Willow Howse Clowder

Da Willow House Clowder
(20 - 22 Apurril, 1999)

(There's lotza pikchurs here, so it might take a while fur da page to load. If you wait for it, you'll see pikchurs uv Waffles an Francis an Marble an Auntie Helen from Willow House an da Trout Streem!)

Inna spring uv 1999, Meowmie went to da Yew Kay (UK) onna bizzyness trip. Or that's what she sed she was doing. She went to da Yew Kay, and we, Tally an Skye, went to prizzin! She called it our Happy Holiday Hideaway Hotel, but it was prizzin! We hadda stay in cages. There were three of them, all connected together so we could go back an forth if we wanted (as IF!). Skye wuz in one at one end and Tally wuz in one at the other end, an da fud wuz inna middle. We hadda stay that close to each other for two whole weeks while meowmie was on her bizzyness trip.

But -- after finishing wif her bizzyness, which was in Lundun Town, she went to vizit Aunti Helen who lives in Willow Howse in Wendling, which is just a liddle way away from Norwich in Norfolk in East Anglia inna Yew Kay. Willow Howse is also where Francis an Waffles an Marble live. An Uncle Vernon an Nathan their hoomin kitten. An Justin, anuther hoomin kitten (only older than Nathan) was there too. So there was an internashunal clowder uv Meowmie frum Seattull inna USA an Aunti Helen an Unka Vernon an Nathan an Justin frum da Yew Kay. An Marble an Francis an Waffles of course.

Meowmie went onna train frum Lundun Town, an when she got off da train in Norwich, there was Aunti Helen, holding a big sign wif Meowmie's name on it. They drove into Norwich an stopped at some shops an hadda cuppa tea an then Auntie Helen an Meowmie drived to Nathan's skool so he could have a ride home wif them.

Here's a pikchur of Auntie Helen standing inna Ye Olde Quainte Englishe Streete in Norwich, anna pikchur of Nathan waving at Meowmie outside his skool. (Nathan is a furry clever kitten -- he plays alto saxophone furry well, an he passed some speshul tests fur da St. John's Cadets which means he can help wif furst-aid kinds ov fings when hoomins git hurted an need help. He also likes da purrogram Buffy da Vampire Slayer on tv, an Meowmie sez that shows he has lotza imajinashun. An he luvs da Willow Howse kitties furry much!)

An then they all went home to Willow Howse. An the first fing Meowmie saw when she went inna door, was three placemats onna floor, wif big bowls of catfud on toppa them, an the placemats each had a kitty name: Waffles an Francis an Marble. So right away, Meowmie knew who was most important at Willow Howse.

Meowmie brought presents from us for Waffles an Francis an Marble. They had catnip and honeysuckle in them, an the kitties could smell those presents right through Meowmie's sootcase!

And here are Waffles (onna left) an Francis (inna middle) an Marble (onna rite), da Willow House kitties:

Waffles

Francis

Marble

Meowmie got to stay inna guest room, an when she went upstairs to bed after dinner, there was Waffles, all curled up onna bed. Meowmie was so happy, cuz she hadn't had enny kitties to smurgle since she left us in prizzin and went away. (Of course she coulda just stayed home an then she wouldn't have been kitty-deprived, but hoomins just don't git it sometimes!) Bof nights Meowmie sleeped in that guest room, Waffles sleeped part of the night curled up onna bed. An one night Marble sleeped inna room wif them too. So they were good host kitties, trying their bestest to make the visiting Auntie from Catmerica feel at home.

(It's hard to see black-as-night Waffles onna dark bloo comforter on Meowmie's bed, but she's there, right inna middle!)

