Since so many people are moving to Dreamwidth, please look for me and friend me on Dreamwidth. I am cowfan there, too.

Rest in peace, Abigail, 1996-2016. Abigail Cat (nicknamed Abby and Abigail van Kitten) lived 19 years and 8 months. In the last several months she had been failing, and this past week she mostly stopped eating and was having trouble walking. She had had kidney disease for quite a while, and was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. Almost 20 years ago, I went with Julie to the St. Paul Humane Society to pick up a litter of four four-week-old motherless kittens that she was going to foster. There was a tuxedo, a gray kitten, and two calico/tortoiseshell kittens, and one of the calicos had extra toes. That kitten was Abigail. I visited them a lot while they were being fostered, and when they were ready to be returned to the Humane Society, I went along and adopted Abigail right away. She joined Lilith and Serafina, who were about five years old, in our family. We used to take them out in the back yard on leashes, and Abigail liked to climb part way up one of the trees in the yard. When we got a carpeted "cat tree" for the cats, she knew what it was for right away and claimed it as her special climbing place. Once, when she injured her leg, we had to take away the cat tree while she healed, and she was thrilled when it came back again. She was a pretty mellow cat, and she and Serafina became best buddies and would curl up together and lick each other. Abigail was mostly Dean's cat. She loved to sit on his lap, but she wouldn't sit on mine until the last couple of days when I held her and petted her to say good bye. We didn't need a carrier for her last trip to the vet. Dean warmed a towel and wrapped her in it and I held her in the van and in the waiting room. The Kitty Klinic staff were very compassionate. They got us in right away, explained what they were doing, answered questions, and let us cry and say good bye to her. After asking if we wanted them to, they cut off little bits of the different colors of her fur to remember her by. Dr. McMenomy even offered to get a cab for us if we didn't think we could drive home safely. We will probably get a sympathy card from them next week, and later a little memorial plaque, which is what they did when our other cats died. We will miss her greatly, but I think she was ready to go. She can chase the red dot and cuddle with Serafina in a world where her body is no longer a burden.

I remember reading that someone on my F list was reading Elizabeth Knox's book, Mortal Fire, but had to return it to the library without finishing it. I couldn't remember who, so I sent my copy with Dean to carbonel, who is now reading it, but she was not the person who mentioned it. So if that person is interested, please contact me and/or carbonel.

For all you Terry Pratchett fans-- Go see "Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" at the Historic Mounds Theatre: http://www.moundstheatre.org/ Dean and I just went tonight. It was great fun! The actors really got into their characters. With just a few simple touches in costumes and props, they could become cats or rats as well as humans (and most played multiple parts). The play runs on weekends through May 13.

Dean and I just got back from seeing "Coco's Diary" at the History Theatre in St. Paul. I highly recommend it. It's only playing two more days, Saturday and Sunday. Writer Peg Meier had found a copy of the diary at the History Center and had it published by the University of Minnesota Press under the title "Through No Fault of My Own." I went to her author talk at my library in December, where she was passing out flyers about the upcoming play. It's the story of Coco Irvine, who grew up in the house that is now the governor's mansion, told through her diary for 1927, when she was thirteen. She was a lively girl who loved jokes and pranks and was interested in boys, especially Him. There was a nice write-up in the Strib about it. The acting really brought it to life, with just three actors. Young Coco was a charming little ham, and the actors playing adult Coco and brother Tom also played all the other characters mentioned in the diary. Tom even played several women. Both also played the piano, and all three sang songs of that era. Dean and I recognized most of them from our piano rolls. Dean realized that his mother was almost exactly the same age as Coco. In our program book, they say that if we give our ticket stubs to friends, they will get $10 off adult or senior admission. So if you'd like to go, contact Dean. First come, first serve.

Today was my first trip out of the house after bunion surgery a week ago. We had to go to the Chanhassen office of my foot doctor. The nurse removed the huge bandages and steri-strips and took x-rays. She said everything looks good. I have a three-inch incision and purple toes. She gave me a smaller surgical shoe to wear for about another week. She was concerned because the foot doctor is in Bali and they haven't heard from him in over 12 hours, after the quakes and tsunami. Most likely he just can't get word out from where he is.

Dean is taking good care of me, and four wonderful friends came over, one each weekday, to make lunch for me and socialize for a while, which was a big help. If anyone would like to come over next week, let me know. I can get around the downstairs pretty well with the surgical shoe, but getting in and out of Dean's van today was a challenge.

Maggie Stiefvater is the author of several young adult novels-- Lament, Ballad, Shiver, Linger and the forthcoming Forever. She also writes a great blog on LJ. Besides being a talented writer, she is also a musician (she plays bagpipes!) and artist. I met her at a signing, and she's very funny and cool in person. She writes humorous and thoughtful posts and sometimes adds art and videos. She has done wonderful cut-paper videos to promote her books, and she decorated a guitar with a Sharpie and gave it away. She is having a contest I'd like to win so I'm giving a link to her blog here-- http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/194478.html

We will be celebrating Dean's birthday (which is actually Dec. 23) on Sunday, Dec. 19, at 11:30 a.m. at Jun Bo. Please let us know if you are planning to join us.

Anybody need a desk and credenza? Our next door neighbors are giving them away.

We have yellow tulips blooming in the side yard. I think they are spreading, since it looks like more than last year. On my walk this evening I saw blooming daffodils and forsythia. The foliage for hostas is just starting to poke out of the ground.

I made a cheesecake today using cream cheese, sour cream, and Oreos left over from Minicon. (I combined two recipes I found online.) It was pretty good!