wednesday cat blogging [photo post]

On the 4th of July we had steady rain for over twenty-four hours, and I took the opportunity to catch up on some computer work while Hanna napped. The cats were super helpful as they always are.

Gerry likes to make sure my notebook doesn't go anywhere while I'm not looking.

This is my desk-in-progress (the other work space is Hanna's, usually); I still need a chair that fits the higher table -- it was a curbside rescue, I suspect designed originally as a kitchen island. Gerry needs to keep an eye on that one as well.

Being a cat is SUPER HARD WORK and requires lots of sleeping in order to be prepared for napping.

Teazle's real dream is to steal our two little grey mice from IKEA (named John and Sherlock), but since we keep those out of sight she carries the white mouse around instead. It is shaped less like an anatomically correct mouse and therefore seems to evince less interest than the others.

As you can see, they are enjoying the vantage point of our kitchen window which opens onto the back porch; on Friday they'll get their shots updated and then be allowed to visit with Jelly the curious neighbor cat who shares our balcony ... with no screen in between! To date there has been a lot of sniffing and watching and pawing at the window screens and occasional hissing and pleading to be allowed to plaaay!!

I hope the week is treating all of you well!

cats + porch [#move2014]

We continue to feel so lucky in finding this apartment, particularly on sunny Sundays in June, when our back balcony is a breezy, cozy sanctuary; a liminality between in and out, private home and neighborhood society.

We enjoyed brunch together last weekend, along with a little light reading.

Repotted some happy plants...

... and got creative drying the week's laundry in the fine weather.

The porch is a new experience for the cats, who are practicing giving their mother attacks of the nerves by exploring the top of the (second floor! far from the ground!) railing without a net. We feel they should could equipped with safety tethers.

Geraldine seems largely content to chill in the shade or sun and survey her surroundings.

The clean laundry is obviously the best place for a black cat to settle in for a nap.

Meanwhile, our next door neighbors M and J have gotten a head start over us in the gardening department, with lots of promising seedlings that spent the weekend drinking up the sun and water they were afforded.

Hope y'all are finding ways of being in this early-summer moment. Happy June.

#move2014 in photos [what it says on the tin]

So we've moved.

I'm headed back to our old place one more time today to pack up the fridge and a few left-over things so the cleaners my parents are paying for can come and do the final scrub down. Then, hopefully, new people will come along soon and find Old Number Twelve a good place to live, as we did for many years.

Meanwhile, I promised pictures -- so here they are!

This is a lot of what the last ten days have been about.

The cats liked all the piles of clothes and bedding to sleep on.

I think they were worried we would leave them behind, so kept trying to get us to pack them!

There was a lot of turning around and finding this.

How did we fit all this stuff in one 535-square-foot apartment?!

The BEST THING about the move was when the movers -- Patrick, Mike, and Damian -- arrived.

They took the things away and packed them so swiftly!

While Hanna waited with the cats at our new place, I was left to "supervise" the departure by drinking my latte and taking pictures of the emptying apartment.

The last box...

... Of serials, naturally. We're librarians after all!

Books will be our biggest logistical hurdle. Here they are stacked up in the Inner Sanctum (what will eventually be Hanna's meditation/yoga space (and our guest bedroom! ... plus books).

These bookshelves (and three more) are already filled.

This is the new living room space (with a study nook to the right of the frame).

As predicted, Teazle and Gerry LOOOOVE this long hallway for chasing one another (particularly at night). I'm standing in the living room, and the room at the end of the hall is our kitchen. Off the hall to the right are the master bedroom, bathroom, and Inner Sanctum.

The movers put our bed back together, people!! It was the first room we made usable, after the kitchen.

Our kitchen has a table for eating! And gorgeous appliances.

Hanna found this photograph in the back of one of the cupboard drawers. Worrying? Charming? You decide! It now lives on our fridge.

We share our second-floor porch with the next-door neighbors and their cat, Jelly, whom Gerry and Teazle have only met through the window so far. Our plants are very happy outside, and we can dry out laundry out there as well! There are five huge maple trees shading the back lawn (And sheltering our house from the worst of the summer sun.

And not to brag or anything, but THIS is our new walk to work...

More house-proud pictures once we've actually had a chance to settle in and Teazle has finished the unpacking and investigatin'.

teazle knievel [photo post]

Time for Wednesday cat blogging!

I had the camera out on Sunday and Teazle was very interested.

This is her EEEEVIL CAT impression! (aka the time I accidentally took a photo with the flash on)

Little Miss Flirtypants.

The Joan Crawford look.

The "why have the petting hands gone away?" look.

Gerry maintained a stolid indifference to the proceedings...

But later settled down on the top edge of the book I was attempting to read.

(You can see that the petting hand returned to scratch Teazle beneath the chin.)

wednesday cat blogging [photo post]

Teazle's latest favored place to sleep is in the box where Hanna keeps her knickers. She has to jump up onto the shelf above and then worm her way into the box. It's a process we shamelessly mock her for.

Gerry, meanwhile, clearly feels relaxed enough these days to do a dead bunny impression. She slept this way for a good half hour on Sunday, effectively trapping me on the couch!

Sunday was definitely a day for snoozing.

Hope everyone's week is going well and that y'all are staying warm. We're definitely ready for spring!

a year to carry on carrying on

Gerry practices her balancing skillz on Hanna's lap.

Looking back on the past year with my therapist on Thursday, I realized that this is the first year in over a decade (for both Hanna and I) in which no major life-transitions have taken place.

Neither one of us began or ended a relationship (yay 1st anniversary!).

Neither one of us began or ended a job (or moved to a different position within our workplace).

Neither one of us began or ended an academic program.

We began and ended the year in the same city, neighborhood, and apartment.

We began and ended the year with the same two companion animals.

With the exception of my grandmother, Marilyn, in June, we had no major illness or death on either side of our immediate extended family.

Cats, they give no fucks for your life accomplishments.

Of course, many other things did change in the past year. The Defense of Marriage Act was ruled unconstitutional. We got new tattoos. We witnessed the wedding of our near and dear friends Diana and Collin. Hanna delivered a conference paper at the Northeast Conference on British Studies. I briefly served as a guest blogger for Family Scholars Blog. Teazle learned to scale the drying rack; Gerry learned to be a lap cat.

But overall, this was the most uneventful year I have had since turning eighteen.

And I can't say I'm disappointed with that.

scrabble with cats, take two [photo post]

As the snow was falling thick and fast all over Corey Hill this evening, Hanna and I decided to break out the Scrabble board and play a game while we listened to the weekly news round-up hour of NPR's On Point.

The cats, of course, had other ideas.

I hope all of you are staying warm and cozy this weekend, in your respective haunts.