One of Faith's favorite things to do is call her Auntie Johanna (Joh for short) and listen to her cat, Ruby purr over the phone. (Faith also likes to hear stories about Joh's dog, Rosie). Sometimes getting Ruby to purr is more challenging than at other times but Joh usually succeeds in getting Ruby to purr at least once during our weekly phone call.

Faith and Auntie Joh during our last visit to Ontario in October 2014You might not be too impressed by a purring cat but this cat purrs like none other (and I've had a lot of cats growing up!) Even over the phone her purring sounds like a small engine. Sometimes Joh will get Ruby to purr several times and the next day Faith will tell everyone, "Ruby purred a million times over the phone last night!" We are convinced we need to get her a cat of her own, or at least one of those stuffed cats that looks and sounds real!
Ruby the Purring Kitty Cat Something else Faith loves to do is make up stories. We do something similar to Mad Libs where I write the outline and let Faith fill in the blanks. Faith wanted to make a special story for Joh's birthday (which is today!) So here it is...

JOH TO THE RESCUE!
Once upon a time there was a (adjective) nice  lady in Peterborough named Johanna. (Her niece Faith calls her Auntie Joh). She loved her (adjective) quick dog, Rosie and her (adjective) silly cat Ruby. One day at (time) 6:00, Rosie the Greyhound went up to Joh and started (noise) squeaking. Rosie started going crazy b...