How much is that kitty...?

Spotted a rather sleepy looking cat sitting on a windowsill in the sun. It put me in mind of that song: 'How much is that doggy in the window?'

Then I had a little play with the photo, adding layers and textures. I don't like the effect of the glazing bar down the middle, but I had some fun anyway.

Cats of Saltaire

Another in the occasional series: 'Cats I've met whilst wandering around Saltaire'. Well, who doesn't love relaxing with the Sunday papers and getting a tickle under the chin?

Or perhaps staking out a high vantage point on a wall, watching the world go by, is more your thing?

I spotted these two spotted ones on a wall too. Roar!

Bin-sitting

A Saltaire cat doing that bin-sitting thing again. I think the plastic hots up in the sunshine. Cats must like having warm bums! Or perhaps the bins just make a good vantage point.

Bin alley ballet

Saltaire's neat terraces all have service alleys running between them. The houses each have small backyards, many still containing the stone outhouse in which their private lavatory was sited (though many of the outhouses have been reduced in height now). These sanitary arrangements were a major innovation in Victorian Britain, and I think I'm correct in saying that they were WCs (water closets) with proper drainage, so the 'night soil' men didn't have to roam the alleys at night collecting waste, as they did in other places that had only earth closets.

Nowadays, our bathrooms are inside. The back alleys are crowded with wheelie bins, since most of the yards don't really have room for the green general waste and grey recyclable waste bins that we are required to have. In my imagination, the bins all come alive at night and perform a wondrous ballet in the alley.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that was an urban fox running up the alley in my photo. In fact it was a rather large ginger cat.

Cats of Saltaire

Two more moggies, in the occasional series 'Cats of Saltaire'. They're probably quite lucky. Every day it seems someone is posting a notice about a lost cat... They seem to disappear from round here very regularly. Whether they just wander off, get nabbed or get run over, no-one seems to know.

Such rubbish

Why do cats like to sit on the top of wheelie bins?...

Encounters with animals 4

Bingley Show 2016 - My favourite show tent is the one for cats. The pedigrees on show are so beautiful and so varied. I always have a soft spot for the British Shorthair Silver Tabbies, but there only seemed to be one this year and I couldn't get near to take its photo. There were several of the huge Maine Coons (below). They're gorgeous too and very soft and cuddly, like big hearthrugs!  I'm not sure what the breed above is. Its squashed nose suggests some kind of Persian or Exotic Shorthair, with a slightly curly coat? I'm no expert! Anyway, it also was gorgeous and seemed very much loved. I wished I could have got a lower viewpoint but there is always a metal mesh barrier so you can't crouch down and shoot low.

Cat-alogue

Cat-chy creatures in the cat category, spotted around Saltaire

Thackley and Esholt 9

Heading back to the start point now. A steep hill down and then up again takes in one of the highest points on the walk, with a view over towards Apperley Bridge and Leeds (though it was a very hazy view on this particular day). Somewhere around here, the railway line (Leeds to Shipley) disappears into the Thackley tunnel and there are huge circular air shafts rising out of the ground to ventilate the tunnel. (Must have been interesting when there were steam trains...)

Even though it is right on the edge of an urban area, there are a few small farms dotted around. There seemed to be a lot of horses grazing in the fields so there must be an equestrian centre nearby.

Maybe this is a farm cat. He looked as though he'd been in a few scraps.

I hope you enjoyed the walk.  I recommend a leisurely soak in a hot bath now - and a glass of something refreshing.

I've been following Facebook posts from people who have signed up to walk 1000 miles in a year (an initiative started by a magazine called 'Country Walking') and I am amused and intrigued by how many words we have for 'a walk': hike, amble, yomp, saunter, bimble, daunder....

Once started, it seems people can get quite addicted to building up mileage and I am not sure I'd want to do that. There is so much to enjoy on a walk as well as the actual walking, if you know what I mean. I do, however, think I might get a Fitbit when I retire, as it might motivate me to walk a bit more, when I no longer have the enforced commute.

