Minnie’s coat is growing back over her wounds, just in time for the colder weather. She spends some time on a pallet near the woodshed each morning, then vanishes into a secret place behind Maria’s Studio that we have not seen and can’t find (we aren’t really looking too hard.) We had a scare the other morning when Minnie appeared in front of Maria’s studio and saw Frieda and ran, and Frieda gave chase while Minnie hobbled frantically to get away.

Maria saw it through her window and called out for Frieda to stop, which she did. Frieda got very close, Minnie got into a hole beneath the Studio barn and hid there.  We don’t really know what would have happened if Frieda had caught her, Frieda chases things that run, it is her most powerful instinct. If Minnie is to spend any part of her life outside, there are risks she will have to take. Minnie has triggered lots of different feelings in us, she and Maria have bonded very powerfully during this recovery, an animal who was on the periphery of our consciousness – we didn’t often see Minnie or get too close to her – is now in the center of our consciousness.

I am more conscious of cats than before, but I am not at ease with labels like “dog person” or “cat person,” I understand people have preferences but I don’t really, dogs are more comprehensible to me but  I am much drawn to Flo, and more than before, to Minnie. I can tell by what I photograph. Minnie is definitely still healing, and we are still changing. Animals enter our interior selves, move things around, challenge us to awaken and  understand what we are feeling.