Merry Christmas to all & to all a good life

Our backyard on Christmas eve.

Friends, let me wish you all a happy holiday season.  Today is the beginning of a nice, relaxing stretch of working less, spending time with friends, and setting my intention for the new year.

A lot has happened in the last year.  Much of which, I haven't shared until now.  For one, we bought a house in late October.  It's a cozy townhouse in downtown St. John's that includes a nice deck with a view of the harbor.  The place is over 100 years old, so it definitely has its wonky parts.  But all in all, it's pretty up-to-date.  (And there's plenty of room for guests should any of you care to visit.)  It's in much better shape than my place on Toledano.  And with the purchase of our new home, it feels like I'm able to close the door on what was lost in that house fire.

On the night we closed on the house was the first bit of nasty weather.  Nicole had been feeding a stray cat (shocking!), so we let her spend the night in our foyer.  And that's when she decided to deliver the kittens she'd been carrying--all seven of them!  At that point, it became impossible to turn the cat back out.  So we took occupancy of our new house with a mere 11 cats (that's "eleven") under our roof.  Here's a video of the kittens at about 4 weeks old.


Despite their helpless demeanor in the video, that quickly changed by the time their age doubled.  Here's the latest photo of them, eagerly tracking some toy.

Well in addition to the difficulties of moving, we were faced with placing eight cats.  (And by "we," I mean "Nicole.")  Fortunately, around Christmas, people go nuts for kittens, and Nicole quickly found great homes for all of them--even the mother!  Today, three of the kittens have been delivered, and the remaining four leave today.  The mother leaves by New Year's.  Thank God.  I had real concerns about having a house full of cats and nowhere to put them, but Nicole did a great job.

Observing the kittens' delivery was interesting.  It occurred over a seven hour period.  The entire time, the mother cat had this deep, open-throated purr.  When the seventh kitten appeared, she was near her mother's posterior where all the mother's nipples were getting some serious use.  So I gently moved the newborn to the free nipples, near the mother's shoulders.  When I did, the mother leaned up, ate the placenta, and chewed off the umbilical cord.  Then she leaned backed, resuming her deep purr with a vivid splash of bright red blood on her white chin.  She seemed to be in a state of contentment and peace that defied description, and witnessing it was incredibly visceral and mysterious.

This summer I had a really nice trip to Boulder, Colorado; Austin, Texas and New Orleans, and I happily was able to visit friends in each city.  Many thanks to Vanessa, Bart and Christy, and the Homans for their hospitality to us while we were in New Orleans.  We hope to make Mardi Gras this year, so hopefully we'll see each other then.

I wish all of you a happy, peaceful time during this week of holidays!