mmrrreow?

This is the smallest member of my family. Possibly also the noisiest.

She was born somewhere in our backyard to a local stray, and we took her and her brothers in (now gone) when her mother abandoned them to have another litter.

Jojo is the scardiest scaredy-cat I've ever known, but she is also the most communicative cat we've ever had. She somehow manages to tell you exactly what she wants. Not just "food", "let me in" and "let me out". She also tells you

"you are not sitting in mummy's chair. I want you to sit in mummy's chair so I can sit on your lap",

"I want some vegemite on toast please",

"I want Jimbo's pet food please",

"I want cat biscuits please",

"It's time for you to lie down with me for a nap",

"it's time for tummy rubs",

"please get the flea comb".

There are also odd ones like "There is a stranger at the door", or "It's the middle of the night and I've just discovered the back door is wide open and it shouldn't be". She also comes to check on me when I am sick. :-)

If she thinks something is out of place and she wants you to move it, she will stare at you until she catches your eye, then give a big sigh and look very pointedly at the object she want you to move. You also get a lot of big sighs if you don't get up and do what she requires. If you still don't get up, you get tapped around the legs. If you STILL don't get up, you get clawed around the legs.

She has also been known to climb up and put her paw over mum's mouth when she thinks mum is snoring too loud.

She is also the only one who can wake up my dad when he's had a few. We can shake him and he won't wake up, but she only has to meow at him once or twice and his eyes pop open. She's trained him better than we have!

I've noticed she is being a lot more demanding lately. I'm guessing it's because of the cold weather, and she is getting on a bit. There is a lot more "Put the heater or the electric blanket on please" .

The last creative thing I did, was make a Kimono. It's still not finished, there is quite a bit of hand sewing involved, and at first I couldn't decide whether to line it or not. In the end I decided I might ruin it if I tried. So right now it is awaiting it's final hemming and pressing.

Oh yeah, and I made plum jam. Although I had to cook it twice to get it to set. But it got my mum going and now she's been making guava jelly. :-) We had difficulty finding somewhere to hang the bag overnight to drip through, but in the end I came up with the brilliant idea of tying it to the collapsable clothes airer in the wash-house.

I'm sure it's what McGuyver would do.