Then there were three....

It was a cold Autumn day late last year when Miss Matilda the farm cat(on the right) randomly showed up on our deck one night.....For days we watched her timidly slinking around looking for any left-over crumbs that might have been overlooked by the racoons who tend to hang out in our yard...she was SO skinny, we just knew that she didn't have a permanent home. Being that hubby and I are crazy animal lovers with three kitties of our own, we naturally began to put food out for her, and slowly but surely she started to look a little healthier and would hang out a bit longer often talking to us through the kitchen window to let us know she had arrived.

Well, imagine our surprise when about ten days ago, after Matilda had taken a brief absence from coming to visit, she suddenly showed up with two little kitties in tow. We were absolutely floored to see these adorable little fur-babies being led by momma to where the best food could be found. Since then, it seems as though Matilda, Coco and Blue (of course we had to name them) have become our little outdoor family members. Each morning they show up to say hello, eat a little breakfast and hang out on the furniture. They spend lazy days playing around, chasing butterflies amidst the hosta garden and checking things our through our windows.... It's a rough life of romping around, lounging on fluffy cushions and stopping for the occassional snack, but we now consider ourselves to be pretty good hosts if this very descriminating momma has opted to leave her babies with us for the day! They're not so trusting to spend time with us while the big humans are sitting outside, so we can often see them hiding out in bushes waiting for us to get off their furniture....

Between the squirrels that yell at us from the trees, the racoons who like to hang out here in the evenings, the lovely songs from the birds and now our new extended outdoor kitty family.....well, consider these just a handful of reasons I can add to my ever-growing list of what is so fabulous about living just a few minutes away from town in a more rural area! I consider myself SO fortunate to be able to walk out of my house and see land and a farm as our next door neighbors and then hop in the car and within five minutes I arrive in the bustling heart of Naperville's downtown! Amazing what a difference just a mile or so can make!