Radiate Everything You Are

Thing Two.

It's raining. The northeast is in the grip of a nor'easter. Siobhan and I intended to go schmatta shopping but postponed. The kittens are sleeping. I'm thinking of dressing up reasonably rainproof and going out for a hike in the wilds of wet suburbia. Or maybe not: Jacques Pepin is on at 2, and it's always possible I might learn something.

No, really. It could happen.

Playing on Daddy's cookbooks. Yes, I put away the cookbooks and gave them the box.

Darla is very excited about new cats. In my family, they constitute "grandkitties." This afternoon:

Darla: Did they tell you their names yet?
Tata: Not yet. It's tempting to go ahead and name them in relation to one another but they're so different it'd be a mistake.
Darla: You might do that anyway. Like what?
Tata: Harriet and Sojourner. Krystal and Alexis. Joan and Jackie. Lena and Dorothy. Billie and Dinah. I thought for a while we could be Josie and the Pussycats if I could be Val, the smart one. Daria suggested Cirrus and Nimbus.
Darla: They'd have to be white and fluffy!
Tata: I said Igneous and Sedimentary.
Darla: Rock and Hard Place.
Tata: Scylla and Charybdis. Pride and Prejudice.
Darla: But not Sense and Sensibility!
Tata: Heavens, no! They're much too young for that!

Thing One surveys the landscape.

Darla and I talk often. Yesterday:

Tata: How about Demeter and Hecate?
Darla: Demeter and who?
Tata: Hecate. It's got a great beat!
Darla: Agggggggh! That's a terrible pun! When I made puns, your Dad would say, "That's awful! Leave the room! One more like that and it's back to Canada with you!"
Tata: I made a joke like that one day and he was annoyed I'd reached for the easy punchline. He said, "It's time for you to go home now!" I said, "I know the rule, Daddy: Use a pun. Go to jail."

Being the kitten is exhausting!

Thing One, left, likes to rub her tiny face against mine and put her paws around my neck. She likes to kiss me, but she doesn't like when Thing Two comes anywhere near me. I have to go to Thing Two and scritch her. This afternoon, between phone calls back and forth regarding the funeral home's most recent fuck up, I lay on my bed so the cats could climb on me. Thing One lay across my neck, purring sweetly. Thing Two I could hear prowling around the room but couldn't see until I had occasion to look at the floor near my head. Finally, she lay down at my feet, but by then, I was so pissed at the hillbilly attempt at extortion, I had to get up. Thing Two opened her eyes for a moment when I took the picture, but they're both sleeping again. This is a relief because it demonstrates the kittens are relaxing into being here, together and with me. I'll worry less about going to work all day tomorrow and leaving them alone.

No, come to think of it, I'll worry about them just because I can, and that's nice.