Smoky split pea soup

Smoky split pea soup from Appetite for Reduction with crisp bread topped with cucumber and spicy mustard. The perfect lunch on a gray Friday at home.

The cat is busy rolling around and grooming her big belly.

Cat With Mum Tattoo

I've been eyeing this print by birdinabunnysuit on Etsy for quite some time, and finally bought it last week. I'm not sure what, but there's something about it that makes me so intrigued.

The real life pirate kitty is happily sleeping on the couch next to me now. She's making these little bird like sounds when she snores that just makes my heart burst over with love.

Sun, pine and cats.

The fridge is really empty right now, so no fun food has been had in a couple of days. But rest assure, grocery shopping is about to happen soon and after that there will be loads of yumminess to be had. If only it was summer. I can't wait for growing stuff on my balcony and picking berries in the fields and forest.

 Luckily, summer felt a bit closer this weekend. The weather was stunning, it's still cold but the sun was shining like never before. We took advantage of it of course, taking some small road trips to some nearby places. Above is me and my tall fried Mikael and some Scots pine on the left.

Sunday, we went east and drove along some really pretty roads in the countryside, and visited a small nature reserve with bid old pine trees. My view of big trees has changed a bit after visiting the Pacific Northwest, where the trees were really huge to me. The Swedish climate might not be as friendly to the trees, but this Scots pine from the 18th century was pretty big anyway.

 The weekend might be over, but I started my week with something great, some hours helping out at the local cat shelter. Above is Petter and Johnny, two beautiful boys. Johnny has a damaged eye, but has one of the softest furs I've ever touched.

This is Molle. He has such a pretty face and is a true cuddle bug. He will jump into you lap and stay there forever if you'd let him. I really hope he will be adopted soon.

This cat is such a character!  Frank, is actually only on a short visit back at the shelter and will hopefully go back to his family really soon. In the meantime, I try to squeeze in as many cuddles with his big cheeks as possible.

I hope you have a nice weekend with as sunny weather as I had, and I'll be back soon with some fun food.

Lucia

 Say hello to Lucia! She moved in with us yesterday!

When I started volunteering at the local cat shelter Lucia was the first cat that my eyes fell upon. She is very big, heavily over weight but has the sweetest little face and would stretch out one of her front legs as a greeting when you stepped into her place. Ever since, we have been bonding more and more, slowly. Then she got adopted out, but came back again only a couple of days later, because the person didn't like her. When I came back to the shelter after the holidays, she had two big wounds on her back after being in a fight with another cat at the shelter. They were messy, and the fur on her back was gross and smelly, so I started cleaning it. It took about 25 minutes, and during that time my love for her grew even stronger and it wasn't until then I realized how much I wanted a cat to live with me. How much I wanted Lucia to live with me. And now she does!

She seems to like it here. She is still a bit scared of moving around in the apartment, but she seems happy sitting on top of her cat tree looking out the windows and get loads of cuddles. She loves being rubbed on her belly. Can you tell I'm happy about my new friend?