intertext

OMG It's been a year

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 19:17:26 GMT

And what a year!

Since I last posted, I have a) retired b) submitted my PhD thesis c) attended and presented a paper at the DWJ conference in Bristol d) successfully defended my PhD thesis e) become Dr. Intertext.

And now I'm honestly trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life! I don't regret retiring at all. I have some chronic health issues that were making it difficult to work more than part-time, and honestly if all I'm going to have is a part-time income I'd just as soon have it by drawing a pension and not working.

So I have the proverbial 500 pounds a year and a room of my own. What now to do with it? I'm not anxious or depressed about this; it's a privilege really to have the time and leisure to stop and think and let my heart decide for me.

I know I'd like to continue with scholarship and remain in a scholarly community. I think I'm fortunate in that my personal professional network does not depend on, in fact does not really include, anyone from my previous place of employment, but that I do in fact have quite a wide-ranging professional network, mostly in the UK, already in place. Interestingly, this originated in the old LiveJournal (which I still miss). And there's a really strong children's lit/fantasy lit academic group on Twitter. I want to try to be more active in that way, but again I'm trying to think of the best way to go about it.

I have some notions of turning my thesis into a book, or articles, or both. And I have some ideas for other things to do. I suspect much will depend on just sitting down and doing it, though I don't really know how one goes about getting academic books published. I'm sure I can find out.

And then there's a part of me that, like Ged at the end of The Farthest Shore is just "done with doing" and wants to spend quality time in my garden with my dog. That will happen, too, I'm sure.

comments

Feeling very zen, as the summer wanes

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 01:32:25 GMT

All substantive chapters of the diss are finished now, so for the next three months or so it's revisions and writing the introduction and conclusion.

Also, the day after tomorrow, I embark on what will be my last year of teaching at Camosun College. I'm teaching a course on literary traditions, which allows you to pick your own topic. Mine is "heroes." Not real-life heroes, but those larger-than-life literary ones that, as Diana Wynne Jones writes, go out there and fight all your battles for you. My reading list, novels: A Wizard of Earthsea, Frankenstein, Nimona, The Homeward Bounders You knew I had to put DWJ in there somewhere, right?, and Archivist Wasp which, if you haven't read it yet make a point of going to Amazon or wherever you can and getting a copy and reading. NOW. Plus we're going to read some bits of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Taliessin, The Wife of Bath's Tale, Lanval, and some sundry short stories and poems. I hope it goes well.

This brings me to the "zen" part of my post. Some of you may know, or remember, that I've had both hips replaced because of arthritis. Well, two years after my second hip replacement, one of my knees gave out. Turns out that the pain everyone said was "referred pain" from my hip was actually real pain from a gimpy knee. A month or so ago, I could hardly walk. Since then, I've been given some effective meds and have got back some mobility... not all. Today, I took Baggins (the bearded collie) for a walk in the forest, and perforce used a cane and a knee brace. I had to walk very slowly and carefully, but, you know what? It was lovely. I walked slowly and with intention (not to trip and fall) along the path and so much enjoyed just being there. Baggins? He doesn't care how slowly I walk. He just loves to rootle around in the bushes and sniff and sniff and sniff and just be there for me. The whole experience makes me grateful that I can still get out there in the woods with my beloved dog, but also think "ok, if I have to slow down, maybe it's not all bad."

Anyone have any suggestions for where I can get a kick-ass cane? Something with a dragon handle, I think.

comments

Thesis update

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 01:36:00 GMT

Chapter 8 is at 8k and counting. This is the big one: Fire and Hemlock, Hexwood, The Homeward Bounders. Talking about the way DWJ shows the pain and sacrifice a hero must undergo.

It says a lot that three years in I'm still finding new things in this author.

comments

Milestone, of a sort

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 22:03:51 GMT

Today I let the powers that be know that I intend to retire sometime towards the end of August.

