SkeeterWorld

Skeeter - in her first month home....

Speaking of "the new kitten", about four years after we adopted Crickit, my other cat, Sneekers, passed away at the age of 17. It was very hard- she was, i think, the sweetest and prettiest cat i ever owned (more on her later). My husband didn't feel like going out and getting a new pet right away after that, but although i missed her terribly, i thought it would be better to bring another kitty home as soon as possible. As a result, i waited longer than i wanted to, and Crickit became used to being the "only child" in a hurry! After looking at shelters and the newspaper, i ended up adopting a tiny female calico (calicos are almost always girls!) kitten. When i brought her home, Crickit looked at the kitten, gave us both a betrayed look , hissed, and ran off! It took her a full six months to calm down about that - plus Skeeter, being a typical kitten, would happily chase, torment, and tackle Crickit, no matter how much she growled and hissed. It's been another four years, and unfortunately Skeeter hasn't slowed down at all, much to Crickit's irritation! We call Skeeter "Picasso", the way her face is marked, it makes her look lopsided, like a Picasso painting - she acts sort of caddywampus at times, too!

CrickitWorld

Crickit supervising my leaf casting
My mother passed away in April 2001. My parents had always kept to themselves, and i always described them as "joined at the hip". After mom died, my dad was lost; didn't want to be alone and didn't want to get around other people. My husband, who always wants to do something nice for others, suggested that we get Dad a kitten (i had had cats at home before). Well, we went to the shelter, found a pretty little kitten, got all the accessories, and took it over. It REALLY didn't work out! Dad didn't want to mess with a kitten (even though he had mentioned getting one!)

So..., since we had just lost one of ours (of old age), we adopted this little female and named her Crickit. We have had her now for eight years, and she's the best! Cuddles with us all the time, joins me out in the gardens in the warm months, stays off the kitchen counters ...an all around good kitty.

Except when we brought a NEW kitten into her home......

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Signs of Spring

On a snow covered, sunny day a week ago, among the dead stems and leaves of last year's flora, i caught sight of the light shining thru a cranesbill leaf, just as bright green as it was last summer! Always looking for an indicator of better days to come ('better' to me is always synonymous with 'warmer'), this tiny leaf made me realize that February is almost over,Spring is coming, the cold will end, and another warm season is just around the corner! Where's those Robins?

The calm before the storm?

i very much dislike wintertime, yet i realize i am enjoying February in one way- i can sleep late on the weekends, i don't have to rush to make more pieces for the next show, don't have to get up at 5 AM to go set up the canopy in the dark at 6 or 6:30 AM, or work all weekend and then get up on Monday and go to my "real" job! Can you tell i'm inherently lazy? i did also finally have time to work on my website and this blog...Now, on the other hand, as soon as it starts to get nice outside, i will start to get the urge to create again, and i will really look forward to the shows! The thing about my leaf castings and garden art is that people in my town don't even think about the great outdoors during the cold months. At Christmas, when I even remind them that my work would be especially welcomed by gardeners and nature enthusiasts for the holidays, the non gardeners who are looking for the gifts don't get it - so while i do well at that time, i don't do GREAT. The time i have discovered is MY time to shine is summer! So now i have four events planned in the space of five weeks! And another couple in that next month! I think it's great, i just hope i can keep enough inventory up for all of them.

Thoughts on a rainy day

Well, minus 14 degrees two weeks ago, 2 feet of snow - 60 degrees yesterday! Today rain and flooding! Go figure. We use that saying a lot here- "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes!". i have actually had my air conditioner and furnace on all within 12 hours in the past! At least the pond thawed, and the fish are still kickin'.

So..., ordered my new craft show canopy yesterday. Started out last year with a cheap little pop up, it worked out fine, BUT, in most outdoor shows, you have a 10' X 10' space assigned to you. Well this cheapie was 10' X 10' if you measured where the legs sat, but the legs are splayed out, so 10' X 10' at the bottom is more like 8' X 8' at the top! Didn't think it mattered - until it rained! OR until the hot sun came out! Live and learn. And this model has sides - a big plus during rain, too. Just applied to my first "real" art show, the largest one of those in the area, so a nice canopy would be helpful if I get accepted.

Anyone wanna buy a nearly new canopy?

Kids...

In my profile, i mentioned being "childfree". i read a book a long time ago, the author stated that she didn't use the phrase "child-less" because that implied that she was missing something, and she felt that wasn't the case. As it is with me. i certainly don't hate kids, but i believe being an only child AND then being the child who everyone bullied all through grade school and high school put me off ever wanting to do anything that would put me in that world again. One theory from that book (i'm sorry; the book really impressed me, but i couldn't tell you who authored it) is that when parents smother their child and their whole world revolves around that child (just like my parents), you grow up believing (even if it was not true) that's how you'd have to be with YOUR child, and are unwilling to do that. Anyway, i'm darn near past childbearing age, and i can honestly say that i have yet to regret that decision. My parents were mad, though! BUT, wasn't their decision to make. The other factor was my husband- that was my only worry, that he would have felt like i took that away from him - but he has always been fine with it. So i was lucky in that!