Zen Cat Art

Mother's Day...

Aren't these beautiful flowers?  A gift from Phil.  I had never seen them before and the photo doesn't really do them justice.  When the light is behind them in the morning they glow a magnificent orange.

From my kids.  Chocolate covered strawberries.  Yum!  Each strawberry is the size of a golf ball and there has to be a small chocolate bar's worth of chocolate on each one.  Since I love dark chocolate they were my favorite.  We shared them with Phil's parents and they were a big hit.

Phil and his parents, Helen and Bob.  It was a good visit.  They had a singer, guitar player and his son playing some of the old songs.  He was pretty good - although his comments that it was such a nice day that he might go down to the beach later seemed a bit unkind to me since for the most part beach days were a thing of the past for the residents in the nursing home.

A little smoked salmon for breakfast, a call from my kids and a visit from friends...

Rick, our favorite Reverend.  That spectacular hat is a bag that I made with my hand painted fabric.  Who knew it would look so good as a hat.  It also makes a lovely Egyptian breast plate.  There were a few other uses contemplated but ah...maybe we won't mention them here.

It was a fun day.  Now I just have to figure out how to spend that Amazon qift certificate I got from the kitties. 

Cures for Laryngitis...

Phil has laryngitis, he can barely talk.  It would be funny if he didn't feel so bad.  He has a sore throat and aches all over.  He has all the flu symptoms mixed with a couple of upper respiratory thrown in to boot.  As you know, if you have ever had a sick husband, they don't take it very well.  Orange juice, hot tea, Aleve, chicken soup, tissues, sympathy, more chicken soup, etc.  But nothing works as good as a snug from your favorite kitty.  Within minutes they were both sound asleep.

Staples basket...

You may well wonder what a Staples basket is doing in my living room.  Phil makes a lot of copies for his English classes and we go through a great deal of HP ink.  They should give teachers a discount all year through.  But when he went out last Saturday for more ink, he was thinking about the Super Bowl.  He paid for the ink but walked out with the basket.  (I'll bring it back next week...after the cats are done.)

Good thing Phil wasn't in Petco.  We could be the proud owners of a fish tank full of guppies...   

UConn

This is Janson's History of Art.  It weighs 57 pounds (almost) and I have to carry it to class.  Isn't that wonderful!  You may think that that was a facetious remark but it's not!  I love school!  I applied to UConn to take two classes this semester.  Art History and Tracing Your Roots.

The class is grand fun and lets me relive the hours spent in art museums here and in Italy & France.  I am so lucky to have been to see some of the art in person.  I wanted to go to school for art, but my parents insisted on something more practical so I got a degree in Dental Hygiene and Public Health.  I went back to school in the 90's and got a (finally) a BFA from CW Post/Long Island University in Painting and Photography.
The Tracing Your Roots class is going to be very interesting and I think lots of fun.  This is a picture of me and my grand-parents at our summer house in Mattatuck on the North Fork of Long Island.  I must have been around five or six.  I knew my grandfather's father came from Ireland and I knew that my grandmother was Irish and German and although the german side wasn't mentioned very often, I just found out that my great-great-grandmother's name was Emma and she was born around 1800.  Emma, in 1800.  How amazing is that!

~"The Earth without Art is just eh!"     
 

A day of reflection...

It's time for me today to go slow and take a look around me.  


A time to see what the past year looked like and what I would like the next one to look like.  

I always want things to be "better."  But since life is always a mixed bag and sometimes the very things we think are bad turn out good and vice versa - I think my aim will be to be more peaceful.   
 
It is Yom Kippur. 

Hey Laura, what's next?

My cousin, Laura, and I seem to share things.  Laura is actually the daughter of my first cousin and closer to my son's age but I think of her not only as family but friend.  About a year ago, we had similar problems with our kitties and we chatted about it over the phone (she lives just outside of Chicago).  Her cat had the problem first so it was good to talk to her about what was going on.  Both cats are now doing fine.

Then earlier this year, Laura was having some tooth troubles and shortly after that I found out I needed a good bit of dental surgery.  Again, it was good to be able to chat about it.

Last month Laura lost electricity for three days with a storm, actually it was a "progressive derecho" which is like a tornado but with straight instead of swirling winds.  Laura said she spent most of the three days making ice runs and keeping an eye on the coolers so that she could preserve some of the food from her fridge.  It didn't sound like a lot of fun. 

 
Last Thursday night the ice cream from the freeze seemed slightly softer than usual.  On Friday morning on my way to make my first cup of tea, I stepped in a puddle of water on the kitchen floor.  All the ice in the freezer had melted and the fridge temperature was up to 52 degrees.  By early afternoon the repair man was taking panels off the back and I was on the fourth large bag of ice.  I was also thinking about Laura.
 
By three there was "tsking" sounds coming from the repair man.  It couldn't be good.  It wasn't.  He could fix it but it would be $650 to $700, maybe more.  He said if it were him, he would get a new one.  So off I went to Lowes. 

