Old Ladies

"What's that noise?"

"Passion for place - there is no greater urge in feline nature." ~ Paul Annixter

Two old ladies, cranky and set in their ways. Sometimes they seem interested in something new, turn their heads at a voice or sniff the air when a smell of roasting chicken reaches their noses. But most of the time, they prefer to sleep in "the lap of luxury".... translated as the softest bed with the softest cover and the quietest room. Most of the time this place also offers the advantage of a thermal foam mattress or, as here... an unlimited number of sunbeams.

"Obviously, nothing worth leaving our sunbeams over."

Don't they look angelic? Well, maybe not. While Chloe and Clover may be boarding Friday's Ark at the Modulator, they don't look as if they care one way or the other..... it must be that passion for place... or else old age. (Clover heard that... if looks could kill, I would be six feet under.)

PS: The old girls just celebrated their 14th birthday... they were born in July, 1993 when Nyssa was seven. (end of post)

Saturday Photo Hunt: Creative

"The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Antique kaleidoscope, mirrored viewing tube.

We usually use the word "creative" to describe a person or an act, such as writing or acting or composing; but it can also be attributed to an object, a "thing". This is the small antique kaleidoscope that Vicki sent me when she moved last year. It is gorgeous, with a triangular shaped tube and small mirrors on two sides... brass.

Translucent barrel with colorful rock crystals.

At one end, a little keyhole eyepiece and at the other a simple translucent barrel spins on a brass spindle. Inside the barrel are rocks; small, colorful crystals of different shapes and sizes that rattle as the barrel is spun by hand. Simple and elegant in design... but what beautiful patterns it makes in the light!

Patterns, complex and fleeting

Each one different, fleeting... changing with each microscopic movement of the spinner; it creates infinite art.

Of course, someone had to invent the first kaleidoscope and others have created variations and shapes and sizes and mediums; so, a little human creativity was involved too... thank goodness! And thank you, Vicki.... with this lovely piece, I can create my own art.... even if I can't draw or paint!

The theme for Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt this week is "creative". You can go here to "Grab the Scavenger Hunt code" and here to join the blogroll. This really cute logo is available there as well. The link to other participants is in my blogroll on the sidebar.

(end of post)

Wide-bodied Willow

Miss Willow, trying to relax..."GO AWAY!"

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." ~ Unknown

The cats know something is going on; boxes have appeared everywhere and their quiet living room is rapidly filling up with huge boxes full of stuff for the garage sale. The dining room has been turned topsy-turvy and the grandpa has been using this smelly stuff to refinish part of the hutch and a heat lamp and lots of newspapers on the floor. Poor Willow has to get under the table to spread out and lounge on her back... and the table is almost out to the front door!

All the extra tension and suspense has been hard... six, usually well-mannered kitties who come from all areas of the house when called with a simple "shoo-shoo time", now run and hide. This started on July 4th, perhaps they were totally spooked by the bangs and cracks of the firecrackers and the cherry bombs that people were setting off in the neighborhood. Now they are all afraid to go to their sunroom sleeping area and it is a hunt for the last stragglers every night!

Even Willow, with her laid back attitude has been affected although you would not know it from this pose. She has an alternate strategy... instead of hiding under a chair or behind the sofa or in a garage sale box... she goes into Maggie's covered litter box in the laundry room, not to do her business, but simply to sit and stare out the opening with that defiant look on her face that says, "I dare you to come get me."

Hopefully they will all behave when they get to the new place. One thing is for sure... they will have plenty of space to spread out and relax in the sunbeams!

Miss Willow is caught posing this week for Cats on Tuesday, hosted by gattina and shows her tummy for Tummy Tuesday over at catstuff.

(end of post)

Saturday Photo Hunt On Sunday: Tiny

A tiny daredevil. (Click pictures to enlarge)

"Up and at'em it's Atom Ant.

He's strength, he's might,
He's speed, he's fight.
He's Atom Ant, that tiny ant, and his atomic power.

Has what it takes and always makes
The vilest villain cower.
He's rough, he's tough,
And bad guys yell enough.
When he is up and at'em.
Atom Ant."
~ Unknown

Balanced precariously on the edge of the cliff.... OK, so it is just the edge of a yellow flower. Still, doesn't this tiny fellow look brave?

