Looking at More Magazines

It is starting to get ridiculous. I hauled out the email where I signed up for some magazines. It appears I subscribed to 6 magazines. I was pretty sure I knew which ones but I needed to be certain. I ordered (for free using my skymiles) Martha’Stewart Living, Sports Illustrated, Leisure & Travel, Money, Finance Today, and Bon Appétit. I am inundated with magazines. Top this with all my professional magazines (Firstline, Veterinary Nurse, Lab Animal, Veterinary Medicine, Compendium, and JAALAS) that I switched to my home address from the work address. Then there is Sparky’s National Geographic and you can imagine it is getting insane. But now I’m getting a bunch of other titles that I have no idea where they are coming from! We have started getting Food & Wine, Eating Well, Prevention, Shape, Taste of Home, and Better Homes and Garden!! I keep waiting for a bill. At least that is what happened the last time I started getting a magazine I hadn’t subscribed to. It was one of those pranks pulled by a bully. She had subscribed me to a magazine that had an annual subscription fee of $200+. I was puzzled by the first issue because I had no interest in the magazine geared to this very narrow scientific discipline. I tossed it. Then I got the bill. It took time and effort to straighten out. It was no secret who was behind it (since she was gloating and bragging to her toadys – several who felt compelled to rat her out). The mail yesterday had a post card informing me that Money was no longer being published and the remainder of my subscription would be Fortune magazine. Anyway it is very strange with a helping of bizarre on the side!

The following is a little haiku inspired by the latest magazine touting “What you need to know about your metabolism” the article is one page long and half the page is a photo of a sloth. Yeah. That’s all there is to metabolism…
Glossy page print holds
Fact mixed with lies and gossip
Ads predominate

Looking Stinky

The door made a jingle as she walked in. Immediately she had second thoughts and would have turned and fled except as she turned her eye caught sight of the cage. Inside were several kittens all clamoring for her attention with little star paws waving through the bars. She was transfixed. When a voice asked if she wanted to hold one of them she nearly leapt against the cage. Sputtering she said no. She regained her composure and asked to see some adult cats. She was ushered into a long corridor, past kennels and runs filled with barking dogs and into a room with cages three high on three sides. The door closed and the barking became a muted rumble. Lu surveyed the occupants. Most were bedraggled with notched ears, seeping eyes, and the uninterested look of animals awaiting death.

She slowly walked past every cage searching for that intelligent spark that Mister had in his gaze. It was missing. She was disappointed and at the same time relieved. She shook her head and softly asked to leave. The worker indicated that there was another room if she was interested. Lu was. Again the cats were indifferent to her presence although there were a few that were frightened and a several that were overtly hostile. Finally the worker took her to the room of last resort. In that room were all the cats that had been at the shelter beyond the 12 weeks and were slated for euthanasia. When the worker opened the door nearly all the cats perked up. As Lu scanned the room a large cat pressed his head to the cage door purring so loudly that she could hear it from where she stood. Another cat was waving at her like the kittens in the entry. There was one cat that caught her eye. He was larger than most but not fat. His coat was orange with a darker swirl. His eyes were bright orange to match his coat and he was staring at her. She stared back. When the cage was opened, he remained immobile, feet prim and his tail curled over his toes. She reached in and placed her hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes. She waited. He waited. Then there was a faint vibration beneath her finger tips. He turned his head to look at her again and their eyes met. The only thing she could say was, “This is the one I want.” The girl shrugged and ushered Lu back to the adoption area.

She hadn’t adopted from a shelter before and was very confused to find out that there was a stack of documents to fill out and a 3 day waiting period before she could bring him home. She had already decided that this was going to be her cat. As she filled out form after form she noticed that the cat had been given the name “Stinkerbell”. She read the brief history to discover he had been adopted 3 times and returned every time because of “bad behavior”. When she inquired the adoption coordinator was evasive, only saying that he didn’t especially like small children or other animals.

Sunday came and went. Lu gave herself permission to be sad. She dumped Mister’s litter box and completely sanitized it. She tossed all his toys. That wasn’t difficult since he wasn’t ever interested in them anyway. She had eliminated his hair when she donated most of her clothes. The rest was removed when she laundered the bedding and the new clothes and did a complete cleaning of the house. All day she fluctuated between sorrow over Mister and anticipation of bringing the new cat home. Three days seemed a long time to wait. She guessed that they were making sure she wasn’t an animal abuser. She shifted to trying to come up with new name. Stinkerbell would not do. She felt that he deserved a more dignified moniker but nothing came to mind. In the end she turned to other matters.

So there you have it. Lu is moving on. She can barely stand to be in the house alone. Between her personal ghosts and now Mister being dead and buried, Lu is absolutely lonely. She would never admit that but that doesn’t change it in the least.

Looking for the Missing Pieces

I mentioned before that I was able to get into the ceramics classes this semester. Well the class ended and I only had 4 pieces that were completed. As I write this the studio has closed for the annual “clean out”. I had removed all my supplies, equipment, and tools on the last day of class (thanks to Sparky stopping in and being the muscle). On the last day of class I had these two orbs waiting to go home.

This was supposed to be a bullfrog egg mass. One of the other students (who I’ve been sitting next to for at least the last 5 or 6 years), was making a series of tadpoles and frogs. I guess it inspired me to attempt this. All was well until I started glazing. This is glazed in Grass Green with Evans Red in the centers. Usually the red glaze fails and turns a light grey or sometimes a taupe. It never turns out red for me unless there are multiple blood sacrifices to the evil kiln gods. I suppose it is just my luck that when I’m counting on the centers being a nice muddy grey the glaze actually works. Anyway I’ve changed the name of this one to “Martinis anyone?”

The next orb is my version of the coccolith Calicasphaera diconstricta found in the East Pacific Ocean. The clay was a mixture of 2 parts white stoneware and 1 part porcelain as I was trying to get rid of the last bit of porcelain. I glazed this with Royal Blue in the centers and Super T around the rims of each circle with a zone of raw clay. The overall appearance was very pleasing to me. Several of my classmates thought it was exceptional.