What’s it all about?

Time Spent With Cats came about as a perfect way for me to combine three of the things I love most: cats, photography, and writing. And meeting nice people too, of course. There are no lofty ideals behind TSWC, although I hope it’ll help to show that cat owners and their cats are a diverse and interesting bunch and, in doing so, maybe help to shatter a few myths and stereotypes along the way. I’d also love to think we might encourage a few more people to invite a cat, preferably a rescue cat, into their lives. There are also a lot of hard-working cat rescue charities out there and from time to time I plan to spend a little time with some of them to highlight the good work they do and help to get them a little support. Most of all, though, Time Spent With Cats is just about bringing a little bit of pure joy into our lives. It may not be earth-shattering or life-changing but, whoever we are, we all need a little moment of joy now and again. So forget Brexit, forget Trump, forget that the news from everywhere in the world always seems to be bad news; forget roadworks and traffic jams; forget that it’s raining and you’ve got a ton of work to do and bills to pay and a whole ‘To Do’ list to get through by the end of the week. Pause (or should I say ‘paws’?) for a few minutes and and just enjoy a little time spent with cats.

But what about dogs, and hamsters, and stick insects?

Don’t tell my cats, but I love dogs too. In fact, I’m a fan of all animals (not forgetting birds, fish, reptiles and all the rest - we don’t discriminate here), and I know that there are lots of people out there whose lives are enriched by their feathered, furry, scaly, swimmy, hoppy, gallopy and even creepy-crawly friends. It would be great to meet some of you and them too (although - no offence - I may need a bit of moral support before I personally meet any friends who possess more than 6 legs) and from time to time, we’ll also spend time with someone whose friend is not a cat. We’ll call them an ‘honorary cat’, if you will. So if you’d like to be featured here with your friend of any species, just get in touch and we’ll see what we can do!

A little bit about me

I live in the Midlands and I’m owned by two cats, Nelson (left) and Princess Leia (above left, with the catnip). I’ve had cats in my life from the day I was born so I’ve spent an awful lot of time with them over the years, none of which has been wasted, of course. I’m occasionally accused of being a ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ but, although I am usually covered in a fine coating of cat fur, I maintain that I’m not quite at that stage yet. My house doesn’t smell of wee (I hope), I don’t (yet) have whiskers on my chin or frighten children (much), I don’t knit my own jumpers out of cat fur (In fact I don’t knit at all), and I do have human friends as well as feline ones.