![]() The cat taketh and the cat giveth back. In what can only be described as a miracle, Mario has fixed my computer. Previously Mario accidently shoved my laptop onto the floor when I left it precariously perched on the end table. You would think I would not repeat that behavior but I did. Once again he pounced onto my computer and it flipped and landed upside down on the carpet with a thud. I was certain that this time he had really killed it. The last time he did this all the black areas on the screen turned pixelated red. As this latest incident happened the day before Thanksgiving, I just chalked it up to life and set it aside as I prepared my Thanksgiving feast. The day after Thanksgiving I decided it was time to survey the damage and lo and behold my computer was all better. The red pixelated effect was gone. This is very weird. I know there is the “smack the heck out of it” theory of repair. When something doesn’t work, you hit it. People do this with vending machines and copiers, but I have never thought this was a good idea and I certainly have never had any luck with this technique. Perhaps Mario knows better. Maybe he has a sixth sense about computer repair. What else is he capable of doing? It boggles the imagination. Can he fix things by staring at them in his meditative cat way? Is he capable of bringing new life to other people's broken objects? I picture myself with a line of the faithful at my door clutching their computers and phones waiting for him to dispense his magic while I look on proudly. Maybe I could make a few bucks off of him to offset his vet bills. I have already bought a new computer to replace the one I thought was broken. It has gazillions of memory and it is GOLD. However I will keep my old laptop around for a while too. Perhaps I can make it into a shrine to Mario as a reminder of his extraordinary ability to never stop surprising me.
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I remember a time when I was teaching the cooking part of a gardening and foods class. The students had harvested fresh lettuce and radishes that they had planted and we added other vegetables to make a giant salad bar. Everyone did some of the washing, chopping and prepping. As we got ready to eat, a student came up to me glowing with excitement. “We did all of this!” he said as if they had just climbed Mount Everest. The kids didn’t have to be persuaded to “Eat your vegetables.” They devoured everything. I know I experienced my passion for food last night when I did the creative cookie baking. I think cooking for other people and entertaining is a way to feed that passion too. If I really let my food fantasy go, I can even picture myself on TV hosting my own cooking show. It would be my Foods Teacher persona and my wanna-be Hollywood persona combined! THAT inspires me! I made cat cookies as a birthday gift for a friend and wrapped them in plastic wrap over a paper plate.
I want to be a conscientious cat parent so when the postcard from my vet reminding me that it’s time to bring Mario and Kitty in for their annual check-ups arrived in my mailbox, I dutifully made appointments. I have tried in the past to take them both to the vet at the same time but getting one cat into a kitty carrier is hard enough. Putting two cats into two cat carriers is just plain insane, so I pay for separate doctor visits. ![]() Although they still seem quite young to me, Mario and Kitty are getting right up there in cat years. This requires what my vet calls a “senior panel.” Although it sounds like they will be examined by a group of people on Medicare, it is actually a comprehensive blood test. It costs several hundred dollars, and I have to double that because I am a two cat owner. Mario’s vet bill also includes hazardous material disposal. Due to serious problems in the past he has to have his anal glands checked and cleared. I guess I should just be glad that the vet is willing to do what he needs to do in order to check the glands in the first place. During Kitty’s last visit the doctor discovered tartar on her teeth. This is not the first time. I have brought both Mario and Kitty in for dental work in the past. It is a good thing that I did, because during Mario’s last dental procedure the doctor discovered a lump on the bottom of his tongue which was removed and biopsied. Happily it was not a malignant lump and Mario did well after the surgery. My checking account did not do as well. In order to get their teeth cleaned, I must leave my cats at the vet for the day so that they can be sedated. Having undergone my own deep probing cleaning, I appreciate the importance of this. Although I did not have sedation for my own procedure, I was happy that neither my cats nor the vet had to endure the cleaning without it. The vet gave me a little rubber thingy to put on my finger and some kitty toothpaste to clean my cats’ teeth. If I could manage to use it the cats and I could probably avoid more dental procedures, but I haven’t even tried. The thought of prying open Mario’s mouth and shoving my finger in there between his sharp little teeth to “brush” them is too daunting. It takes two people to give him a lousy pill. I can’t imagine what a struggle trying to perform regular cat dental hygiene would be. Some of my friends think I am crazy to do the things I do for my cats, but It gives me peace of mind to keep on top of their heath care. They’ve earned it. There is nothing like a warm cat in my lap on a chilly fall night to make me feel at one with the world. According to medical research, the act of petting an animal can lower your blood pressure. Sometimes I’m not sure if Mario and Kitty lower my blood pressure or raise it, but they definitely make me smile, and that has to be good for my heart.
As I drove along, I imagined myself in a Disney Fantasia moment dancing and playing with the leaves. My spirit felt like a kid again. A childhood image flashed in my head of a sky so bright blue that it almost hurt my eyes to look at it. The contrast of that sky with the intense crayon box colors of the leaves is ingrained in my memory. Of course we did the jumping in the leaf pile thing as kids, and raked together leaf walls that defined an imaginary house but the COLORS of fall are some of my strongest memories.
