An Open Letter to Valentina from Samantha

Dear Valentina

I owe you my life. When you rescued me from certain death, I was scared and disorientated. Now I am as happy as can be, together with J and K, and the rest of the menagerie. I am having the time of my life. Literally.

At first, I was very shy and I stayed indoors all the time. Now, as soon as I have had my breakfast, I run out into the garden and play with the chickens and Kelly. I have recently learned how to climb up trees! It's great fun.

There are 2 English cats who live here as well, but they tend to keep themselves to themselves. I have tried to make friends with Victoria, but she hisses at me so I run a mile, or should I say, a kilometre! Joey has allowed me to be in the same flower tub as him, but he's still a little bit unfriendly. He keeps me at arm's length. Well, as soon as they find out that I wouldn't say "boo!" to a goose, I am sure they will like me more.

Today I met a new addition to the family. His name is Al Capone and he is a tiny capon. In Italian a capon is called "il capone", so J chose his name 2 months before he was bought. He only weighs a kilo and he's lived in a special pen for the past few days. Apparently, the 5 lady chickens might peck him if they see him, so for his personal safety, he was kept apart from them. He certainly doesn't want to be a henpecked capon!

Today when he came out for the first time, all the other chickens eyed him up with great interest and there was a pecking fight over a grub. That looked like fun! I just sat and watched it happen!

Apparently the other day, a big wild hawk managed to grab one of the lady chicks called "Ken Clucky" and was just about to fly off with her in its clutches, when it (the hawk) was distracted by J and K's shouts and it immediately dropped Ken, who was clucking away furiously. I guess I have to be a bit careful round here, as there are wild boar and all sorts of wild animals that walk past the house!!

Kelly is my best friend and mentor. He always checks that I'm ok and he's like my little shadow. He even lets me play with his tail, and he doesn't seem to give two hoots about it. I nibble some of his food as well!

He's such a lovely, mild-mannered dog. He only has 3 paws now, but he is always ready to chase after apples.

Today he followed Al Capone around, just to make sure he was ok, I guess. I think Al Capone really gets on like a house on fire with Kelly.


Life is what you make it and I am so lucky to be here, thanks to you, dear Valentina.

I hope you are keeping well. I wonder how many other cats and dogs you have taken under your wing since you rescued me? I hope they will find nice homes as well.

J and K think the world of me, and I'm very happy to live with them, surrounded by olive groves and beautiful, peaceful nature.

Lots of love and hope you have a purrfect week.

Yours

Samantha xx

PS You might like to read this interesting article about another tabby cat in England. "A tabby with top marks for spelling" found on the Daily Mail.

PPS There's a fascinating article on Macmillan Dictionary blog called "Baby Face". It has a nice vocabulary quiz on the various names for the young of a particular species.