A Change She Approves

Miss Maggie is a big fan of boxes, and there are several around the house for her. There are flattened ones that she lies on:

And put-together ones that she goes into.

But yesterday, I decided that she might enjoy a spot higher off the ground when she hangs out in my office while I'm working, so I moved the small cat tree in from the living room to try out.

It didn't take long for the inspector to notice the change.

Lots of sniffing.

Then she jumped down, but five minutes later, she was back and settling down.

This morning, she was back. And she rotated a lot.

 And thus, not all the pictures are in focus! Wiggle-worm.

Vigorous claw-sharpening, good girl.

Lots of bathing.

Neat four-paws-and-the-tail placement.

Smug little face.

She slept in the bed for a few hours, then came back to finish the workday with me. And continued to be quite ridiculously cute.

 

And then there was thunder and she retreated under my bed. But hopefully, she'll be back here tomorrow.

I Stand With Ravelry

As you may have heard (I've seen stories today from NPR, the Washington Post, CNN, and Buzzfeed, among others), the fiber-lovers-website Ravelry announced on Sunday a new policy "banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry."

They go on to say, "We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is unambiguously support for white supremacy."

Amen.

If you think no one could argue with that statement, I will (sadly) tell you that you are wrong.

If you yourself happen to disagree with it, well, it was nice knowing you, back before I knew that about you, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. Feel free to unfriend me everywhere.

And for those who want to argue 'free speech,' I will suggest you read this.

(See it on the web here.)

Ravelry is a private company, and they can enact any rules they want to. I happen to agree with this one, but if you don't, your options are to keep using Ravelry but not speak up about the current administration on the site, or leave Ravelry. Up to you. It is still a free country. For now.

I would also like to point out, specific to the immigration/refugee horrors going on now, that just about all of us in the US came here from someone else (apparently just 2% of the population is Native American). Imagine if these policies had been turned against the pilgrims? Oh, look, you don't have to imagine it:

I support the people that the current administration seems determined to demean, diminish, denigrate, dehumanize, torment, and kill. Women, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and especially (given recent events) immigrants, refugees, and anyone else covered by the poem on the Statue of Liberty, no matter what the current administration thinks.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Thank you, Emma Lazarus. I want my country to live up to that.

All right, you made it this far. Are we still friends? Do you agree? (Are you speaking up?)

Then here, you've earned a pretty yarn photo, appropriate for Pride Month.

And a cat photo, just because.

Um, Whoops

Well, at least they fixed it.

All I've Got Is

That Friday night feeling.

Maggie Stories

The other night, Maggie came along to where I was sitting on the couch, with an afghan on my lap. She has curled up in this blanket about a thousand times, but that night, she was having none of it. She walked from the arm of the couch onto my chest (ow), and stood there until I pushed the blanket down, so she could get directly onto my lap.

Where she proceeded to stand, kneading her claws (that need trimming, again ouch) for a few minutes.

Before she finally settled down into a good lap position.

Weirdo.

Last night, she was on the footstool in front of me, giving me a good look at her pretty, pretty fur. She even held still long enough to let me get a non-blurry photo.

So it cut off half her head; it's in focus, damn it.

She got on my lap again later, while I was watching the NHL Awards.

And thus was available to console me when Bergeron did not win the Selke. Oh well.

As she would remind me, I have a cat.

That should be enough joy for any person.

Though she is modest, she just has to say it.

She is a beautiful girl.

Eagerly Waiting

I got an exciting email the other day.

Winner is good, right? And what did I win? Oh, just a book I'm eagerly waiting for, that doesn't come out until September!

Where the Light Enters, by Sara Donati. She writes (really good!) historical fiction; I checked the date of the first one, and it came out in 1998, so I've been a fan for a long time. In fact, I've kind of come full circle by winning this one, since I read the first one as a free advance copy when I worked at Barnes & Noble! Lo, these many moons ago.

This new one is a sequel to The Gilded Hour, which I very much enjoyed, and I look forward to the resolution of some of the plot strands that carry over from that one.

And of course, I will be willfully ignoring the part of the email that says it should arrive in 4 to 6 weeks, and hoping every day for it to arrive.

Off-Center

The title refers to two things. First, how I'm feeling, which I think is just down to a few days with lots of rain and thunderstorms and flooding, and very little sun. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

At least someone is enjoying the results of the weather.

Second is Miss Maggie, and how much she trusts me to keep her from falling off the lap, the shape of which she does not feel she needs to align herself to. Exhibit A:

No kitties were allowed to fall off the lap.