Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Who knew the physical embodiment of unbridled joy and unconditional love was a shaggy black cat? In that miserable summer of 2009, something good happened. Scenter's cats/familiars came into my life. They were already six years old. At the time, I remember thinking I would be replacing cats between the 2016 and the 2020 election cycle. I remember thinking if I could get ten years out of them, that would be about right. Well, Brûlée checked out during the week of the 2018 midterm election, the very middle of the presidential election cycle. And now, I've lost Vincent as we come up on exactly ten years. Having those two cats in my life made a huge difference . They taught me love was possible again after losing Copernicus and Sophia . When Cuddly Hubby went to work in another state in 2013, the feline contingent in our household was an important source of morale and support. Brûlée was the more extroverted. Similar to Copernicus, he liked to supervise suspicious hu...

I don't know who it was, but somebody played the "everyone discard down to one cat" card. Several of my friends have lost cats this year, including one who started out the year with three cats and lost two. Brûlée's appetite had been waning, but he was otherwise acting like himself. We tried some medications to improve his appetite, but they didn't seem to help. A couple weeks ago, my veterinarian performed an ultrasound. There was a lot that was normal, but a couple places in Brûlée's upper and lower small intestine were a little odd. We already knew he had some kidney insufficiency issues. The veterinarian suggested doing biopsy surgery. I let that thought sit for a couple weeks. Then, Brûlée definitely did not have a good day on Sunday. He didn't greet me at the bottom of the stairs, meowing his usual greeting of, "Chop, chop, human! I'm hungry! Get with it!" One of us would reward him with an egg toy full of treats. Since Brûlée was c...

My home is now quite empty. Sophia passed away last night. Her health had gone downhill, but had accelerated since last fall. A regular veterinary check up this spring revealed that her kidney disease, which had been stable for many years, was not so anymore. So at least I knew that our time was more limited than I imagined. Although the processing on this picture at top didn't turn out quite right, this is my favorite picture of her. She was a small cat, but she had a lot of attitude. She was very elegant and composed in the body, but her tail would always give away her emotions. We joked that she should never play poker, as the tail would be a tell. She loved to slink around silently or to sleep in the shadows. She kept her grey coat -- a low-observables coating -- immaculate. She could be the F-22 stealth cat when she wanted to be. She had been a stray in Ann Arbor. A roommate with two cats had moved out and I wanted another cat so Copernicus wouldn't be bored...

Some months back, I thought of writing this post ahead of time and having it ready. Those of you who know me personally understand what this passing means to me. The Cuddly Hubby has the week off, so when the precipitating crisis occurred, we were able to go to the vet together. Right off, I need to thank Dr. Friedlander and all the great staff at Cat Care of Vinings. And a special thank you to Lisa, who was there today and had to take my call first thing in the morning. Copernicus had a major stroke last night, after an otherwise good day and an overall very good December. Cuddly Hubby and I stayed up off and on with him, knowing that it would be his last night. Sophia pretty much stayed out of it. She did come downstairs to see him off this morning, but she is now back upstairs and ignoring us. I do not know what she will be like as she realizes she has the place to herself. For me, his passing is my first milestone of middle age. Nearly all the major milestones of yo...