The falling leaves didn’t last long. Before we knew it the strong winds, like the ones that scooped up the leaves on the street where I was driving yesterday, would strip the trees bare. We knew it wouldn’t be long before the snow would come. If we were lucky we would be skating by Thanksgiving. When I share my Thanksgiving meal with friends this year, I will give thanks that I am in warm California, but I will also be thankful that I have such wonderful memories of those windy crisp fall days of my childhood. ![]() The cat killed my computer. I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. My cat Mario likes to hop up on furniture and push things to the ground as he circles around creating a napping nest. The other morning I found my laptop suspiciously lying on the floor. I must have left it somewhat precariously perched on the end table next to my recliner where it was vulnerable to a giant misplaced cat leap. It’s happened before but I was lucky no damage was done in the past. Unfortunately my luck ran out. Thank God the basic mechanics of my computer are OK and I can still write my blog, but there is a very annoying problem with the computer screen. All the solid black areas are now pixelated red. It gives me a headache to look at them. I adjusted the background colors so it is not as annoying but it looks like I will be buying a new laptop in the near future. ![]() Does Mario care or even know what disasters follow him around? What is going on in his little walnut sized brain? I believe he is basically a creature seeking comfort. Who cares if there is anything of value on the end table if there is a potential for creating a comfy resting spot. What difference does it make if that chair cost more than any other piece of furniture in the house? It’s climbable. Feeling an overwhelming desire to throw up a fur ball while relaxing on the white bedspread? Go for it. There’s no point in punishing Mario for bad behavior. He is doing what cats do and he does it well. I wish I could go through my life ignoring the consequences of my behavior like Mario. But I am human. As much as having comfort-seeking as my main goal seems appealing, it is not a practical way to live. I must weigh the potential results of my decisions against the problems they could create. There is a part of me that battles against doing the things I know I need to do to stay healthy, like exercising and planning what I am going to eat. Somewhere buried in my gray matter is a large “comfort seeking” zone that wants to spend the day lying in the sun like my cats. I wish I intuitively followed healthy habits but I don’t, and now I have to consciously work on changing the unhealthy habits of my comfort seeking psyche that wants instant gratification without consequences. The irony of seeking comfort is that it sometimes leads to the exact opposite. I am not comfortable in my body when it is not able to do the things I want it to do. I want to feel strong and mobile. I know when I establish healthy habits they will give me comfort in a way that goes way beyond the pleasure of taking a cat nap in the sun. The image of Tinkerbell flying in front of Cinderella’s castle and Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” is burned into my memory. I loved watching the Wonderful World of Disney when I was a kid and I believed in the kind of magic that was the Disney hallmark. Not so much now. I haven’t wished upon a star in a long time. This fact was brought to my attention when a friend and I were reading our horoscopes for fun and I found out she does actually wish upon a star every night. When did I lose that simple faith that wishing and dreaming are a worthwhile endeavor and that dreams can come true, even in retirement? I know my practical Capricorn brain tends to veer more towards down-to-earth reality but as I talked to my friend I realized that wishes and dreams aren’t the sole property of the young.
I can’t go back, nor would I want to go back, to finding the dreams of my youth, but I think I need some new wishes and dreams for this part of my life. I have a little bit of a sense of what they might be and they probably involve romance, creativity, and adventure in some shape or form.
I want to do what my friend does and be able to look at the night sky and say my wishes and dreams out loud. I know just saying them won’t make them happen, but they will surely never come true if I don’t even have an idea in my head about what they are. As I wrote about in a previous blog, thoughts are things and if I don’t make any wishes, my dreams definitely won’t come true.
Sister Wendy loves to comment on the sensuality of the figures and the relationships of the people. A portrait of a husband and wife (Rembrandt’s “The Jewish Bride” 1665-1669) shows them as not very young, but very devoted. Their somewhat life-worn expressions are softened by the way the husband’s hand lightly touches his wife’s breast. You can tell as Sister Wendy comments about these details in her soft and lisping voice that she sympathizes with these people. It makes me wonder who Sister Wendy is underneath that black habit. I know she was never married, but she seems to understand this relationship so well. Did Sister Wendy experience a relationship like this? She often talks about love in way that makes me feel she understands it at a deep and intimate level. If I ever had an opportunity to paint her would I be able to see what lies beneath her sweet round face in the way the artists of the paintings she so lovingly describes were able to see through to the souls of the people they painted? Probably not. She is like the Mona Lisa. You know there is something amazing behind her subtle smile and the mystery of what it might be makes me keep looking and wondering. I watch Public television quite a bit. There are very few commercials, except for pledge season when the whole channel is one giant commercial. Instead the shows run for about 50 minutes and then there is a break which they fill with a variety of short subject clips. My favorite is Sister Wendy. Although I have no desire to be a nun, she is a role model for me. Scroll over for painting identification
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Leslie Masona woman in search of her post-retirement future Guess what! By subscribing, you get notices about the latest Little Old Lady with Cats posts sent to your mailbox!
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(from an entry posted on 5/1/2015) “I definitely fit some of the characteristics of a little old lady with cats: Retired - check, Single - check, Like to knit - check, Have cats - check. . .I do not want to get stuck in my Little Old Lady persona, however. In fact, this blog is a risk taking experiment in exploring and redefining what I want my retired life to look like.” Categories
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