Meerkats

For my birthday mum commissioned my former year 6 teacher to make me two meerkats. They were such a nice surprise. The present just blew me away!

I just adore meerkats. The first I ever heard of them was when my nephew Jack was about 3 or 4. He was visiting a zoo in New Zealand with his parents, got a run up, and ended up flipping himself into the meerkat enclosure. I thought meerkats must have been a form of big cat, like a lion!

Next, one of the guys I worked with in Sydney used to be with the flying zucchini brothers - a performance group. Once he did an impersonation of a meerkat that left me unable to breathe, I was laughing so much. How can someone's whole face and body transform so!!

They're about 15 cm long. Nancy has retired from teaching and is now an artist.

I'll need to find the perfect spot in my garden for them.

For now they're scanning the sky for hawks and protecting my strawberries.