The Contenders

Phoebe's the kitten (6 months)

Dexter is about a year old

And Charlie is 3 years

I know looks aren't everything, but cast your vote for which fur-baby you think we'll pick! :-)

Rum Tum Memorial Art

It is my habit to try and create some kind of art when a fur-baby dies. So I made two for Rum Tum. The first is her memorial angel-cat piece and the second is kind of like a portable mural. I will probably make a mural piece of my still-living cat, Lilo Bean, as well.

The memorial/shrine piece is mostly acrylics and the background shrine part is black gesso with colored pencils. It is much more vibrant in real life, but I ignored every rule of photographing artwork in my haste to post it here!

The portrait is almost 2 feet high, or so. I decided to keep the cat faces sort of folksy and graphic and just make her eyes more 3-D.

We are a two-cat family and we are all missing cat number two. Even Lilo Bean seems a bit confused and lonely. So, when I read the newsletter from W.A.G - We are Animal Guardians (we got Rum & Lilo from them) I decided to find out if they have a new fur-baby for us.

Sheila at WAG said she'd had 48 calls today - almost all wanting to turn in cats and dogs. Only one looking for a new pet. If anyone reading this lives in NH and has been thinking about a new pet, please do consider contacting them. They are a no-kill shelter and they foster out the animals. Sheila says the kittens are easy to place but there are many lovely, older pets who never get their own homes! All the animals have been checked, neutered, vaccinated, etc. And you can "test" an animal in your home to see if it is right for your family. She said they also have an amazing program for seniors who are afraid that their pet will have no where to go if the owner dies or moves to a nursing home. WAG takes the pet back, no problem. (They also need monetary donations badly right now!)

Our family has an older female cat and a toddler child, so Sheila had to do some serious thinking on what cat would fit in here. She sent us photos of three cats and we all crowded around the screen to argue the merits of each! I'm leaning toward "Charlie" who reminds me a lot of a past cat I had, named Sakhi (Sakhmet the Egyptian Goddess of War and Pestilence - she mellowed with age.) Except that he looks like he has a sweeter disposition. After all, I don't want him to eat my baby, right? "Dexter," the gray tuxedo cat looks sweet too and Lilah really liked his photo - he was sniffing a bouquet of flowers. And the B&W kitten, Phoebe.. adorable. It's hard to pick just one - I can't wait to meet them!

Rum Tum Teaser

Studio Cat and Golden-Eyed Muse
I will miss your purrs and your sage advice:
"All things seem better after a snack and a nap in the sun."

I am heart-broken to let you go.
But there is no cure for a Jellicle cat who cannot purr.
Goodbye.

Intergalactic Orchestra

There are a few really fun benefits to owning a 12 year old boy who adores Star Wars. Really!! Here's one: Alex's grandparents gave him three tickets to the "Star Wars in Concert" show at the Verizon Center as his birthday present. And he let me have one of the tickets. This show was so amazing the only words I can think of to describe it are...  laser beams, fog machines, pillars of fire, 3-story screen, C-3PO (well, the actor, actually). Star Wars music is like cartoon music - the old cartoons. You don't realize you are listening or affected by it, but it is in your blood. The orchestra plays the first few notes of the piece and you KNOW who will appear on the screen. Big, black and brooding. His creepy breathing. Darth Vader is the scariest character alive. I'm sorry, but Darth Maul is  no match. What's a little make-up (OK, a LOT of makeup) and a few horns (double light saber is cool though...). As kids, we watched all those movies, not understanding the complicated politics or relationships or even WHY Vader was the way he was. And we loved the characters as if they were our family. Princess Leia was and is the most kick-butt princess ever. Amidala just flits around trying to balance her complicated hairstyles... But this concert gave me new respect for her too. And now I need to do what my son has been telling me to do for years... go and watch ALL the movies in the correct order. The new ones never made sense to me because they seemed backwards. But hearing the story, simplified and in order with the compelling music, OK, time to do it all again. I hope I didn't annoy Alex last night when I whispered things like, "That movie came out when I was seven!" or "Oh! That one came out when I was YOUR age!" Man, I'm old. But I did notice that 75% of the audience was my generation and 25% was Alex's or younger. And this was the only concert in my life where the mini-vans cheerfully let me back out into the patiently waiting parking garage traffic. The Force was with us.

(There was an incredible display of costumes and special effects outside the arena!)

Go Bruins!

Here's the Bruins crown my dad made. Felt, paper, stamps, charms. Very manly - nice job dad! Who says real men don't craft?

And just in case you need MORE proof... check out the crown Ken made - using the same materials! Very art-y Ken. Nice!

Artgirlz Art Party

We were so lucky to have an art party on Saturday with Tracy and Sue from Artgirlz in Rhode Island. Artgirlz is (are?) known for their pewter charms and felt beads and things. I personally am in love with making little people using the charms - arms, legs and crowns especially. For this event we made big, paper crowns! They started us off with pre-splattered watercolor paper - ingenius really. No blank sheet of paper staring back - we all dove right in - not even waiting for everyone to arrive! Even my father got into it - he made a Bruins crown - Go Dad!

It was absolutely POURING outside - very dismal. But inside we were giddy with gluesticks (and cupcakes!) Which got me thinking that we need more of these silly, fun art parties. Especially in the winter. Cabin fever parties... hmmm....  So, if you live within a day's drive of Wingdoodle (Warner, NH) and like to mess around with craft supplies, eat cupcakes, and laugh alot... be sure to stop in at the store, phone, or email (info at wingdoodle dot com) and say "Please, please invite me to the next art party!" Oh and let us know if you have a great idea for an art party project! I'd love to make some Artgirlz Snowpeople - but I'm up for anything.



Jen is the Queen of the Forest

 The Royal Family (you may call me "your Highness")

Alice

"When your sole purpose in life is to entertain the gods, there's nothing to do but put on a good show."

So, yesterday I was (whining) about how I need an Alice, right? Here's how the universe plays with me... I've been reading this excellent book called "The Red Book" - I'll post more about it later - but I was reading a section about how the universe/god/etc always answers our prayers, always. But we are often too thick, too busy, or just plain afraid to see that it has been answered. Or it is answered in a way we didn't expect. My Irish grandfather always said that his favorite curse was "may all your dreams come true." Which my Jewish Gramma re-phrased as "be careful what you wish for, you may get it." It is very true. I was terrified to have to dance at my wedding. I started dance classes, but also prayed not to have to dance. I had foot surgery and didn't walk for three months. I was on crutches for my wedding. I didn't dance. "That's not what I meant!" I yelled.

I think the universe has a great sense of humor. So, after posting yesterday, I started wading through the hundreds of emails I had put off reading while I was in France. One was from Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You to Be Rich (which is a great website, despite the scammy sounding name. Ramit is a money genius. He has a lot of very practical, sound suggestions.) In Ramit's email he talked about a great new online service that helped organize your shopping lists, find the best prices on your products, find coupons, place your order, and ship it all to you with no shipping charge. Oh, and it reminds you when you need to reorder stuff, and has a community discussion board too. Someone to do all my grocery shopping and offer advice!!
Hmmm... guess what it's called?
Yep... Alice.com.