I've been thinking about this for some time, but didn't think I'd be able to afford it. Then my aunt died and left me some money - not a fortune, but a nice little nest-egg. Plus I didn't plunge all the equity from my old house into my present mortgage, so I had some capital invested from that as well. I consulted my financial advisor and she gave me full blessing to go ahead with whatever I wanted to do.

When push came to shove, it was surprisingly difficult to make the announcement. I have a lot invested in this job, and have been doing it for more than 25 years. It feels odd to be thinking about not doing it permanently, for all I'm always falling over myself with relief when end of term comes every year.

I don't really worry that I won't have an identity outside of work - I've always put a lot of energy into things other than work, like photography, my dog(s), gardening, and so on. And I look forward very much to having the leisure to do more of those things.

I'll even still be working for another year, because we have this rather splendid thing called a "post-retirement contract" where you retire then get hired back on a 50% contract. You thus collect a 50% salary, but you have started earning your pension, so in effect you are working half-time for a full-time salary, or possibly a bit more.

Even so, it feels a bit like being at the brink of a precipice, or stepping into a future that I'm a bit unsure of. A bit like leaving home when young - leaving the secure nest of employment to be self-sufficient. Although I have sufficient funds, I won't be rich. I do have one great security, though, my house, which has appreciated considerably in value since I bought it and which I could sell in a heartbeat if I needed to. Not that I want to be in that position, but I'll be ok if my physical infirmities become too great and I need something smaller and more convenient.

I'm not making it widely public at work, although I have obviously told the Chair of the department and the Dean. I don't want a fuss, and my feelings about the English department are ... complicated, for various reasons. They'll know when it's official, and next year when I'm on the post-retirement contract.

And I'm still working on my PhD! That was always a personal thing more than anything for my "career" so it doesn't matter if I'm still actually employed or not. Although - and I'll say this here that I wouldn't say publicly - if something came up in Children's Lit somewhere that I could apply for once I finish or am a bit closer to finishing, I might. Much as I've loved teaching at the college, there would still be something shiny about teaching in my own area. And I can see myself continuing to do research and to write.

So there we are. I'm blogging about it so it must be true.

comments

Moon Gazing

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 02:36:45 GMT

There is a new (ish) moon out there, looking like a lopsided grin in the sky. When I see such a moon, I am reminded of "The moon is on its back tonight, as is its custom in the tropics," which is a line from a novel by Vita Sackville West. I know this because once upon a long time ago, I taught an excerpt from that novel in China, in the textbook that we were using. It seemed then like such an odd choice. And now, I reflect that what a wonderful life I've had that I taught Vita Sackville West in China, and that I know who she is in other contexts, and that I am reminded of her now as I look at the moon.

comments

Chrestomanci's Garden

Fri, 24 Nov 2017 02:39:24 GMT

I've never noticed before how reminiscent one part of the climactic scene at the end of Charmed Life is of the killing of Aslan in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. I'm talking about the bit where the baddies are preparing to sacrifice Cat, and they've captured Chrestomanci. There's this crowd of witches and warlocks, all jabbering and jeering and waving sticks, just like all the wicked followers of the White Witch. When Chrestomance is captured, and tied to a tree, they let out a kind of moan, and Chrestomanci himself is sad and tired and lets out a great sigh. And of course, there's the stone on which they are going to sacrifice Cat. And Chrestomanci says something to the effect that they don't know what they are doing, that they are going to wake up ancient powers in that place. All this takes place in this beautiful, almost sacred, garden that is part of Chrestomanci Castle, that DWJ admitted to Judith Ridge in an interview was probably like a medieval sacred garden. It's interesting, because I think the Narnia echoes, if I'm right, lend more of the "awesome" to the scene...

comments

Even her non-fiction has intertextual references

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 00:42:29 GMT

My ~~dissertation~~ thesis (I keep forgetting the proper UK-style name for this document) has a current working title of Hidden Turnings, which is a perfectly appropriate name given the thing - intertextuality - that I'm writing about. For a while, though, I have been thinking of changing it to Fish in Dark Water. A discovery I made today is making that even more likely.

