Gummy Kitty: Cordelia Cat has a Rough Month

Cords had a rough couple weeks in October, which necessitated two trips to the vet, which, as far is she is concerned, is two trips too many.  Her least favorite thing to do is anything relating to her crate, which means that any vet trip is a nightmare for me too.  And last winter, after she tore up my entire left arm, and Mum's hand, trying to get her in the crate from my parents' for the trip back to Philly, I told her that she was never going anywhere ever again.

Unless it was to the vet.

It was a Saturday evening, and she started gross-drooling.  I don't want to get into details about this, let's just leave it at gross-drooling.  Leaving nasty, uncharacteristic slobbers all over the place, and not grooming as throughly as she usually does.  I do know her teeth are all messed up: she was in a hoard (well over 350 cat roomies) and has all sorts of issues now (very small, FIV, scared of everything real cats enjoy, bad teeth) plus I think she needs glasses and that she's a lefty.  So Monday morning I call the vet and we schedule a check up for the very next day.  

I shove her in the crate and we head out.  She complains the entire trip to the vet, and the entire time we sat in the waiting room.  Last time we went to the vet, Cords attempted to crawl up the wall of the exam room, and ended up suctioning herself to the floor.  The vet was reluctant to pry her up, so she just did the exam and vaccinations on the floor.  So this time the vet opens Cords file and says, "Has her temperament changed since last fall?  No?  Okay, we'd like to give her a tranquilizer so that we can do a proper thorough exam."  Certainly!  Dope that kitty up!

The verdict: Cordie has a number of foul teeth that need to be removed.  Her blood test comes back all well, so we're set to get the offending chompers extracted.  

Everyone at work kept asking, how many teeth?  I didn't ask.  And it didn't really matter.  Like I'd let her keep nasty teeth in her mouth, when they are clearly sore and she's mouth breathing foul stinky breath into my face at night and leaving gross-drool all over my apartment?  

A week after the initial appointment, I shoved a hungry kitty into the crate and dropped her off early at the vet.  I'd be able to pick up my dopey kitty at the end of the work day.  She was dopey, but not like the dogs would be, all knock-kneed and wobbly.  She kept wandering around the apartment wide-eyed like she'd never seen it before.  Like, "Omg!  Is that a red pillow?  A blue blanket?  Madness!"  

How many teeth had to come out?  Seven.  SEVEN!  And since she'd already been lacking teeth when she moved in, she only has one fang left (on the bottom left) and no teeth at all on the top!  Thankfully, this has not affected her eating habits at all.

Gummy

Everyone at work did a simultaneous awwww/lol when I explained how Cordie is now Gummy Kitty. She also inspired the chalk pumpkin up in the staff room.  No idea who the artist is...  there are a couple suspects.

(On a side note, we have such a big number of people sharing the same tiny staff room, purges are a regular event.) 

I'm Never Home These Days

I'm never home these days.  And I have loads of photos to post.

I originally thought this summer was just going to involve an intense May, but it has morphed into an intense summer.

1). Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival weekend with Heather
2). AIC Annual Meeting in New Mexico
3). a visit from Mum & Auntie Rita
4). attending a wedding in Cody (Wyoming)
5). Liang & Michael coming to Philly for a few days
6). concert, friends, and research in Ottawa (Ontario) for almost a week
7). a week in Huntsville (Alabama) teaching workshops
8). a week in Bowie (Maryland) teaching workshops
9). a week in Jackson (Mississippi) teaching workshops
10). and a college roomie reunion weekend with Liang and Big Spicy (Dara)

I'm tired.  And Cordelia Cat sulks at me whenever I return.  And I'm looking forward to returning to Ordinary Time.

Italian Market Festival

It turns out that the weekend that Mum and Auntie Rita were in town was the same weekend as the Italian Market Festival.  With a Sunday morning Parade of Saints!  What a happy coincidence.

