Better Living Through Literature
Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
1. Oh man. Compassion. “I’m the fat person sitting next to you on the plane.”
2. Inspirational Pinterest quotes, if Gertrude Stein or an AI chatbot got ahold of them.
3. I’m painting an accent wall in the bedroom (because it’s 1998 again) and Toby has never seen anything like it. His face last night pretty clearly said, “Mom, you are a wizard. How are you making that wall different?!”
I brought home this most handsome gato eight years ago today:
He is the best cat and the best companion and the best at making faces and posing for portraits (I think all of the above pics are by Doc) and the best at making me feel better. (Just look at those toes and I dare you to try to be sad.)
It’s the first Monday after the time change, no less. But roll through it as decisively as Toby rolled on these carpet samples:
I mean, really. Just look at him.
Yesterday was a bad day, starting with Toby throwing up in the early morning and including a parking ticket and being yelled at by construction workers AND an insane lady on the street.So for today, let’s focus on some sweet kitty toes and think positive:
(Picture by Doc, who has a real talent for capturing kitty toes. I think he should become a cat portrait photographer.)
It’s time to break out my favorite Wallace Stevens poem for a post title–“at the end of winter, when afternoons return.” None of us could get enough sunshine:
Show it all your sleepy feet and go back to bed if you can. 
1. I remembered a passage from a children’s book (The Princess and the Goblin) about getting old:
We are four weeks out from the solstice, we are starting to decorate for Christmas, we are sleepy.
(Last shot by Doc, master of the Kitty CloseupTM)
The mornings are getting darker and darker, making it harder and harder to get up. Toby has the right idea:
Good thing we’re almost to Caturday.
Friday and Saturday were rainy here but Sunday was a lovely day…which we enjoyed from mini naps on the floor and full-on naps on the couch.
Seriously. It was like that sci-fi “engines powering down” sound over here Sunday afternoon. Kind of ridiculous but I guess I needed it.