And Now That The Winter Cold Is Here - Here's to the Cats of Sabina and Roma!

My pal Dennis honing his computer skills

Ciao Ragatti! I am still waiting for my friend Dennis to hone his computer skills... He is new to all this so it will take some time, but stay tuned. I am sure that he will have a very interesting post as he, being young and more adventurous, explores a much larger territory than I do.

In the meantime, let's talk about the change of the seasons. The last time I wrote I was basically prostrate from the summer hot weather here in Casperia. Sabina's summer heat can be hard on a long haired Vancouver-born tabby, but thankfully I got through that... with some help from my friends...

Me getting some Sabine summer comfort from my good friend Maria

Now, however, my older bones are feeling the winter cold. It is different living in an Italian stone house. It takes longer and, according to my humans, costs more, to heat. I find my paws are colder when I walk on the floor. Thankfully, my humans build a fire almost every other day.

Sometimes they cook sausage and other meat on it and share it with me. I love this wonderful combination of heat and good food. Often, when I am feeling the cold I sit myself down in front of the camino—that's fireplace in Italian, I am told—and look over at my humans. They usually understand and get a fire going.

Me on my chair beside the camino supervising my humans making the fire

There are two ways they cook over the fire... Sometimes they put the sausage and meat directly beside the fire when it is burning strong, but most often, they move the fire in its metal grate and spread hot coals all across the bottom of one side of the camino and place the rack on top of the glowing heat. 

I love it when they do this because the glowing coals throw off a lot of heat. I sit as close to the fire as I can, trying not to get in the way of the cooking, watching the sausages sizzling in the heat, listening to the hiss of the fat as it drips on the glowing coals. Sometimes the mix of smells and anticipation get the better of me. I get up and do a little dance, calling to my humans, letting them know I am having a hard time waiting. 

When I am nibbling on the pieces of just cooled smoky sausage or grilled pork, my humans talk about how the meat is so delicious here in Casperia... that Armando and Alessandra, down at the Macelleria outside the town walls, have the best sausages for miles around, and I believe them. I certainly thank them. I feel pretty lucky...

I know that here in Sabina and in Rome that there are a lot of cats who live without a proper home and have no companion humans to be with them all the time. My pal Dennis was one of those cats. I am so glad he has found wonderful humans who look after him. 

Recently we had a number of different visitors from Canada and the United States. Everywhere they went, the cats of the Sabina came out to greet them.

Like this very friendly cat who came to greet and escort our friends through the ruins of the castle at Catino,

And this friendly tuxedo cat who came out to say hi, and I think mooch, at Trattoria Del Compare at the very top of Roccantica.

There were cats waiting to greet our friends in Rocchette

and these two cats waiting in the sun in historic Montebuono.

Of course, there were lots of wonderful cats to greet them here in Casperia. I have heard that some people jokingly refer to our village as Catsperia because of all the cats here. I am okay with that.

One of my humans getting a good morning kiss from my friend Marzia

Cicciopalla, perhaps the most well known cat in Casperia. His name means "chubbyball"!

Two of our visitors, after spending three nights here in Casperia spent a number of nights after in Rome before heading off to Florence. In Rome one of my humans took them to the Cat Sanctuary at Torre Argentina. 

I wrote about this wonderful facility and the history of the cats of Rome in one of my earlier posts. There are about 150 cats living in this sanctuary which is a set of temple ruins that go back over 2300 years. Volunteers feed, clean and look after these cats seven days a week.

This time, instead of observing the feline residents of the sanctuary from street level, they actually went down inside the sanctuary to visit the volunteer centre and gift shop.

This magnificent long haired great and white cat led the way.

Machiavelli - He is Mr. November in Torre Argentina's 2016 Calendar

Down inside the visitor centre, there were dozens and dozens of cats being looked after and played with by dozens of human volunteers and visiting admirers. If you visit Rome, this place is well worth a visit. Here are a number of photos that were taken during our friends' visit.

Many of the kitties were very happy to see the visitors and wanted to play. Some were shyer and less outgoing.

The important thing is that these once abandoned cats now have a safe home, shelter and good food, veterinary care, and people who love and look after them.  

As you can imagine, maintaining this sanctuary costs a lot of money. There are lots of ways you can help the cats of Torre Argentina and their supporters. These include donations, adopting cats from the sanctuary, and if you live outside Italy you can even adopt a cat long distance.

Another great shot of Machiavelli - Mr. November in Torre Argentina's 2016 Calendar

There is a wonderful Cat Shop inside the sanctuary where you can buy all sorts of wonderful t-shirts, aprons, calendars and other souvenirs. Long distance purchase of some of this merchandise is available online. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Cat Sanctuary of Torre Argentina, or are interested in supporting the work of the volunteers there, here is a link. I can guarantee you that the warm feeling you get from helping out my furry friends will help keep the winter's chill away.

