No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 12, 2021

I have had a number of pets over the years.

My first one was a turtle named Churchy after the Pogo character.

Then there were a series of Gerbils, Hamsters, and mice.

When I moved in with Donna and Robert, I lived which two German shepherds who were up there in age.

The next place I moved had cats and a python.

When I moved up with Peter there were two cats in residence, Stalin and Treat Williams. Treat took to me immediately. Staling took a little long but once we became friends, he spent as much time as he could on top of me.

We gained Millie and Vanillie during Hannukah. I was informed that I had been given a kitty as a gift. I was up in Buffalo working on “Tony and Tina’s wedding” at the time.

Mille and I bonded when I got back home. She was my cat and made sure the other cats knew it. Stalin ignored her and continued to sleep on me.

Until one evening when I was pregnant with Caroline. Stalin was curled up on my belly and Caroline, in utero, kicked him in the head. Stalin bounced so high, I thought he was going to hit the ceiling. He was very cautious after that.

Figaro was found by me during a nor ’eastern. She has been treed by a very big dog named Moose. Caroline spent the weekend with her and Fig imprinted on her. Fig becomes upset if another cat is trying to seek out her attention.

Mewlan we got at a local no kill shelter. She had a hard life before we brought her into our house. She was a feral that was fixed and, rather than notching, they lopped off the top of her left ear. Then she was captured again and adopted. The people who adopted her then returned her because at times she walks like a drunken sailor and they thought she had brain damage. Turns out that her back knees have a defect and they slide in and out of place. Yeah, she is our clumsy cat. She is scared of so many things. I think they used a broom to discipline her because she is terrified of it. 

Phoebe was an impulse cat, but we are so glad we got her. We wanted to adopt her sister, but she was adopted as we arrived. They introduced us to Phoebe, and it was love at first sight.  She has been raised with other cats and a lot of human interaction. She fit right in with the others. 

The four of them live pretty much in harmony with spats of kitty politics. 

We have our routines like I give them wet food in the morning. Fig has to mark Caroline before she goes out of the house. Phoebe must sleep with us at night. Mew will only be petted when she wants to be. Inky is my cat and lets the others know it.

I am grateful for all the pets I have had in my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 10, 2021

Today we are to celebrate our brothers and sisters.

I have two cool brothers and an amazing sister. If you know Sean, Sheila and/or Patrick, you know what I mean. I am proud to be the oldest in the group and watch them grow and succeeded. 

Then I have what I call my extended family of people who feel like family to me.

When I was much younger and starting to go to conventions, we had a set of adults that kept an eye on us. We called them our Science Fiction Aunts and Uncles. They made sure we didn’t get into too much trouble and we knew if we were uncomfortable with the attention we were getting from older adults, we could go to them and be believed.

I consider my friend Mary Aileen a sister. We have known each other for over fifty years now. I know she is in my corner and I am in hers. We can talk to each other about anything and everything without having to censor ourselves. Hers is the longest consistent friendship I have.

I have my convention family, my theater family, my puppetry family, among others.

There are crossovers in those categories but that is the way of friendship.

I have friends that know I am a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen. I know which of my friends will do the same for me.

My chosen family knows I have their backs as does my blood family.

I love my brothers and sisters will all my heart. 

I am grateful for my blood relations and chosen family.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 9, 2021

The last couple of days have not been fun. My digestive tract went into serious rebellion and I am still dealing with the fall out.

I did manage to work under these conditions. It was a bit difficult, but I did it. Lots and lots of water got me through it.

If this doesn’t ease, I will go see my Doctor.

I have a plan for today and tomorrow. I am leaving Sunday a little loosey goosey. 

I have work Tuesday through Thursday next week.

Mewlan, our scaredy cat, has taken a turn towards the cuddly. For the first time since we got her, she has come to me and asked for pets by tapping my elbow with her paw. She has gone to everyone in the house for pets and seems much more comfortable with all of us. There is less scampering when you walk towards her.

Phoebe comes up to sleep with us sometime between midnight and one am. She curls up on various places on the bed. Sometimes cuddling up next to Peter and other times on top of me. She loves it when I am on my left side because she can settle in. Less so for the right.

Inky has taken to sleeping next to me. I think she knows I will keep her safe from the other cats.

Fig has been spending more time in laps. She wants to be stroked and petted until she falls asleep. Considering she is our senior cat, it makes sense. She is still not happy when any of the other cats are getting any attention from Caroline.

Thursday will be my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. By May, I will be totally vaccinated. Next Thursday will be Caroline’s second shot so again by May, the entire family will be vaccinated.

We have to take Peter’s car in for service today. That is being put into the equation of what I want to do.

Time to really start my day.

Get vaccinated. It will work if we all do it.

I am grateful for things that ease my stomach.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 6, 2021

Judi Ward is a well-known name in doll making. 

Her patterns are geared to all levels of doll makers. She has taught doll-making all over the world.

I have a couple of her patterns in my pattern collection.

Last Wednesday the sump pump in their basement apparently died and by the time they found out, there was eight inches of water on the floor.

A lot of her studio materials were in plastic tubs on the shelves but anything on the floor in cardboard boxes were a total loss.

This included an artistic lifetime of patterns that she created. She has electronically everything she created after 1978 but anything before that was lost along with wigs, doll shoes and doll making materials. Her husband lost his comic book collect, baseball card and, saddest of all, family photos that had not be scanned into the computer yet.

Their kids and grandchildren helped clean the mess up and sort out what could be saved.

This, of course, got me to thinking about my patterns and supplies and what will happen to them after I am gone.

I want them to go to good homes. To people who can use them. Caroline gets first crack at them, but I wonder what will happen to the puppets and costumes and dolls I have made over the years. Each has a story attached to it. I have the puppet that Peter bought from me which is how we met. I have signed puppets by various folks including a Sandman puppet that Neil was kind enough to sign.

I don’t want them tossed out in the garbage.

But things can change in an instant and I know that I might lose everything.

I do really hope someone takes a lifetime of patterns and adds them to their pattern box.

I am grateful for my puppets.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 5, 2021

Not physical fatigue but mental fatigue.

This past week was a series of ‘if we didn’t have bad luck, we would have no luck at all’.

That wears on one like Marley’s chains.

I am not in my pit of despair; however, I am tired.

I am working on pushing through these feelings and getting things done.

I don’t want to wallow in this. I don’t want to give in to curling up in a ball or losing myself into playing on my iPad.

And that can be hard to do.

I am making today a one foot in front of the other day.

I will start with something that needs to be done then move onto the next thing until I get into the groove again.

I do know that this too shall pass. I just want it to pass faster.

I am grateful for whatever I can get done this week.

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