I got teary eyed too when I saw Nikki's bush.

Winnie

I'm afraid the pictures of Mir and Frank together make things seem
rosier than they were. Frank still thinks Miranda is an annoying little
brat, but on the island, she has a lot of other things to take her mind
off pestering Frank. They did get on a little better than at home,
probably because Mir spent most of her time outdoors, once she'd
ventured out.

She showed me that she is quite a smart little girl. After she had
carefully ventured out for the first time, she veeeery gradually started
exploring in larger circles around the shack where I stay on the island.
Not like her brother Emil, who immediately set off for a cross-island
sprint. :oP And at first, Mir was scared of going out on the cliffs, but
when she saw Frank go there, she followed. Same thing with going up on
the roof (the shack is very low, and there's a rock behind it that is
the height of the roof, and we have a plank going from the rock to the
roof for the cats. Here's a picture of Frank on the gangway:
http://tinyurl.com/9zq6y. Nikki's in the background).

But it was when Mir discovered TREES that she really came to life. She
loves racing up a little bit, then jumping down, zooming to another
tree, and racing up that. I've only seen her climb really high that
once, when I took the pictures, and even then she came down on her own.

Yes, I've seen that now. Tsk tsk tsk.

She did great. I just hope she's doing OK now, when I'm not there to
look after her. She did proceed to wrap her Grandmeowmie firmly around
her little paw from day one, so I'm sure my Mum is taking excellent care
of her, aided by my sister.

What a relief! Thanks for letting me know. I had no way of getting to a
computer with an internet connection to check with you people.

Speaking of flea infections, we had a terribly *fly* infestation on the
island last week. Apparently, it was due to the good mushroom year we
had last year, when lots of flies apparently hatched in mushrooms. Now
they were just sitting sround, trying to conserve energy, and waiting
for new mushrooms to lay their eggs in. They were really annoying,
because unlike usual flies, who fly away when you wave a hand near them,
these just sat around. You could kill five of them with one well-aimed
hit with the fly-swatter. Luckily, they disappeared as suddenly as they
had appeared. Don't know where they went, it's much too dry for any
mushrooms to grow.

Thanks, Suz, I missed you all, too. The kits did seem very happy on the
island. There was so much for Mir to explore, and meanwhile, Frank got
his well-deserved nap time in peace.

Waffles, you should have been on the bus with us. Frank regaled us with
his singing *all the way* without pause for three hours! Miranda has no
appreciation for his fine talent, as she just slept the whole way (to
the great relief of her human companions). Frank finally fell asleep on
the boat, obviously exhausted after such a lengthy concert.