"She fell in the water!"

This evening, being as it was, so warm and lovely, we were eating dinner outside. And we thought that it would be a good idea to gently introduce our Lyra to the outside world. We have let her into the well-deck a bit already, so going though the front door wasn't new to her, but she'd never been across the gang-plank onto the bank.


Walking the plank


"Its big and wet... can I walk on it?"

So we supervised as she made her way outside in her own time. She nervously padded her way down the plank and onto the grass. The edges of the riverbank seemed to intruige her most, but she seemed to be very careful, picking her way along the edge by the boat, but not going very far. She wandered, under our watchful eyes, over to Pippin, and said hello to John and Jackie. All seemed to be going well. We watched her as she sniffed and padded along the edge by a neighbourig boat, and the we watched as she went a little too far and 'splash!' Her back legs and tail went in but she was very swiftly back on the bank and made a bee-line straight for Lucky Duck and safety.


A damp cat.

After cleaning herself up carefully, she was happy to come back outside again. We didn't want her first outing to end on a bad experience, and eventually after wandering about some more, she headed in of her own accord. Now she is sprawled out on the kitchen counter asleep, while we watch Stephen Fry in Kingdom.