I was sitting in an office meeting this morning in our building cafeteria and gazing out the window while listening to our guest speaker (of course I was paying attention!). The leaves are now finally falling from the trees at an amazing rate, and strangely enough, my poetic side popped out after many years of suppression (not by choice, but only by lack of quiet time to actually ponder life and all that is around me) and out of my dormant little brain came a haiku. Here it is:

Leaves float to the ground
Like snowflakes in the winter
Slowly, gently down.

Ok, it’s not Robert Frost or anything, but hey, there it is. At least it proves I still have a thought process outside of accounting and child-rearing!

The window guys came on Monday to install the windows on the back of our townhome, and I must say, they did a GREAT job! Lola is so excited that we have new windows. She loves to open one of the five installed in the living room on the main floor and she and Petie exit through the window out into the courtyard, then back into the house, then back into the courtyard… watching her reminded me of the irony of people who buy their kids all kinds of toys to keep them entertained vs. the people who just hand the child a life-sized cardboard box and allow their imaginations to soar. What was a necessary home improvement for me became the giant cardboard box for Lola. It was fun to watch her, although I had to insist on her wearing shoes so she wouldn’t step on a nail or shard of metal or glass, since the crew was not yet finished with the job. Petie was on his own with the footwear issue. I can’t imagine a cat in shoes or socks, but it’s an amusing thought.

Petie the cat has proven to be a truly wonderful addition to our family. I’m glad I relented on returning him to his former owners because of his James Bond-like escapes into the woods. It was getting tiresome (not to mention worrisome) going out every evening at 10pm to entice the little fuzz-ball to come back in the house to eat and return to captivity. We had to do some creative solutions at times since Fuzzy, the cat from down the street, had taken up homestead in the bushes behind our driveway and followed us everywhere. We knew Petie well enough to know that if he saw us with another cat he wouldn’t come down out of the woods. Once we showed Fuzzy the cat carrier, she took off for the hills, so to speak. It was an effective way to eliminate any interference in getting Petie back home.

He seems to have settled in quite well now and really has quite a bit of fun exploring every corner of the house. He is shy no more! We bought some spongy balls from the pet store and he and Lola can play “ball-wall bouncy” for hours. Hey, it’s what I used to do with Fritz, one of my former kitties from long ago. Fritz even had the talent of batting the ball back to me after it hit the wall, quite like the game of racquetball, and quite often would carry the ball back and drop it so we could play again. And they say a cat can’t be taught tricks!! Lola is hoping that Petie will learn to do this as well.

Scooter’s left eye is now looking very weird (his right eye is blind due to a detached retina from long ago but now his one good eye is not so good any more) and I took him to the vet again to have it checked. They said it was pus, maybe due to an infection since he also had a fever. They prescribed some drops for his eye and also some fluids to administer since he was still a bit dehydrated. I’m hoping this will help him feel better.