22 April, 2007

Simon Sunday: The End of Days 

Day Ninety-Six: Who knows what he's stalking this time
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

That is to say, the end of the 365 Days project. We lasted 100 days, which is about 93 days longer than I thought we'd go. But Simon and Billie both got really tired of me shoving the camera in their face every time they did something even remotely cute or interesting and I realized that I was depriving us of a lot of the joy in simply being present by insisting that they keep being CUTE for the camera.

This doesn't mean I won't be taking pictures of Simon and Billie anymore, or even going on any lengthy hiatus, nor is this the end of Simon Sunday. Considering all of the mishief that Simon gets up to, and how delicately beautiful Miss Billie is, who am I to horde such wonderfulness all for myself?

For now, however, the three of us are gonna do lots more snuggling, lots more playing and much less posing and image processing.

Labels: Billie, cats, family, furkids, photography, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 1:14 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

25 March, 2007

Simon Sunday: Guess Who ELSE Likes His Morning Cuppa? 

Day Seventy-Six: He's Lucky He's So Cute
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

This morning, just after I poured myself a cup of English Breakfast Tea and sat at my desk, Simon let me know that it was time to play with him. OK, no problemo, I hadn't spent much quality time with him during the week, so we sat down to a rousing game of Stalk The Pipe Cleaner.

Soon, Billie woke up from her post-breakfast nap and was intrigued by our game. She's not too much on "interactive play" but she gives it a go every so often. So she jumped down from her bed and ran over and patted the pipe cleaner with her paw (this is how she "captures her prey", evidently). She'd tap the pipe cleaner then run away before it could...oh hell, I have no idea what retribution she was expecting from a length of fuzz-covered wire.

While this was going on, Simon left us to play, which was kind of nice of him to let Billie have mom-and-me time with me (usually he insists on including himself which drives Billie away). As usual, Billie quickly bored of the activity and wanted to be left alone.

Simon walked past me, turned to look at the pipe cleaner in my hand and headed over to his pot of cat grass. When I looked at him, something didn't seem quite right. On closer inspection, he had a wet spot on his chin. A wet spot that, curiously, was THE SAME COLOUR AS MY TEA. No wonder he was being so kind to Billie: While she had me distracted, he helped himself to my cup of tea! My tea!

Now, I probably should have been concerned that the caffeine and whatnot might be bad for him, but he's gotten into so many bags, bowls, cups and dishes of my food and suffered little to no consequences that I long ago put away the phone number to the emergency vet clinic. And yet, this week pet caregivers have been given a sobering dose of reality that the stuff our furkids are "supposed" to eat can be deadly.

I wonder what kind of testing these pet food manufacturers do on the stuff that goes into the food they make. If they do perform quality and safety tests on food, would it have even picked up on the rat poison in the imported wheat? Incidents like this and the horrible spinach/e-coli contamination are a frightening reminder that our food supply is terribly insecure. It gives me pause every time I pour kibble into Simon and Billie's dishes, wondering if the corn used in their kibble has been contaminated with a deadly mold, or, when I prepare my own supper, I wonder if I've washed the greens in my salad sufficiently. The truth is, we've become so disconnected from our food supply that we have no idea what all is in our food and whether or not the meal we're sitting down to is going to make us sick. Or worse.

It's something to think about while shopping and preparing a meal, but not something to dwell too long on. But I give my thanks every day that I have Billie around so that maybe one day she'll be comfortable playing interactively with me (and, dare I hope, Simon). And I'm grateful for every mischievous deed Simon does; even if it means I have to make a new cup of tea.

Labels: Billie, cats, family, furkids, gratitude, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 9:13 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

07 February, 2007

65 

I think I may have said this before, but I never was able to form an image of my mother as a Senior Citizen, even while she was still alive. Maybe it had to do with the vision I had of never giving her a grand child and, therefore, could not picture her as "grandma", I don't know. But today would have been her sixty-fifth birthday and it's something I cannot quite wrap my brain around.

My relationship with her memory has shifted again. This time it's for the better. Much of the anger I felt toward her and toward our relationship has dissipated. I really don't think I've let it go so much as it just doesn't occupy as prominent a place in my soul, anymore. And wherever she is, I think that she is no longer as tortured as she was before. At least, when we visit in my dreams, our encounters are no longer as adversarial as they used to be (she used to try to kill me when I saw her in my dreams). At least I hope she is no longer suffering like she did in this world.

I had no idea she shares a birthday with Eddie Izzard. That is so cool!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom, I don't know if today still has significance for you where you are, but I hope it was a great day.

~~~W.W.P.

Labels: family

   ~~ victoria on 7:28 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================