I’m bereft, for there will be no Hili Dialogue today: today’s version is apparently so bound to Polish culture that I’m told it’s not comprehensible to my readers.
Instead, let me tell you the story (from The Daily Mail and Catster) of Woosie from Cornwall. In 2011 Woosie, the beloved black cat of Helen and Philip Johns, went missing, and was given up for lost. He was eventually replaced by another cat, Lola.
But Woosie wasn’t lost, for he had somehow made his way to the Ginsters Cornish Pasty factory in Callington. Who knows how he made it? Some speculate he found his way into one of their trucks, which conveyed him to the factory.
But never mind, for over the next three years the factory is where Woosie lived—and lived large. Workers fed him with sandwiches and meat pies. He was named “George,” and was a great favorite. And he grew larger.
Finally, after three years, the workers took “George” to the vet, who found that the cat was microchipped. Shortly thereafter Woosie was returned to his real owners, only a tiny bit worse for wear:
But nice as the Johns couple seems, it must be at least a little bit of a letdown for Woosie. For three years, he was surrounded by fresh bacon, chicken, and pork, and apparently he indulged quite freely.
“He’s a heavy cat now — he’s quite large,” Helen Johns said.
And he hisses at Lola. There will have to be some adjustments. But all’s well that ends well, though one wonders if Woosie misses those meat pies!
Oh, and be sure to get your cat microchipped, even if it’s an indoor cat. They can escape, you know.
h/t: Ginger K.
But do you not have readers in Poland? Or readers who are (?) Polonophiles?
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I’d think that at least Stephen O. would get the bon mot of the day. 🙂
I admit to reason the Hili Dialogues for the pictures.
*reading!
Argh!
WHAT? No “Hili Dialogue” today? I’ll be going through withdrawl by noon…
I hear you. :-/
Woosie is annoyed at his lack of pies. His humans are going to have to supplement his diet to avoid the hisses. 😀
I agree, Woosie misses those pies. Don’t you think as well he has to re-establish himself as King of all again? And then a smaller kingdom. He had a factory with many subjects, now a house with just two and then this “Lola” character.
Mind you, something tells me he’s already smitten by Lola but has to keep up appearances particularly if it means more Cornish pasties…
As always, when these lovely creatures our in our households, just who runs the show? I fear I don’t although I pretend, can’t let on to the pets that I’m really giving in although they know I’m pretending. But then I know they know so…
Groan… “ARE in our households…” one of many…
The factory workers might be hissing a bit, too 🙂
I went to Hili’s ‘Letters from our Orchard’ and I think she is annoyed there is no dedication nor mention of her in the books she is examining. Clearly she is saying something to her online audience (as well as to Andrzej and Malgorzata.
Or… despite being Her Highness, she is in awe and saying ‘Me?’ as there is a mention of her in the book and she’s experiencing a moment of modesty. Mind you, momentary, don’t get too excited, she is after all, Hili 😉
In either case, it’s a darling capture of Hili.
No dialog? A picture and a thousand words, seems the two are somehow related. I just don’t fully recall what that relationship is.
There’s a Cornish pasty restaurant a few miles up the road from me. Damned good, but I’d get fat if I ate there all the time, too!
The corollary to the “get your cat microchipped” advice is, of course, “every time you welcome a new cat into your life, immediately take the cat to the vet for both a thorough physical and to be scanned for microchips.”
b&
Oh my goodness! This story reminds me of one of my children’s favourite Beatrix Potter stories:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Samuel_Whiskers_or_The_Roly-Poly_Pudding
I’m relieved Woosie wasn’t rolled up into a pudding, though he has got somewhat roly poly! 😉
Sounds like my idea of heaven although, that said, I don’t think Ginsters’ pasties are the best.
The first thing I do when I return home to England is buy a Cornish Pasty. If anyone knows where I can get a decent one in Portland, Oregon, I would love to know. I would probably be willing to drive several hundred miles for a good one!
The best I can personally recommend that’s closest to Portland is in Nevada, about a thousand miles away from Portland:
http://www.cornishpastyco.com/locations/
The one in Tempe is damned good; I imagine the others are, too. I’m not sure it’s worth a kilomile drive, but it’s certainly worth it if you were looking for an excuse to go to Vegas.
b&
I’d consider driving to Nevada.
I believe EU regulations now state that a pasty may only be refered to as a “Cornish” pasty, if it were made in Cornwall. I am guessing the ones in Tempe are not!
Your guess is correct. The restaurant used to be a bar, and they make the pasties on the barkeep’s side of the bar as you watch.
(Of course, what with the needs for dough to rise and what-not, they’re not making your pasty, but they’re constantly making them….)
b&
Head up to Washington, hop on US-2 and drive ’til you hit the Upper Peninsula, eh?
Yoop!
Clearly the reason why Ginsters pasties seem to contain mostly gristle is because they fed the best bits to the cat.
Still the story had a happier ending than I thought it would when I read the line “he had somehow made his way to the Ginsters Cornish Pasty factory in Callington”.
If eating pasties for 3 years means I have hair that’s as thick and shiny as Woosie’s, I’m starting today!