And here's EVERYBODY! They are kind of like tribbles at this point...in order from far left - Maya, Amergin, Dante, Rosie, Audre with Seamus and Maire in the middle! And they are all so wonderful...
.Dante, Maya, and Amergin are now eating crunchy cat food out of the food bin...they think they are big now!Actually all 5 are eating crunchy food - these were the 3 that happened to be into the food...
Its making it difficult for the other cats and the dog to get their dinner, as there is usually a bunch of kittens in the way...
Maire, the littlest girl...I don't have a shot of Seamus by himself, since the camera batteries died.
MacDubh saying "Hi!" to Maire (the little Calico) and Seamus (the little black one)...their eyes are just getting open, and their kinda sorta creeping maybe...
I am sorry to say that one of the littlest kittens did not make it - it was the little orange boy, Rob Roy. There did not appear to be anything dramatically wrong with him, except that he was smaller than the other two. *sigh* Its always so sad when this happens - everybody else however is fat and sassy and driving the momcats nuts! Marmalade is totally convinced that kittens belong IN their box. The kittens are convinced they should be out and into everything. So when its kitten bed time, Marmalade runs around trying to catch them and put them in the box, and they hop out two seconds after she turns her back. It usually takes about an hour for them to wear her out or vice versa, and they all fall asleep together. And they are almost getting too big for her to pick them up.
*FACE...PALM* Um...remember us talking about the adoptive mom cat, Marmalade, who jumped in to help Lucy mother the kittens?
Well. She evidently had ulterior motives. 3 of them. Two of them pictured here, about 2 and a half minutes old - the third was on the way. These two are both little boys, named Séamus (the little black one) and Rob Ruadh (the little orange one) and a little girl - a dark callico just like Maya and Audre, named Maire. Everybody is fine, except I am having a nervous break down. Firedancer the Second, who fathered this fine brood (both of them) will be having surgery in two weeks. Whether he wants to or not is immaterial. We never even knew she was pregnant - aka. known as a stealth pregnancy (had one other cat that pulled that one on us, years ago). Everyone else will also be attended to at the proper ages, immediately! Although getting Lucy fixed is going to be a nightmare as she is shy to the point of being feral. So, welcome the newest additions to the family. And yes, they are all in the same box. Snoring. Contentedly.
Maya contemplates the escape route, as Audre looks on...
Dante...note the dog's nose in the upper right hand corner...
Dante and MacDubh. MacDubh follows Dante everywhere when the kitten is out and wandering...Dante is utterly unconcerned about this large entity sniffing and occasionally giving him a helpful lick with a large tongue.
Dante on the move - "Wow, its a large world! I must explore!"
All five kittens have been compulsively escaping the kitten box, by the way. I will be adding more pictures, as I get shots of all five. The mom cats are looking fairly frazzled! The dog thinks it's great!
PS. When I say "momcats" plural, I must tell that one of our other cats, a brindled calico named Marmalade, has decided to jump in and co-parent the kittens with Lucy. So Lucy has been able to take breaks and turn about. This is not the first time we have seen an "un-involved" cat decide to help parent newborns, and its always a delight! Bearcub, pictured at top with Dante, is a particularly paternal cat who adores kittens and I have no doubt he will be teaching them the joys of egg hockey in a few weeks. We hope the house will survive.
Marmalade, the adoptive mom cat, on the far left with Lucy, the birth mom, and Amergin and Rosie...
Dinner last night...going left to right, my Mom, my sister-in-law, Dreamweaver, me, my Dad, and my brother! It was a wonderful day, all around! And one of the happiest days of my life!
Yesterday, Dreamweaver and I went to see "My Fair Lady" at the local theater with my brother and his wife. Which was fabulous - it is a "small community theater" that is excellent beyond belief and has launched the careers of notable actors, including Joanne Woodward! And then afterwards we all went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, with my parents for my Dad's birthday. (He's 84 years old now.)
