Cupcake

Cupcake has been with us 3 months today. She suddenly appeared in the garden on Tuesday 23rd April, 2 days before our daughter & her BF were due to fly back to the UK. A timid, rather shy kitten, she scuttled off every time someone tried to approach her. Well, more of a 'limped off' to be honest - it later became evident that someone had abandoned her rather than take her to the vet. She continued to survey us from a distance for several days until we finally managed to persuade her to come to the front door to be fed - having hung around for 5 days, it was obvious that she had no intention of leaving any time soon.

She continued to limp off as soon as she'd eaten, maybe just around a corner of the house, so that she could watch us from what she felt was a safe distance. After a few more days she started to appear at the front door to convey her requirement for food. This was when I decided she'd have to be given a name. 'Cat' in Italian is 'gatto', not dissimilar to the french 'gateau', which in turn means 'cake' and so the name 'Cupcake' sprang to mind.

The longer she's been with us, the more her character has developed and we are half convinced that she's Leila reincarnated; she lies around the terrace in the same spots as Leila used to; she sits at the edge of the terrace surveying the garden, just as Leila used to survey the valley and she follows hubby around & mithers him to death when he's sunbathing on the terrace. She's quickly depleting the lizard & gecko population in the garden but she has also proved herself to be a good mouser - she's caught 3 that we know of in the past few weeks.

Whilst I think she's quite cute, I am not really a 'cat person' so Cupcake will not be allowed to become a house cat - she'll continue to take herself off hunting all night & then curl up on one of the wrought iron chairs on the terrace when she returns each morning, or lying in the shade of one of the tables as the sun casts it's shadows.