Our darling youngest daughter Bobbie and I were sitting side by side at my computer in the studio when an unexpected visitor came in through the open double-doors. He was rather good looking and not at all menacing so we weren’t in the slightest bit alarmed, although I shut the inner door to prevent him from wandering around the whole house (personally, I wouldn’t have minded but Chris doesn’t like me to be too friendly with strangers).

Actually, he was a bit over-friendly. First he plonked himself on Bobbie’s lap, then he pawed at me and draped himself over my left shoulder; he put his hairy arms around my neck and pressed his body against my breast… Well! I suppose I would be lying if I said I wasn’t  somewhat flattered, if not flattened, but it was hard to concentrate on what Bobbie was teaching me on the computer and I had to ask him to desist. Not wishing to sound conceited, I can tell you it was hard to get him off me. At last he realised that he had to calm down or be booted out.

The handsome chap decided that the ground at my feet was a better place than the world beyond the door and he stayed there so quietly that Bobbie and I almost forgot he was still there.

Perhaps half an hour had passed when we were startled by voices outside and the sight of a lady and her son coming down the garden steps leading to my studio.

“Is he here?” the lady asked with incredulity.

I stood up and went to the doorway.

“Yes, I saw him down there earlier,” said my neighbour Chris (another Chris – not my husband).

The boy ran down to the bottom of the steps whilst his mother stayed about half way up. The lad found his beloved pet on the mat just inside the door. In truth, I don’t believe the flirty Tom really wanted to leave so soon although he must have been thrilled by the reactions of his owners.

“Oh thank you, thank you,” said the lady, “he’s never been so far before.”

The lady, her son and their cat live at least half a mile away – the other side of the busy main road. Tom had been missing for a day and a night, and they had been out searching for him. It was sheer luck that our neighbour Chris had seen Tom come down to my studio and had still been outside when Yvonne approached him to inquire about sightings of her errant cat. I’m not sure if his name really is Tom – probably not – but she is definitely called Yvonne and I have her phone number in case “Tom” ever comes a-calling again.

And while all this excitement was going on Bobbie was busy making me an Internet shopfront on “Etsy”, the brilliant site for artists and craftspeople. If you look for “TheFineArtSpot” on “Etsy” you will find one solitary flower painting by Sally Porch for sale – the first of many! Please give me just a few days to add more listings before you visit the site, otherwise you might think it’s been burgled!