Christmas and a stray cat

Well, having boasted about updating the blog regularly, I then have a long spell of silence... There have been various things going on, and I have been working on commissions - one of which, hopefully, I will be able to post soon.

In the meantime, I have been wondering what to buy people for Christmas. I should be able to buy all my presents at the Art & Craft Centre. Unfortunately, I think most of the people I know well enough to buy presents for are either non-collecting-type people (i.e. nothing ornamental), or non-dusting-type people (ditto), or they have small children (nothing fragile or breakable).

It's no fun buying for that lot!

So it's socks for everyone - except that I have found a gift that I'd love to give to anyone (and receive from anyone). They are little pottery candle mats!

How sweet are they! They are from the Art & Craft Centre - made by Embar Pottery (click here) - and they are tiny, not expensive, and hand-made locally.

I love the style of them - what do you call that? Primitive style? Folk art? I would love to make bears in that style. Unfortunately, whenever I do make such bears, they remind me of my amateurish efforts when I first started out - so I don't let them hang around for long.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you also about a visitor to our garden recently. We put a bowl of cat food outside our back door for the hedgehogs (although it's a bit cold for them to be out now). It always disappears quickly, and we have recently discovered the culprit.

We never saw this cat before he started eating the hedgehogs' food, so I'm not sure where he comes from. He eats like he's starving though, and - I don't know if you can see - but he has a patch of fur missing on his back. We can't see any injuries, but I guess he could have mange or something (do cats get mange?) - some kind of skin condition anyway.

We are worried that he is not being fed/cared for by anyone. He doesn't exactly look skinny and under-fed, but then that could be because his coat is particularly thick at this time of year.

Another door-to-door round the neighbourhood is required. I'm not sure what we'll do if we can't find the owners. Our own two cats are rather territorial - even with regard to each other - so adopting him would prove extremely difficult! Anyway, I'll let you know if we find anything.