Tag Archives: cats

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

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This post is not numbered. It is no longer the mother-story. It is no longer the husband-story. It’s MY story. Maybe I should number it 1. First. The new Beginning. Yes, I know, it has been two months since the last post. The gaps have been filled by stuff. Weird stuff. Elections (I’m not going there), feeling stuck, too much on the to-do list, too many holidays, learning how to navigate life my way. A year after someone passes there is an “unveiling” of the headstone. I think It’s kind of a smack upside the head to let you know … Continue reading →

My Animal Spirit Guide Crossed The Rainbow Bridge

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June 14, 2019 At the vet, saying farewell: we had a long talk and she never let go of my arm; she never stopped purring.  It was time. It was enough. More than enough. June 15, 2019 Today is still Caturday. I read through comment after comment on my posts. (on Facebook) Then I re-read them. Then again. I left everyone a heart though I wanted to leave words but I was overwhelmed. I am OK and then I am not, but that is the way we deal with loss, that back and forth and up and down. The people … Continue reading →

147. Mother-Daughter Journey … and Letting Go

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No! Really? I haven’t posted about my mother for months? Maybe that is because so much wackiness and unpleasantness has been rearing its head. So, let me do what I think I do best: weave. I like to take life’s seemingly unrelated threads and weave them together, somehow. My stories evolve. We are dealing with three threads: a sick, might I say, quite ill pet of fifteen+ years? a husband with a neurological issue who has recently come out of the hospital; a mother who is 101 years old.   Let’s get out the loom and see how it intertwines:  … Continue reading →

Is Today the Day?

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  I know that many of you are following the saga of my little kitty, Caramel who has been ill since last December. Despite a nasty rare tumor and thyroid removal and many trips to the vet, we–including you, dear reader, have been on a rollercoaster. She initially was doing well after that big surgery, was eating, was social, and then after about 2 weeks something changed and I could tell something strange was happening. We are not doing any more biopsies or big procedures, she may be 16, 17 years old. She often cries and gags when eating. I … Continue reading →

The Cat Journey: Love and Pain

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    Last week I truly thought, was the end of my kitty; but, then they got her to eat, which is a big deal, and she was released from the vet on Friday. It is very difficult being in charge of a little thing who looks to you and depends on you. She would eat at the vet but I had the hardest time getting her to eat here; it was heartbreaking. She was running away and hiding, which is animal language for “leave me alone, I don’t feel well.” And how can one not feel well in dealing … Continue reading →

The Cat Journey Continues

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In a previous post I asked for CLARITY. We went to visit Caramel at the vet two days ago. I had been expecting the worst on-and-off for the last two weeks or so. There she was in her cage, attached to an IV, her eyes were leaky and formed crusts on her face, she was thin, and her puffety-fluffety face was deflated. But, I opened the cage and stuck my head in and the purr-fest began, we cleaned her face, did some heavy-petting and got her happy-motor running.   She rested her paw on my hand.         … Continue reading →

On Yo-Yos and Rollercoasters

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    This is about my Caramel, the last kitty, the mama. I call her my spirit-guide. The kitty who brought her two litters to my door and to my neighbor’s door in 2004. I took her in in 2005 with two of her boys. My neighbor took one from the first litter and one from the same as mine. She hasn’t been well for months and every issue has been addressed with hopes of keeping her around as long as possible, in good health. She has been in and out of the emergency hospital and has been at our … Continue reading →

The Topsy-Turvy Layer Cake of Life

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Even an orchid needs to vent   Life is a topsy-turvy cake. Here are the layers of the last few weeks.   You know my “vent” posts. Permit me to blow off some steam. And permit me to say that maybe we shouldn’t even bother, blowing off steam, that is, because eventually the steam dissipates and we forget about the issue or event (hopefully) and wonder what the big deal was. And then the vapor is absorbed into the air and we go on. But for some reason, I need to document and be able to look back and see … Continue reading →

The Kitty Tale

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I realized I never gave you closure on the sick kitty. To refresh your memory, in December there were subtle signs that something was wrong, the vet couldn’t find anything but I could hear something in Caramel’s throat. We ended up in an emergency animal hospital five days later on New Year’s Day. It appeared to be a bad cold. They did a fortune’s worth of testing. No diagnosis. Another five days went by and the cat was obviously ill. Finally a call from the vet at the emergency hospital indicating there was a huge cyst in Caramel’s throat and … Continue reading →