I got the idea from a line in one of the pieces collected in Reflections on the Magic of Writing. She is talking about Fire and Hemlock, and writes that when she settled on the Tam Lin story as the main background, “about ninety other myths and folktales proceeded to manifest, in and out all the time, like fish in dark water.” I thought this was a lovely image, and it is. I also imagined goldfish in a pond.

Today I'm working on the intertextual references in Fire and Hemlock over and above the Tam Lin story, and I had just written something about the thirty-one named works that turn up, many of them books that Tom sends Polly to either help her to train as a hero or to give her clues about his situation. I was going over the list, coming up with links and connections, and got to Henrietta's House, by Elizabeth Goudge, which was Polly's favourite of the first bunch of books Tom sends her for Christmas. I love Elizabeth Goudge; The Little White Horse is one of my favourite books in the world, and I also love Linnets and Valerians, but I'm not familiar with Henrietta's House (to my shame, and now I think I should definitely read it). So I did a bit of web searching and came across a page devoted to Goudge's writing that discusses it. And look at this. The main characters apparently find some caves. In the caves is a pool.
” Look! cried Hugh Anthony excitedly, kneeling beside the still, inky pool, “There are white fishes here. Quite white. Like Ghosts.”
The Dean put his oil lamp on the ground and knelt beside him and together they watched fascinated as the strange white shapes swam round and round in the black water, their ghostly bodies rippling back and forth as though they were weaving some never-ending pattern upon the black loom of the water.”

It gave me shivers. Doesn't it you?

PS: I've just discovered that, thanks to my mother's Puffin collection, I actually own a copy of Henrietta's House So now I have absolutely no excuse and must read it.

PPS: I've also just realized that my last entry ended on an awful cliff-hanger, and am delighted to be able to report that Simon-the-cat came home two days after I returned from Toronto. I suspect he was loitering in the garden waiting to be sure it was me before he came to the door.

comments

Conferring

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 22:31:06 GMT

Last night I returned home from a five-day stint in Toronto, specifically at York University, more specifically the Biennial Congress of the IRSCL (International Research Society for Children's Literature), at which I was presenting a paper on intertextuality in Diana Wynne Jones's Hexwood. One of the nice things was that steepholm was there, and I was able to see her presentation on adaptations of The Borrowers and also spend more time just chatting with her than I've had a chance to do before.

She has written very amusingly about a rather disastrous afternoon we spent in downtown Toronto. It was kind of like this:
Me: "I lost my phone this afternoon."
You: "Oh dear, how did that happen?"
Me: "Well, it was a little damp after I fell in a fountain, so I put it down beside me on a bench where I was sitting, forgot it was there when I walked away, and someone stole it."
You: "You fell in a fountain??"
Me: "Yes, that was when steepholm and I were nearly hit by a speeding motorcycle. When I jumped out of the way I slipped and fell in backwards."
It was, in hindsight, rather funny, especially when miraculously no one was hurt. Losing my phone that way is a whole lot more dramatic than dropping it in a toilet, which I've also done.

The conference was great. I met a lot of people, including a lovely young woman studying at Valencia University who is also doing work on intertextuality - we admired each other's work and the possibility of collaborating on an article was discussed, so that was cool. I rubbed shoulders with a lot of very Big Names, all of whom were very nice.

One of the highlights for me, as it was for steepholm, was Robin Bernstein's talk on bedtime books, featuring Goodnight Moon and Go the Fuck to Sleep and brilliantly deconstructing an argument by Jaqueline Rose. One panel on dystopias in YA fiction featured some discussion on heterotopias which looked at them differently than I did (I theorize an intertextually rich text as a kind of heterotopia for the reader), but intersected in interesting ways. Two of Steepholm's Japanese friends spoke very interestingly about the Green Knowe books, which were among my mother's favourites. I am inspired to re-read them. Yesterday I went to a panel that focussed on sexuality in YA novels, which was shocking in the fact that there are - count them - more than 50 recent YA novels depicting date rape, which raised the question of their purpose, their audience and the awful truth that so many teens and young women have experienced this. Also how few books were actually "sex positive" and what that meant.

