Truth is out: I joined them in a catnap

I found this tranquil scene irresistible yesterday afternoon: two soft, purring cats on the bed, a quiet house...so I joined them.

If at first...

you don't succeed...

I'm posting a link to a story I wrote Thursday, which appeared in Friday's newspaper.
Last week I linked to a story about a World War II veteran, but it got no comments.

So I'm trying again, 'cuz if at first you don't succeed...

The story is about a beautiful little girl who is suffering from a degenerative illness, Neimann-Pick disease, and the children at a parochial school who wanted to do something to help her. I hope this post brings some awareness to the devastating disease, which has no cure.

~ Looking at the Sky ~ in Paris

I didn't have a fresh, new sky photo to post today, so Ralph suggested I go back into our dusty, old archives. So I did. Tee hee.
This picture shows but a small portion of the beautiful Gothic cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris. It's a must-see when in Paris. I took it on a school trip with my daughter in April 2005.
I like the dramatic clouds.


To see many more sky photos and to join the fun, visit Tisha at CrAzY Working Mom.

Sepia Scenes ~ Garden in Paris

I took this in April 2005, as you can see! It's one small section of a garden in the middle of the city. That's all I can remember about it.


Happy Wednesday to all ~ To join in the sepia fun, visit our hostess, Mary T, at Sepia Scenes.

Ever feel like you were being watched?

Rigby always watches me, especially when I walk out the front door. I imagine he gets anxious when I go out. "Oh no! The food lady is leaving! We need her!"

>> Playing with a shadow <<

This morning I spied a cool shadow on the house. Ran for camera and took photo, then had fun playing around with it a bit.

Ruby Tuesday * potpourri of pics *

Rhododendron bush outside my mother's condo.

One of the early blossoms. I'll have to take more photos when they're all blooming.

I took this Sunday while we were waiting for our town's Memorial Day Parade to reach us ... we were sitting near the end of the route.

And a red truck pulling a parade float. Perfect for Ruby Tuesday!

To see more photos featuring a little or a lot of red, visit our hostess, Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet.

May we never forget the sacrifices so many made

I want to thank those brave men and women from all wars who have paid the ultimate price for our country. We Americans are able to enjoy our freedom because of their courage and sacrifice. Let freedom ring!

What long weekend? It's always relaxation time

It's always a three-day weekend, if you're a kitty cat. Photo capture credit goes to daughter Allegra, who used her phone to catch Rigby relaxing.

'Not good enough'

On Wednesday I attended a prejudice reduction conference at Quinnipiac University run by the Human Relations Club from our local high school.
The keynote speaker, a retired educator from Philadelphia, told the mostly teen-aged audience about his experiences confronting prejudice throughout his life, and having the feeling of being "not good enough."
Leon Bass is an Army veteran of World War II, and was one of the liberators of Buchenwald concentration camp. He is an inspirational and brilliant speaker.

Here is a link to my story, published in yesterday's paper.

Breakfast for Libby, our neighbor's cat

Ralph's boyhood friend Michael came to visit us Tuesday and brought with him tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, strawberries and more, and planted them all for us. He's a great guy, that's for sure.
As you can see, he also planted catnip. Our neighbor cat, Libby, had a nice breakfast this morning. I hope she doesn't tell any other felines about her find.
That catnip is for our kitties!

I've been busy. The cats? Not so much

How does a cat get its own way?


With friendly purrsuasion.

What a life.
~
When in doubt, post photos of kitty cats. That's my new motto. =^. .^=

Ruby Tuesday ~ floral edition

An annual: I bought this Double Impatiens plant yesterday to put in a black "kettle" next to the garage.
I think I may have had Ruby Tuesday in the back of my mind, don't you?

And a perennial: I really need more perennials for my not-quite-ready-for-spring flower garden. They do make life easier.
Does this shade of pink qualify for a Ruby Tuesday photo? I hope so.


To see many more Ruby Tuesday photos, visit our hostess, Mary T, at Work of the Poet.

Home again

So the kids are home for their summer vacation, even though it's only May. The school year certainly flies by.
We're happy to have them home; we hope they're happy to be back. It's a whole different lifestyle and I'm guessing they may need a few days to readjust, and sleep. R&R and all.

One of them has a job waiting for her. Yay!
One needs to find a job. Keeping fingers crossed that something comes up.

Anyone having computer problems and needing technical consultation via phone, e-mail, instant message, whatever?
He's available, for a fee. Just a thought.

* News from the horticultural front

Christmas cactus blooms in mid-May!

From the e-mail bag ~ wish I had written this!

Cat Haiku

You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will show you.

You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail! Behold,
elevator butt.

I need a new toy.
Tail of black dog keeps good time.
Pounce! good dog! good dog!

The rule for today.
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.

In deep sleep hear sound
Cat vomit hairball somewhere.
Will find in morning.

Grace personified
I leap into the window
I meant to do that

Blur of motion, then-
Silence, me, a paper bag
What is so funny?

The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds
Your foot just squashed one.

You're always typing
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.

My small cardboard box
You cannot see me if I
Can just hide my head.

Terrible battle
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a "term paper"?

Kitty likes plastic
Confuses for litter box
Don't leave tarp around

Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes
Fear vacuum cleaner

Want to trim my claws
Don't even think about it!
My yelps will wake the dead

I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
inside your armpit?

Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!

Oh no! Big One
has been trapped by newspaper.
Cat to the rescue!

Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in the bed, then screams!
My claws aren't that sharp....

