How have your political views changed over time?
Politics being one of the three things we should never discuss, I am abstaining from today’s daily prompt. I have a pumpkin pie to bake. Oh no! I shouldn’t have mentioned the pumpkin. Forget I said anything.
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
I have it. It’s here. Preassembled. No modifications.
What is your all time favorite automobile?
Nope.
VW Cabriolet, circa 1989. Silver. Second favorite color: dark blue.
VW did shortened the name and introduced the VW Cabrio in the 1990s, but as I’m researching this, I’m finding they didn’t introduce the Cabrio until the late 1990s. This doesn’t make sense, because the cutest boy at school, Mark R., was driving around his girlfriend in a VW Cabrio in a light shade of purple/gray with a dark purple/gray top earlier than the late 1990s. I loved this car. About 75% of Mark’s allure was his car. Anyone know what shade I’m talking about here? I cannot find the shade online. (Ha. Unintentional pun: “I cannot find the shade online.” If you can’t find the “shade” online, you haven’t gone online…)
I’m still trying to find one of these cars at a price point I can afford. So far, I can afford one without wheels or an engine. As these cars are now considered classic, they are outrageously priced, and since I want one that actually drives, that’s going to be a tough find.
Are you a good judge of character?
My mother told me that when I was little I would stare at people to size them up without saying a word. But she didn’t need to tell me that I did it, I remember doing it. I did it even before I could talk. I can imagine a baby silently observing an adult would be a little unnerving for the adult. As I got older and continued to do it, people would say that I was a brat or spoiled or whatever other hurtful phrases they sputtered because they were afraid. These were people that had something to hide. I’m not quite as obvious about it anymore. I do it with every person I meet, it’s not an ability that I can control. I sense the essence of a person, whether good or otherwise, without them ever saying a word. I was born this way. There are other attributes of claircognizance. Check out this page for more information about the phenomenon. Do any of you have the ability? Or any other ability that seems unique to you? I’d love to read your comments!
When are you most happy?
When I am creating another world through writing, showing a glimpse of a world through photography, sometimes combining the two. Making basil pesto pasta sauce from scratch. Baking brownies. Spending time with animals. Wrapping Christmas presents.
Creating something or some things that will be perceived by or given to others for their hopeful enjoyment is usually when I am most happy.
Watching tennis makes me happy. I’m not creating anything but noise for anyone else, but I enjoy watching tennis, especially from the stands.
I am also most happy in the summer. When I can walk through the soft, cool grass, with bare feet and feel like the warm air is an enveloping calming blanket, I am content – the combination of happiness and stillness.
What was the last thing you did for play or fun?
If you don’t have kids, you have to imbue a kid like Spirit within yourself by yourself. The best way to stay young at heart is through play. Play is really creativity with a silly face.
I play every day. I play with my cat, I put googly eyes on candles, I send my friends silly memes, I break out into song and dance without forewarning.
Kids are always a big inspiration for fun things, so if you have young kids in your family, or your friends have young kids, sit with them on the floor or hang out with them outside looking at Christmas lights. But don’t spend too much time analyzing what they’re doing, just get on the floor and play. Use your imagination to build a Barbie house or a big fort. Imagine among the Christmas lights live tiny fairies that bestow positive wishes on each person who passes underneath. Write a kids’ story with a kid. There are a million ways to play, and to have fun each day you simply have to look for your opportunities. Before you know it, you’ll be playing.
List your top 5 grocery store items.
5 golden rings (is that my phone or yours?)
4 calling birds (it *was* my phone! Why are birds calling me at the grocery store?)
3 French hens (fancy birds, oui?)
2 turtle doves (look, I have enough game in my grocery cart already, I don’t need any turtle doves, whatever they are.)
A partridge in a pear tree (I already have 9 birds in this cart! And how am I going to fit an entire pear tree in here?!)
——————
$14,587.42 (and my cart has directionally challenged wheels)
Describe a *person* who has positively impacted your life.
She was both mother and father. Even when my father was alive, my mother was my father. Everything good that I’ve learned, I’ve learned from her. It was not a perfect relationship, but she was my best friend, and positively affected my life. My father, for his part, gave me these hands and these eyes, and this technical brain. Don’t get me wrong, he was impactful. Sort of like an asteroid hitting earth. Someone wise once said, “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” Mary Oliver.
Thanks for the darkness, dad.
Thanks for the light, Mom.
Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?
When it’s Sunday, I think about Monday (begrudgingly, and with pre-Monday morning blues)
Tuesday I focus on Tuesday, hoping to hear some good news
Wednesday is mid-week, we’ve made it over the hump
Thursday is pre-Friday, which brings a smile to my face
Friday is Friday, no need to explain
Saturday is actually called Caturday (cat “staff” will understand)
And Sunday wraps it up and simultaneously starts anew
To think a year in advance, I would miss all this present day living there is to do
Join me for Part One of a new series entitled, “Not My Cat™️.”
I first noticed Star in 2016, after new neighbors moved in. Star moved in with her two dog brothers and her human family. I walked past “her” house on many occasions. Shortly after Star and her family moved in, I noticed her sitting on the front stoop. Because I am unable to walk past a cat without calling out to it and trying to get it to come to me, I slowed down my pace in front of Star’s house. Star glanced over. She was intrigued, perhaps sensing I speak Cat, and made her way over to me. She sniffed then rubbed my hand. This was the beginning of our friendship. Much to my surprise, it was also the beginning of Star walking with me on my walks. I had never known a cat to walk with a person before, nor have I met another.
And so it went. I would round the corner and Star would strut at her own pace down the driveway to meet me, and we would commence our walk. The whole time, I whispered to her that she should go back home. It wasn’t safe. There were dogs and cars. She did often stop eventually and returned home on her own.
As spring turned to summer, I saw Star’s human father, and told him that I loved his cat. He told me that she runs the house. She was a feral stray at one point and she does what she wants. Her two dog brothers were much larger than she, but I witnessed Star corral the two dogs after they had escaped the fenced backyard. She went out to the driveway where they were, hissed and swatted at each of them until she could get them back to the fence. Star was very tiny, but very, very mighty. She reminded me of my own cat, Kitty. Kitty has been long since gone but Star had her personality. And star was aptly named.
One sweltering summer day, I looked out my window and saw members of Star’s human family walking their two dogs. Then I saw Star trailing behind, her humans oblivious to her struggle to keep up. It was so very hot and I knew she was an elderly cat. I scrambled out of my house to get Star. I scooped her up, but she didn’t want to be scooped up. So, I tried to bring her some water. But she didn’t want any water. She kept walking, so I walked her home. We went very slowly as you can imagine an elderly cat in humid, hot weather would move. I felt awful that I could not pick her up, but she was not willing to be held. We reached her home and I knocked on the closed door. I had trouble holding back my anger and concern. I said, rather rudely, “I found your cat. She’s old and she’s hot and probably needs to come in and drink water immediately.” I was met with a couple of blank stairs from a couple of teenagers. I hope that they let Star in that day, even if she didn’t want to come in, and that she had all the water she could drink.
I didn’t see Star after that day. I walked daily, and as each day passed and I still didn’t see her, I knew that Star was among the stars. A star. I have a picture of Star hanging in my kitchen along with many photos of cats that I’ve met or have been owned by in my life. She fits right in. And yet, she doesn’t. She shines bright. ✨
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“It's Amy,” I said. 