Back to writing.
I’ll start with the animals…
My favorite thing my animals do is bring in the weather. In June Funzer, my obese brown tabby, lumbers in from the front porch into the living room and when I rub his side it feels as if he’s just emerged from an oven, carrying the full heat of the sun across his stripes. He spent his first year in this cottage under the bed, having taken three years to adjust to our previous home in the city. Now he’s coming out more and even joins me for lunch by the water these days. “Funzer!” I shout, so proud of his bravery.
On foggy mornings Queso, our orange-cloaked cat, returns from his 7 AM sprint, fur thick with dew, frizzed up like cotton, leaving my palms damp after I stroke his spine. As long as I can remember, humid days have been my hardest. Once while living in Houston, I stared out my office window at rain which had been falling for five days straight. I’d painted the room yellow and positioned my desk to look out onto the backyard but despite my efforts, my emotions stayed stuck and dreary and wouldn’t budge until the clouds parted. I think back to our year in India and Mumbai’s monsoon season clicks a bit more into place in the dizzying puzzle of my brain.
In the winter Chief, our former street dog, bolts in after sniffing the woods for deer and I press my face to his back, feeling an instant shock of cold against my cheek. He’s been enjoying our new fishing boat these days, likely not knowing a difference between it and the patched up one we lost in the last storm. He hops in with us, he and I enjoying the view while Benson runs the trolling motor. Chief will go anywhere I do, evidenced unfortunately the last time I borrowed our neighbors’ paddleboard and made my way down the creek. I looked back to find a black head bobbing behind me in the water, my devoted pup intent upon catching his one true love.
The creek is clear today, a cold snap having come upon us in the night. All three pets curled in the bed with us at one point, the cats log rolling atop us as we turned in the night, intent on keeping their spots.
Categories: This and That
Stuff I Talk About 
So glad to see your writing again (and you’re writing again)! I haven’t even read it yet but it already made me happy.
So glad to see your writing again (and you’re writing again)! I haven’t even read it yet but it already made me happy.
I was very glad to see this pop up. I enjoy your writing. You have a rare talent.
So proud to see this on Facebook. I love seeing the picture of you and Benson and also love you and Benson.