The next day, Meowmie an Auntie Helen went and seed da sites. They went to da kween's big cuntree howse called Sandringham -- Aunti Helen sed it was her cuntree howse, but we fink maybe she was eggzadjurating just a liddle cuz da kween wasn't home. It rained on Meowmie an Auntie Helen while they were waiting for the liddle train to take them back to da gift shop an car park, an Auntie Helen said it was Royal Rain. Cuz they weren't talking as nice as they should about da kween. Sumfing about diss-funk-shunal families. An how much dey cost. (They shudda been more polite an it wudn't have rained we fink.) And there were bigbig fesants (those are big pritty birds) at Sandringham. Here's a pikchur uv Meowmie at Sandringham howse:

Later, Meowmie saw a bigbig fesant in Auntie Helen's garden, too, an Waffles was out inna rain wif da fesants -- Auntie Helen said Waffles was a mitey hunter and might be hunting that fesant. But she camed inna howse when Auntie Helen called her -- after all, da hoomins were eeting dinner, an there might be sumfing gud onna table!

An we know that efurrykitty has heard about how Waffles an Francis an Marble haf their furry own trout stream. We thought that Meowmie might wanna do some fishing an bring home some trout, but she sed they wouldn't fit inna sootcase furry well (an that they mite smell up da airplane onna way home -- well, duh! as the Willow House kitties sed, the smell of finely aged trouts is wunnderful -- but there's no figgering hoomins). So she just took a pikchur of the trout stream -- you can see Auntie Helen an a willow tree (that's why they call it Willow House!). an the trout stream is down the bank onna right -- Meowmie didn't get a furry gud pikchur cuz we can't see enny water or enny trout, but that's where it is, ennyway.

An here are some more pikchurs of da Willow House kitties an hoomins. There's Nathan an Francis onna left, an there's Marble an (we fink) Waffles inna middle, an there's Auntie Helen an Marble onna right.

And here is a pikchur of Auntie Helen an Uncle Vernon. Meowmie thot Uncle Vernon was real cute, but Auntie Helen sed Hands off! He's mine!

The last day she was there, Meowmie an Auntie Helen drived back into Norwich an lukked atta Cathedral an went to some shops (like the Colman's Mustard Shop you can see inna pikchur here) an then Meowmie got onna train an went back to Lundun Town. (Gud fing Auntie Helen was there, cuz Meowmie almost got onna wrong train an woulda gone to Liverpool Town instead of Liverpool Station in Lundun Town!) We'd sent some catnip toys frum Catmerica to Waffles an Francis an Marble, an Nathan da Hoomin Kitten sent some gud YewKay treets back to us. An Meowmie saw their famous trout streem! An smurgled wif kitties. An Auntie Helen wore da English Department t-shirt dat Meowmie brot her (not as much fun as catnip toys or treets, but what can yew do wif hoomins, after all). An they all had a reel gudgud time.

But we hadda stay in prizzin. It was so awful the TuffGurlKitties even started a expedishun to break us outta jail. They were getting awful close, but before they could mount their final assault, Meowmie camed home an bailed us out. She sed she tried to bail us out the furry furst minnit she got offa airplane an throo Custums, but it was Saturday afternoon, an da meenmeen guards atta prizzin were going home an she couldn't git there before they left. So we hadda stay in prizzin a whole extra night, an Meowmie sez she almost cryed inna airport when she found out she'd haf to wait another day to be wif us kitties again. Well, she cudda just stayed home an lukked at pikchurs uv Lundun an Norwich onna web an then she wudn't haf been kitty deprived at all. But she did finally come an bail us outta prizzin an taked us home. Of course we ignored her for a whole day, just to show her how bad she'd treated us. But by that night we decided to forgive her, an we bof got onna bed wif her atta same time an didn't even hiss at each other. An we smurgled an smurgled and smurgled.

So dat was the end of Meowmie's bizzyness trip, da best part of which wuz her vizit to Willow Howse an da Trout Streem an Waffles an Francis an Marble (an Auntie Helen an Unka Vernon an hoomin kitten Nathan too).

(If yew wanna read all bout da rest of Meowmie's trip, yew can read sum uv her diary on herown site: A London Journey. An there are more pikchurs an stories about da Willow Howse bunch at HelensClowder, hosted by a frend uv Aunti Helen in Australia.)

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