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lyornThe drama, having delivered its impact, lay inert. The cats, less so. The rest of life slogged on.
The vet diagnosed the cats with a cold, and Tully with significant success on his quest for the perfect form. This short-legged, stout cat weighs 5.8 kg. Long-legged Jerry weighs only 4.9. And both are still growing. Male cats grow until they are about three years old. I'm going to end up with a lot of cat. Which is fine with me. More to love.
Currently, it's mostly a lot of cat hair. Jerry is shedding as if fur was going out of fashion. He cuddles up to me when I'm on the sofa, reading, and leaves me covered in a layer of white cat hair.
Anyway, the cats behaved well at the vet -- not as fearless as Aleister and Eliphas, but I didn't expect them to. Aleister, and especially Eliphas, were fearless battle cats, not sweet boys like Tullamore and Jerome are. They got shots and nose drops and had to get back in on Friday.
*
On Tuesday, the shoe shop had called that the shoes I wanted to try would be in on Thursday. So, on Thursday, I went to work with my weekend-sized bag, holding not only (as usual) my sports clothes, but also my new stage outfit for choir performances. Which, to remind you, includes a short, wide skirt. I changed in the bathroom before I left work, and it was so windy outside that I felt like I was auditing for a re-imagining of that scene. I felt completely silly. At the mall, I met Ceridwen, who at least didn't break down laughing seeing me and sensibly pointed out that other women were wearing far less (though not in red and black). It didn't do anything for my peace of mind that the shop had miscalculated and the shoes weren't there. Ceridwen's presence kept me from running away, instead I tried some other shoes (they all made the costume look even sillier), and the ones I wanted in too-small, which looked a little less silly. Then we went for ice cream again. Ice cream is extremely therapeutic. Afterwards I went to the gym, where I felt a little less inappropriately dressed.
*
Friday, the cats had to go to the vet again, and this time they were fore-warned. I had told my co-workers that I would not be in office before noon, got up TDE (=too damn early), got the bicycle to the repair shop for a springtime check, walked home, had breakfast, then I___ arrived, and we boxed the cats. Jerry, with an unhappy expression, still went into the box when directed to it. Tully hissed and tried to hide under the sofa. Still, no bloodshed, so pretty harmless in my book.
More shots, and in six weeks they have to be back for their vaccinations. I hope the boys don't have much of a long term memory.
I___ decided to spend the rest of the day catching up on her laziness quota and made herself at home in front of my TV. When I got home, after picking up my bicycle, she was still at it. We had tea, I invited Snow over, cooked a Poor Man's Chilli (made up of things found in the storage cupboard and some veggies that were getting stale), we had more tea, talked some, and watched the second "Sherlock" episode. Good start into the weekend.
*
It's hardly worth mentioning by now that I got up early on Saturday again. It's all that stupid nervous energy. I don't know where it comes from. I just wish I could put it into creative work instead of running around like a headless chicken. Anyway, I managed to wander all over town more-or-less headless, got food, tea, shoes, too much sun and too little food and drink, and when I got to the gym at about 2 pm, I had a headache that added what felt like 20 kilos and a hammer to the head to my lifts. So I gave it up, went home, took some ibus and went to bed. Which greatly improved the rest of the day. I suspect. I cannot remember what I did with it, except cook dinner.
*
Having got the headache out of the way, Sunday was very fine. Another 14 km hike, perfect sunny weather, very nice paths for the first two thirds of the way: Narrow, running on the sides of steep hills, through beech forests and between large stones covered with moss. As the leaves on the beeches were not out yet, the view was great for a large part of the way, with the cherries in full bloom in the valley. I started in Streitberg (where the main parking lot limits parking to two hours, so every narrow road is full of parked cars, and the main parking lot is empty), and walked uphill to the Binghöhle. (A limestone cave formed by an underground river. Very beautiful. I had been there some years ago.) Down to a waterfall, where it was crowds with lots of screaming children playing at swordfights with sticks. Up again to the Streitburg, which I actually missed at first, because I was observing a small dog and missed the path which unexpectedly goes through someone's front yard. I tracked back when I noticed. The Streitburg is completely in ruins, just some lower walls left standing, but on the highest rock one has a great view of the river valley. I had breakfast there and went on before a large group of pensioners could catch up with me.