My trip home was a lot less eventful than steepholm's, but still delayed by more than two hours, which meant that I was up until 4:30 am Toronto time, arriving home at 1:30 am in Victoria. Today I am feeling very tired and have to go out to replace my phone and also get some food in the house.

Sadly, two days before I left, one of my cats, Simon, disappeared, and he still has not come home. This is very worrying and upsetting, although I'm doing my best to hope that he may yet return. He's not normally a wanderer, though, and the longer he's gone the harder it is to keep the faith. My other cat, Tabitha, was left at home alone while I was away, and I think she missed both Simon and Baggins (who went into kennels). Certainly she greeted me ecstatically when I came home last night, which lessened the feeling of emptiness without either Baggins or Simon. Keep your fingers crossed for Simon.

comments

Canada Day Excursion

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 23:53:06 GMT

I have a private custom, that I usually try to go on some kind of excursion on Canada Day. It's nearly always brilliantly fine, and there's something nice about going out to appreciate the bluest of blue skies and seas and the bright yellows and greens of the grasses. This year, I didn't feel particularly energetic, so I bundled Baggins in the back of the car and went to visit an old haunt: what we in my family called "Mad Jim's Beach" (don't ask), but which is now called Glencoe Cove Kwatsech Park.

( Pictures under the cut )

comments

Anecdote: Gestures

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:57:44 GMT

The diss chapter that I'm working on right now is on parody, so of course I'm browsing through A Tough Guide to Fantasyland. One of the entries is on "Gestures": specifically that Mages are given to exaggerated gesturing when casting spells. Recently, I read Melissa McShane's Regency fantasy Burning Bright (which is really super, by the way, and I thought its sequel was even better). There was a scene there, involving a night-time naval battle with fire-wielding magic users on both sides attempting to set fire to their respective ships and, if it was possible to determine which of the shadowy figures on the enemy ship was the magic user, each other. The less experienced and rather showy mages on our heroine's ship used gestures, which our heroine quickly realized made targets of themselves, and she snaps at them to stop it. I wonder if McShane has read DWJ? (I think it's likely).

comments

Return

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:14:03 GMT

Readers, it has been five years since I last posted.

I've been circling around the idea of starting up again, but it always felt a bit self-conscious and awkward. But then I was talking to a friend and colleague who also maintains a journal here (we were discussing the whole LJ TOS kerfuffle), and he was encouraging in a very nice way, so I logged in and poked around. And it was still about a week later that I plucked up the courage to start this. But here we are.

I've missed it. Several times I have sat for hours rereading all my LJ posts, laughing and crying and wishing I was still doing it. I think one reason I have not is that for a long time I associated blogging with a particular friend from whom I have become estranged, and that estrangement was extremely painful at the time and still hurts, though at least we have reached a bit of a reconciliation to the point where we can at least speak to one another again.

It helps, I think, to be starting again in Dreamwidth. Partly because of the kerfuffle, I am no longer cross-posting to LJ. Not because I fear the scrutiny of the KGB or whoever wants to read the extremely unexciting ramblings of a mild-mannered, geeky woman now of more than a certain age. More because it feels like a true tabula rasa, a new start in a new journal, but with access to my old life and whoever of my old flist is still around.

Many of you are my friends on FB, or in RL, so will know about my doings, but maybe in part for my own sense of bridge-building between past and present, here's a brief recap.

What is the same: I'm still pretty much the same person, though I do feel a bit more reserved and cautious even than before. My second-to-last post in LJ was, regrettably, announcing the death of my beloved bearded collie Robinson. Well, I have another one. Same breed. Name of Baggins. He will likely feature largely in these pages. I have the same two cats. I'm still working at the same community college, though I'm now no longer a union boss. I think that experience may have been another thing that put me off writing here; it was very much a mixed blessing. Good work, but difficult inter-personal relationships. I'm still living alone and unattached romantically and really don't see that ever changing.

