Three Down, Two to Go

[Edit: I'm not sure how long the Todd McCaffrey Pern book has been out. I could only find it in hardcover, while the prequel/overlap (holy re-used word count, Batman!) by Anne and Todd was already in softcover. Just to be safe, though; if you want to read either masterpiece of modern fiction unspoiled, please avoid the comments on this post.]

For those just joining us, callicrates is my husband and has been at a conference for three days now. He finally gets back on Thursday. And now back to our irregularly scheduled post.

I haven't been quite so pathetic this time around as I have in times past. I even cleaned the kitchen, and I took time to make food, rather than scrounging. No attacks in something like two weeks now; I could get used to this.

<poing!>Andy sent me flowers!</poing!>

The bouquet includes yellow lilies, some gorgeous deep purple irises, and bells of Ireland, which I had never seen before the bridal show done the summer before our wedding, but which has been a favorite since. Also, a blue and gold origami cat. Shameless plug for the locals in Albuquerque: Wildflower Wrangler by the Flying Star on Rio Grande have a unique twist -- instead of the normal busy work during slow times (Oh my, it's time to sweep the floor again! It's not been done in at least five minutes!), the employees make origami critters. And the people there are really cool.

Today I went to my psych appointment at 15:00, then to Kitty City. There are very few cats there; none of them new, and two (a brother/sister pair who need to go together) are on hold. I cannot believe Jesse and Katrina haven't been adopted yet; they are both utterly cool cats. If anyone in ABQ needs a really neat guy or a very sweet gal, please let me know. I'm humming "Matchmaker" already.

While Andy's been away I've been looking in on the cats of echoweaver and her hubby. The felines both live up to their cunning aliases of "Sir Hiss" (older male; somewhat traumatized and therefore not happy with strangers; name based on a Disney anthropomorphic Sheriff of Nottingham) and Lady Leapsalot (adolescent/young adult). Usually Sir Hiss just hisses the first time I come to look in on them and hides from then on. Lady Leapsalot just wants affection, and will even be a lap kitty, albeit with an attention span of five minutes. Today something really odd happened: I came in, said hello, pet the frantic little Lady, then started working on a crossword. A while later I looked up and saw Sir Hiss sitting across the room, looking at me. I said "hello", watched him for a bit, then went back to my crossword. When I looked up later he had gone, and nary a hiss or growl the whole time. I hope this means he's getting used to me.

After that I went to a local bookstore, Page One. I had seen a really neat book which just screamed "Buy me for Andy" in a catalog, so I decided to see if Page One had it. With the book procured I went looking around, eventually noticing a Todd McCaffrey Pern book. A year or three ago I had seen a sneak peek of the book's plot, and had desperately hoped that someone had simply forgotten to leave off the date of "April 1st". Unfortunately, it was everything that I feared and more. For the record, the bookstore has as many copies now as before I arrived.

Finally I went to a non-organic grocery store and got some Jell-o, plus some lettuce and ham because they looked good. By the time I got home it was 22:00, so instead of cooking something new I warmed up the rest of the leftovers from last night. Unlike Andy, I can happily eat the same thing for several meals in any given day.

Andy gets home in two days. I can't wait. Well, I guess I have no choice but to wait, but I can sure as heck be impatient!