Next was the Guckhüll, a hilltop with no view at all, but the path up there and down again was all the fun. Most beautiful part of the hike, and the most pleasant to walk. Then fields and open hills, past a place in Neudorf that had been recommended to me for good and inexpensive food, but I was not hungry yet and didn't want to spend money. Back into the forest, and down to Muggendorf, where I actually contemplated adding a nice little round through Albertshof and Doos, past the Riesenburg and over the Adlerstein: About doubling the length of the walk. But I didn't bring enough food, and had some doubts if going that far would be clever. So instead I crossed over to the other side of the Wiesent valley and went up to the Ruine Neideck (large image, about 1.1 MB). Which is more like an open-air museum than your usual ruin hanging out and crumbling to pass the time. Every bit of old stone work was labelled and explained, and the place was, as could be expected, full of people. I still spend some time there, because I had never visited it before.
The way down was very steep and hard on the knees, and full of people. I remembered how I had hated such excursions as a kid, and suddenly understood why. You get forced in a car when you might have other plans for the Sunday (like playing, or reading), drive forever, have to walk up the steepest path there is to the most crowded place for miles (with no warm-up, so the steepest path up is damn hard work) and look at something that is not more fun than playing or reading, and might be less. But at least there will be roast pork at the end. One hopes. Most impatiently.
It's a lot better when you are where you want to be, and can take things at your own speed.
My own speed is still "fast". (I read my old "hiking" entries and wonder. Was I always a lot faster than I thought? I didn't have a watch at the time, so I cannot say.) Four hours for the whole thing. I wasn't even really hungry yet, at least not hungry enough to abandon my plan not to spend money in an eatery or beer garden.
So I drove home for a leisurely second breakfast, put some kitchen devices to work and created a giant cappuccino, napped, happily covered in cats, phoned home, did the housework, had dinner, read some, and was very content with the general state of things.
*
And then it was Monday.
The vet diagnosed the cats with a cold, and Tully with significant success on his quest for the perfect form. This short-legged, stout cat weighs 5.8 kg. Long-legged Jerry weighs only 4.9. And both are still growing. Male cats grow until they are about three years old. I'm going to end up with a lot of cat. Which is fine with me. More to love.
Currently, it's mostly a lot of cat hair. Jerry is shedding as if fur was going out of fashion. He cuddles up to me when I'm on the sofa, reading, and leaves me covered in a layer of white cat hair.
Anyway, the cats behaved well at the vet -- not as fearless as Aleister and Eliphas, but I didn't expect them to. Aleister, and especially Eliphas, were fearless battle cats, not sweet boys like Tullamore and Jerome are. They got shots and nose drops and had to get back in on Friday.
*
On Tuesday, the shoe shop had called that the shoes I wanted to try would be in on Thursday. So, on Thursday, I went to work with my weekend-sized bag, holding not only (as usual) my sports clothes, but also my new stage outfit for choir performances. Which, to remind you, includes a short, wide skirt. I changed in the bathroom before I left work, and it was so windy outside that I felt like I was auditing for a re-imagining of that scene. I felt completely silly. At the mall, I met Ceridwen, who at least didn't break down laughing seeing me and sensibly pointed out that other women were wearing far less (though not in red and black). It didn't do anything for my peace of mind that the shop had miscalculated and the shoes weren't there. Ceridwen's presence kept me from running away, instead I tried some other shoes (they all made the costume look even sillier), and the ones I wanted in too-small, which looked a little less silly. Then we went for ice cream again. Ice cream is extremely therapeutic. Afterwards I went to the gym, where I felt a little less inappropriately dressed.
*
Friday, the cats had to go to the vet again, and this time they were fore-warned. I had told my co-workers that I would not be in office before noon, got up TDE (=too damn early), got the bicycle to the repair shop for a springtime check, walked home, had breakfast, then I___ arrived, and we boxed the cats. Jerry, with an unhappy expression, still went into the box when directed to it. Tully hissed and tried to hide under the sofa. Still, no bloodshed, so pretty harmless in my book.