What is different: the biggest thing is that I sold my old house, the one I lived in through all that difficult time with my mother, and have bought my own. It's in a lovely neighbourhood in one of the nicest parts of town and for Victoria it's fairly old (1912). I love it. Because of Baggins, and because it is green, with a bright red door (which makes sense in my own brain anyway), I call it "Bag End" when I think about it to myself. Let's forget any possible associations with "old bags" please.

The other biggest thing, a very big thing, is that I am working on a PhD, writing about intertextuality in the works of Diana Wynne Jones. I am very happy about this, and the work is going as well as can be expected, and I'm enjoying it. I am enrolled via distance at Cardiff University, which feels very posh. It's another new start, but also a chance to take back one of the big things I lost in the years I was looking after my mother. I doubt many realized that when I first started my LJ I was enrolled in a PhD program at UVic. I think I might like to use this now for some PhD thinking-out-loud, so let me know if you'd like to be included in a filter.

I went to Greece in 2014, which was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped, and it wasn't life changing.

I had another hip replacement last year, and am still not quite as mobile as I would like, but it's getting there. Baggins keeps me walking and my garden keeps me determined to stay fit. My new house has a most delightful garden, almost like a secret garden at the back and with many flowering trees and a Japanese Maple and all sorts.

I am, in most respects, very happy. So that's all right.

comments

RIP Ray Bradbury

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:24:11 GMT

I wanted to write something about Ray Bradbury

comments

The Weakness in Me

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:54:01 GMT

Robinson's death has hit me hard. Also, the general feeling of doglessness. I haven't been without a dog, except for when on holiday, for eighteen years. And only for brief periods in my whole life. And maybe I'm at the best of times a bit lonely, and a dog is a comforting Presence in one's life, even when it is old and infirm and sleeping most of the time.

So I did something a bit foolish. Yesterday, I went on the SPCA website, and there was a 4-month old pointer-terrier cross puppy who looked out at me and I kind of fell in love with. I stomped around yesterday and thought "no, it's too soon..." but this morning I thought, "ok, if it's still there..." and went down to see her. There was a couple ahead of me, but they decided against her. So I filled in my application. And the SPCA turned me down. For all the right reasons. This puppy has already had three homes and is already showing signs of separation anxiety. They want someone for her who ideally has another dog, and maybe in a family where someone will be home a lot. Also they were worried about my two cats, because this dog isn't proven to get along with cats. You know, and I know, that she probably would have been fine, and probably would have been a great fit. But they didn't know that, and I don't blame them. And as I told them, it's probably too soon anyway. But of course when I told them that I'd just lost another dog, I started crying. So I felt embarrassed for myself on top of everything else.

And now I feel even more bereft than I did before, because I'd realized how badly I want this hole in my heart to be filled, and how empty I feel now.

comments

Profound Gifts

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:50:44 GMT

My tribute to Robinson, blogged elsewhere.

comments

RIP Robinson

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:15:01 GMT

I sent my dear boy to his rest this afternoon. He was a great age, almost 15, and I'd known this was coming, but I'm still pretty shattered.

comments

January!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:03:21 GMT

comments

January Sales

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:26:03 GMT

I return, triumphant, from a very successful shopping trip. To whit:

2 pairs of cord pants
1 velvety/cord jacket
3 (count them) THREE! cashmere sweaters (one turtle, one v-neck and one hoodie)
1 wool blend v-neck sweater
1 cotton cable knit turtle-neck sweater
1 v-neck t-shirt
3 pairs of tights

YAY! I badly needed some new clothes, and it was great to get them at greatly reduced prices.

And they're not all black, which makes a change. Only some of them :)

comments

The Good News Is...

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:46:07 GMT

I have awesome students.

