The kitty in the photo is my girl Bella... aka 'Bingy'. I rescued her when she was a 6 week-old kitten living rough behind someone's woodpile with her Mum, Aunt, and three siblings. Sadly, one of the kittens died before the rescue, but the rest of her furry family all went to good, loving homes. Miss Bella is one of the nicest kitties I've ever met--always loving and playful, never a scratch or hiss... an absolute sweetheart. She was always a household favorite, and every time my Mum came over, she would call her 'Bella Wella Bing Bang'. With time her nickname became 'Bingy', and the name stuck--somehow it suits her.
Each year a groundhog family used to take up residence underneath the porch of my house. Groundhogs are rather curious creatures I always found, and they would come up onto the big brick porch steps for a spot of sun and a nose around. At some point they came to realize that there were other furry creatures inside the house... and they were as intrigued by the cats as the kitties were by them.
This particularly handsome little fellow was a young one, and after he and Bingy caught sight of each-other, it was fascination at first sight. Each day, Bingy would roam the porch and spend long periods of time staring out the glass door, waiting for her furry little friend to appear. A few times I was fortunate enough to capture their 'through the glass' interaction, and every time I see this shot, I can't help but smile all day long!
The groundhog came to be called 'Edward'', and I wonder what has become of that family of subterranean dwellers... My beautiful house was contaminated with fuel in last March's flood and sadly it had to be demolished last August as it was no longer safe. So many wonderful memories were made in that house, and so much of myself went into renovating it. I swear, I touched every square inch of it during the years I called it mine, and it's loss was a terrible blow. The basement was filled in, along with their burrows. I hope they managed to rebuild their underground empire...
I am so thankful to be able to look at photos like this one and remember the happy days spent by the river.
Happy memories and definitely one of my favorite things :-)