The Love in your Heart wasn’t put there to stay, Love isn’t Love ’til it’s given away.♥
See this little kitty-in-the carrier? He came home with us today! ♥
He’s only nine weeks old. I’d been wanting a new cat for quite awhile; I always have at least two cats, sometimes three, and now I have only one; I felt like Girl Kitty needed a friend. So a few days ago I called the animal shelter in Edgartown, to see if they had any kittens. They didn’t, but they told me they would put me on a waiting list and let me know if one comes in.
I thought it might be months before I heard from them . . . but then, yesterday afternoon, Lisa called from the shelter and said they had one; a male, black and white, “tuxedo.”
I said to her, “Oh good, how wonderful, I’ve been thinking my older cat needs a playmate.”
Lisa said, “It doesn’t often work out that way, but they’ll get along after a while.”
I hung up the phone feeling a little bit worried.
So I Googled: “How to introduce a kitten to a 10-year-old cat.” And discover it’s not as simple as I thought. After reading pages of expert advice, all suggesting that the older cat (Girl) is not going to be happy about this; we will need to keep them apart until they have time to get used to each other; and how important it is not to disturb Girl Kitty’s routines; it was much more complicated than I’d imagined. Not the vision of feline harmony that I’d hoped for. I’m disappointed, but I think perhaps we should say no to this new kitten. I don’t want to ruin Girl Kitty’s life!
But, after all, we did ask the shelter to save us a kitty; it can’t hurt to at least go look at him. It might even be rude not to.
Just in case, we better put the cat carrier in the car. Probably won’t need it.
We drive into Edgartown. On the way, Joe says, “What do you think you’d want to name him?”
I smiled, “I was thinking about that this morning. I don’t know; I wouldn’t want to name him Man Kitty again.” (I’ve named all my male kitties “Man Cat,” then call them by nicknames: Mr. Momo, Momita, Mannie, Manita, Moesome ♥).
“How about Livingston?” I suggest, “then when we see him we could say ‘Livingston, I presume.’ “
Joe says, “But Man Cat’s a good name; at least it’s easy to remember.”
I say, “Yes, that’s for sure, OK, we’ll just name him Man Cat. It’s probably best.”
Joe says, “How about Jack? You could name him Jack.”
I say, “Jack? Jack! I like it! We can name him after my dad. Jack, Jackie, Jackarina, Jackolantern; it works! “
By then, the inner me was saying, People do it all the time, get a new cat, it’s not impossible, we can do this.
And then we arrive at the animal shelter, and we see him for the first time, with his funny French mustache, a face only a mother can love, and his look that says, I really want to go home with you and live with you for the rest of my life; pick me.♥
I’m thinking, this is a very cute kitty. And then he lifted his head, and the temporary collar he was wearing around his neck had something written on it.
The women at the shelter had named him Jack.
The end. ♥
There was never any choice really. It was meant to be.
Girl is still Queen of our Bed; we’ve given Jack the Peter Rabbit Room for the time being. I visit him there every hour or so; I roll his furry self around and around in my hands. He loves it. He turns on his back for more. I’m already madly in love. Wish us luck that he stays healthy, that he won’t play “Tarzan” in the Christmas tree, that Girl Kitty learns to tolerate him someday soon, and that he lives with us forever. ♥
As several of you have guessed, I’m a morning person. I don’t set my alarm, I just wake up, with my tail wagging, wanting to get downstairs and start the day! I always wake before the sun, when the house is quiet, creaking a bit like old houses do; Joe is still in his warm bed, just where I want him to be, because I love this time to myself. It’s cold this morning, a perfectly fall morning, the thermometer outside our kitchen window says it’s not quite 40°.
On goes the furnace, on goes the kettle . . . the furnace hums and I stand by the register that blows over the wood floor to warm my feet and wait for the water to boil. I could get an electric kettle and it would boil faster, but I get a little tired of doing everything the fastest possible way! I’ll just wait.
It was gorgeous yesterday; we went out and changed our Halloween decorations just slightly, and now they have a new name, “Thanksgiving decorations!”
We took the skeleton from the front door, and put up the wreath, and voila, it’s fall, harvest, autumn, Thanksgiving!
Hmmm you might ask at this point, where is she going with this! This can’t be breakfast! 🙂 Well, during our walk out to the water yesterday, we decided we need to go on a little health kick. With all the grilled cheese sandwiches and corn pudding lately, not to mention the M & M Peanuts and Almond Joys we were forced to clean up after Halloween, we have personally taken on some of the texture of corn pudding! There are about three weeks before we have to start eating again in earnest! So we’re taking advantage of this lull in the action — and started yesterday with this really different, but very delicious Stuffed Sweet Potato recipe I thought you might like to try.
Here’s how it’s done . . . One big sweet potato was all we needed for the two of us. Preheat the oven to 400°. Put a tray on the bottom rack of the oven to catch those pesky sweet potato juices (keeps the oven clean). Pierce the potato a couple of times with a knife. Then smear the skin with soft butter and salt it well (we get organic potatoes so we can eat the skin!). Put the potato in the oven to roast for one hour and fifteen minutes, until it’s easily pierced with fork.
While it’s baking (and making your kitchen warm and fragrant and homey smelling), chop 1/2 c. fresh cilantro (and/or basil) and about 1/3 c. salted peanuts.
You will need to have these two items in the house also . . . Chili Puree with Garlic, and Soy Sauce.
When the potato is tender, pull it from the oven; cut it in half, and fluff it up with a fork. (You might want to put on your sunglasses for these next photos, but remember, the brighter color of the vegetable, the more good beta carotene that lurks within!)
Yeow! Extreeeemly healthy potato! Split one Tbsp. of Chili Puree with Garlic between the two halves.
Split the 1/2 tsp. of soy sauce between the two halves as well, and carefully mix the sauces into the mashed potato.
Sprinkle over the chopped nuts.
Top them with the cilantro (and/or basil). Roughly chop about 3/4 c. fresh cold bean sprouts and divide them between the two halves, squeeze over the juice of one lime, and serve . . .
And to keep the color/health thing going, I served it with this. Roasted chicken salad with apples and steamed beets, chopped red onion and cherry tomatoes. And we bravely had it with no dressing, because there was so much flavor, we figured we could get away with it, and we did!
What a beautiful morning, the sun is coming through the trees, landing here and there, and the birds are singing.
One more thing . . . we planted a dogwood tree this spring, and this garnet fall color is just one reason why; so beautiful in the morning sun. 
