Trying To Get My Stride Back

All I have to say is computers... you got to love them, even when you hate them.

Even though they are no longer kittens, I will always refer to them as kittens. Then I correct myself. But they are still beautiful, always

First Birthday

Well, the kittens are now junior adults, although I may call them "The Kittens" for the of the time. They were both born in the beginning of October, so I figured that "we" will celebrate their birthdays on the same day. They thought that was a terrific idea. "We love each other and want our birthdays together", they said. I asked what they wanted for a cake and Penelope said "Remember that good stuff you gave us a long, long, long time ago". I said "Yes, Penelope, I remember and it wasn't that long ago". "Okay, I will get it". "And, we want a candle!". I responded, "No, no candle. It is dangerous". So, we settle on the Mickey Mouse One. And here it is.
And now they are one.

Eye Candy for Kittens

Ain't she the ultimate?

Lump in the Rug

With cats, one expects that kittens have games. But the games do not last very long. The kittens grow into cats. And cats "put aside their childish games".

Chester still gets a lot of pleasure from his games. One of the games that survived is "Lump in the Rug". Late last night I captured this photo. Of course, the lump is that character, Chester.

Labor Day Weekend

In the true meaning (that is Pat's meaning of Labor Day) of Labor Day weekend. I celebrated by devoting my time to work that is close to my heart. I finished my purse, walked the dog, played with the cats, and to top it all off, I made these pajamas for Sweet Lucy.
I purchased the main fabric at FIDM, my favorite shopping spot and the insert was a remnant from Joanne's.
I had purchased the tops several weeks ago. I was charmed by the color combinations and immediately saw how I was going to use them. I knew that I didn't need a lot of time to do it and I put them together on Sunday afternoon.

I hope the weather doesn't change to fast but then Lucy burns hot and so she will be able to wear them for little while longer.

And lest I forget my photography assistant, who put in a lot of hard work trying to make it hard work for me: Mr Chester !

Heat Wave Wipe Out

This is the Babies first heat wave. I do not use air conditioning. I do not like it. So, the Babies have get used to God's natural heat. They are finding moving around a little slow. I just had to record their movement or lack of movement.
They are in the way, as you can see. These rugs are runners. They are pathways to other parts of the house. I move around them, they slowly open their eyes and mew at me. The little sweet Babies.
The heat should be less tomorrow but we will still have the fires up to the north and to the south. The fires are far away but the smoke is with us.

Whew !!! Finally !!!

Well, this small purse has only taken a total of three weekends. Parts of it took longer. The beading of the Turquoise, Tourmalines and Moonstones obviously took time but was really quite pleasurable. I could see the form grow beneath my hands.

It is funny how the concept comes whole into my brain and yet the execution of the idea takes days.

I find that each purse that I design and then sew is one step on top of the other. So what I learned three or four purses ago shows up in the current purse. I have yet to make the same purse over again. That way, it is always fresh for me but the down side is that it is always a challenge.

This is small evening bag. It is for elegant times and calls for an elegant dress or pants.

It is made of raw silk. The green is iridescent, slightly changing to a chartreuse yellow. The ling is dark green Velvet. It has the capacity to be put on a chain strap. I have not found exactly what I want to use.

The front side is the opposite of the back side (actually there is no front and no back, just sides). Both sides are adorned with equal amount of gems.

It measures 7 1/2" wide and 7 " height.

As an aside, I would like to mention the challenges of taking photos when a person has wild cats (kittens). I had a package of Trader Joe's Almondina cookies out and while I was taking to photos, I could hear one of them knock the package onto the floor and try to open it. I did not want to stop what I was doing, so I kept working. But, yes, the little dears got the package open and were enjoying a cookie. If I had known ahead of time, I could have prepared tea.

Kitten Up Date

The weekend is over and I worked in the shop, people came over for the Dog Club and it wasn't till yesterday afternoon that I could work on my purse project. So I have nothing to show and it wouldn't be fair to show something that isn't done. When a person is sewing. partial demos don't really show the idea or the path. Also, I am at a point with the purse, that I must pause and decide.

