It's Always Something ...

I have a confession to make. It takes us forever to get out of the house to shoot a distant cat show. There is always something unexpected that throws a wrench into our exquisitely planned-to-the-minute (and unrealistically optomistic) schedule of things to do before we can leave home. And since we essentially BUILD our shooting table and studio at the cat show, there is a lot to do.

Once, it was our Black British Shorthair, Nox, whom we could not find (counting kitty noses, you know) before we set the alarm and closed the front door. We looked all over the house. With a flashlight -- he was nowhere. Finally, I resorted to opening all the doors in the house ... cabinet doors, linen closet doors, you name it. We found him .. asleep in one of the kitchen cabinets which had a spring hinge that closed the cabinet door after him. Nox was a happy camper but we were over an hour behind schedule.

Another incident was my notebook computer. Two days we worked on it, right before leaving to drive cross country to a show, to get it to burn a CD, but it refused. Finally, we bought another after putting the recalcitrant offender into the shop for repair.

Today was another example of events conspiring to set us behind. One event was a new Lenovo notebook computer we got as a show computer to be able to handle the load of images from the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II at the show. Ken spent two days downloading applications, checking to see they worked, and trying out all peripherals. Then he couldn't burn a CD. Spent more time talking to Tech Support. Nada. End result: Shipped back to Lenovo for repair. The first Tech Support person told us to get a CD from Fry's and reload the operating system. Ha!

The second event has nothing to do with electronics. Winter is the time of year that squirrels in our part of the country are looking to find a nice warm place to sleep or have babies. Our attic must be a 5-star hotel in that respect, as we've had squirrels in our attic before. If they didn't chew the electrical wiring, conduct Santa Anita races above our heads, and urinate in the insulation, I wouldn't mind sharing the space. But they do. And they have. Our cats are the "tell" -- when they start looking up at the ceiling, I know we have a problem.

We have 2 "Have a Heart" traps which are set in our attic. This morning, all feline heads were pointed toward the ceiling in our bedroom. Ken and I looked at each other, knowing what that meant. Two hours out of our schedule, down the drain -- not even creating something new like a display of our photos for cat shows -- but rescuing a frightened squirrel who only wanted a warm place to sleep ... ur, and race around and possibly raise a family. Sigh. So we began.

Move the photo table in the studio which obstructs the stairs to the attic. Get gloves to handle the cage. Clear out the car for the re-homing squirrel trip and line it with newspaper just in case Mr. Squirrel was kind enough not to empty his bladder in our insulation. Move the cats to the front of the house just in case they decided to try to climb a ladder to the attic in their old age. (The Maine Coons are very adventurous.) Did I mention that going into the attic makes Ken's skin crawl? It freaks him out. He's so tall that the roofing nails scrape his head and with no floor, he has to pick his way carefully. Not a pleasant experience even without a squirrel trapped. But we didn't have a choice. You can't leave a squirrel trapped in a cage. So Ken bit the bullet. The squirrel was pretty quiet during the physical transportation process from the attic to the studio but once he and Ken were out the front door, he smelled "freedom." This made him kind of crazy until he was put in the car. A new experience, scary but not painful. We drove him to a large park with lots of squirrels, trees, and a large duck pond about three miles from home.

I should have brought my camera for the "release" but I was too worried about Mr. Squirrel and his feelings to even think about it. Once Ken opened the trap, the squirrel ran straight for a stand of trees about half a football field away.

Happy Squirrel. Happy Flicks. Now, late Flicks.

Welcome to Massachusetts

Photo by Truong Nguyen

Keira Nguyen sent me this image that her husband took to welcome Ken and I to Massachusetts! We leave today to drive the 2,000 miles up to the TICA Mysticats Show in Fitchburg, MA, 6-7 June 2009. Generously, Keira and Truong Nguyen will be hosting us at their home while we're there. We will also be holding a Salon for private sittings after the show on Tuesday. Both Ken and I are looking forward to this road trip as we will be seeing part of the United States we've never seen before! Plus, we'll be staying with family along the way there and on the way home again. I'll be meeting some cat breeders face-to-face with whom I've only corresponded via email and plan on photographing some great cats in the Northeast Region!

