Holidays 2024

The holiday season kicked off with Tessie turning 12

She doesn't have her own phone yet but used mine here at the Midwinter Revels performance

Our Christmas morning

We had a dusting of snow, giving us a white Christmas. Our Siberian cats continue to not appreciate the weather of their homeland. Those are Tundra's paw prints heading back into the house  

Elsewhere in the yard we found tracks from our resident bunny on the left and a coyote on the right. Caroline saw the coyote come through around 10 in the morning looking for second breakfast

We skated on the small ponds

and moved to larger ones where the girls shoveled out their first rink

Caroline worked over break on her college applications. She ended up applying to 14 schools.

We flew to DC and stayed first in Maryland. Brad had a huge beef loin that we cut into strip steaks 

We spent New Year's at Claire and Peter's

Erin, Tessie, Rowan, and I played the rare game of Monopoly where all 4 of us survived to the boom-bust phase of the game with a chance to win. Tessie was first to develop hotels on the red properties and later on Boardwalk. Eventually there were houses and hotels everywhere: I had the purples and oranges, Rowan owned the railroads and light blues, and Erin held the yellows. Then Erin and Rowan landed in jail and were safe from bankrupting for 3 turns. My luck ran out on Atlantic Ave and I folded first. Everyone kept missing Boardwalk and then Tessie was done in by Ventnor Ave. With one final gravitational pull on the dice toward the yellows, Marvin Gardens took out Rowan. 

The theme for the New Year's Eve party was Greek Gods. Of the 12 Olympians, who would you pick to dress up as?

Back row: Dionysus, Apollo, Hephaestus, Artemis, Demeter, Athena

Front row: Poseidon, Ares, Hades, and Hermes

Hera and Zeus were not present until a surprising thunderstorm came through and made us wonder

We danced in Hades's underground,

sang songs to the heavens,

lolled in proper godlike fashion,

burned beseeching fires,

and feasted on nectar and ambrosia

Happy New Year 2025!

Farewell Reggie

At the beginning of December, we had to say goodbye to our 14-year old kitty, Reggie.  Reggie Nald Losey was Heather's mom's cat, and he transitioned into our menagerie after Grandma Lu had to move into Belmont Manor. This past August, we noticed that Reggie was having a hard time eating, and assuming he had a tooth problem, we had the vet come to check him out.  Unexpectedly, we discovered that he actually had incurable cancer in his mouth, so we were told to keep him happy and fed, and that we would know when it was time.  Reggie hung in there until early December, when the tumor started affecting his eye and he was having a much harder time eating.  

Grandma Lu and Reggie were best buddies after she moved into assisted living first in Atlanta, and he moved with her to Boston.

Reggie was born on the mean streets of Atlanta and first fostered/adopted by our family friends the Yarlotts in 2010.  He was a very anxious cat and didn't do well around other cats and new people, so they thought he might do well in a nice quiet place, like with Grandma Lu.

When COVID hit in spring of 2020, we moved Grandma Lu along with Reggie into our first floor bedroom, since her assisted living was having an outbreak.  They both stayed with us for 2.5 months until the assisted living had cleared the outbreak.  

Shortly after Grandma Lu moved back to her assisted living, she had a setback and wasn't able to continue to live independently, so Reggie moved permanently into our house.  Early introductions to Tai-Tai and Tundra didn't go so well.  A pecking order emerged, and Tundra was clearly king, but Reggie exerted his dominance over Tai-Tai, and Tai-Tai never learned to like Reggie.

The cats eventually achieved a reluctant truce for the most part.

Tundra and Reggie pretty much landed on neutral ground, and you could occasionally find them snuggled near each other.

The irony of this photo is that Reggie never grew to love Dave, or men in general, and the feeling was mutual.

Reggie occasionally ended up on or near Dave, though Dave always insisted that it was only because Reggie didn't realize whose lap he was sitting on.

Despite how much Reggie had been a scaredy cat while living in Grandma Lu's assisted living apartment, running under the bed any time anyone walked into the room, he found his bravery and showed his love to all of the girls in the household.

Reggie wasn't the most svelte of kitties, but his belly was very soft, and he did like to get a good belly rub.

His tongue didn't always manage to stay in the shelter of his mouth.

He found many cozy sleeping spots throughout the house.  

Reggie was very playful up until the very end: strings, toy mice, toy stuffed dolphins, the laser pointer.  

Reggie got a few last sleeps under the Christmas tree in early December, though he was no longer able to chew on the pine needles.  In past years, he would eat the tree needles and throw them up multiple times a day.   

Rest in peace, dear Reggie.  We hope you are snuggling once again with Grandma Lu.