142. Mother-Daughter Journey: Robbed Again: On Mothers and Cat Mothers

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    The term “here we go again,” seems so trite, but there is something  truly basic and thought provoking about it; the more I use it, the more I get it: nothing is ever finished, complete, resolved in life. Things just get swept aside until they come around again. I had visited my mother over the weekend to do my usual: pay bills, pick up mail, check her stash of Ensure and pull-ups, on and on. I made note that a vast swath of the area the length of the apartment, behind all the furniture, was blanketed by dust … Continue reading →

Steller Story Series: A Charmed Life: Book 4/Cats & No Cats

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  I have been photographing—and re-photographing my collection and designs; so this is a multi-faceted project: one project, the collecting, then the designing, begat another; the photography and presentation. Here is a link to the on-line presentation on Steller. If you are so inclined, download the Steller app. It is lovely the way the pages “turn.” The view is especially impressive on a large screen, as on a tablet. Feel free to comment! Steller link: Book 4    

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Playing Catch-Up: Cats, Cold, Mothers, Makeup and Art

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  The last we spoke, it was a rocky start to The New Year, and Caramel was in a bad way. But she came home and began eating, purring and exploring; I am sure the relief of the draining of that huge cyst was enormous. It was likely pressing on her trachea and vocal cords. She looks so much better and at least we know now what the culprit might be in the future if this returns: if she is strong enough, they’ll likely remove her thyroid. You know you love kitties: here’s a slideshow of improvement. So, while the … Continue reading →

Healing: Scenes at the Vet

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Yesterday we made a heartwarming visit to the vet to see how Caramel was doing. Animals do get depressed when away from their familiar surroundings; I opened the cage door and she was truly forlorn—OK, so I am projecting. She sniffed my hand and sniffed some more. Remember, she was unable to breathe and smell for weeks. She picked up my scent and pushed her head into my hand. This is language. It was dinner time. The tech put a dish of food and water into her cage and she went right over to it and began to EAT, a … Continue reading →

On Family

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  The news in review 1. People Family Hello, friends, it has been a while. I hope you are all well and I wish you the best for the coming year. What’s new here, you ask? Let’s see. My mother seems to be stable, thankfully. Her DNA report came back and I am bombarded by potential cousins. Speaking of cousins, I was able to get in touch with one of my favorite cousins who now lives in California. We were on the phone for over three hours; it was enlightening, and amazing to get a first hand view of an … Continue reading →

95. Mother-Daughter Journey: Loss: On Parents and Pets

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  Need to tell you …   To all my loving sensitive friends who left me words of kindness, THANK YOU. I usually thank everyone individually, consider this to YOU. YOU are the ones who get that animals ARE members of the family, that they have tremendous impacts on us, that they are sentient, that they change our lives.   I have been going through the lousiest of times since January, mostly dealing with my mother’s needs and with my mother, now 99, who goes through cyclical periods of “delirium.”   The loss of my kitty helped me let loose: … Continue reading →

NYC Photo Journal: The Start of 2015

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  In honor of a new year, I present another little kitty that found me. Here I go again!  (all iPhone photography)     City streets on New Year’s Day. Visiting friends in the Columbia University area near Riverside Drive. Fabulous neighborhood. They live in a building that is 105 years old.   Quick shot of Tom’s, aka Monk’s, the restaurant façade as seen on Seinfeld.   A very Happy New Year to all. Here’s a card for you. .

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A Visit to the Vet

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A visit to the vet where two of my cats were treated last Winter. (“Play” died last May) My son and I like to visit “Moo.” She has been in a cage for several years but no one wants to adopt her. My son and I are the only ones who can pet her. We are tempted to take her but she has never been indoors. While my son was petting and brushing Moo, I visited with the kittens. It is likely that the orange ones are FIV+. They are difficult to find homes for as they can’t be with … Continue reading →

Tripping 2014: Photo Journal: 1. North Adams, MA

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  It’s time for the annual road trip photos of food and fun and and friends and art and kitties. Going back to familiar places has its place; it’s easy and welcoming. Back to The Porches Inn at Mass MoCA, a hip, chic, funky-artsy, cool place to stay, with the prettiest calico kitty ever (next to mine). It is across the canal from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, (Mass MoCA) housed in the former Sprague Electric Company building. It is a great venue for installations and performances as it is huge. First a bunch of photos of my dear … Continue reading →

And So It Goes … And Then There Were Two

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  Oct 7, 2012   My morning began with worry. Play is a very difficult cat to get into a carrier. We had a 1:00 pm appointment at The Blue Pearl Animal Hospital to have a sonogram. There has been no improvement in eating, no response to treats, just all that drinking. In short, no change, just some minor hallucination on my part. Play has been spending most of his recent days in a little shelf where no one would bother him. He usually would hobble out, slower than usual if he heard the vitamin and treat bags but even … Continue reading →