Lobster Sandwiches!
Kitten Update
Smoky had her first vet visit for a round of vaccinations and a clean bill of health. The vet techs enjoyed saying her name repeatedly. She’ll need to be back soon for boosters, and again to get spayed.
They also gave us a Purina-branded “new kitten” welcome box, with some brochures, a sample bag of cat food, and accessories like a measuring cup, silicone can cover, and grooming brush. Weirdly missing: kitten toys. (Although the box eventually became a toy itself.)
She’s gone on adventures onto the shoe bench, the sunny deck, the Corsi Cube, and my shoulder:
Amelia’s getting used to having her around and doesn’t mind sharing her spot on the armchair or on the bed.
True to her name, Smoky really does look like a little puff of gray smoke.
I continue to add more photos of Smoky to her kitten album on Flickr.
New Kitten: Smoky Jones
Please meet our new kitten, Ms. Smoky Jones*, an 8 week old Maine Coon** mix, last of a litter from a home in Lower Sackville, NS***.
I wasn’t sure what to name her until the moment I got her home, sniffed her, smelled the cigarette smoke of her previous home on her fur, and said out loud, “You’re smoky!” The name fit. We added “Jones” to indicate succession from our previous cat, the late Companion Kitten Martha Jones.
Amelia is, of course, understandably apprehensive:
More photos of Smoky here, and of course the relevant Flickr tag.
* No relation to the country music group Smokey Jones and the Three Dollar Pistols or the elephant trainer Smokey Jones.
** Not entirely sure she’s actually got any Maine Coon in her as the breed is tightly controlled, and there are sellers who will just call any domestic longhair a Maine Coon, out of ignorance or to boost sales -— but it’s not uncommon in this region, near Maine, for there to be descendants of older feral Maine Coons, and Smoky definitely shows some signs of the breed with her shaggy coat, bushy tail, long ears, chirpy vocalizations, and strong snout. Real Maine Coon mix or no, she is a pretty kitty and a cute floof.
*** I know we should really adopt rescue, but demand for rescues has been overwhelming, with kittens hard to get lately, so I admit with some shame that we purchased Smoky from a Kijiji seller. This meant she came unspayed with just one vaccination; we will have to bring her to the vet for further feline initialization tasks, including spaying and additional boosters.
Re-Brook
Walking by this brook on the Forest Hills Greenway again:
Compare with how it looked in winter a couple months back.
As of last year there was a proposal before the municipal council to name this waterway “Bissett Brook” — which seems to be what they’re calling it now.
The Run
View from a little footbridge on the Jersey Jack Trail in Cole Harbour Heritage Park. This brook is simply called “The Run.”
Cold MacCormacks
Shots from a cold but sunny walk around MacCormacks Beach, Eastern Passage, NS.
Venus Flytrap Flower
Amy got this little Venus flytrap at Audrey’s Little Shop of Plants in Dartmouth and it flowered:
Turns out the flowers need really long stems so that the plant doesn’t catch and eat its own pollinators, and also flowering exhausts the plant so it’s best to cut the flower stem and use it for propagation.
Long Overdue Haircut
Procrastinated on getting a haircut for a couple years, but with hair flowing over my shoulders and down my back and as far down as my elbows and generally being a tangled mess I figured I’d probably better get the standard buzz I usually get. Still fighting the reflexive urge to tie back a ponytail days later.
Buzz and fade courtesy Tom at Chinwag’s Barber Shop. The shorn locks are now in a baggie with the Trailer Park Boys costumes and production designer Nicole, who may use it in a wig or as a prop.
Thus cementing my legacy with the show in hair forever. Or something.
Sleepy Sunny Cat
Here’s Amelia sprawled on the bed in a sunbeam putting a paw over her face:
Post-Covid Activity Reduction
Health app screenshot from 5 months after covid infection shows reduction in activity — partially deliberate because exertion immediately after an infection can lead to a greater chance of developing long covid, but also just that stairs were extremely tiring to me for a couple months after I recovered.