This week I mostly took pictures as an afterthought. It was almost a chore. And even when I wanted to take pictures, I felt kind of silly — self conscious. I felt like people were judging me. That girl has no idea how to take real photographs. Or maybe: Ugh. Another girl obsessed with posting her every move on social media. Or maybe I’m projecting. Maybe to see the world more clearly I need to let go of the fear of how others see me.
At any rate, I ended up with quite a few cat pictures again, a few of which you’ll see below.
Sunday
My cat loves his routines. Every night, when I go upstairs, he runs after me— as if he’s been waiting all day for the end of our day. Admittedly, I’ve sometimes been waiting, too. I have to fill his bowl with fresh water so he can drink while I brush my teeth and wash my face. When I climb under the covers, he joins me on the bed, deliberately and delicately placing one paw after the other on my stomach and then chest. He hunkers down in slipper formation with his little face inches from mine and purrs away as I scratch behind his ears. After I’ve nodded off and my hand rests on his back, he steps down and curls up beside me. My little companion.
Monday
I joined a writer’s group. This is the outside of the old Uptown Theater where we meet. The sanctioned graffiti is very Neil Postman-esque. I appreciate it. And I appreciate the writer’s group! I’m by far the youngest — a few of the participants are well into their fifties and sixties — but I like the group more for this. All of them intimidate me a bit with both their writing experience and their life experience. But they’re kind people and it’s a practice in vulnerability for me, I guess.
Tuesday
My cats are ridiculous. Here we see what the bulk of their “fights” entail… which is Sam staring down at Willow with a “don’t you dare touch me” look and Willow poising her paw in midair, ready to reach out and touch him.
Wednesday
“A Night at the Museum” was billed as an evening for adults to “come and play” at the Children’s Museum. It was a fundraiser for a nonprofit that runs programming for underprivileged youth. My friends Jessica and Allie asked me to attend with them, and I readily agreed. I hadn’t been to the Children’s Museum in years. It needs some love. This is from its dinosaur displays. Seems a little too accurate to be appropriate for all ages. And the next display featured a dinosaur with its leg ripped off.
Thursday
As I stepped out of the car, Tyson called to me and promptly ran over to get some love. I got that happy feeling only an animal excited to see you can evoke. Pulling out my phone as quickly as I could, I snapped this pic (which makes him look three-legged… he’s not). I knelt down while he was rubbing against my legs and immediately noticed something was wrong. I picked him up to get a proper look.
Directly behind his ear, not visible in this pic, was a blood-crusted hole oozing slime and puss. Someone had gotten into a scuffle and his inattentive family hadn’t noticed, leaving the wound to get infected. Don’t worry, almost a week has past and he’s doing fine. I brought him to his home, knocked on their door and spoke with the father. He’s been seen outside less since then, which is good. He needs kitty recovery time inside during this winter weather. And the few times I have seen him, I can tell the wound is being treated and getting better.
I wish I could give him the home he deserves, though.
Friday
I came home and spent the bulk of my evening here. I drank coffee. I read. I wrote. I worked on my journal. I petted cats.
Saturday
I had to read this in one day because even though I love reading and love being in a book club, any time I’m “assigned” something, I put it off. I was able to devote an entire Saturday to reading, though, and that’s never a bad thing.