Hello again!
Summer is almost over. The yellow coneflowers are gone, the cornflowers are almost done. Goldenrod and morning glories are in their height, climbing the banks along the fields, and the corn is ripe. About a third of the houses I see have autumn decorations on the porch already. They remind me of my own still boxed away in the basement. We’ve been debating the purchase of wooden rocking chairs or gliders for the front porch, so I’ve sort of been waiting to put out fall decorations until we decide. Might as well do it all at once if it’s going to happen.
Today I want to keep the post short. I’m saddened at the news of the wildfires in the West. They bring up a lot of thoughts and opinions, but I think it’s better to just say that sometimes I miss the pine trees and I’m sad that they are burning. So I will share some pictures of hikes we took through them and leave it at that.
The only other thing I’ve included is a really brief response to Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt was “collar”. It reminded me of cats again. I don’t know why I have cats on my brain right now, we don’t have any cats and the only person I know who has a cat is my sister. I don’t want a cat, every now and then a dead one appears in the road so I assume that the life of an outside cat is short in our neck of the woods. But collar reminds me of cats, so here goes.
The cat was sitting on the front porch railing again. It had been a month since the last visit, the time when she’d given it some cheese. She’d wondered if she was responsible for its disappearance, if the cheese had made it sick. Or if it had been collared by animal control.
But no matter now, it was back. And this time she was ready for company.
She finished ironing the shirt collar, carefully set the iron upright and switched it off. She had to be extra careful these days – sometimes she’d come back to the room after tending the garden and discover that she’d left the lights on, or the sewing machine, or something else that not only brought a larger electric bill but might actually cause a fire. That was the scary part. Coming inside to find out that the natural gas stove was burning long after she’d taken the tea kettle off.
Yes, she was extra careful now.
She puttered into the kitchen, opened a cabinet and pulled out a box of dry cat kibble. Another cupboard held a shiny new ceramic bowl, a small one she’d picked up at the dollar store along with another little something that was sitting on the table. She poured out a handful of the kibble and took the gifts to the front porch.
The cat was still there. It looked up as she walked out, watching her, just like last time. “It’s not the best,” she said, setting the bowl on the wood floor. “But it’s the best I can do. Go ahead, try it, if you like.”
The cat jumped off the rail. It seemed young, not more than a few months old, maybe. Female, too. She let it sniff her hand, then petted it gently as it sniffed the food bowl.
It didn’t take long for the cat to eat her fill. Then they both sat on the porch for awhile, enjoying the sunshine, the cat delicately washing her face with a paw. Eventually, she could hear it purring.
“I have another present for you, if you want it,” she said, and waved the other purchase in the cat’s direction. She’d given a lot of thought to this, not sure if she wanted to offer a commitment. What did she have to offer, anyway? Some cheap kibble, a little conversation, nothing special. No fancy cat toys. Not a lot of tasty dinner scraps.
The cat watched with one eye open. As she patted her lap hesitantly, the cat opened both eyes. They both knew it was the ultimately the cat’s decision.
Half an hour later, they were still there, sitting on the porch, enjoying the sunshine. To anyone passing by, just another old lady sitting in her rocking chair with her cat on her lap. Somebody might notice, if they looked closely, that the cat’s pretty pale blue collar matched the color of the old woman’s eyes almost exactly. But probably not. Who really pays attention to those things these days?
I can’t think of any other ways to put a collar into that, so I think I’ll just leave the two of them rocking on the porch for now.
And finally, here’s some photos of the California forests I hiked in not so very long ago. I don’t know how many (if any) of these trees are still standing, as a great deal of our hikes were in the Plumas National Forest. But some of this is from Lassen, too, and some others from coastal areas. Quite different from where I live now.
I have so many photos, it’s hard to choose just a few. More than 3.2 million acres have burned in California this year alone. That’s about the same size as the entire state of Connecticut. Only it’s just within California. That’s not the only state on fire.
To those of you who are affected by the fires, I hope you are safe and wish you all the best.
originally posted at annettezimmerman.com
P.S. Note from future me: the story about the cat that started with this prompt eventually turned into a real short story. It’s published in my first book, which is currently being printed in demand. Contact me if you are interested in a copy!
