Monday Mural - Black Cockatoos

I love murals and street art. If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  Once you start looking you will find murals everywhere.  The "Monday Mural" meme goes live on Monday at 12,01AM, Perth,Western Australian time. Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters. Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks, Sami.

I had totally forgotten to go back and take photos of this mural that was painted the first weekend of March. This week I drove past it and stopped to take photos.

It was painted by a young Western Australian artist - Imogen Palmer at the entrance to Headspace, a mental health clinic, in Albany Highway, in the suburb of Cannington.

Australian flag and Aboriginal flag

               

Signs - Ahoy sailor

A sign outside a restaurant by the Swan River in the suburb of South Perth.
For more signs from around the world, please check Tom's blog 

Monday Mural - Bats and Mangoes

Hope you all had a lovely and peaceful Easter break with your families.

I love murals and street art. If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  Once you start looking you will find murals everywhere.  The "Monday Mural" meme goes live on Monday at 12,01AM, Perth,Western Australian time. Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters. Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks, Sami.

"Bats and Mangoes" - a 2019 mural painted on the wall of the Salvation Army building in Katherine's main street (Stuart Highway) in the Northern Territory.

It was designed by the then 17 year old Chloe Forscutt (a Katherine native), mentored by professional muralist Kaff Eine.

(With the sun shining on the mural in the late afternoon, there's a lot of glare).

 

RIP Shelley

Instead of the usual Wednesday signs meme, I'm posting a tribute to our lovely Shelley who we had to put to sleep yesterday 12th April at the age of 15 1/2 years.

Shelley :  17 September 2007 - 12 April 2022

Shelley our tortoiseshell, along with 7 other kittens came into our lives on the 17th September 2007, when "Mommy" and "Baby" gave birth to 4 kittens each, just outside my son's bedroom window. 

The mothers weren't really our cats, they had pink collars, were well fed, but used to came around to our house just after we moved in. 

I would put little notes on their collars to find out who they belonged to but nobody ever owned up to them. The house had been empty for a while, as the previous owner had died, so they couldn't have belonged to the old owner. 

They were friendly and whenever the patio door was open they would just wander indoors and sit on the sofas. Eventually they just moved in

Just a couple of weeks before they gave birth did I notice they were pregnant when I noticed they were getting a bit fat .

"Mommy" with all 8 kittens around her. 

We adopted out all but 3 of the 8 babies through an organization called "Safe - Saving animals from euthanasia" - my son Michael wanted Fluffy, and the other two girls Shelley and Twiggy sadly just didn't get adopted as they were the "ugliest" little kittens.  Mommy and Baby have sadly also passed away in March 2014 and February 2015, and Fluffy in March 2021.

Twiggy, Shelley and Fluffy

Shelley or "Fatty" as we would sometimes call her because she was quite an overweight cat, having reached 7,880 kg (17,37lb) at one stage, and was on a vet prescribed diet in 2017, with Fluffy and Twiggy as well.

In the morning, she was always the first one to wake me up if it was past the regular feeding time, putting out her nails and gently scratching my arm while meowing loudly. It never failed to make me spring out of bed!

She loved to eat, gobbling up the other's foods if they left any behind, and even became an expert at opening the automated plates and then having an extra meals !

A model cat will fit anywhere

She was always the more reserved cat, and a bit of a loner, although at one stage Twiggy and her were good friends.

Her favourite spot was by the window sill of my bedroom window.

 

Even in the last month of her life, she would sometimes go and have a snooze there.

She was very close to Jose and when he was sitting watching TV at night she would either sit on his lap or by the side of the armchair and get some cuddles. Sometimes he would drop his arm to the side and she would rub her head backwards and forwards, which was so funny. She loved being brushed and whenever Jose was in the garden she would miaw constantly and he knew she wanted to be brushed.

Getting some cuddles from Jose

Getting some brushing love the day she came from her ultrasound

Sadly in March I noticed that Shelley had suddenly lost a bit of weight. It had been hot and at first I put it down to the heat and that they weren't eating as much, but Twiggy didn't appear to have lost weight.  I took her to the vet on the 10th March and a urine and blood test just showed an infection - but not a bladder or kidney infection. She recommended I take her for an ultrasound.

The radiologist reported a very large mass surrounding her internal organs and apart from suggesting chemotherapy (which I couldn't put a cat through it), he said the prognosis wasn't good. 

She would eat very tiny meals 5 or 6 times a day, in fact whenever she came into the kitchen I would feed her. I bought animal mince, soft food in pouches, gave her chicken pieces, etc, etc, but one day she would eat something, the next day she didn't want that, and I would offer something else... 

Sometimes it felt as if she was getting better, but in fact she was losing weight. So when on Monday she just didn't want to eat at all, and then on Tuesday again, I called the vet to book our "farewell appointment".

her last photo at home 12 April 2022

At the vet in her last minutes

At the vet she was surrounded by me, Jose and our son Michael who also wanted to be present in Shelley's last minutes.

Monday Mural - Be kind

I love murals and street art. If you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme is for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  Once you start looking you will find murals everywhere.  The "Monday Mural" meme goes live on Monday at 12,01AM, Perth,Western Australian time. Be sure to link back to this blog and visit your fellow posters. Looking forward to your mural finds this week.  Thanks, Sami.