So, by saying all that, here are the kittens. Not Kittens? But of course, they will always be my kittens! I know they are getting full size. I hardly ever see them on this ottoman anymore. But they were in a togetherness mode!

Besides, it was a lazy Sunday for them!!

Darling Penelope

I had posted this photograph of sweet Penelope emptying my pen mug. Penelope took each item out the the mug and dropped it into the waste paper basket. Fortunately, I watched this going on and was able to retrieve every item before emptying the whole basket into the trash can. I thought, at the time, isn't she a sweet, clever, little, dear for doing such endearing habits. Since that time, I have gotten to know her a lot better. I mean a lot better. I don't deny that she isn't sweet or beautiful. She is all that. But she also gives Chester a hard time, bosses him around, chooses the best of the food, demands that I cook chicken for her, meows for 1/2 & 1/2 (and gets it!). She is a girl that knows her own mind.

This is what I found her doing this morning:

There was Penelope, pulling all the pins out, one by one. Fortunately, I found all the pins and safety pins on the floor (I hope). She was really enjoying herself. I was terrified. My pin cushion is now safely tucked away in a drawer.
Oh well!!

Lovely Gift for Ungrateful Cats

Los Destructos received a very lovely gift this week. Actually it was for me but their cousin thought it might lighten the weight of these predatory animals if they had more play time.

My darling niece brought this climbing toy down to brighten my futures days. We put it together as fast as we could but Chester said that it wasn't really fast enough. But now is "All's well", according to "Himself". I think he spent last night on it to make sure it was still here this morning.

My Tormentors

The "kittens" are not in the kitchen anymore at night. They have been allowed free roam of the house. And for the most part, they are good little kitties. The "cat town races" have been moderate and I really can live with that. I can live with a little of playing on the bed. If they keep the activity down to a moderate level, I will not take action. I have a very high level of "put-up-withness". But last night they went well, well, well beyond the pale(I once looked upped that word because it seemed such an odd word. It means to go beyond the proscribed boundary. Ever since I looked the word up, I have felt I owned it. silly, huh?) Anyway, they went beyond the pale. One of them, played for a long time. Maybe both of them played hard. I can't say for sure, as I was pretending or trying to sleep. It finally came to the point of me waking up enough to say out loud, "That is enough". It turned out to be that Penelope had just dropped the "toy" on my neck. I picked it up and started to carry it out when it moved and tried to crawl on my hand. After many yelps, because of all the bugs I have run into in this life, the water bug is the most hated. I can stand most bugs but the water bug sends chills up my spine and revulsion to my stomach. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Sorry, but the thought of them creates havoc. And don't give me the God's creatures bit either! Anyway, I got the cats, along with the bug out of my room. I went back to bed and in the morning, I actually quizzed myself to see if one of those bugs was really on my neck or was it a dream?
This is what I found in the hallway:

The "kittens" are not in the kitchen anymore at night. They have been allowed free roam of the house. And for the most part, they are good little kitties. The "cat town races" have been moderate and I really can live with that. I can live with a little of playing on the bed. If they keep the activity down to a moderate level, I will not take action. I have a very high level of "put-up-withness". But last night they went well, well, well beyond the pale(I once looked upped that word because it seemed such an odd word. It means to go beyond the proscribed boundary. Ever since I looked the word up, I have felt I owned it. silly, huh?) Anyway, they went beyond the pale. One of them, played for a long time. Maybe both of them played hard. I can't say for sure, as I was pretending or trying to sleep. It finally came to the point of me waking up enough to say outloud, "That is enough". It turned out to be that Penelope had just dropped the "toy" on my neck. I picked it up and started to carry it out when it moved and tried to crawl on my hand. After many yelps, because of all the bugs I have run into in this life, the water bug is the most hated. I can stand most bugs but the water bug sends chills up my spine and revulsion to my stomach. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Sorry, but the thought of them creates havoc. And don't give me the God's creatures bit either! Anyway, I got the cats, along with the bug out of my room. I went back to bed and in the morning, I actually quizzed myself to see if one of those bugs was really on my neck or was it a dream?

