Vaguely Downward

Regarding the penultimate video (30 October): Whenever the bloke goes away, Astro goes into a heightened state of alertness. He comes into the front room every evening to inspect the adult humans. If he finds me alone, he will go and sit on the mat by the front door. He curls up and faces me with his ears back, half-closes his eyes, and stays there until I go to bed. He follows me upstairs and curls up on the landing. I don't know if he stays there all night, but I often find him there when I get up in the morning.

If he sees both of us in the front room, he will come and stand on me for a short while, make biscuits on my legs, and then transfer to the bloke's lap, where he rolls onto his back and flops out blissfully. It's as if he can't relax completely if Alpha Cat isn't present.

Comet, on the other hand, couldn't care less about us in the evening. He's only interested if Humuhumu is around and has left her door open so he can sleep on her bed. When she isn't here, he walks around the landing and gives occasional plaintive yowls.

[HELLO I AM COMET AND I AM TOO CLOSE]

1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?
   
   Frequently. My partner and I sometimes have very different perceptions of certain colours (and no, he’s not red-green colour-blind).
   
   
2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?
   
   Sounds I didn’t choose to hear, ha. Seriously, though, I quite often put my noise-cancelling headphones on with nothing coming through them, just to block out background sound.
   
   
3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?
   
   I *want* to do that all the time. I’m very sensitive to touch. I restrain myself most of the time unless it seems like it is OK (like in a clothing shop). I suspect I’d get thrown out of places if I went round running my hands over veg, freshly baked goods or pick-n-mix for example.
   
   
4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?
   
   My cats’ fur when they come in from outside on a cold day. Black Opium by YSL. My partner’s armpits. I am not joking.
   
   
5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?
   
   Everything! I love food so much. I especially love very cold fruit juices on a hot day or with a sore throat, the velvety texture of a good chocolate mousse, and the salty satisfaction of slurping ramen noodles.
   

( Last week's FF )

Despite all the Welsh holiday footage, Astro managed to sneak in here quite a lot. Meeting the talkative long-eared owl was one of the highlights. She had many and varied opinions.

Vienna => home => Cambridge => home => Hamburg => home => Norfolk => home

Not a lot of Humuhumu as she's been away for substantial portions of this month. We'd all like a little rest from travel, I think, but it's not happening until mid-June.

This photo of Comet on the bookshelves in my office made me laugh when I ran across it today, so I'm sharing.