The Cat That Adopted Us

Notice how the title is phrased: the cat adopted us. We moved in to this condominium complex in August and we soon had a frequent visitor to our front porch. We enjoyed petting her (her name is "Kitty") on the cool autumn nights as we sat on our porch. Kitty likes to jump up onto your lap if you're ever sitting down and will put her head into your hand if you're not petting her enough. She is hilarious.

At first I had sympathy for the kitty and loved to have the company as I have always wanted pets (and as my family well knows, I once had a bunny that I took extra special care of. We even had a leash so Thumper could hop around the yard as I took her for a walk); but soon she wore out her welcome, especially as winter came in and kitty started to sneeze on us. Yuck.

Bryan never let me feed the cat, but when Cristie was in town one weekday we took some milk out to her, away from the apartment. She followed us out to the sidewalk but didn't touch the milk. We left it there and it was still full when we came back from shopping a couple hours later. I don't know what the cat wants from us.

We don't know if she belongs to someone in the complex. She is obviously fed well. We talked to a couple neighbors at our ward party and they also receive visits from the cat. So, it looks like this cat makes the rounds to different apartments every day. It makes me wonder if she makes a daily schedule: Bryner's from 8:30 to 9 am, Johnnsons from 9:00-9:30, etc. At the same time I question the intelligence of this cat almost daily.

Here's a photo of her favorite place to hang out on our porch. She's there every morning basking in the sun and greets us as we go to work/school.

Kitty is a little bit cross eyed. She is very lovable. I don't know what to do with this cat.

The funny thing is that some times when we're coming out of the house at night she will be at the door and will start meowing like she's trying to tell us something ("What?? Timmy fell down the well?"...kind of the cat form of Lassy). So, we can't figure out her motive. She doesn't want food, she doesn't want shelter, what does she want? Maybe just some good old fashioned attention.

...I wish kitty was a dog. At least then I could teach her some tricks!

The Crazy Things You Learn in School

I am currently in school, again, working on finishing an English degree. I am taking a full schedule: Brit Lit before 1800's, English advanced writing, a Dance history class (we have lectures on Mon, Wed, and dance on Fri. Fun stuff!), and Geology (give me a rock and I'll identify it!...hopefully). It has been such a blessing to be back in school and feel like I'm one step closer to graduating. Bryan has been such a huge help and support to me as I've transitioned back into college life, something I've been out of for three years now. It hasn't been easy for me to get back into the swing of things, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Of course, my favorite class is my Brit Lit class where we get to read works from authors before the 1800's. We've read Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Canterbury Tales. Those works I've read before (but not in Middle English like I did this time with the Canterbury Tales. Reading aloud goes a long way:). The unusual works have been the crazy religious ladies: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.

Julian of Norwich was an anchoress (an anchorite is the male form of the word). What does that mean? Well, it means that she voluntarily decided to live in a cell for the remainder of her life, completely shut in. Anchorites denied their bodies and the church would have a burial service for them on the day they were quite literally cemented into their cell. They had one small window facing the inside of the church so they could hear Mass. They also had a small window facing the outside world where they would get their "worldly goods" like food and drink. Other than that, they just hung out in their cell in solitude, praying and writing whatever visions they might have. Julian was shut into the church in Norwich and wrote 16 visions called "A Book of Showings". I have never heard of anchorites/anchoresses before!! It just substantiates the view of the Middle Ages as a dark and dreadful time. The cell looked something like this:

So, I guess you do learn something new every day! And just when I thought Julian of Norwich was strange, we read The Book of Margery Kempe and she is quite literally crazy. Interesting reading! I am glad we'll be on to Utopia this week :).

It has been fun to learn and to study again. I am very grateful to be in school again and to be one step closer to the ever-desirable degree!