It was on sale and they would deliver it the next day.  I whipped out my debit card and went home to cook the two thawed strip steaks that I was saving for an special occasion.  Then I distributed another bag of ice among the chests.  

It's essentially the same as the old one except it's a tiny bit bigger and it's black.  I hated cleaning the handles on the white on and wanted a black one originally (even though I was warned against it) and I love it. 

So...  the kitties are good, dental problems solved for the moment, and the ice chests are back down in the basement.  Hey Laura, what's next?

Hannah's Bat Mitzvah...

My granddaughter, Hannah.  At twelve. 

When she was born I looked at those tiny little baby toes and knew some day they would slip into a pair of high heels but somehow I didn't expect it to happen so fast!  Or look like this!

Here's Hannah and her brother Michael.  Mike's 15 and still growing.

The whole incredibly beautiful family!  Hannah, Michael, Tracy (daughter of my heart) and my son, Jimmy.  My heart swells just looking at them.  I am blessed!  
 

Long week...but good news

I have been quiet this week.  Processing Katie's passing. While resting (somehow) in sixteen years of her unconditional love.  She was such a quiet girl but she filled up a lot of space in our lives & hearts. 
The good news is that the surgery on Phil's hand went very well yesterday.  They removed a pyogenic granuloma on his right hand ring finger.  He couldn't eat before the surgery but when he woke up they gave him a cup of coffee and some peanut butter cracker right away and other than a big bandage he's comfortable.  Only one pain killer last night.  We'll see the results on Friday when they put on a smaller bandage.  Breezy is helping his rest by snuggling next to him on the bed.

In between things I have been quilting.  It's comforting, especially the hand works.

I'll process the pictures tomorrow and show you what I have done tomorrow. 

"How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven." - Robert A. Heinlein
 

Katie Louise Allard

 
Katie Louise Allard - Beloved Kitty

April 9, 1996 - March 20, 2011

The best cat in the world just died.  She was almost fifteen and she was dignified in her struggle with pancreatitis just as she was dignified in the whole of her life.  She is only cat who never gave us a lick of trouble.  I used to say she was Catholic.  Prim and proper – a “good girl” if there ever was one.  Her purr was loud and her kisses were soft.  She was much beloved and will leave an enormous hole in our hearts. 

Someone found her locked in a garage when she was only two days old and brought her to my son and daughter-in-law.  They had a cat who had just given birth and she accepted Katie as one of her own.  The first time I saw her she was sound asleep laying on my son’s chest, one of his hands tented over her tiny body and his other hand holding a miniature baby bottle.  They were both sound asleep.  In that moment, I knew she was mine.  

She was shy and rarely appeared to anyone except family until she was older and only then did she grace a few cat people with an appearance.  The first lap she ever sat in was Phil’s and right then I knew he was a special person.  

She out lived her diagnosis for more than a year and we were happy to have her with us for every minute of it.  She passed peacefully this morning, witout any pain, purring till the very end.  I will miss her so much.  

I’m sure that if there is a heaven, her sister Shayna and brother Tommy were there to meet her at the gates.  

Having cats to share my life has always been one of my greatest joys and losing one is always one of my greatest sorrows. The tradeoff is an easy one to make - we are far ahead by having them.  Comforted by their silky purring spirit, kept warm by their unconditional love, we are graced by their presence in our lives.  It was an amazing gift to have Katie in our lives.  She was the best!

 
We love you Katie......

 

Aunt Ruthie

Ruth Oakley Blair Williams - June 11, 1918-February 28, 2011
Aunt Ruthie was a second mother to me.  She was the neighbor two doors down when we moved into Levittown in 1950.  She and Uncle Marvin became best friends to my parents and their only daughter and I became inseparable.  "Can Cheryl come out and play?" was probably my most uttered sentence of my childhood.  In the years to follow we ranged far and wide from one another but there were visits and phone calls and a card every year on my birthday. 

Aunt Ruth & Cheryl in March of 09.

There are so many stories I could tell you that would show you how wonderful she was and how much she meant to me for over sixty years, but I can only say that even though my own parents are passed years ago, I didn't truly feel an orphan until now.  

My son, Jimmy, reminded me of just some of the history she saw in her 92 years.  The great depression, WW2, Civil Rights, JFK assassination, Vietnam, a man on the moon, Watergate, the fall of communism, the computer, the internet, 9/11, the first African American president... and this morning as she left us there were two astronauts preparing to walk in space outside the shuttle docked to an International Space Station built in cooperation with countries we were at war with in her lifetime.   I'm sorry she won't be around to see more of it.

My Aunt Ruth will be buried in Arlington National Cemetry with my Uncle Marvin and there will be a celebration of her life this summer at her daughter Cheryl's in Cape Cod.  I expect it will be quite a celebration! 

{She} "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."
~Reagan

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