Another cat... possibly...

Not exactly a cat... but a young kitten.  A couple of weeks ago, my young friend Corey adopted a 12-week old blue-eyed kitten from one of her friends. Female kitten which looks similar to my blue-eyed AngelBoy of years ago... a beautiful ball of fluff he was, a silver-gray Birman with silver-lilac tips on his ears, paws, and tail. Gorgeous cat, and the love of my cat-life with those blue eyes of his.

When Corey told me she was adopting the kitten from her friend, she called to ask me if I wanted one of the kittens. I told her no, that my heart could not take another blue-eyed fluffy cat.  Well. That was two weeks ago.  This weekend, Corey called to tell me that her childhood allergy to cats has come back with a vengeance. She was sniffling and stuffed-up, she had broken out in hives and she couldn't stop scratching. Oh my.

Corey does not want to give up her kitten, whose name is Sadie. She will go to a doctor this week, to get some sort of antihistamine that will control the allergy. Corey says if she has to take allergy medicine 'forever and ever,' then she will, in order to keep Sadie. I suggested she ask the doctor if having a de-humidifier in her apartment would help. I told Corey that her 800-pound horse Tallahatchie doesn't so much as make her sneeze, but her five-pound kitten is bringing her down.

I told Corey that if worse comes to worst and she has to give up the kitten, she could bring Sadie here rather than giving it back to her friend or trying to find another home for it. This way, Sadie would still be in the family, Corey could see her when she comes to visit, and it would still be 'her' cat. Corey said she was hoping I would say that.

A serendipitous moment if ever there was one.  We have a cat named Sweet Pea and a dog named Savannah... and we may soon have a kitten named Sadie. Another S-name.... coincidence or not?  I am hoping that Corey can keep her little Sadie... she already loves that cat, and if ever there was an animal-lover, Corey takes first place. I would hate for Corey to have to give up the kitten, but I would love Sadie as my own just because Corey chose her. 

Another blue-eyed cat. I am still haunted by AngelBoy's blue eyes... so maybe Sadie's blue eyes will make that go away.  Still... I am hoping beyond all hope and praying to the cat-gods that Corey can keep that kitten.

Another frog?!

Who would have thought.... and how are they getting in?

In the frog-friendly green bathroom upstairs, another frog announced his presence in that mostly-green room.  I have no idea how he got into the house, or into the same bathroom that Frog #1 visited a couple of weeks ago, but friend C found Frog #2 sitting on the seat of the commode. The frog, no doubt, was planning to frog-dive into the water and have himself a little morning swim.

C scooped up Frog #2 in a towel and I opened the door to the balcony so she could set the frog down on the little porch. He sat there in the sun for a few minutes, most likely deciding how he was going to get himself down into the garden from his penthouse retreat.  This second frog was one-third the size of the first frog, but the same color green... actually they both matched the decor in the green bathroom quite nicely.

Surely, this second frog will be the last one.  Hope floats, as my cousin F would say.

And the universe makes adjustments as we all plan our days.....   I was set to start the Magic Wand Book Club on September 21 at one of the local elementary schools, but the principal called today to tell me that all the after-school programs have been set back two weeks... so the Book Club won't be starting till the 5th of October.  I didn't let on, but I was a little disappointed because I've been collecting books all summer and was looking forward to the first meeting next week, but at the moment I have a slight head cold so I figured maybe this was for the best... I don't want to be passing germs around to the students along with all the great books.

Add to that.... my car has been in the shop for a day and a half... turns out there is a problem with the electronics and the computer in the car... which can only be repaired/replaced by the dealer. So the little repair place here is taking my car to the Ford dealer up on the main highway... they will call me on Monday to let me know how many days they will have my Thunderbird.  Too many days and I will have to rent a car from them... can't be out here in the hills without a car... so of course I got to thinking that maybe the change of date for the Book Club was a blessing in disguise.

The 'mom and pop' repair garage here in town did not charge me for any of the work and time they put into my car since yesterday. And they are not charging me for transporting my car from their garage to the service department at the dealership.  I know for a fact that the repair bill from the dealership will not be quite so kind.

September sun...

The rains have quit here in Texas, but the massive clean-up continues in and around Houston, as well as in so many small towns which surround our busy city.  Thankfully, our home is far inland, away from flooding and the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  As if Harvey wasn't enough, the southeast coast was hit by Hurricane Irma, and now the state of Florida is cleaning up, along with other states going up that coast.  I haven't heard yet how badly the Florida Keys were hit, but I'm sure those beautiful islands got the brunt of Irma.  I was praying for the city of Savannah, that beautiful and magical place.... I didn't want to see it destroyed by a storm after it has kept its beauty and dignity throughout so much of this country's history.

The summer heat has cooled down a bit here... the high 90s and low 100s are gone, replaced by mid-80s during the day and cool 70s at night. Flowers are still blooming (those that didn't get toppled by Harvey's wind) but I no longer have to water the flowerbeds two and three times a day to keep the flowers from wilting.

I have been busy getting ready to conduct The Magic Wand Book Club for one of the local elementary schools.  The 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-graders will have so many books to choose from... a grand total now of 1,414 books that I have collected since the beginning of the summer.  Posters are hung up in the school hallways, flyers have been sent home with the students, and I have all the supplies I need for the students... they will learn how to keep a Book Journal; they will rate the books they read; and they will (hopefully) realize that reading can not only be fun, but will help them as they go from grade school to middle school, then on to high school and college.  "Make Magic Happen -- READ!"  (as the poster says). The books the students read will be theirs to keep.... my intention being that if they have a private library of their own, they will come to appreciate the significance of book ownership.

As a reward for the books they read, the students will each choose a hand-carved 'magic' wand from a box of wood wands that I ordered from an on-line site based in Connecticut. All the wands are different... not magic at all, but a tactile symbol of the uniqueness of each student, just as all the wands are unique. The motto of the Book Club is "The magic is not in the wand... the magic is in you!"  Borrowing from the 'magic' of Harry Potter, I want these kids to learn that they are all special, they are all one-of-a-kind, they are all filled with their own unique magic.... they just have to learn to believe that.

On the posters and book-club buttons, there is a whimsical drawing of a gray-haired old wizard with flowing blue robes, a pointed wizard hat, and a long gray beard.  Whimsical and magical to the max!  And when I walked into the school library this week to see how the tables and chairs were set up, and to plan how I would arrange them for the book club.... on a high shelf near the windows was a four-foot tall plush wizard, wearing a long blue robe and matching hat, with gray hair and a long gray beard.... I stopped in my tracks and just smiled.  I had not seen that plush wizard before... one of the ladies there told me it had been in the school for 'a very long time,' which explained the faded blue of its robes.

Talk about a serendipitous moment.... 'my' wizard and that plush wizard in the school's library.... I have absolutely no doubt that I picked the correct school for The Magic Wand Book Club.