This morning, I prepared my class, went downstairs to my 10:30 class at about 10:25, ready to set up some web things. I got to the door, and the whole class was there (all but one or two, itself quite remarkable at this time in the term), lights dimmed, watching the student scheduled for one of the presentations that day _doing_ his presentation. Everyone was listening intently, laughing in all the right places.

It was all a bit "wtf" but I thought, oh, maybe he's been telling them about his play (this is the scriptwriting class) and they wanted to hear it (I know, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but...). Anyway, when he was finished, I walked in, took my place at the computer terminal and started setting up. I looked at them, looked at the clock, and said "I'm not late... ?"

Uh. Yeah. I was. The class started at 10:00. I don't even have the excuse that I was an HOUR late because of the time change. I just got muddled, because all my other classes start on the half hour, and I think I conflated this one with another one later in the week. And this one has a silly schedule that's different on Mondays than it is on Wednesdays. And I'm tired, and a bit depressed, and my brain is fuzzy.

But - HEY YOU GUYS!! They were carrying on the class without me! How cool is THAT! They were engaged, responsible, and participating. Wow.

They could have walked out. And if I'd walked in, 25 minutes late, to find one person there to tell me they'd done that, I think I would have gone and jumped off a bridge. Instead, they give me this gift.

Oh, and we're reading Firefly episode 5, "Out of Gas," and someone in the class was wearing a cunning hat. How cool is that?

comments

Some Improvement

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 17:09:16 GMT

So the double booking was solved by giving me an online section of one course instead of the physical one at the impossible time. I have an online version of this course already built, but will need to create new material for a new unit (on Watchmen) that I've been planning to incorporate this year in the face-to-face version, and will need to revise quite a few pages. Oh well. I still have five days per week, and an evening class, but at least the back-to-back and three classes in one day and conflict have been removed.

comments

Aaargh!

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:41:42 GMT

Which of the following unpleasant scheduling factors do you think pertains in my schedule this term?
A) Five days per week
B) An evening class
C) One day with three classes in one day
D) Back-to-back classes
E) Late Friday afternoon class
F) All of the above ( Read more... )

comments

Good Things from Today

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:33:45 GMT

Lunch with a friend.
Unexpected sunshine.
Realizing that I have laughed spontaneously more since I acquired Simon than I have for a long time.
New sneakers!

comments

More About the New Boy

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:57:09 GMT

Simon really is the most endearing little soul. He has the kind of solemn, wide-eyed goofiness that reminds me sharply of some of the cat-characters in Doreen Tovey's series of books about Siamese cats (have any of you read these, by the way? They're lovely). I keep taking photographs of him sleeping, because I am constantly finding him in the most abandoned sleep positions - on his back or lying across my legs with his head lolling downwards.

Tabitha seems to be coming round to him, despite herself. Mornings and evenings are now punctuated by cat races around the house (yesterday, I had to move a bewildered Robinson from the place in the hallway where he was being trampled by two sets of thundering paws). Yesterday, I actually spotted the two cats wrestling, and howled with laughter when Simon launched himself from a chair onto Tabitha's back, actually escaping without a pounding. Tabitha is very vocal, and given to screeching as if being murdered when she's only playing. I am getting used to this, too. Tabitha still thumps Simon regularly, but it is with claws sheathed and seems entirely in a not-very-successful effort to put him in his place.

My only concern is that Tabitha may be feeling a bit displaced in my affections. I try to give her lots of love, but she's staying a bit aloof. Also, Simon is extremely affectionate and likes nothing better than to snuggle - it's hard when Tabitha comes chirruping up for a cuddle and Simon is already there. I think I may leave Simon shut in the study with his breakfast in the early morning, because both Tabitha and I are missing our morning ritual of purrs over the laptop and her finishing off my cereal bowl. Simon will be annoyed, but I think Tabitha's needs come first.

However, all in all I'm delighted with this new member of my family, and so thankful that I happened to be in the right place at the right time to find him.

