Had a lovely weekend with my family. Grandparents are doing well, and I got to see my cousin Jeremy for the first time in about twenty years. He has five kids now! One daughter from his first marriage, three stepchildren, and a new baby! His kids are all adorable and precocious and amazing and they were so much fun. We went to my cousin Shannon’s wedding reception (she got married in the Carribean somewhere, I forget where), and had a delicious cake which is the official state cake of Maryland, that I’d never had before. It was one of the best wedding cakes I’d ever had (traditionally, it’s chocolate, but Shannon had it in strawberry, orange, and banana. I tried strawberry and orange as bananas are my mortal enemy.)

Some sad news, though! Chick Luisi, aka Salty Bob (according to Jess) died this weekend. My dad got up to the house and found her with her neck broken in the hen yard.

At first he didn’t tell us her neck was broken and I felt terrible and horribly guilty that we didn’t do enough to prevent heat stroke, or that maybe the chickens had gotten sick and would all die.

But then he told us about her neck, and while I am still sad that we lost a chick, it sounds like it was the work of one of the bigger chickens, which, I hear happens from time to time. We suspect Chick Luisi was not really a hen but a rooster (she was showing signs of not being female) and this is not uncommon. My dad is still sort of freaking out and thinks a wild animal got into the henyard, so he took a giant Santa Claus that my parents use as Christmas decoration and set it up outside because he is convinced that will scare away the wild animals. My mother is convinced it will just weather damage Santa.

Anyway, very sad to lose a chick. :-( Here is the last picture I took of her last weekend.

Time to pack up for the train! Love you all! <3 <3 More later!

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My parents got a new cat! On Friday night, my mom and I drove to the animal shelter and met all the cats, and filled out an application. There were two cats that we thought were suitable– “Rachel,” a 1-year-old girl who was very sweet and affectionate but not very active, and “Harmony,” a 3-year-old gir who was very active but not very affectionate. So we put Rachel down first and then Harmony. The shelter asked people to put down multiple choices, and then they would have someone call and interview you and try to decide based on your lifestyle if one cat or the other is a better “fit.” Both of them were beautiful silver tabbies.

The next morning, the adoption counselor called to interview my mom and then called me for a reference! We chatted a bit and then they told us that we could come pick “Rachel” up that afternoon!

Now, we have a bunch of relatives named Rachel, or variations thereof, and my mom felt weird naming a cat the same thing as family members, so we were trying to think of another name. We put the kitty in the basement (our basement has a finished bedroom and is where we keep my books, so it is pretty nice) to give her time to adjust to her new surroundings, like the shelter people suggested. About a half hour after she got here, my mom and I went upstairs to get things together to go to the store to buy kitty a collar and some wet food and then went back down to check on her.

And we could not find her. We checked under the bed, under the sofa, inside cabinets…and finally, just when we were getting worried that she’d somehow gotten out, found her..
hidden behind the books on the bookshelf.

And that is why we named her Clarisse.

Clarisse Kitty!

Clarisse is a lovely little girl cat who loves to hide– but she isn’t antisocial! She just seems to like curling up in small places. She comes out as soon as you “find” her– and then wants to be cuddled, a lot. We haven’t tried introducing her to Harker yet, but Harker knows she is down there– he keeps peering curiously at the door. She is super teeny-tiny and slim, and we are having trouble finding a collar for her– we got the smallest size at the store, AND punched two more holes in it, and it is still a bit big. But she is pretty much full grown so she is always going to be a little pocketful of cat!

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