Sunny Sunday Morning

We drove downtown last night to celebrate the 60th birthday of our friend K. She invited about 20 of her friends to a Mexican restaurant near her home for a buffet-style dinner to commemorate the "Big 6-0." One of her friends is a professional lute player, and his gift to K was to provide the music, which he did quite nicely.

It rained most of yesterday-- a pouring-down, no-nonsense rain that soaked the ground and made little ponds in the grass. Thankfully, the sky cleared up about an hour before we had to leave for downtown. As we drove on the Gulf Freeway and got close to the downtown Houston skyline, the sky was a pretty shade of blue with streaks of pink. And this morning, we woke up to sunny skies and very warm temperatures. Back to normal, weather-wise.

Warm temperatures--- exactly what I hope we'll have till after New Year's Day, because Mickey Kitty will be spending most of his time out on the screen-porch. That little kitten just can't be trusted to be in the living room with the big tree. We tried not once, not twice, but three times, to have him join us all in the living room and find a cozy spot under the tree for his nap, as ShadowBaby and AngelBoy do. Mickey Kitty has too much kitten-energy for that..... he went straight underneath the tree to the trunk and began climbing the branches.... spiraling his way towards the top each time. He's so small and light that he didn't even bend the branches down as he climbed higher and higher.

Oh well.... he likes the screen-porch, and that's a good thing, because that's where he's going to be till we take the tree out to the curb after the first of the year. The only other cat we've had who tried to climb our Christmas tree was Shadow, our first black cat that we had when we lived in League City. Shadow ran to the tree and just hugged the trunk for a few minutes, then tried (and failed) to climb up the trunk. He never tried to spiral around the trunk via the branches, as Mickey Kitty did, and when Shadow realized I didn't want him climbing the tree, he never tried it again.

Sadly, Shadow met his kitty-maker the year after we moved into this house when he had a fight with a mean stray cat which left Shadow with a concussion. When Shadow died, I stopped letting our cats outside of our backyard. They may be confined, but they're safe. Shadow was a great cat, and I swear that parts of him live on in ShadowBaby and now Mickey Kitty. Well, let's not get me started talking about Shadow because it always makes me sad.

On a brighter note.... the big tree is all decorated... every ornament we have is on that tree--- and if I find a few more between now and Christmas, I'm sure I'll find some spots to put them. We started the tree on Friday morning, and I finished it last night after we got back from downtown. I had a burst of energy from a sugar-buzz.... we had sopapillas for dessert--- delicious puffs of thin dough that are dusted with a sugar & cinnamon mixture. So, the lights and ornaments are up, gold tree-skirts surround the bottom of the tree, and I've got teddy bears and stuffed animals sitting all around the tree--- it all looks very Victorian. I've got the stuffed Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse from Disneyland sitting right in front of the tree-- not exactly Victorian, but perfectly perfect just the same.