Cats meow out of angst
"Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break so much"

Litter box not there
You must have moved it again
I'll crap in the sink

The Big Ones snore now
Every room is dark and cold
time for "Cup Hockey"

We're almost equals
I purr to show I love you
Want to smell my butt.

=^. .^=

An amazing man inspires many at school event

He's spirited and full of good humor. Yet he has had to overcome so much in his life. He's a professional educator, and a motivational speaker. He certainly inspires those who hear him.

John spoke at a recent high school human relations club conference that I covered for my job. Ralph was there with me.
We were impressed and inspired by John, who was born with rather glaring physical disabilities. The braces on his legs click and clack as he walks. His hands are deformed. I shook his wrist when he held out his hand to introduce himself.

He says he has spent most of his life trying to make those around him more comfortable. He started speaking in public about his journey, his struggle, when he was in the sixth grade, he told us.
He has a brilliant mind, a twinkle in his eye and an infectious smile.

Stare? Yes, people always stare at him. And they have stared for his more than 40 years of life, he says. Could we infer from that that he is used to it? Would you get used to it?

He joked that his own children, ages 10 and 12, also stare at disabled or other "different-looking" people when they are out in public.
Human nature, I guess.

We went to a workshop he led in a classroom after the conference. We got to know him a little better. He is amazing, for sure.
He left us with a renewed feeling that, by drawing on our inner strength, anything we want to achieve in life is attainable.

Ya gotta have friends ...

Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet, presented me with this lovely award today. I was most surprised, but happy to read she considers my blog charming and friend-oriented.

Mary hosts three memes: Ruby Tuesday, Sepia Scenes, and Window Views. I honestly don't know where she finds the time.
I've met many great people here in the blogosphere, and have even met two of them in person. It just seems like there is not enough time in the day to visit all the folks I would like to visit.

Thanks, Mary, you made my day today. ;-)

Mary wrote:
The following rules came with this "Friends" prize:
“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I could easily come up with more than eight people, but here are the bloggie friends I'm recognizing:
Linda, Bee, Mimi, (royalty all) Bond, Roger, Lynn, Joan and Michele, great bloggers all.

Now it's Linus' day in the sun, so to speak

For some reason Linus' little brother Rigby (we assume he's a few minutes younger and he's much smaller in size) seems to know how to strike those cute poses, that's why his photos get on my blog so often.
My big boy Linus (Ralph calls him Thunder Thighs) always seems to run or turn his head when I try to photograph him.

But I caught him enjoying the sunshine yesterday, though. What a life these two have, hanging around our house. Lucky felines.

= ^ . . ^=

Rigby times 2

Rigby is so black and white that when I use the black and white application one can hardly see any difference from the color picture of him.


See what I mean?

I wonder how he would look in sepia?

Ruby Tuesday ~ on track

I just happened to capture a photo of this train Monday as it was stopping at a very quiet train station in Derby, Ct.
It was so quiet that I was the only person around. I was there for another reason, but the train pulled up just as I parked the car.
I could only grab one photo of the train before it departed moments later for points south.
When I saw the red I of course thought of Ruby Tuesday.

Go visit our hostess, Mary T, The Teach, at Work of the Poet to see many more photos that contain a little or a lot of red!

~ A day to celebrate ~ and play with clip art

Today is a day for flowers (if only the online kind!) and chocolates (I hope!) and a wonderful dinner prepared by Ralph, my Airhead 55. (yay!)

One kid is home, the boy. Maybe he will wish me a Happy Mother's Day. One can hope!
Whenever one or both of our children has come back from school my first thought when I wake up the next morning is that they are home. That's motherhood.


The second reason that we are celebrating today is that it's our wedding anniversary! We tied the knot 23 years ago today. Ralph wasn't using a wheelchair then, but these people kinda look like we did when we got married. May 10, 1986 was a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, as was our wedding.

Woo hoo!

Wanted: Dead or (preferably) alive

This is an update of an update on our friends the squirrels.

The polite young man who is my favorite pest-elimination expert told me this morning he had caught two of the varmints. "Dead?" I inquired. "No," he said. "Good," I replied.

I didn't want to watch him take them off the roof in those cages. So I came back into the house.


He set another trap/cage (see above^) near the hole where they have easy access in and out of our attic. He thinks they are still using our facilities, and even though we haven't heard anything upstairs for more than a week he hopes to catch more. The boy is on a roll!

To be continued..

~ ~ ~

In a completely unrelated development, I saw this sign today in the window of a music store downtown and I wanted to share:

"Go Green - Play Acoustic."

Give what you can to Saturday's food drive

Yesterday I stumbled upon two bright red sheds, perfect for Ruby Tuesday. So I photographed them and posted them here. This is a follow-up to yesterday's post.

The sheds were on property owned by the kind man pictured below.
I visited him to write a story about his 1963 "Zip Van" Studebaker mail truck, and found the sheds.He is hoping that parking the vintage vehicle in a supermarket parking lot Saturday will boost donations to the annual National Association of Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
The Web site says it's the largest single-day food drive in the nation.

I know our local food pantry shelves always need re-stocking. I'm sure the ones in your area do too!

Ruby Tuesday

A simple shed. This is one of two photos I have to share for this week's Ruby Tuesday.
My job brings me to all kinds of places nearly every day. Today I visited someone who lives in a red ranch with two red sheds in his yard. I didn't have anything to post today, but when I saw all the bright red, a light bulb went off in my head (that almost rhymes!). I asked him for permission to photograph them and he said sure.


See lots of photos containing some red by visiting Mary T, The Teach, our meme hostess.