Marta and the sunbeam

I took this photograph of our beautiful three-legged, one-eyed cat this morning. Or rather, our telephone is out yet again due to the high winds last night, so this morning removed by however many days it takes to get connected again. It’s already evening with no information so far. I’m afraid that’s one of the drawbacks of living in the middle of nowhere. (Edited to say we were left without a phone for nine days).

But I digress. We had just finished doing the animals outside and my husband was late getting ready for work. I spotted Marta sitting in the hall, in a sliver of sun streaming through from the bathroom. I went to get my camera, but one second before I was ready, hubby rushed through to wash his hands, moving Marta gently to one side as he went. I sighed.

By the time he came back, he guessed I wasn’t happy, so he went into the kitchen to get some cat treats from the cupboard. Cue about half a dozen cats, but none of them in the place I wanted. It was a nice gesture, but I told him to go upstairs and get changed. He was in a hurry by then and if one of the cats looked to be settling down, a crash from the bedroom sent them flying. Not really scared, but they weren’t prepared to put themselves at risk at the bottom of the stairs, just in case.

I sat on the stairs and waited. Eventually, I was rewarded as Bubu moved into view. I checked the exposure – one stop under to avoid blown highlights. Now all I needed was for him to sit down and turn his head. Just as things were falling into place, Buddy bowled down from behind and sent Bubu flying. They rolled around in play and then sped off in the direction of the front room. It clearly wasn’t going to be my day.

Chai came to see what all the fuss was about, but just as she got closer to the patch of sun, hubby made his way downstairs and into the bathroom, where he closed the door. Now I had a cat, but no light! I waited again. Hubby reappeared and pecked me on the cheek, wishing me a good day before heading out the back door. I stayed on the stairs for a couple of minutes wondering what I was going to do with myself. I had a mind to write a different blog post, but that was out of the question until we had our internet connection back.

Then I spotted Marta heading my way and I just watched in silence. She paused, sat down in the light and turned towards the warmth. I had the image I wanted.