Breakfast! ... or perhaps lunch?

"At five o'clock in the morning the sun came up.
A friendly ladybug flew in from the left. It saw a leaf with many aphids on it, and decided to have them for breakfast.
But just then a grouchy ladybug flew in from the right.
~ Eric Carle, "The Grouchy Ladybug"

The Grouchy Ladybug was always one of Nyssa's favorite books and never failed to produce peals of laughter when the whale slapped the silly ladybug back to land where she finally came to her senses. This was a fortuitous picture, I was trying to capture the ladybug and accidentally photographed her pale green breakfast as well (aphid on the left). Looks like a bit of bravado on the part of the aphid, doesn't it?

Having a really bad hair day!

"This globe is a fleet of a hundred airy balloons, each one of which bears a seed which it is destined to drop far from the parent source." ~ John Burroughs

This looks like my hair looks in the morning... or at least until yesterday when I finally took some time and had it cut and pampered (translated.... got the gray out). Other captions I thought appropriate for these tiny seeds were.... "Einstein of the plant world" and "Did you stick your finger in that electric socket again, Jimmy?". Actually, this is not a dandelion but rather the head of a thistle with two stragglers on top.

Fractured Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Ant and the Big Bad Fly

"God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why."
~ Ogden Nash

Tiny flowers on our bush with a tiny fly......and an even tinier ant... but, oh my, Mr. Fly.... "What BIG RED eyes you have!"..... "The better to see you with my lunch.... uh, er..... dear!" Do flies eat ants?

So there are my teeny tiny samples for this week's photo hunt. I had some great ones for "shadows" but just ran out of steam from all the box moving. As it is, I am completely late this week as well... perhaps it will even out soon.

The theme for Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt this week is "tiny". You can go here to "Grab the Scavenger Hunt code" and here to join the blogroll. This really cute logo is available there as well. The link to other participants is in my blogroll on the sidebar.

(end of post)

BF and AF (Before and After Furniture)

Living Room.......BEFORE!

"I saw a sign: "Rest Area 25 Miles". That's pretty big. Some people must be really tired." ~ Steven Wright (1955 - )

I really haven't fallen off the planet... of course, you couldn't actually fall off the planet because of gravity and escape velocity and all those scientific things... but, you know what I mean. I had my Saturday pictures ready to post but my furniture was released from its storage prison and delivered and three young fellows kept asking, "Where?" and soon there were crates of pictures and boxes everywhere... even though there were already boxes from the other storage unit and boxes leaving for the garage sale room and... well, it was just a mess. Then Nyssa came on Friday and I only had her young body for two days to help with all those boxes stacked to the top of the 10 X 23 foot storage unit. So we hauled and lifted and opened and debated and decided on what we were completely attached to and what we could do without.

Living room........AFTER!

Then there was the Jericho incident... I felt a bit like Joshua. All I did was pick up one teensy, tiny box and turned to walk out of the unit and suddenly an entire block of boxes just fell down....Nyssa said it was almost slow motion. Fortunately they were light so no damage done; but the "walls (of boxes) came a tumbling down".

Entryway.....BEFORE!

So, this weekend, Nyssa and I spent the first night in the new house. I also spent Sunday and Monday night there... in the quiet with no internet, no computer, no television... just the radio intercom. We used the master shower that could hold four people and I used the master whirlpool tub while listening to an opera over the intercom in the dark with only the light from the street lamp outside to see by. It was very relaxing and helped my knee a lot. Of course I had to have the room dark... the huge window over the tub doesn't have a shade yet.

Entryway.......AFTER!

We cooked our first breakfast there with the gas stove and I didn't blow anything up... eggs, toast and sausage links. And we have a phone with a real phone number.... did you know that when you get a new phone service, you automatically start getting calls from the wireless people and the satellite TV people and mortgage people and on and on and on. I listed the number with the "NO CALL" service this evening.

So tonight I am once again at the parent's house. The dog has to go in for grooming and to have a mass removed from his skin so another early day! Then more moving and more boxes... never ending! By the way, these pictures are the before and after, though not complete by any means yet... later I will post the dining room. Mind you, my dining room set filled my dining room and was snug with the leaf in. Here I had to get them to put the leaf in so the table wouldn't look so "lost in space".

Back to the boxes!

(end of post)