More shots, and in six weeks they have to be back for their vaccinations. I hope the boys don't have much of a long term memory.
I___ decided to spend the rest of the day catching up on her laziness quota and made herself at home in front of my TV. When I got home, after picking up my bicycle, she was still at it. We had tea, I invited Snow over, cooked a Poor Man's Chilli (made up of things found in the storage cupboard and some veggies that were getting stale), we had more tea, talked some, and watched the second "Sherlock" episode. Good start into the weekend.
*
It's hardly worth mentioning by now that I got up early on Saturday again. It's all that stupid nervous energy. I don't know where it comes from. I just wish I could put it into creative work instead of running around like a headless chicken. Anyway, I managed to wander all over town more-or-less headless, got food, tea, shoes, too much sun and too little food and drink, and when I got to the gym at about 2 pm, I had a headache that added what felt like 20 kilos and a hammer to the head to my lifts. So I gave it up, went home, took some ibus and went to bed. Which greatly improved the rest of the day. I suspect. I cannot remember what I did with it, except cook dinner.
*
Having got the headache out of the way, Sunday was very fine. Another 14 km hike, perfect sunny weather, very nice paths for the first two thirds of the way: Narrow, running on the sides of steep hills, through beech forests and between large stones covered with moss. As the leaves on the beeches were not out yet, the view was great for a large part of the way, with the cherries in full bloom in the valley. I started in Streitberg (where the main parking lot limits parking to two hours, so every narrow road is full of parked cars, and the main parking lot is empty), and walked uphill to the Binghöhle. (A limestone cave formed by an underground river. Very beautiful. I had been there some years ago.) Down to a waterfall, where it was crowds with lots of screaming children playing at swordfights with sticks. Up again to the Streitburg, which I actually missed at first, because I was observing a small dog and missed the path which unexpectedly goes through someone's front yard. I tracked back when I noticed. The Streitburg is completely in ruins, just some lower walls left standing, but on the highest rock one has a great view of the river valley. I had breakfast there and went on before a large group of pensioners could catch up with me.
Next was the Guckhüll, a hilltop with no view at all, but the path up there and down again was all the fun. Most beautiful part of the hike, and the most pleasant to walk. Then fields and open hills, past a place in Neudorf that had been recommended to me for good and inexpensive food, but I was not hungry yet and didn't want to spend money. Back into the forest, and down to Muggendorf, where I actually contemplated adding a nice little round through Albertshof and Doos, past the Riesenburg and over the Adlerstein: About doubling the length of the walk. But I didn't bring enough food, and had some doubts if going that far would be clever. So instead I crossed over to the other side of the Wiesent valley and went up to the Ruine Neideck (large image, about 1.1 MB). Which is more like an open-air museum than your usual ruin hanging out and crumbling to pass the time. Every bit of old stone work was labelled and explained, and the place was, as could be expected, full of people. I still spend some time there, because I had never visited it before.
The way down was very steep and hard on the knees, and full of people. I remembered how I had hated such excursions as a kid, and suddenly understood why. You get forced in a car when you might have other plans for the Sunday (like playing, or reading), drive forever, have to walk up the steepest path there is to the most crowded place for miles (with no warm-up, so the steepest path up is damn hard work) and look at something that is not more fun than playing or reading, and might be less. But at least there will be roast pork at the end. One hopes. Most impatiently.
It's a lot better when you are where you want to be, and can take things at your own speed.
My own speed is still "fast". (I read my old "hiking" entries and wonder. Was I always a lot faster than I thought? I didn't have a watch at the time, so I cannot say.) Four hours for the whole thing. I wasn't even really hungry yet, at least not hungry enough to abandon my plan not to spend money in an eatery or beer garden.
So I drove home for a leisurely second breakfast, put some kitchen devices to work and created a giant cappuccino, napped, happily covered in cats, phoned home, did the housework, had dinner, read some, and was very content with the general state of things.
*
And then it was Monday.