Well, I best get talking to Dennis and see what he wants to do with his guest post. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Miao for now! A presto!

Ciao! Mi Chiamo Smokey... Miao! My Name Is Smokey...

Me and my traveller's blanket

Ciao raGatti! My name is Smokey... I am a fourteen year-old long haired tabby. According to what my humans tell me I was born in a warm closet in a basement of an older house in an East Vancouver neighbourhood. I was the seventh kitten of a litter of seven, born on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year two thousand. I don't really know if that means anything but my humans like to talk about it. When I was very young I was adopted into a house shared by three humans and an older cat named Bibbs. Bibbs has moved on to another one of his nine lives... 

For most of my fourteen years, I have lived with my humans in a beautiful blue row house surrounded by lush flower and vegetable gardens. The front window was always open so I could exit and re-enter our house whenever I pleased. There was a wooden rail just outside this window where I could sit and enjoy the sunshine  and watch the world go by. Don't ask me what that big orange thing was... He didn't stay long...

   
Below the rail was a brick patio which was completely obscured from the road during the summer by tall tomato plants, rose, tree peonies, and other greenery. There was always fresh grass to munch on in this garden, and if I wanted to enjoy fresh greens further afield, there were always the yards and gardens of our neighbours down the road or across the street.

My humans always planted catnip for me in pots on the back porch. There was always food in my bowl, and fresh water in a high stemmed martini glass for me... Yes.. a martini glass... Never mind...

My humans never left me alone... If they went away, there was always someone here to look after me and keep me company. I had a secure home, and a soft bed to sleep on. I have to admit, I had a pretty wonderful life...

Then one day I noticed changes in my house... There was a lot of banging and other strange noises from construction in the basement, and things started to get packed away in boxes and disappear from their usual places in the house... I found this very disturbing... Then one day, while I was out exploring the neighbourhood, our beautiful bed disappeared from the upstairs room where we usually sleep... All that was left were boxes and random papers... and we all had to sleep downstairs on the hide-a-bed couch for a number of weeks... What had we done do deserve this terrible change and disruption in our lives? 

My humans were acting strange... They were always tired and a bit cranky, but excited somehow... They would always talk to me in low reassuring tones... as if they were trying to prepare me for something...

Then early one morning... they packed up my food bowl and martini glass, picked me up, put me in a red carrying case... and through the course of the next 22 terrifying hours, my life changed for ever...

Prior to this unexpected journey the longest I had been away from my home was for short visits to see Dr. Rob Spooner, my veterinarian at Yaletown Pet Hospital. But this was different. Instead of a short car ride from Strathcona to Yaletown and back, I had to endure a longer ride to a noisy airport... I had never seen or heard so many people together in one place in my entire life. I was taken to a special room where a very large man took me out of my case to examine me... He was kind and gentle, and I was back in the case before I knew it. 

From there I was taken into a large room full of food smells where my humans ate and drank for a while before heading to another area full of people sitting in long rows of chairs. My humans kept on talking to me... Telling me what a good boy I was...  

From this place I was taken to another smaller narrower room full of people sitting very close to each other. My humans put my carrying case in a small space under the seat in from of them. And then there was a roar and the room we were in started to move...

I don't know how I survived the next nineteen hours... At one point in the journey it got too much and I hd to pee in the case. It was humiliating... Luckily one of my humans opened my case and pulled out a layer of wet towel and dried me off as best we could. 

During the final hours of this journey I remember there was another long car ride through a large and noisy city then out into a beautiful green countryside. There were many hills and the car was always turning this way and that to follow the road... And then the car stopped and we all got out.

And this is where I am now... They call it Casperia... It is a stone town built high upon a hill. Stone houses are built atop other stone houses... There are no cars inside the town walls... the streets are all made of stone stairs... 

...and outside the door of the house where we now live there is not one blade of glass to chew on... and n catnip...

My humans seem very happy to be here, but I am in shock... This is all new and so very different from the house that we used to live in... 

Our house is made of stone, not wood. The roofs here are made of hard red and orange terracotta tiles, not spongy asphalt... 

I live in a world of grey stone and terra cotta reds, not green... The smells are different... the sounds are different... The food and the water is different...  The birds are different...

What a place! What a life! It is life I am living in a strange dream where the only connection I have with my past life are my humans... but even they sound different... When they speak to me, they speak in a way I don't understand... The speak the same language that the other people who live here speak... They seem happy... sometimes too happy... 

Me? I don't know... And that is why I have decided to write this blog, to share my story... my experiences... the things I see and hear...  my hopes and fears... And maybe... just maybe... this will all make sense... this will all be okay... My humans are here with me and they are happy... We'll see...

  

 I think I will say good-bye for now... I will write some more in a few days... Time to have a bite of food and take a nap... Miao for now!

Smokey