Thank you, Keira and Rene Knapp for inviting us. We are so pumped!

et Cetera - Datura

Our good neighbors are Ralph and Arly Pineo. Arly Pineo, is a published writer, a magnificent cook and has a garden that is the envy of our community. One year she grew Daturas and told me they were poisonous. The blossom is quite beautiful, so after I took a snapshot of it, I looked it up on the web. This is what I found:

About Datura, from B and T World Seeds website, http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/Datura.htm

"All species of Datura and Brugmansia contain powerful alkaloids which in sufficient quantities have the power to kill. The main alkaloids represented are Scopolamine, Hyoscyamine and Atropine. Self-experimentation is not recommended and must be strictly avoided by anyone who suffers any kind of heart condition. The effects are stimulating on the central nervous system and simultaneously depressing on the peripheral nerves. Symptoms include an increased heart rate, drying up of the mucus membranes, a dry throat and sometimes cramps. At first the effects are arousing, sometimes manifesting as uncontrolled talking or laughing, forgetfulness and indulging in senseless repetitive activities. Vivid hallucinations and delirious illusions may also occur. Occasionally the effects can produce extreme violence and destructive urges. The period of agitation is usually followed by a deep prolonged sleep accompanied with vivid dreams and hallucinations, often of a sexual nature. Upon awakening one might experience a distinct hang-over and a total lack of memory as to what actually happened during the state of altered consciousness."

NOTE: "In cases of poisoning one should induce vomiting and bowel evacuation as a first aid measure. Willow-charcoal powder can be given for detoxification."

Arly also grows a Datura which is a white version with purple edging. Very striking blossoms. I have yet to see the seed pod. In fact, Arly has a fantastic garden with shade plants in the back and sunny ones in the front. It is always a pleasure to see what is thriving.

More "et Cetera" ...

I absolutely adore the look of the sun coming through the sprinklers watering our front yard. Everytime they come on, I take the time to go enjoy the view. I've seen birds taking the opportunity for a fresh bath, I've seen dragonflies dart in and out of the water in the air, but most of all, I enjoy the light filtering through the water. This is what I saw this morning:

Our Blue and White Maine Coon, Zak, insists on being with his humans ... if you're at the computer, he's preening in front of your screen; and if you're taking a picture out the window, he's right there. You can see his ear at the left side of the image, above. I love this trait of Maine Coons, always wanting to be with you, "in the moment," and companionable.

So I decided to include him in the shot. Here he is, above, looking out the window to see what I found so fascinating.

And barely visible (right bottom corner), napping in our "cat window" (about 8 feet away from where Zak is looking out) is Nox, our Black British Shorthair, who could care less about the sprinklers outside!

This window is why we bought this house. I called it "the cat window" from the start. During our house hunt in 1998, when Ken was surveying the prospects with a video camera (while I held down a desk job) and playing the results of his search each evening, he found this house in a neighborhood whose hilly terrain was carved out by a brook and is totally unlike most of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which is "pool table-flat." He strenuously persuaded me that we NEEDED to go see this house the next day at which point it had only been on the market for 24 hours.

So we did, when I got off work. Some other prospects were just leaving when we drove up. The owners of the house were into cat rescue and had cats which made them kindred souls. :) And there was a lot to like about the house itself, as well as the neighborhood. But the feature that sealed the deal for me were these windows that canted out at the bottom and created a window seat. The view from these windows looks out on the berm that is our front yard and because the house sits on a bluff, the only thing we see of our neighbors are the treetops in their yards. Long story short: I whispered to Ken that we should pay the owner his asking price and write him a deposit check on the spot. This was the house for us -- I knew it in my bones. Ken calls it my impulse purchase since I didn't even want to go see a similar house on the next corner that the realtor wanted to show us. Ha!

We moved in two weeks before we left for Florida to get married on the beach and spend a week in a beach house with some old friends. One of these friends, Kirk Wilder, called that week spent together, "The Cantebury Tales," since few of the guests at our wedding feast (Ken's words, here) knew each other, going in. So Ken, the house, my wedding, and cats are all entertwined. I'll post some pictures of the wedding on the beach later. But this morning, the view of the sprinklers in the morning with Zak right next to me is a daily reminder that life is good.