Suki.
Age 14 and two thirds.
Skitty, faithful and a mini diva, yesterday diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.
It's a big responsibility, knowing a pet is totally dependent on you for daily medication for life.
Daily administering of a pill, twice daily.
The first went down on attempt number 3.
The second I went for the gentler approach of hiding in food, but cats aren't stupid, and she ate around it!
I'm going to have to get creative/devious with the tablets.
This is a fortnight where Suki turned my hair grey with worry and putting off the inevitable visit to the vets.
There was the audible breathing, hours spent sleeping under the raspberry canes, cystitis, and finally a lump the size of a broadbean on her neck.
The lump worried me.
Terrified me, with thoughts of cancer.
And then the vet heard a swooshing sound whilst listening to her heart.
The words ''heart murmur'' were mentioned, and she was kept in for tests.
And I had to walk through a packed waiting room minus a cat.
The waiting was awful.
Not getting results over the phone sounded ominous.
But the heart results were clear, kidney disease was clear and hyperthyroidism suddenly didn't seem so bad a diagnosis.
And Suki's home.
The humble formica table.
As a child of the seventies I grew up with formica.
It was a staple in cafes, along with sugar lumps in glass bowls and plastic ketchup bottles.
It had pride of place in my grandparents back room, where I remember it laden with sliced eggs, bread and butter and battenburg every Sunday visit in my teenage.
I was fascinated by the plastic egg slicer with the lethal metal blades.
And my dad remembers playing submarines with the accompanying chairs, with their pop up plastic seat pads.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/jan/17/formica-turns-100
Now I have taken delivery of my own formica table, and it has pride of place in the kitchen.
It's been a long time since I've seen these tiles, which lurked behind a not-so-lovely coal burner and later a quirky 1940s cabinet.
And seem to be missing vast chunks of tile under the newly banished cobwebs and dust...another project!
Originating from the 1950s, with beech legs and matching chairs, it is wonderfully solid and retro.
I love the chunky Formica top, with its extendable leaves and powder blue finish.
I love the puffiness of the plastic seat bases, with their gently curved beech wood frames.
And it's carried me into a wave of nostalgia.
A vintage treasure from my favourite shop in Swansea,
The British Red Cross, with their ever changing, quirky, eclectic mix of vintage furniture.
