Saturday, July 07, 2012

Living with the Russian Princess

talya2

Since Tuesday I have been living two doors up from the Cat Politics domicile, cat & house sitting for B & B who have flown to France for a long holiday bicycling through the French countryside.

Pictured above is Talya the Russian Princess, who is a sweet cat of the Russian Blue breed. The breed is characterised by their wonderful silvery blue fur and quiet and gentle temperament.  This is quite a change from the rambunctious nature of my own cats, or surviving cat as in Willy, who has a powerful personality and demands attention in no uncertain terms.

It took a few days for Talya to get used to me, but now we’re good friends and she welcomes me with every sign of pleasure when I return from an outing. No doubt the hand that feeds has something to do with this, but she is no longer aloof and timid as she was at first.

So here I am in a comfortable warm house with a lovely undemanding cat for company. Peace and quiet rules as opposed to the racket of renovations. Apropos the renos, they appear to be progressing well and most of the previously floorless rooms have the flooring base laid, on which the boards will be placed.

I have my notebook computer, a selection of my favourite CDs and a bag of books. I selected the books on size mostly; monster tomes that will keep me in reading matter for a few months. I am currently rereading Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, a trilogy of historical novels set in 14th Century Norway. It has been many years since I read this book. According to a site I came upon on the internet a new translation is available. The version I am reading is a Picador published in 1977, so no doubt it is the maligned old translation.  Notwithstanding the translation’s shortcomings, it is still an engaging and absorbing read.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not really a cat person (sorry, Cat Politics!) mainly because of allergies and partly because I like the way dogs greet you (!), but I had a friend who had a Russian Blue years ago. He was a very pretty cat ... and had a great nature too. Anyhow, glad to heat you are surviving the renovation.

Anne S said...

Cats are greeters too,you know. The late Ms Lizzie was always on the front verandah when I got home from work. She had it timed and would go out and sit there shortly beforehand and greet me with a wave of the tail and her hello miouw.

Pet Shops Melbourne said...

The cat has nice fur.

BandBsTravels said...

Hi Annie. Just saw this. Gorgeous photo of my little girl! Wouldn't mind a copy...

BandBsTravels said...

PS - by the way, thanks so much once again for taking such good care of the house and our Russian treasure.

Ann ODyne said...

lovely cat and lovely photo but Snap! I am catsitting right now for people cycling The Loire Valley.
Cat is a smoochy Burmese who leaps onto shoulders and keyboards *sigh* and insists on crawling under the doona at night *big sigh*.
He is quieter however, than a Tonkinese I sit regularly. Very vocal breed.
Glad you got a break from the renos.
X X