Cat

I haven't posted a picture of these two gorgeous girls lately. When I go to visit them in their new home there is usually so much going on that I don't find time for photos - and besides, they tend to pull faces when confronted with a proper camera! Their mum, on the other hand, manages to whip her phone out and produce wonderfully natural pictures like this, seemingly quite effortlessly. They had gone into the fields at the bottom of their garden for a picnic in the heather. One of their cats followed them and M started to stroke him and said her first proper word: cat.

She's growing up fast and is no longer content to sit still in one place but crawls around fast so that you now need a lot of vigilance! It will soon be her first birthday. E will be four in a couple of months and has just started to attend a nursery at the little local primary school nearby. She was at nursery in London a few mornings a week but this is more like pre-school and she has her first school uniform... so sweet.

Prize kitty

Bingley Show - This magnificent cat (a Maine Coon, I think) seemed to be well aware of her or her star status.

Cat on a hot bin roof

Like most of the people I know, my kitchen sink is in front of a window. Unlike most of the people I know, I have no dishwasher, machine or human, apart from myself. This small fact means that I inevitably spend a certain amount of time looking out of the kitchen window. I sometimes wish I had a view of a pretty garden or trees - but on the other hand one sees a fair slice of life looking out over a back street. There are several cats. This one belongs to the young couple across the road and is an interesting mixture of white, grey and marmalade tabby. It comes and goes from my small yard and lately has taken to sitting on top of my bin. Actually several of the street's bins have a resident cat, sitting atop as though they were statues on their pedestals. I imagine the plastic is drier and warmer than the ground at this time of year, so there is method in it - but I find it quite comical. I do, however, find it rather unnerving to be doing the washing-up whilst subject to an unwavering and hypnotic stare. I wonder what he's thinking? ("Feed me, feed me, woman." Probably.)

Cat among the plant pots

First colour match your flower display to the drainpipes, then add in a black cat for good luck. What more do you want?

The cat sat....

The cat sat on the mat pavement - and STARED at me. Isn't it unnerving when they do that? It was sitting outside one of Saltaire's 'workmen's houses'. The door on the left is the standard Saltaire front door. The house on the right must have been altered before the village became a Conservation Area (or else someone has been naughty!)  It really shows why the Listed status for Saltaire is important; people do all sorts of bizarre things without regulation... random pebbledash, for instance!

Ssssh.......

Ssssh.... can't you see I'm asleep? A prize-winning marmalade-coloured Persian cat seemed to find his litter tray the most comfortable place for a nap.

Who are you looking at?

Like most villages, Saltaire has not only a community of people but also a community of cats.  I am sure they each have their preferred territory.  I've been lurking around corners trying to snap a few of them.  This handsome ginger was sitting watching trains by the station - at least until I started messing about with my camera.  He didn't look too amused at that and soon stalked off.  The sides of the railway line have a lot of vegetation and are probably fertile hunting ground, though I have many times been alarmed to watch cats nonchalantly strolling across the lines when a train is due.  I imagine they can feel the vibrations along the rails - hope so anyway!

The black one above was also near the railway - a very friendly cat.  I was framing up a photo and he twined himself through my legs, purring!  But then I found one sitting as still as the Sphinx on a windowsill, almost hidden by the shrubs.  And he just stared and stared... not the most handsome of cats, it was rather eerie!

Through a cat's eyes

I just happened to be passing Saltaire URC (United Reformed Church) the other day when I noticed this cat sitting, taking in the view. It is obviously someone's pet, as it has a red collar. Maybe it lives in the Stable cottages alongside the church. When it noticed me taking the photo, it stalked off in the way cats do - no posing and smiling for the camera! Anyway, who can blame it for gazing at this lovely scene. Even on a cold winter day, the church has a unique beauty and grandeur.

Doorstep cat

I think there are a lot of cats in Saltaire. I often see a rather sweet little ginger tabby in the street behind my own house. It once wandered in through my open back door and then, being suddenly startled, ran all the way up two flights of stairs and escaped out of the skylight onto the roof! Eek. But eventually it decided it was being silly out on the roof and came back inside.

This one was just sitting on the doorstep of a house - maybe waiting for its owner to come home. It didn't seem to mind having its photo taken, though it looked rather sternly at me in the way only cats can. And tried to pretend it was a shrub.