Kittening!

Well, slowly getting better, slowly, slowly. The last bit of congestion lingers, giving me a runny nose and tickling cough, and wow, is the gravity turned up high in here or is it just me, but I feel slightly better than I did yesterday, so perhaps I'll be all right.

I did summon the energy to go kitten-visiting today, which was very therapeutic. This little handful purred and purred.

And her brothers were friendly, too.

Paws up!

They're about four weeks old, and were rescued from a drainage ditch. Two of them are pre-adopted already, though, so that's the good news!

There's another litter of littles next to them. My mother pointed out that this one looks kind wolf-like, or maybe fox-faced.

You'd never guess that there were three kittens on top of the cat bed and one underneath until you looked closely.

Halp?

Watching me.

Yes, I know you're there.

That's Bailey, and this is Peter:

They're in a cage together, though not related, and Peter, who was veryvery shy to start, is coming out of his shell. They both love the fishing pole toy, and I sat in the cage and dangled it around for over a half hour (the kittens in the next cage over watching attentively), while they leapt and pounced and had a wonderful time. I imagine they were asleep shortly after I left.

Baby Steps. Baby Hobbles

The cold is slightly improved today, although this afternoon saw an uptick in "mild tickle of a cough that won't stop, ever," so that was annoying.

Meanwhile, I went to the doctor this morning to have a thing on the sole of my foot treated, so I have been hobbling around all damned day, trying not to aggravate it, and wow, am I ever tired of doing this. My foot, ankle, leg, and other leg are also tired of it. Getting in bed will feel mighty good, even more so than usual.

Though I am going to try to stay up long enough to watch at least a few minutes of the Bruins game. Which doesn't start until 9:30. Stupid road trip.

In summary: No big problems. Plenty of little ones. AKA, life, if you're lucky.

Slight Improvement

I wouldn't say I feel that much better, but I was able to go to aqua fit today, and it didn't kill me, so I guess that's progress. It was nice to spend some time in the sun!

Sick and Tired

I've probably written something along these lines every time I've been sick in the last few years, but it seems as though, whenever I get your basic cold at this stage in my life, it's less the regular cold symptoms that lay me flat than the all-encompassing exhaustion that comes with them. It's like:

• wearing a lead overcoat, 
• dragging a parachute behind me at every move, 
• too tired to keep sitting up, 
• who turned the gravity up so high?

 ... pick your description.

So that's where I still am now, entering Week Two. Still slightly congested, a little more prone to a cough than usual, but mostly just DRAGGING.

And how are things with you? Better, I hope!

Briefly

If you are currently not sick, then I would like to draw your attention to two things:

• How you are not aware of the energy required to remain upright
• How the inside of your rib cage does not feel bruised.

That is all for now.

Home

I'm back!

I had a good time, and brought home fudge, some pretty yarn, and a cold.

So, more details will have to wait.

Choppy Waters

Just by chance, before aqua fit started this morning, I heard the instructor talking to another student about how the times for the classes are changing shortly, which caught me by surprise. I mean, way to randomly and incompletely communicate, YMCA. (She didn't mention it to the whole class, either, which I was expecting her to do.) I looked at the schedule when I got home, and it's changing next week; if I hadn't happened to be where I was, I would have shown up for a class next Thursday and it wouldn't have been happening when I expected it. Surprise! (I went to their website tonight and signed up for the newsletter, in the hopes that it will communicate this sort of thing going forward. I checked their Twitter first, but they don't use it for anything like that.)

And yeah, next Thursday: I'm headed north to Apple Festival tomorrow, and though I come back on Monday, I had already given myself permission not to go to class on Tuesday, which will not only be day-after-already-sore-from-travel day, but also is my birthday. You're excused!