This beautiful mural was painted by Hayley Welsh, a British born artist who resides in Perth. Her playful furry characters are always paired with uplifting or encouraging messages.

This mural can be found in the car park of the Floreat Vet at 438 Cambridge Street, in the suburb of Floreat, in the northern suburbs of Perth.

March Wrap - Up & Signs

Taking part in Tom's signs - please check this link

Tuesday 1st - We celebrated Shrove Tuesday in our French class. One of the ladies took pancakes and I took strawberries and cream and the teacher provided the tea.

Wednesday 2nd - My birthday - because I didn't get a chance to bake a cake the night before I drove by a nearby Cafe and bought an apple pie to take to work. When I arrived at the Clinic one of my lovely colleagues had baked me a delicious Chocolate cake, Jose and another of my colleagues gave me a bunch of flowers.

Chocolate cake and apple pie

Flowers for my birthday

In the evening Jose took me to dinner at Kailis Fishmarket Cafe in Fremantle for a seafood dinner.

From midnight of the 3rd of March the Western Australian borders were opened to the world!  

Covid had already entered the State, but luckily up to date it hasn't been as bad as predicted.  The State has a very high triple vaccination rate, which could help.

Saturday 5th -  We had invited a few people for dinner at Ambassador Chinese Restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and we had a great evening.  I baked a pineapple cake to take and after our meal we all had a slice.

Sunday 6th - Jose and I went to Cottesloe beach to visit the 18th Sculpture by the sea, the world's largest free public sculpture exhibition.

This was my favourite sculpture depicted the Indiana Teahouse at Cottesloe beach (see photo below)

Indiana Tea house and NO sculpture

                

The last sculptures were already seen with the sun setting behind them. 

We then got our cooler box from the car and sat down on the grass enjoying a sunset picnic. (no photos of our picnic)

Thursday 10th - I took Shelley to vet, as I noticed she'd suddenly lost a bit of weight and wasn't eating much either. From her last visit a year ago she had actually lost 1kg (2.20lbs) which is a lot for a cat.

She had blood tests and urine tests and a week later the vet called to say there was no sign of a kidney or bladder infection. But because she was still not eating much, the vet suggested I take her for an ultrasound.

I took Shelley for her ultrasound to Waves Pet Hospital on Friday 17th.  She had to be anaesthetised as they had to shave her belly and apparently they press hard on the belly. Sadly it showed she had a mass around her organs.  The radiologist called me into a room to give me the news and suggested he could do a biopsy to find out if it was cancerous, which would be handy to know if she was going to have chemo...   I didn't want a biopsy as I wouldn't put a 15 year old cat (or any animal of any age) through chemo. It's bad enough for humans, never mind a tiny animal, plus I can imagine it would cost heaven and earth!!

I had a bit of a cry at the radiology, while the radiologist went to wake her from the anaesthetic, and then brought her home. I bought a few different pouch foods which are softer, moister and probably better tasting than the normal canned food, but one day she might eat well, the next day she will turn up her nose at the same food.  She's eating 5 or 6 times a day, a tiny bit at a time. If and when she stops eating we will have to make a decision...

Shelley on the way to the vet. Being brushed after coming home and relaxing in the patio

Sunday 20th - Went to the baptism of our friend's grandchild and saw a lot of murals in the area.

And look at the dark skies when we left....and a lovely metal sculpture. We've had a few dark skies but still no real rain, and it's been quite humid which is unusual for Perth.

Thursday 24th - I had a movie voucher that had to be used up by the end of March, so we went to the movies - "Off the rails" , the last movie with Kelly Preston (John Travolta's wife) who died of breast cancer mid 2020. It was a feel good movie with music by Blondie and was quite enjoyable.

Saturday 26th - dinner at home with some friends. Because of a Covid rule of only 10 people at home we decided to eat in the patio, even though we were only 7. The night was still warm, so it was a great night. We made Roast meat, and roast potatoes and vegetables and I made an easy cheesecake and one of my friends brought a fruit salad.

Patio and table set-up. The sun set seen from our back garden was magnificent. 

Our suburb had the bi-annual verge collection, and a lot of people throw out perfectly good stuff, so I managed to pick up 2 chests of drawers, 6 bedside tables, and a small side table - most of it in perfect condition.

I only managed to paint a chair I already had and the small side table (on photo above right) and have started preparing 2 side tables to paint.

Our fig tree has been fruiting well and I've made 2 batches of fig jam. Gave a few jars away and I'm keeping a few to take with me to give to the family in Europe.

We enjoyed eating the 3 very delicious mangoes our tree gave this year. Sadly it would have been the trees best yield had it not been for the intense heat we had in Summer that burned all the tiny ones to a crisp!

                

Sunday 27th - And... drum roll🥁🥁....we booked flights to Europe for July. 

Flying via Singapore to Frankfurt, spending a few days with our daughter and son in law and then flying to Portugal (our daughter is coming with) to be with my parents, sister and nieces who are also travelling to Portugal around that time.