Catalog - Aretha

Last but not least - though she is the smallest as well. Aretha is my little home friend, sitting in the chair behind me or on top of the pc or sometimes on my lap when I am working. She rarely leaves the house for any length of time and gets very anxious when everyone else does. Apart from that she is very like her mother. She likes to be brushed, likes to eat cake - if I make pancakes I have to make some for Marmela and Aretha..... I should get a more up to date photo for you - but she was such a cute little kitten - I can hear you all going aaaah.

Catalog - Martha

What can I say about Martha - she has the most beautiful face. I named her Martha because she looked like she was wearing lashings of eye-liner when she was a kitten. She keeps herself very much to herself - never going very far from home but happiest if she can avoid contact with all humans.... though she doesn't mind lying beside me if she is there when I get into bed at night. She is the one who brings home stuff from outside, paper bags, bits of rubber etc etc. She was obsessed by my leather gloves and worked out how to open the bedside table drawer from underneath so she could get them out. She is now targetting her efforts at getting hold of my pink foam rubber toe dividers (nail varnish for the application of).

Catalog - Elvis

By some strange fluke we named him right. He is the noisiest cat in town. He yeowls to be let out, then we hear him shouting in the street, then he is hollering to get back in. 30 seconds later he is asking to be let out again. He also does a really good Darth Vader impression... when he was a little kitten he got a chest infection and he still wheezes a fair bit. He is not quite as cuddly as his father was but he is a big soft teddy bear... despite trying to live up to the fact that he is the only boy in the house.

Catalog - Honey

Next comes Honey. She was picked up in Ait Melloul when we had the chicken shop and will be 3 in November.

She keeps herself to herself - going out every morning and coming back at lunch time. I have no idea what she gets up to but it is obviously something very interesting and important.

She likes to sleep on top of me all night - luckily she is not too heavy

Catalog - Marmela

By special request here is the current cat population. We currently have 5

Obviously first and foremost is Marmela, queen of all despite the scabby blue face. She is a true Berber cat who loves to eat bread and cake. We found her in the Talborjt area of Agadir and she will be 3 in May. Favourite colour - ginger, Favourite pastime - being brushed.

party frocks galore

I really like all the colour in this photo. Last week there was the wedding of some family connection (Mohamed's nephew's wife's father's good friends) in Taroudant and they asked if we would take movie and still photos. It was a really long day as I went along to shoot the henna party in the afternoon and then we stayed right till the bride was safely delivered to the groom's family home - so didn't get home till about 5 am.... this is probably the reason I came down with a cold. A great time was had by all.

Phlegm and Puss

well yes it has been as horrible as it sounds!

I had a horrible cold and Marmela has an abscess.  Cold has been managed with paracetemol, oranges and honey but we had to get the vet in to deal with Marmela.  Her little head had bulged hugely for a couple of days but no sign of the original wound.  The vet lanced the bulge (jets of pus) and gave her some antibiotic.  He will come back tomorrow and give her another going over.  She is looking very miserable - face shaved and sprayed blue - and we are not laughing at her.  I don't think I will post a photo of her - it would not be respectful.

I did find the best way of restraining cats for the purposes of pills etc.  Two pillowcases one inside the other - pop the cat in and then swaddle with some crepe bandage. It is pretty escape proof - though Marmela did manage to bite the vet!

18th March

The weather has turned hot again, though things are still pretty green.  I have finally got the house to myself again following the most recent visit from m-i-l and it is lovely and quiet so I thought I would take 10 minutes to write something before I get stuck into some accounts.  

Last week we went to Agadir where I got my crown fitted but I still have to go back in a couple weeks to have it checked over.  That is a tooth crown - despite now having followers I have not been promoted to royalty.

While there we went to Inzegane to see if we could find a good cheap iron and I went to see the little old bone sorter man..... if you are a long term reader you will remember his miraculous cure of my sprained ankle.  I bent my elbow the wrong way a few weeks back and it has been giving me gip so I thought I would see if he could help.  It did feel much better after he had handled it, but it is sore again now.   Mind you he did say I should put something cold on it when I got home and I was so tired by the time I got home that I forgot and then the next day I tackled my ironing mountain - probably not the best exercise for injured elbows.  

Anyway as he was manipulating my elbow he told us about how as a young man he was recruited as an acrobat for a circus and spent 8 years in Australia.  He comes from a berber mountain village famous for raising acrobats!  Since coming back to Morocco he has featured in an advertisement for tea, and now he sits in a little alley in Inzegane and heals sore and sprained joints.

We are definitely in orange blossom season now, though I still think it looks strange to see the oranges on the trees while the air is full of the scent of blossom.  The pomegranite tree in Ait Iazza has blossom as well now.  I must go and see if Little Grey has started any fruit yet.

Followers?!

 It puts the pressure on having "followers".  Well here is Mohamed and his uncle Hamid (or Ahmed - I am never very sure).  This is his mother's brother so in arabic he is Khali rather than Ammni.  ps Posting pictures seems to be easier than in Yahoo.

We have had some more rain - Yipee!.  The day before yesterday was Mohamed the Prophet's birthday - Mohamedmass - so holiday from school, work etc.  There was a sort of market down by Bab LeKhmis selling the usual range of grot but this time with some interestingly coloured nutty nougaty toffee type sweeties.  It looked like it had been made in large washing up bowls and turned out once it had set.  Lots of stands selling it - in huge chunks.  I tried a bit but it just seemed to taste like sugar.  Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera so no piccies.  Well there is always next year. 

Anyway I had better get back to work 

International Womens Day

Its the 8th March again - a significant date for me. .... but I hope that all that happens today is that I start a new blog.

The day is marked in Morocco - my Moroccan teacher was well aware of it and I remember last year that there was something in the news but I am not sure what is happening locally.

Anyway I thought I would make a mention of it.

New Blog

Well as I mentioned Yahoo are no longer supporting their 360 site, so I had a look round and have decided to try this blogger.com. I will post a message on the old site with the new site's address and see if there is a way I can link to the old blog (if anyone wants a trip down memory lane)