Over on the excellent Victoria’s Backyard blog – I discovered an unarguable truth about blogging.  Every blog should have a cat, Victoria asserts, and she accompanies this inescapable truth with a delightful picture of Pushkin.

So… step forward, the first among equals of the Transatlantic Plantsman’s coterie of cats – Nicki. Here she is, hard at work amongst the violas. You’ll also find her hiding in the closet, monitoring the pine siskins on the thistle feeder, scampering at full pelt from one end of the house to the other, beating up her brother Duffy, squirming contentedly on the bed, snoring under the couch and all the while looking pretty and generally captivating.

You’ll also find her looking out of our front door at the bottom of the left hand sidebar.