Perfect Neighbor?

No wild parties, no barking dogs, no kids to get into fights with other kids, no husband to get into someone else’s pants or to forget to return borrowed tools.
An old lady with a cat, a green thumb and an independent streak could be the perfect neighbor.

Training Mr. Fluffles

Mr. Fluffles has been here since January 31, slightly over three months.
I’ve been trying to teach him to “shake” and this morning, we had a breakthrough: twice, he pawed at my hand without trying to bite it.
I’ve been told by people who are very experienced with cats that they are trainable, and do adapt to new patterns.

Continue reading Training Mr. Fluffles

Working at Home

I tried out the local co-op workspace yesterday, a well-appointed facility that includes nice-looking floors, a kitchen/bar area, good lighting, lots of desks and chairs and a conference room equipped with an excellent projector.
It’s handsome all right, but being a rehabbed older building, the HVAC is awful. By 5 pm, I was a soggy mess, and glad to be the last person there.
Today I’m back at home, where it’s 68 degrees. I set up a fan and am very comfortable in spite of the fact that outside, the temperature is over 80 in the sun (a friend from Acton wrote that it’s expected to hit 95 there today).
My place is nothing to brag about in the house beautiful sense, but when it comes down to brass tacks, comfort trumps looks every time.

Lost

I’ve been trying to understand why I cried before my adoptive mother’s funeral. I didn’t love her, most of the time didn’t even like her, and her passing meant that there was one person less in the world who had the capacity to hurt me.

Continue reading Lost

Friday Five

From Live Journal:
What is your favorite food from each food group?
1. Bread (Grain) Group:
Bagels, 4-corner, Pain D’Avignon Multigrain
2. Meat (Protein) Group:
Baked haddock, charbroiled sirloin tips
3. Vegetable Group:
Never met a potato I didn’t like. Romaine.
4. Fruit Group:
Watermelon
5. Sugars, Fats and Oils:
Pesto. Real butter.

Two Little Pals

My cat Fluffles loves my 9 year old grandson James. When James stays overnight, Fluffles sleeps at his feet. He permits James to pet him and to feed him Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.
This morning, they both had bacon for breakfast. Right now, they are in the guest room watching TV. James is in bed snacking on Goldfish and Fluffles is on his window seat.
Depressed about the ugly state of the yard, I bought flowers yesterday for the deck, phlox and geraniums, and that’s cheered me up quite a bit.
Even though the trees are bare, between the flowers and James being here for an overnight, it almost feels like summer.

The User Group

Found an archived web page with an announcement of a .NET User Group meeting in Mashpee back in February 2003, which means I’ve been leading or co-leading the User Group for over six years.
No wonder I’m tired.

Ice Dream

Vivid dream about a city filled with ice – a huge waterfall was partially frozen, a zamboni was cleaning the ice on a lake (I was watching it down below from a promenade with many other people), thick ice covered the facade of an old stone building.

An enormous palace (underground?) was filled with party-goers, like Mardi Gras: bright colors, gold, purple, green. There was music and parades.

I was with someone of higher social status than I (my sister?). She didn’t believe there could be so much ice. There was a fierce wind blowing (I saw it move the trees while I was inside). I was wondering how the ice formed since it doesn’t normally get that cold there.

I’ve been in this place before, it’s on an ocean – huge amounts of water, like there would be with an enormous drop-off close to shore, waves sweeping in to the shore, not normal waves, threatening, like tidal waves.

The roads from the city go through/to mountains, from which there are magnificent views/perspectives.