Observables #31

on bad kitties, decorative eyewear and a clean desk!

My cat being in relationship with another cat. It’s not a good relationship. After a few minutes the hissing will start and I will have to go out there with the broom. We only have an extra large broom so it feels violent when I wave it around. I did it this morning in my bare feet on the ice and snow because I was worried about the screeches. “Bad kitties!” I yelled. Mostly at the brazen black cat who walks the perimeter of the fence like a bad ass. But also at Coco for getting involved in the cat fight. Sorry for yelling at you, Coco. We’re all on edge because of bad kitty.

Why can’t they just get along? It reminds me of my fraught relationship with my ex-neighbours. They’ve since moved away. Not because of us. Oh no. At least that’s what Simon and I tell ourselves. But it’s possible we doth protest too much?

I’m digging deep for a new life motto for dealing with bad kitties and difficult people in general. Just try is what’s coming to me. It’s ridiculously simple, but if I mutter it under my breath I can can get my breast bone up a little higher, and lift my head up off my cat’s sweet fur (when she’s not bad). Or I can not do as meditation teacher Loch Kelly suggests through his inquiry segment: “What is here now when there’s no problem to solve?”

These glasses.

Although, it’s unclear if they do anything. The lovely people at the glasses store assured me there were doing something for general eye fatigue. Like a delicate frosting on a mochi donut—that’s my prescription level. They suggested I wear them all the time and get used to them. I put them on today to feel different. It worked. Suddenly I was ready for all kinds of hard things: meeting bad kitty in the alley, taxes…

Poems by my Galentines:

p.s. My desk art wall is really filling out now that I got my very own sticky tak. It’s beside my newly clean desk, which Violet tidies for me quarterly. Her closing words last night: “Can I just suggest one thing? Put things away.” She’s also suggesting a wall of stickie notes. I’m totally game.

Our next Sister On! episode is an interview with Marissa Stapley, whose writing career took a major turn when Reese Witherspoon endorsed her latest novel. It drops tomorrow at 5 AM!