Fairy Gardens, Kitties and Mount Hood

Driving home with Mount Hood in the distance

Our Oregon correspondent, my friend Desiree, writes,

Every night I'm greeted by Mount Hood. I still remember vividly my summer internship with the Forest Service in 1977 when I worked just below the snowline on that magnificent volcano. It's what brought me back to the Northwest. Every night the cool mountain air comes down from the mountain and blows through my yard. Gresham is on the toe of the slope of Mt Hood. And all of the rivers are from glacial runoff.

The mountain is actually much closer and bigger than this photo shows. [The photo]reduces the size and scope. Mount hood is huge and dominates the horizon. Evenings it is splashed with lavender and pink light like it's in heaven.

An angel to watch over the  front door

This is my front door with my Angel who watches over us. The purple is Campanula and it's magnificent. I have it growing as ground cover in the back yard. The pink is snap dragon and the purple is Stock.  The green bush is Boxwood. 

Scarlet runner beans

I planted scarlet runner beans this year. I started them from seed. I
saw these in Thomas Jefferson's kitchen garden when I visited his home at Monticello. The hummingbirds love them!  I don't have any beans yet but I'll let you know what they taste like.

Another Angel in the garden!

Desiree's little kitty named Angel turned 15 in June, according to Desiree.  Little Angel loves the flowers and is so happy to have flowers and fresh air to play in.  All the kitties are so happy there in Oregon!  Including Silhouette and Rocky (below).

Silhouette enjoying the coreopsis blooms

Silhouette turned 14 in July.  I think Silhouette likes the flowers, too.  It looks like she is happily sniffing the fragrant blooms of the perennial coreopsis... and probably also checking for bugs.  You know kitties!

Now, here is another sweetie:

Rockefeller posing for his mommy

Can you guess why I might like him best?  (Even though Angel looks a bit like my sweet Jack.)

You are right!  He's the image of my sweet, departed Emily.  She looked very much like him, except her eyes were bigger and rounder.  Still, this little purrrson  is close enough to her in looks to make me happy.

Black cats are such delightful companions.

This is Rockefeller, aka Rocky, the cat.  He was rescued from behind the abandoned refrigerator where he was born.  That refrigerator was located behind an apartment complex in Beverly Hills, California. [I personally think Rocky may have come from a wealthy family who had fallen on hard times and were forced to live in that abandoned refrigerator.  That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it!]

Rocky didn't really want to be rescued, at first.  He was very frightened and had a tough time adjusting to life with a human.  He hid under the furniture a lot.  But Desiree, the human who rescued him, was patient with him.  Now she says he's doing wonderfully well.

She further writes:

I found a wonderful cat clinic with all women vets who handle fragile kitties. They gave Rocky his first shots and checkup since he was a kitten. I couldn't get him into a carrier and he would have freaked out at the vet, so he hasn't been to the vet in six years.  The vet was wonderful. She told me how to get him into the carrier and when we got to the clinic I left the exam room so he didn't flip out and try to climb up me.  She gently took the top off the carrier. Rocky bolted out and ran around the exam room two times and stopped at the window thinking he could escape. The vet took a soft towel and draped it over him, picked him up and he melted in her arms. He let her check his teeth and gums, weigh him and give him shots. I was sitting in the waiting room while all of this was going on and saw him try to climb the window and then this towel came over him and he disappeared.  Amazing women!

Let's hear it for kindly vets with a love for animals and a talent for what they do.  I have one like that, thank heavens.  They make the animal world a better place! 

So, little Rocky finally has his shots and can go outside and discover the wonders of his human's fairy garden.  Life is good.

And, as Desiree adds, "All grown up now, whew!"

I think of the miserable lives most strays experience, and I'm so thankful for people who will rescue these sweet little animals.  Each one deserves a good home.

And maybe a nice garden, too!

Pink Columbine