By the way, I think he's twice the size now that he was when I first got him, and he has big paws. And he eats like a horse. I suspect he's going to be large.

comments

Kittens have no tact

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:05:17 GMT

The further adventures of Simon.

He is settling in very well. He likes me a lot, and he tolerates Robinson, and he adores Tabitha. He says that when he grown up he wants to have green eyes and stripes, just like hers. Tabitha is not so sure about him, even though she has allowed him to touch noses. Mostly she thumps him when he gets too close (but with claws sheathed). Her nose is a bit out-of-joint, especially as he has a habit of rushing in just when she wants to come on my lap for a cuddle, and he's figured out how to jump up to her feeding bowl. Tabitha and I have a long-time ritual that she comes on my bed after she's had her breakfast and while I'm reading LJ and checking my email. It's hard to be peaceful when there's a kitten mewing piteously and waving his paw under the door, but it's either that or Simon zooms in and jumps on my chest purring madly and Tabitha goes off in a huff. On Sunday morning, though, I had one of them on each side of me, which was lovely.

( Extreme cuteness under the cut )

comments

Simon!

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:47:53 GMT

Please welcome the latest addition to my household: Simon the Siamese.

It was one of those nice little serendipitous things; I've been thinking for a while about getting a second cat to be company for Tabitha, especially as I'm facing the loss of Robinson in the not-too-distant future. Having a young thing around might help both of us weather that. And then, yesterday, I happened to be doing routine errands in the Pet food emporium, and there he was! My pet shop does a satellite service for the local SPCA, and I usually go by and say hello to the cats in their cages. Yesterday morning, I noticed a siamese kitten looking out at me, and when I went to talk to him he came right up to the bars of the cage and nudged my hand, then stared at me fixedly, and my heart was lost. My friend kp, the cat expert, had recommended that if I got another cat it should be male and preferably a kitten, and I love siamese cats, so this was a match made in heaven. I wasn't sure they'd let me adopt a kitten, given that I have a dog and another cat, but perhaps it's the time of year when they're over-run. In any case, I got the approval within minutes, and very soon after Simon was ensconced in my bedroom at home.

He has not yet met Tabitha face-to-face, but they have sniffed each other under doorways. I'm letting him have the run of the house when Tabitha is out, and then giving Tabitha lots of love while he's shut away. Robinson is pretty much oblivious. Yesterday, Simon hissed and arched his back at R, but this morning he (Simon) came and hung out on my lap while R was lying at my feet, so I suspect all will be well fairly soon. I'm hoping that later today I can have both cats free in the house. There's something of the quality of a bedroom farce in whipping one out of the way when the other comes to the door!

Simon seems to have a very strong personality and has taken the new surroundings very much in stride. He likes to sit on my shoulders, which is fine for now, though may not be optimum when he gets bigger :)

comments

"That's a good crop of weeds you've got there!"

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:20:34 GMT

This, from passer-by whom I know slightly, while I'm on my hands and knees obviously in the midst of weeding my garden. Passer-by has an immaculate and beautifully planted front garden, which I've commented upon favourably when _I_ passed by. I would never, repeat NEVER, remark upon any weeds, even if there were any.

My unspoken reply: *"Why yes, thank you SO much for pointing that out! How would I EVER have noticed them, without you commenting?"*

I divide people into those who notice the weeds, and those who notice the flowers. If I notice weeds, it's only in a moment of gratitude that other people are normal and have normal failings and lives that preclude having immaculate houses or gardens. I envy immaculate houses and gardens slightly, but would really far rather just enjoy the crazy beauty of my own rather wild space outdoors, and I have far too little time to worry about cat hairs and dog footprints in my indoor space. Seeing as I am not retired, or wealthy, nor do I have anyone to share the labour of maintaining a house and garden, my place is not in a state of perfection. I like having a garden and pets, though I'm sure that some would think that I shouldn't have the one if I'm unable to keep it up perfectly or the other because of the incumbent mess. ( A pox on that, I say. )

comments