This is what I found in the hallway:

If I Don't Stand Straight, I'll Fall

The Glass Castle by Jeannete Walls

The Carcass of the the Dreaded Mouse

It has been one of those times in life when vulnerability is foremost. Everything seems to point that humanity is indeed what we are made of! Bad sentence formation, but hopefully the idea comes across. If I don't stand "tall", I'll break. I have a birthday coming up, I read other blogs and everyone seems to hold up their birthdays as wonderful and good. And, I know I should but "Golly Gee!! I don't think it is so wonderful". As I trip down life's alleys and byways, I am now noticing all the flotsam and jetsam of life.

For instance, last night. Last night, right before I turned off the life, I finished "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. I enjoyed the book immensely but that girl had a hard, hard life and still stood straight. Although, maybe that is the one failing in the book. The reader does not see her vulnerability. That provoke all my crazy dreams. Plus the little creatures that live with me decided that it was time to re-acquaint me with "mousy", on the bed. I was only vaguely aware of what was going on because I was in my crazy dreams.

This morning I got up to start the day by making my chai and I turned on the wrong burning on the stove. I am here to tell you that the smoke alarms do work. While I was in the bathroom doing my "ablutions", the smoke alarm went off. On inspection (after ripping out the smoke alarm), I found the problem.

Boy, do I feel vulnerable.

I am human.

Feed Them And They Will Grow

Here are my prizes. They are almost seven months. They are twice the size of when I brought them into my home. When they both are in this chair, they take up the whole chair and Chester's legs tend to hang over the edge.

This is what they looked like at two and a half months. They were tiny, and not very mischievous. But then they were not use to me and were very cautious. Now they do not hold anything back. They fly on little cat feet in pursuit of each other, even if I am in the chair. Over they run. jabbing their feet into my stomach. Oh, such fun they have!!!

He's Mister Chester

He wants me to promise never to go away from him again. It took him at least 12 hours to finally forgive me . But he has and here he is on my lap. When I am at the computer, I have to hold him with my left arm. My typing seems to very eratic but the problem is usually just called Chester.

New Tricks Learned

I am very happy that I was here to witness this new trick. If not, I would never been able to figure out what happened.
I was at the computer and Penelope was sitting beside the monitor. Of course, she was partially obscuring the monitor but I can move, right? I had the mug of my father's that I use for pencils, pens, and emory board or two and for some reason a seam ripper on the side of the monitor. Penelope was digging in the mug and carefully picking up the pens, pencils and seam ripper and dropping them into the waste paper basket that I had positioned under the table. I put the waste paper basket there so that I only had to reach over and drop the extraneous printer papers. I did not move the basket, but I did move the mug to ther other side of the monitor.

If you look carefully, you might be able to see a pencil, a blue seam ripper, and an emory board. It sure reminded me of party games we played when I was little. The little darling!

Beauty and Grace

It is still awe inspiring to look at my two wondrously beautiful kittens and think that they are going to stay. Such beauty! I have had many beautiful cats but never two at the same time with such symmetry. This matched pair are magical.

Penelope will pose for photos. Chester is the whirling dervish. The only time he is not moving is when he is sleeping.

Clara and The Devils

Clara now has TWO blossoms. The blossoms are a beautiful, bright Garnet color. I brought the plant in to photograph - to vindicate my over enthusiastic kittens. And to show that I was to prompt in saying that they had killed the plant.

Yet, here I am photographing my darlings investigating this wonderful plant. They are saying hello to Clara. Clara, of course, is begging to go outside again with her friends.

Lump in the Rug

Hello, Right now, I have two kittens on my lap. They are getting to be giant kittens and it is hard to type without losing one or two. I feel very precarious because I must appease the Kitten God and still do what I want, also.

As you know, kittens are always into everything. Their curiosity is boundless. My house used to be as I left it. Roxanne, my darling that lived with me for twenty years, was not in to havoc making. But these two now are.

