100 words: Warmth

There is a welcome break in the heat and humidity of summer today, and maybe for a couple days. This change is reflected in the cats’ behavior. When it is too warm they want nothing to do with us. When it becomes the slightest bit cooler, they become like little heat seeking missiles and zero in on their targets. Laps are preferred, but also the more inconvenient locations: between and on legs in bed, trapping the sleeping humans in one posture for hours on end. Sure, certain morning aches are due to age but some definitely have a feline origin.

100 words: Sniff

The summer smells are here. Long ago gone are the aromas of lilacs. Fresh mowed grass now dominates. I love tomatoes but not the alkaloid smell of the plants. Horse manure in all its forms, wet, dried, composted. The particular moist and organic odor of a freshwater beach. Greasy-feeling sunscreen, lightly scented. The bug repellent has, itself, a repellent reek. Windows open all the time so the musty house smells are dissipated. Hot plastic smell of a closed-up auto in the sun. And the season’s fresh abundance: strawberries, zucchini, oysters, cherries, corn, and herbs- oh! Basil, parsley, chives, and more.

100 words: Education

There are two new tumbling grizzled kittens in the house. He has a three-quarters length tail; she, a small little nubbin. Without the tail’s disparity they can be hard to tell apart. They play very hard and explore the house fearlessly. They also nap hard; together; alone; and with their adopted “mother,” an older three-legged orange male. This unrelated, no resemblance tabby offers instruction on the fine points of licking oneself clean, reinforced by a pinioning paw, while emitting a diesel-engine quality purr. These good habits are so-so-necessary to learn; but not some of his more adult, post-adolescent bad habits.

100 words: Dreams

In the early morning, when the sky lightens in the east bedroom window, is when I find I have the most intense dreams. There may be wild adventures; there can be prosaic going-ons. Interestingly enough I find most these dreams take place inside a building, usually a house. Sometimes the house is one I’ve been in before, typically morphed out of recognition. Sometimes it’s a new place full of dark corners and clanking hulking machinery. Is the outside too strange, too uncommon to make its way into my dreams except in nightmares where I am plunging from a collapsing bridge?

a commitment to write more....

I would like to contribute more to this blog than I have been. In an effort to impose discipline, and gain the habit, I’m borrowing a meme from another blog http://mrlondonstreet.blogspot.com/. So, for at least a little while, I shall try to write 100 word entries. I hope to do two or more per week. Please enjoy!

Hot hot summer is here

It's July, and it's already 90+ degrees!!! This is not typical of Rochester... On the bright side, the tomatoes love it. Thanks to the sprinkler system my husband installed they should just grow and grow in the sunshine.

We went to a movie last night, Micmacs. Very funny movie, in French with subtitles. Lots of Rube Goldbergian devices and improbable coincidences. One disappointment: we've been using the Rosetta Stone for French for three months. Not always that faithfully. It shows in our total incomprehension of the movie's dialogue!

The kittens are growing so fast! Little Ada was only 2.5 pounds at her last checkup in June; now she's 3 lbs 12 oz. She went to the vet on Saturday for a recheck due to walking on her wrist. Hopefully she'll grow out of it, but if I don't see improvement I may take her to an orthopedist. Both Ada and Kelvin have adopted Pudly as mother; Pumpkin and Tempe mostly ignore them; and Kelvin seems to want to give Copy a hard time.