Abbi Leala's Lazy Days Of Summer

I enjoy myself so very much, pretty much no matter what I'm doing. Summer in Michigan is extra special to all of us. 

We all enjoy open windows with nice, fresh air. Here I am bird watching from what Mama says is the hammock I share with Livia and Ateret. I love to have naps and spend as much time as possible at this window when I'm not trolling for food.

Then, I love stroller rides. I love to ride in front. Livia rides in back. Ateret rides not at all, which is fine with me because I'm the boss of the stroller. We take trips to the mail box, the lake, the pond and the back porch. I have fun when we're moving. Parking on the back porch just makes me all fidgety, and I let Mama know about it.

Flower inspecting is very important. As is grass eating. Never mind that I've got a nice pot of flowering catnip on the back porch and a terrarium with catnip Mama grew for us from seed in the house, I must check on everything.

My sisters and I hope everybody is having a great summer so far with lots of up-tailed fun!

Purrs, Abbi Leala

What Makes Farmington Hills Special - By Abbi Leala

Some of what's special about Farmington Hills, which is northwest of Detroit and the second largest city in Oakland County, MI, is it's got a small-town feeling and many people we like live near us. It's also close to many neat places, such as Comerica Park and the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, as well as Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Those are all 25-30 miles away.

Farmington Hills was founded in 1823 by a Quaker man from Farmington, New York named Arthur Power. It was first known as Quakertown, then Farmington. Farmington Hills was incorporated in 1973.

We've got a neat Farmer's and Artisan's Market that's in the small town of Farmington - a town that shares our history and many city services with us.

Because Farmington and Farmington Hills were farming communites, there are many old houses. 

Here's the Longacre House. It isn't very far away from where we live. 

There are some very nice parks in Farmington Hills. One of them that Mama likes is called Heritage Park. It's right near Longacre House. There are 211 acres of forests, wetlands, meadows and ponds. The Upper Rouge River cuts through some parts of the park. 

This photo is of the Stuart Little Pond in Heritage Park. There's supposedly some sort of mysterious creature named Stuie living in the pond.

What's billed as "America's first free-standing Holocaust Memorial Center" is just a few miles from us. The Holocaust Memorial Center started in a city near us called West Bloomfield. The Center moved to its current location several years ago (it could've been longer, but Mama can't remember). 

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum has all kinds of old coin-operated machines, animatronic dummies, mechanical games and other odd things. The owner once appeared on the American Pickers TV show. 

What we like most, though, is our house. What we like least is our v-e-t's office that's not far away. Here's the lake near our house that we like to stop at on our stroller rides. There's also a small pond to the left that's not in the photo.

This was fun to do. Thank you, Oui Oui for hosting this event!

My Gotcha Day Story - Abbi Leala

Hi everybody. I've been waiting for this neat event because I like to read about how other purrsons came to live with their families. Thank you, Oui Oui for hosting this event.

Can you believe the little, thin kitty above was me? Yep, this was me when I was living in a Guardian Angel Animal Rescue foster home with my babies. Some nice people found me alone with my four (or was it five, I can't remember) kittens. My kittens were all very cute. They were adopted first, and I ten months old and still waiting for my forever home when Mama decided she wanted to foster some cats who needed a cage break. I was so lucky because I was Mama's first foster.

I was overjoyed to be out of the cage and in a nice, big sunny room with my own things. I purred and purred so loud and kissed and kissed Mama. After a couple days, I'd had enough of what Mama calls the nursery. I wanted to come out and check things out, so I did. Ateret and Livia were very shocked to see another furry purrson. Because they didn't know what to make of me, I decided to take matters into my own paws and just play and find happy spots like I was already part of the family. 

My happy ended after several days when Mama got a call that I needed to go back because somebody else needed a cage break. Mama cried and cried. I was very upset, too. Mama couldn't stop thinking about me. She cried every time she saw me, so she talked to her friends about adopting me. It took a couple weeks, but I came home for good, new name and all on Wednesday, August 12, 2009. The rest is history.

What's In A Name - Abbi Leala

I'm very up-tailed today because this is the first event I've gotten to co-sponsor. So, you wanna know about my name, huh? Well...

My name was Tabitha, but my name didn't fit in with the theme of A and L names in memory of her mommy's parents, Abe and Leah. Because she'd been calling me Tabby, Mama decided Abbi is close enough to Tabby for me to recognize. She was right. Abbi means "father is rejoicing" and is of Hebrew origins. She also likes my name because it's close to her grandfather's name.

Mama likes French middle names.She looked up the meaning of Leala on a baby names website and found that it's French and it means faithful. It's also a good name, she says, because it's close to her grandmother's name. I'm very faithful and I have lots of fun, so I think my names are just right for me, no matter what Ateret says.