So, the classes I have been going to are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9; on MWF, they have aqua jogging instead, which I am not that interested in. Now the TTh classes will be at 2, and also the Wednesday class, which will be at 8 instead of 9 now, will be aqua fit too. Once I got over the shock of change (I just don't handle change well, and less so as I get older), I realized that this isn't a disaster; leaving work for two hours during the day is not actually more disruptive than starting the day 2.5 hours later than usual, and though I don't plan to up my attendance to three classes a week, having the earlier option on Wednesday, for weeks when I have a conflict another day, is a good thing. Though I won't be going to a Wednesday class for a while; next week is the next Newcomer's lunch, so that's enough work-schedule-tweaking for one day; the following week I have a doctor's appointment; and the week after that, it's the dentist.

It's just, you know, so much change this year, and I was just getting into this new routine, and bam, more change. Let me make, and keep, some routines, please.

A Kitten Extra

I know that I put up lots of kitten photos yesterday, but today I have a shorter kitten photo-essay, titled, "Let Me Grab Your Camera."

Sunday Kitten Report

Since I'll be away next weekend, I have enough kitten photos to hold you over. Well, that's my story, anyway.

The answer to the question of where the second kitten in this cage is?

Camo-napping.

Purring and accepting pets.

Ditto.

"What?"

"What is this delicious ruffle on your shirt?"

"Yes, I can stop racing around like my butt is on fire," says Banana. "I just choose not to."

Banana is adopted, his sister isn't. Wouldn't they be confusing to have together?

"Hmm. I know I said meow, but now I'm not sure I like it way up here."

"Yes?" Ruby was dubious of me. Later, I picked her up, and she sneezed on me, which is a good way to get put down, if that's what you want.

Back for some loving.

"Wow, what are you?"

"You are big and skeery!"

"I will retreat to my camouflage place again."

Good News

The world overall isn't the greatest place today, is it, but my own little world isn't doing badly.

• My chest is sore today, but only because I got my annual mammogram (if you're eligible, get yours!), and it came back clear.
• The doctor is just adorable, about 100 years old and very eager to show me the scans and be sure I understand what I'm seeing. My mother was right, I love him.
• I also got my first bone density scan, which was painless, I must say, and though some of my numbers trended toward osteopenic, the overall scores were fine.
• And best of all, my friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and had a double mastectomy, let friends know today that she will not need chemo or radiation! Such wonderful news. She is still recovering from major surgery, will need reconstruction later, and will take medication probably forever, but still, whew. Wonderful news.
• And I'm off to knitting!

How has your day been, in the small-picture, personal sense?

No, I Won't Be Looking That Up

My mother and I were on the highway yesterday and came across this ... interesting ... vehicle. Have you ever seen anything like?

What does that say? "For adults who love to play"?

I am absolutely not looking at that website. I'm not saying you should, either.

Is it, as Mary Ellen guessed, "like a bookmobile, but for porn"? I may never know.

I'm okay with that.

Beauty on the Beach

Tonight after dinner, I took a walk down to the beach. I came back, dripping with sweat (not enough of a breeze*), with a handful of shells and more than 50 photos of the beach and the sunset.
*You people with your talk of autumn's chill in the air...it's still in the 90s and humid here.

It was pretty when I got there, and the sky just got more lovely.

Sky, clouds, water, all that.

Oh, and birds, of course. This is apparently called a shorebird; doesn't that sound vague? I can see that the Google-image search for this will suck me into an endless wormhole, so I will move on.

After showing a rare inverted shorebird, that is.

Pelican, taking off after a plunge.

And ... an egret of some kind? Maybe? Honestly, I'm afraid to Google it right now. I'll never get to bed.

Whatever he was, he was beautiful.

And digging for dinner.

But mostly, beautiful.

The view north didn't look quite as far into sunset yet.

It's wild to think that the people at the bottom of this building must be sometimes condescended to by the snobs, when they admit how high up they are not.

And yet, if this is the view from the beach, even the lowest-level condo would be good.

With the beautiful beach as well.

At least the sunset can be viewed by anyone, whether you can afford the multi-million-dollar condo or not.

And the sun was, indeed, setting.

I watched it sinking for a bit...

And decided to head home before dark.

I did look back as I walked away, though.

It's kind of ridiculously beautiful.

Don't you think?

No moving regrets here.