Now, while I have been aware that there has been no way my brother and sister in law could not KNOW we are a couple, it has remained unspoken, period. You know the thin ice I tread with my conservative Father (click this to go to a post about him.) Coming out of the restaurant, and well out of ear shot of our parents, my sister-in-law asked if we were on Face Book and could she friend us. Now, my FB account is locked down...privacy settings are set for incinerate from orbit. Specifically because of relatives. (Not necessarily them - remember, my birth mother's side of the family, while sweet people, are rabidly conservative.) We kind of hedged and dodged and winced - she knew we were on Face Book, because she had seen the friend suggestion come up for me, just as I have seen it come up for her, in the past. Its not like we could lie, nor did we really want to. And to be honest, I didn't think they would have a problem with us, but there is that fear that comes with not knowing for sure. Once words are spoken they cannot be unsaid.
...and then she smiled this beautiful smile at us and said, "Guys, we know, OK? We know. Its OK...its not a problem for us. We love you! You're family!"
I feel like I am walking on air...I am Officially, admittedly Out to my brother and his wife, and they accept us and are allies! And they know we tiptoe around Dad, and why, and they get it! I just kind of threw my arms around her and just got the best hug in the world ever back from her.
And I know there are people who are going to say yeah, we're not surprised, how could they not know...but just the sheer relief of now knowing that I can trust them, that if things were ever to go bad with my Father, that they will always be family for us.
Its not been about trying to HIDE, its been about not acknowledging the white elephant on the coffee table...and those unspoken words. Well, the elephant has been named and claimed...and I have relatives that I am now free to be open with, safe with.
And that we love them and they love us!
As who and what we are.
I feel like the weight of the world has lifted off my shoulders today!
A bill pending in Tennessee will make it illegal to mention Homosexuality in the schools. George Takei of Star Trek fame has started a campaign against this with the catch phrase "Its OK to be Takei", playing off his coming Out (quite awhile ago) as Gay, the idea its OK to be Gay and his name. He has merchandise for sale to back it, and profits go to charity - you HAVE to go look, HERE, NOW!!!
The image of the famous Star Trek logo in rainbow pride colors with the words "Its OK to be Takei" is picking up speed and going viral - I am seeing it all over FaceBook! Its already on other blogs...Rachel Maddow has talked about it!
What makes this so exciting for me is that one of my best friends here in town DESIGNED the logo (I saw several incarnations of it as she fiddled with it, until she got the one she wanted!) and then, on advice from two of her friends, she sent the logo to George Takei for the fun of it. To her shock and surprise, he wrote her back and jumped on it!!! She immediately gave him permission to use the design, on condition of remaining anonymous and that she would receive no proceeds - she designed it as an activist and chose not to profit from it! So, dang it, I can't tell you her name!
But I bring her up - and she is probably going to smack me when she reads this - I bring her up because I think she has another message to share. She pointed out that she created the design when she heard about the legislation in Tennessee, another friend posted a tweet about it and then said "make a button", and then another friend said " send it to Takei", and so she did...and now its EVERY WHERE!
So now when people say that they feel that they can't do anything to make a difference because they're just one person, she can point out that "me = one person + one of my friends who = one person + one of my other friends who = one person + George Takei = famous but still just 1 person..."
So I bring up her part in this to make a point...
One person can make a difference. And that one person can be each and every one of us!!!
I think that what my friends and George Takei have accomplished is not JUST one FANTASTIC activist movement, but also that they have a second message - that each of ONE of us CAN make a difference, and that we make that difference in community as well as individually! So as you look at all the crazy legislation and homophobic slurs and hate pickets, don't become discouraged and think that there is nothing you can do, because you are just one person....each and every one of us may be one drop of water, but oceans are filled one drop at a time as the drops all join together!
"Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." Carl Sagan (Photograph of earth taken from Voyager)
"I think...that when I die, I can breathe back the breath that made me live. I can give back to the world all that I didn't do. All that I might have been and couldn't be. All the choices that I didn't make. All the things that I lost and and spent and wasted. I can give them back to the world. To the lives that haven't been lived yet. That will be my gift back to the world that gave me the life I did live, the love I loved, the breath I breathed."(Ursula Leguin, "The Other Wind")
Cameron and Dreamweaver
Where we live...
Mist at Dawn on the lake...
Frozen Lake
Leaf trapped in Ice
A moment of beauty,,,
Sunset
Cameron and Dreamweaver
Cameron
Dreamweaver
Gabriel and Claudia
Father and Daughter
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