(Please note: My main server is being serviced and hence pictures from there will not display on any of my blogs till the morning of 20th July 2005)
Our darling niece, Nirupa, visited us in Finland a month ago. She took some great snaps. Here is one that is me with our dear cat, Iittu.
Iittu is now 14 years old. She is still as lithe and fit as she was when she was just a year old. She does her hunting all through summer. No birds, squirrels, mice or rats are safe in the vicinity.
She met her match with the magpies, however. In summer, they set up an emergency warning mechanism outside our house. As soon as they spot Iittu, they start a deception campaign to make sure that she does not go near their nest, even resorting to direct attack of head pecking, when she wanders near their nest. Doesn't deter Iittu, as she ignores their head pecking.
She is named Iittu as when she was a kitten she used to curl up and lie in a glass bowl which was made by the famous Finnish glass company which is called Iittala.
When she was young, she used to wait for me to brush my teeth just before I went to bed at night. As soon as she heard the toothbrush being taken out of the holder, even if she was playing in the garden, she would charge inside and get to the bed where she would play with me for a few minutes or till I dropped off to sleep!! I honed her hunting skills by moving my hand under the blanket. She was quick to get it and "kill it". If, by any chance, my fingers got out of the protection of the blanket, I was sure to get a deep gash.
She was so clever that, even when she was a kitten, she used to open doors by jumping on the door handle to push it down with her body weight!!
She got used to going in and out on her jaunt from our upstairs window, going up and down using the wooden fire escape ladder. When the wooden fire escape ladder was replaced by a metal one (metal provides no group for her claws and too cold in winter for her to weave her body through it), she found a nearby tree from which she could climb up or down and jump onto or off the roof. She could lead quite an independent life without depending on us and yet, just a rustle upstairs, or if she heard Annikki and me having a quiet evening conversation, she would return to take part, sitting in between us!
She learnt that children may mistakenly cause her harm. So when grandson, Samuel, was a baby and then a small child, the moment he came over, she would retire from the scene.
She loved to see her dear friend, Samuel's mother, daughter Joanna, who was responsible for us being gifted with our treasure, Iittu!
Despite what many people say, Annikki and I have found that cats are highly intelligent, very mathematically-minded (we have never seen her miss a jump), friendly and social animals.
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