Last night I went out and forgot to leave a light on in the entrance way. Bad choice. I came in and practically landed on my bum stumblingon the carpet. The entry rug was balled up and lapped over. They had been at it again!

Chester, the Oriental Shorthair, has all the characteristics that we are familiar with in Siamese cats. But also, he is smart. He finds it extremely fun to roll himself up in the carpet and mew softly. Penelope comes running to find out what he is saying. And the fun begins.

This goes on all day. I straighten out the rug. Chester comes along and to play "Lump in the Rug".

P.S. This photo was extremely hard to take. Every time I tried, he would leave the rug to see what I was doing. The little devil!

Have I mentioned that I have Kittens?

I know that I sort of go on about the Kittens. Calling them Demon Kittens and saying that Chester was a bully. But two kittens is twice the trouble and also, twice the joy.

I came into the house a day or so ago and found all of the couch pillows on the floor. It is like having two toddlers in the house. Fun, fun, fun and trouble, trouble, trouble.

I get books from the library. I don't like to keep books that are not of a reference or history source. But I read all the time and I especially enjoy mysteries. so, I go to the library. I consider the Library the best bargain that the universe has given me.

So here I am, two Saturday night's ago sitting at the kitchen table. I am enjoying a glass of red wine and my book. Chester had just come home from the vet's on Thursday, after having his "procedure" done to him. He had an Elizabethan collar on to prevent licking and causing more harm. He is a curious cat and he thinks he has to know everything that is going on. He investigates what I eat, how I brush my teeth, tells me what he needs and generally bosses Penelope around.

Back to Saturday night. He has his collar on and I am at the table. Everything is quiet and I am peaceful. Bam! Chester jumps up to the table, the collar catches the wine goblet, down goes the glass and the wine pours all over my library book. I did not lose a second. I jumped up and grabbed the sponge. Put the red pages under the water. Nothing happened. Then I got the eve ready bottle of bleach. Put water with it and worked on the pages. Nothing, nothing nothing. I had a red library book on my hands.

At that point, I looked at the book. I noticed that I was the first user of this book. The cost was $24.95. Yikes!!! The cost of the glass of wine went up mega times.

After the book dried, I could see that nothing would help erase the color or the fragrance of wine. So, I went on Amazon to compare prices. It worked out to be $5.00 cheaper to buy from them. It got here in the nick of time. I took it in and the people were amused with my story and pleased not to have to go to the trouble of ordering a new book.

And I got to take the damaged book home, to pass along to another mystery reader.

Oh, the costs of the Demon Kittens is adding up!

Demon Kittens or How to Kill a Plant

In my kitchen I have a spot where I have kept plants for about 15 years. I have one plant that must be close to that age. I have a "Grow Lamp" above the plants and most of the plants have thrived. The thriving stop in the beginning of the year.

The lamp did not break, I did not stop watering or feeding. What I did do is get two adorable, sweet, defenceless kittens. These kittens started eating real food, instead of dried food. Their first "real" food turned out to be my leftover Christmas turkey. They obtained it easily. All they did was climb up my pant leg and threatened me with more damage. I gave in easily. The scars will heal and fade eventually.

Their little bodies metabolized this "real" food and they have grown. They are 4 1/2 months old now and they know their way around my kitchen.

First they jumped up to counter where food was prepared. They insisted on supervising. Chester would be placed on the floor and he would jump right back. I do testify that he is a bully! They then jumped onto the counter where the plants where enjoying a peaceful life. I used to have beautiful plants, untrammeled by small claws and teeth.

At Christmas time I received a red Amaryllis bulb in this terrific planter. It started to grow. Every day I would look at the plant and think about the people that gave it to me.
Then "they" took over the kitchen. Two nights ago, the bully kittens knocked over the planter.

The long, beautiful leaves were damaged. The bud seems to be fine, but the plant demanded that it be removed from the kitchen.

The plant has taken refuge with its other friends that have been driven from the house.

Experts say that life will resume its quiet serenity, but not for a little while.

But for now the DEMON KITTENS are in charge!