THURSDAY IN THE GARDEN WITH DANTE: THE CATS ARE OUT!

Dante promised last week that he was going to turn the front garden into a cat garden, as is his tradition every year.

 Well, here you can see that he has fulfilled his promise!

 The garden cats are blooming just like the flowers.

Dante, like the master gardener he is, is giving encouragement to his favourite tree.

"It's so nice ta see yoo in full leaf again, my furiend", says he.

And Dante gets right down to work, chatting up the wiegela bushes, too.

"Wanna come out and display, buddies?", he asks.

It's not good to force them -- they like to think it's their own idea.

Dante's gentle cajoling has obviously done the trick.  They're busting out all over!

Dante likes to draw special attention to the birdbath which is one of the main features of the garden.

"It dubbles as a refreshmint stand", advises Dante. 

"Dis garden is kinda edgy cuz it has lotsa edges".

"I likes ta make it even edgier by posin' in it."

"I am a cat aftah all!"

Yes, and an extremely ornamental one at that.

"I haven't showed yoo all the garden cats, yet", says Dante.

"I'm savin' da rest fur next week.  I hope yoo has enjoyed da toor."

Dante is able to relax because he knows he's right where he belongs.  A cat gardener in a cat garden is like a round peg in a round hole.  They just fit.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH DANTE: HELLO AND SAYAWNARA!

THURSDAY IN THE GARDEN WITH DANTE: VOILA!

Something has definitely changed since last we saw Dante in the front yard.  It's almost like magic!  These flowers seemed to appear from nowhere overnight.

"All I did was concentrate an' say 'abraCATdabra' an' voila!"

(By the way, for those who may not know "Voila" means "There it is" in French.)

There are two green iron urns on the front porch steps.  Here you can see geraniums and begonias that Dante conjured up.  The dark red geraniums and the pretty pink ones with dark red markings are called "Martha Washingtons".

Here is the second urn with basically the same flowers except there are some white with red Martha Washingtons instead.

Through some feat of levitation, Dante even managed to hang a basket of pink and purple geraniums, and there are three large pots of petunias and impatience lining the walkway.  

There are still things that need to be done in the garden, however.  And for this, Dante needs to get up close and PURRsonal.

Dante is closely inspecting the spirea for evidence of introoders.  "I has a nose for dis kinda fing!", he says.

Dante has certainly URNed my respect as a gardener.  He may not have thumbs (green or otherwise), but he has certainly cultivated keen capabilities of the horticultural kind. 

"It's all a question of mind ovah mattah", says he.  "Now if yoo doan mind, I need to take care of mattahs -- gardenin' mattahs, dat is!"

After all that mercurial mental effort, Dante deserves a good rest.  And all around him are bountiful reMINDers that magic is real! 

"Stayed tooned for PAWT II.  Next week I'm gonna turn dis into a cat garden."

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH DANTE: SOMETHING'S AFOOT!

DANTE: MOTION PICTURE STAR!

Recently, I have been experimenting with making Animated GIFs, and here today are some of my first efforts.  Dante is my unwitting subject.

"Butting In"

"What a Looker!"

"This way or thataway?"

"Mooooooooom!"

"Furry Tasty"

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's some non-stop action (except of course when it comes to an end).  Domino has a co-starring role in this one.  It's titled "Getting It All Out in the Wash".

Curtains, please!

THE END

MANCAT MONDAY WITH DANTE: BURNING HIS STRIPES

Dante is a tabby cat.  Tabby cats have stripes.  However, because Dante's fur is so long, it's difficult to tell.  He's just one big ball of multiple shades of orange.

Today the sun has given him some fiery stripes through the slats of the deck bench.   Wherever the sun touches him, he just sizzles!

Hope you enjoyed the light show!

THE END

THURSDAY IN THE GARDEN WITH DANTE: THE PERIWINKLE BLUES!

Dante is in the back yard again this week and he's singing the blues!    He's not very happy with what he sees.

"Nobuddy noes da trubble I see", sings Dante.

"Dis yard is a mess! Weeds is comin' up efurryware."

Two years ago we had the old sod taken up, and the entire back yard was seeded with (supposedly) top-quality grass seed.   This was done on the recommendation of the landscaper. Well, the grass is very patchy and just chock full of weeds now, thank you very much!

"Dis is mai fafurite spot!", says Dante.  "Last yeer Dada plantid sum PURRywinkles to covah da grownd."

Yes, Daddy planted a whole bunch of periwinkle plants.  We were hoping they would grow in this barren patch under the trees, because they like shade.  They were supposed to proliferate.  However, BECAUSE this is Dante's favourite place to dig, only a couple of them are left.  I have flagged one of the few survivors.  You might want to biggify the picture to see it more clearly.

"Dis wun is bootiful an' I wonts ta keep it ...

...so I digs ovah heer instead frum now on!

I really don't think Dante gets it!  I know he really digs his garden.  Maybe he loves it a little too much.  The only thing that really thrives around here are the squirrels -- and that's because Dante actually leaves THEM alone.  Go figure!