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January 18, 2009

Are you haunted by a past life?

The new kitten's latest game is pushing things off of other things. Although he is very cute, he is the only one in the household who thinks broken glass is funny. He also enjoys leaping onto things, suddenly--onto the dinner table (and onto our dinner), onto us, onto the other cats, from a height; they tolerate it because he is a baby, but just barely. Spikey gave him a good smack the other day in fact but the kitten ("Twilight"--a name everyone but Herself, who chose it, hates like the plague) was undeterred.

Right now we--me, Herself, Twilight, Bob--are enjoying a fire in the fireplace. It's a pretty good one. Feeling nostalgic, I am burning the pear tree that stood in our front yard until we had to take it down last February before one of its limbs fell on a neighbor or, God forbid, on a neighbor's car.

After The Husband left home, I was dismayed to realize that I was on my own in the fire-making department. Fortunately I found out pretty quickly that all you really need is a box of firestarters, some newspapers and patience--but still, you wouldn't believe the thrill I got the first time I drank a martini while staring into the flames of a fire that I made. Ancient man living in a cave couldn't have been more pleased, in fact. What had once been the sole province of guys--the knowledge of the gods--was mine at last.

Bob is staring fixedly into the distance now; maybe he hears the thunder of approaching mastadons. Twilight stretches, yawns, then leaps suddenly into the air and onto Bob's back. I laugh and pour more wine into my glass. Time to put another log on.

Posted by JudyLa at 06:00 AM | Comments (0)