adoption day

hello! someone is getting adopted today.

this little fellow . .

just lounging around in the afternoon sun, waiting for the nice lady to come pick him up.

i think they'll be very happy together.

we sat and talked for a little while about how cute and smart andy is . . and about cat food and cat litter, litter boxes and cat toys, and about how cold it was outside and would he be warm enough walking to the train?

there's not much of anything nicer than a warm home and a warm heart.

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as mirella and andy went on their way, i started dinner preparations with a new cooking companion.

christmas kitten (i think that's a james herriot story).

scallops, kale and black bean soup . . 

after dinner snuggles . . 

good night everybody . .

cat and kitten antics

the three of them are getting much more comfortable with each other.

at the end of the video, pluto is aware that the tea kettle on the stove will start to hum. he doesn't like the sound.

i love andy's fierce little growls. pluto used to do this too, when he was the same age. here he's just a spectator . . i think he finds these two endlessly entertaining.

dinner this evening was fried porgi fillets and ratatouille, all from saturday's green market.

we made arrangements this evening for handing-off andy to his adopter tomorrow afternoon at 12:45 pm. this is his last evening with us.

foster kitten care

i walked with greg to work this morning as the kittens were scheduled for neutering at a veterinary practice near his building (he goes into the office every once in awhile, but mainly works from home).

after we said good-bye and i dropped them off, i picked up a mocha from the le pain quotidian cafe a block away (i guess they didn't all close during covid). the sky was so beautiful today and the geese were meandering about the meadow . .

and were busy chatting and floating in the river . . 

the boardwalk always feels quieter than the stone walkway by the river . . .

i was heading to 14th street, to the apple store for new earbuds as the kittens destroyed the pair i had (they tore it to pieces - literally).

i love the steel blues and greys of the winter sky and the river . .

down by little island was a lone goose which i found strange as they usually travel in pairs and i felt sad thinking it had lost it's mate.

 

 

goose and people out for a stroll along the river . . one looking for food? everyone else talking together.

 

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hours later at 4:30 pm i was heading back downtown. you can see hints of the pink sunset through the clouds . .

it had completely set by the time i reached the animal hospital where the kittens were lively in their carrier with their little cones around their necks to keep them from scratching. the technician who i had seen in the morning explained their care which was that they receive only a tablespoon of food and pain medication at 8 pm. we both remembered each other from when i had brought finn, fir and fallon in october of 2019. she was very nice and asked me about best friends for a client who had recently lost their pet of twelve years and wanted to adopt.

by that time greg had arrived and we walked home together. the pain medication which says it may cause drowsiness seemed to do the opposite and the kittens have been binging around the room like jackrabbits, trying to get their cones off. i think they've finally settled down now for the night, but i need to check on them and turn off the light.

turning twenty two on a tuesday

someone has a birthday today . . 

we had green tea and cinnamon toast before she ran off to class.

a hat she picked out at the cat cafe on sunday . . 

say cheese pluto . .

after the table was clear of food and glassware and she had headed out, the kittens were finally let out of the bedroom (thankfully, it hadn't been torn to pieces).

 

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we were all on different schedules so we zoomed with korrina and morgan at 7 pm, though it was a bit later (i was on a zoom meeting until about 7:15 with the best friends volunteer center where the foster kittens came from, while rolling out the dough and filling the birthday pie with apples). greg had been out at montauk as there had been a scheduled furnace cleaning with a technician today and was on his way home. we sang happy birthday and she opened one of her gifts (a pair of socks from meow parlour with astronaut cats on them) and then we said good-bye . . chanda went out to eat with emily and i cleaned up from pie making and put it in the oven (after checking with marisa about the timing she usually does for her pies . . i ended up putting it in at 375 for 15 minutes and then 350 for 30 minutes, though she got back to me later that she usually does 425 for 10 minutes and then 350 for 30 minutes, which is actually my mom's recommendation. however, my pies usually end up too mushy at that temperature - 375 for 15 minutes produced a good pie for me this time around . . i'm writing it down here for reference!).

 

happy birthday dear chanda . .

kitten antics and the whitney again

 

 andy loves "killing" the fake fur that zips onto the hood of my down jacket (i had taken it off to handwash in the sink - he kept finding the spots i placed it to dry).

 

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greg and i visited the whitney museum today.

we walked out on the 5th floor deck and visited the jasper johns exhibit and the main collection on the 7th floor.

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back at home it was kitten weighing time. when i first began weighing them i couldn't keep them in the bowl; now i can't get them to come out. they're happy to sit there for me.

dinner was steamed cauliflower with browned butter, steamed kale with carmelized onions, pork chops baked with an onion and an apple, and sautéed shiitake mushrooms.

martinmas

we ate dinner by candlelight and chanda read the following poem:

november

 

the mellow year is hastening to its close;

the little birds have almost sung their last,

their small notes twitter in the dreary blast --

that shrill-piped harbinger of early snows;

the patient beauty of the scentless rose,

oft with the morn's hoar crystal quaintly glassed,

hangs, a pale mourner for the summer past,

and makes a little summer where it grows:

in the chill sunbeam of the faint brief day

the dusky waters shudder as they shine,

the russet leaves obstruct the straggling way

of oozy brooks, which no deep banks define,

and the gaunt woods, in ragged, scant array,

wrap their old limbs with sombre ivy twine.

 

by hartley coleridge (1796 - 1849)

dinner silverware had to be rescued from the clutches of little feline thieves . .

watching a nighttime game together . .