A few mornings ago, very early, while tackling my first 6000 steps for the day, I had a feeling of being watched. I looked up. One of the rarely seen wild cats from next door was peeking over the top of our old bungalow. This one is a dark marmalade, with barely a spot of white anywhere.

marmaladecat

I remember when I first saw this little fellow. His mother had him stashed in our backyard but he’d moved into a patch of sunlight where he’d fallen asleep. Besides being the darkest ginger I’d ever seen, he also was the tiniest. By his size, I’d be forgiven for thinking him a newborn, but when he startled awake, I saw that his eyes had already changed colour and he dashed away with the gait of an older kitten. Late last year, his mother was killed on the highway, but fortunately he and his fluffy calico siblings had been weaned by then and used to next-door’s feeding schedule.

cats

A Marmalade Cat

As usual, my participation in blog challenges tends to fall short. No surprise, then, that I’ve missed a few weeks of #2019picoftheweek over at Maria’s. (The photo challenge where I get to pick anything from the list.)

I’m choosing WONDER, as my theme this week. Because, when I took this photograph this morning, I wondered a lot…

I wonder if that’s a Vanessa butterfly…

butterfly1

It was. Vanessa kershawi, to be exact, otherwise known as the Australian Painted Lady. Of about 20 Vanessa species worldwide, Australia has three. This one is distinguishable from vanessa cardui by the three blue-centred ocelli on each hind-wing. Yeah, the blue dots. I rarely see any of the Vanessa genus here.

I wonder if it will stay still long enough for the camera to focus. It didn’t.

butterfly2

I wonder if it will come back again. It did, twice more, but didn’t settle.

I wonder if it is still Saturday over at Maria’s blog. Maybe not, but do pop over there and look at her fascinating, and funny, pic of the week. I guarantee you’ll have a giggle.

Maria's Weekly Pic Challenge list