To round off the posts on the theme of surnames or family name, today here are some grown-up photos of three of the kittens featured in the second of the posts, who made the garden their home after weaning had finished.

Sadly, this year saw the terrible virus which spread through the cat population during the third drought of a very hot summer. Kittens were particularly at risk, as were older cats with underlying health problems, and, when the autumn finally arrived, the cat population was sadly diminished.

First here is Pascha, the son of Pippin (grandson of Flora and great-grandson of The Cat). Pascha was partially sighted due to a virus as a kitten. It is possible that this weakened the immune system of the kittens as Pascha’s brother Pascal was lost during the summer months. Pascha, however, was a particularly big and strong cat and, despite his sight impairment, lived a full and active life.

And then there were brother and sister Raven and Linnet Furriquin. Their mother was Dawn, and she had returned to her independent life in the fields as soon as her kittens were independent. They, however, chose not to follow their mother and became part of the Garden Family. Like Pascha, they had suffered with a virus as kittens which left Linnet partially-sighted, but this didn’t stop both of them growing up into happy cats with playful personalities. Linnet was very sweet-natured and the twice-daily eyecare routine soon became a big game for her.

Her brother Raven, who was the spitting image of his father, BBC, had a really comical streak and followed in Tumbleweed’s footsteps (or maybe pawmarks would be better!) as the joker of the garden.