Today is Valentine’s Day, and it coincides with Bella’s 11th birthday, which would make her 81 if she were human! That calls for a celebration, doesn’t it? We went to a butcher yesterday (can you imagine two vegetarians/vegans going to a butcher?) and asked him for a bone for Bella. The guy was very nice and chopped off three pieces of vertebrae.

I explained that Bella is overweight and we just want to give her a treat, so 2 pieces would be more than enough. In my mind, I was wondering if vertebrae would be safe, but the butcher packed them for us at no charge, so we took them home. There, I photographed them and sent the picture to Anna to ask if Bella could have them. No, unfortunately, she can’t, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. The bones look very sharp and breakable.

This morning, we took Bella for a walk in the communal garden. We went there yesterday as well, and she really loves it. The ground is soft and everything smells amazingly interesting there. And there’s not a lot of climbing involved, which is also a plus.

It’s a big space. More park than garden actually.

And there’s a Mimosa tree in the middle of it that is currently flowering. I remember buying Mimosa once for my Mum. It was just a small bunch, but I loved it none the less, and so did my Mum. Here, there is an entire tree in full bloom. Takes your breath away. Especially against a clear blue sky.

When we entered the garden, we met two men who were doing garden maintenance. One of them approached us and wanted to know where we are from. We explained that we are the house sitters and that Bella is our charge. He recognised her, and when we assured him that we would clean up any smelly presents she might produce, he wished us a pleasant visit and went on with his work. We made a tour of the garden and Bella had a ball, sniffing out all sorts of interesting smells that we are oblivious of.

After the visit to the garden, we went to Sainsbury’s (without Bella, as it is too far for her). There, we found an abundance of cat- and dog food and treats. We settled for a small package of Lily’s organic cat food, containing 52% of meat. All the dog foods contain only 8% of meat… We also bought a package of 15 tripe sticks which contain 90% meat. We are not going to feed her all those today. It takes her only a few seconds to eat one, since she only chews them a few times before swallowing. We will give them to her sparingly, just to give her a treat from time to time.

We lighted a candle (which you can just see in the lower left corner of the below video, in the first couple of seconds) and fed her Lily’s meat one spoon full at a time, to make it last longer. And of course, we sang for her: