Gus In The Apple Tree

It was time for me to feed Gus, a neighbor cat, and his brother Brownie - leaving them in their house for the night. As I looked around, I hear a loud squeak to my left, around or in their old apple tree, and a rocket of gray fur zooming right to left and up the tree. For the next 5 or 15 minutes, Gus strode from branch to branch, intently seeking the squirrel - with no chance of actually catching it, for it was long gone.

This  was ok for a while, but I had stuff to do. Calling him did nothing; he knew I was here and it didn't matter. I tried shaking the tree. You cannot shake a cat from a tree - the four legs brace nicely, and hardly need the claws to dig in at all - the bodies are not massive enough to abuse inertia and the reaction time is a wonder.

Eventually I decided to give it up for now, and started to walk away. Gus meowed and came down, clearly stating that he was ready for dinner now.

We know who is in charge.

Halloween's most unnatural monster!

 

Every year, this bush's costume gets better!

What message is encoded in the moss on this rock?

Wednesday morning walks through Lincoln Park can reveal the slow growth of life even on rocks - or is it a message slowly growing, if we could but read it? When I ask friends what the message may be, replies included:

• Just sit and shut up
• Don't panic
• "Mosses will heal the cracks in the earth from the anthropocene." Live on and prosper, Mosses!
• Having wonderful time. Wish you were here.
• Linus decoded it a long time ago.: The Great Pumpkin Is Coming!
• Be strong, don't worry about the cracks.
• Super second instinct!
• AND: I don’t think I can read moss code.

Mending Party

On a Sunday afternoon, half a dozen of us brought our mending projects to Hannah and Julie's house for a party! We helped each other mend, stitch, darn, repair, fix, patch, sew, amend, rectify, restore, refurbish, overhaul, and renew shirts, blouses, a swim top, pants, soxes, a shoe with a hole in the toebox, banners, curtains, and both an inflatable Santa and an inflatable turkey (there may have been more but I lost track).
All the while we talked, chatted, shot the breeze, chewed the fat, discussed local affairs, recommended for and against movies and TV, spoke with pride about our families (not excluding nieces, nephews and cats). You don't want to get crumbs on your projects and chocolate smears are right out, so the snacks that were present were somewhat neglected, but we all had a good time and got things done.
We're definitely going to do this again; perhaps something focused on crafting. It turns out that a good way to party is to bring together people who want to work on things!
(Photo is of my mended items ... half of my repairs were executed by skilled friends but now I know how to do that too!)