The parade starts out like a normal parade, though with an added Flag of the Vatican.  After a happy little marching band, statues of the saints are wheeled up Ninth Street through the Market on what looked like bakery wheely-racks.  You can run up and pin a dollar to the ribbons decorating your favorite(s), and in return you get a holy card.  At moments, it seemed like Mum and Auntie Rita were determined to collect the whole set.

I think that the saints involved were actually those from the local parishes.  Apparently they used to have little children dressed up as the saints marching in front of each individual saint.  This parade only had a few, one of which was a cute little Saint Ant'ny in a big brown robe and sandals.  

Actual Mary.

Saint Anne.

Saint Joseph (was a just man).

Saint Theresa.

Saint Jude.  Always good in a pinch.

Saint Ant'ny.

Farewell Marion!

Dear Marion has since left Philadelphia for Boston (specifically Cambridge, where she will be spending a year as the paper conservation fellow at the Harvard Art Museums) and we are all heart-broken.  Before she left, co-worker Keith threw a huge fete for her.  Pictured below is Marion, with her new haircut and the Jello mold.

 Keith and Marion.

 Me and the Jello.  Translucent layer with trapped fruits, creepy opaque layer.  Actually delicious.  Everyone was totally into it.

New Rug

Cordelia, sitting happily on her little rug about a week and a half ago.  Life seemed easy, there was a rug to lay on to get brushed, and to give her some traction when she runs around.  Until she puked all over it one day.  All over it.  So much so that I made a vague attempt to clean up, and then just rolled the sad little rug up and shoved it into the garbage.

I missed the rug just as much as Cordie.  She got kind of unkept: no brushing on the hardwoods, as she just kind of slides around on them.  So I went to Target to get a new rug.  Happy with it, I came home and put it on the floor, all, "Look Cordie!  New rug!"  And she hid from it, terrified.

 Close-up on the kitty.  Close enough to keep an eye on the rug, far enough away from it's deadly talons.

 I picked her up and put her on it multiple times, only to have her scoot off immediately.  She finally accepted it about five hours after it arrived.  Now, over a week later, she loves it.

 So cute.  

The Lil' Bro Visits

I had tried to convince the Lil' Bro to visit during his spring break, but that was a no-go.  However, after scoping out concert tickets in preparation for Kelly Ann's visit, I noticed something that could entice him into the Big City.

Flogging Molly, his Ultimate Favorite Band, was playing, at the end of July.

I sent him a casual email about it and received a response like ten seconds later, "get tickets now."  Which was the fastest he has probably emailed anyone, ever.  And like that, Lil' Bro was coming to visit.

This visit to Philly involved more burgers, beers, and meat-filled sandwiches than Kelly's.  Also, a trip to Chinatown so he could stock up on essentials before the next school year started.  Essentials like fruit-flavored beef jerky, and the largest box of Pocky that I have ever seen.

This concert was like the complete opposite of the Owl City show.  Most of the crowd were tall white dudes between 20 and 30.  They all had my brother's haircut, and they were all wearing the same thing.  Flogging Molly shirts, Dropkick Murphy shirts, Irish shirts, soccer shirts, sometimes all these things on one shirt.  But then, even I had a shirt (I didn't wear it there - I had it folded in my bag for when we got into the venue).  Lil' Bro's college roomie had skipped some classes to see a Flogging Molly show closer to their school, and had brought back a girl-sized green shirt for my brother.  He bought more appropriately-sized shirts before the show started.  Yes.  Shirts.  Plural.  (Remember: Ultimate Favorite Band.)  Good thing Awesome Sister brought a bag, so the precious shirts could go into them!

Also, two dude in kilts!  Insane dancing!  Lil' Bro took a plastic water bottle in the head for me: somebody had accidentally let go of it, in their rapturous delight.  Also, the lead singer reminded me of Supervisor Greg, so that made everything super funny.  Because Supervisor Greg would start jigging around the stage.  But, in all seriousness, another very fine show.

Not in Philly, but all the Philly videos seem to have been made by people who were attempting to dance and sing-along and record at the same time.


After the concert we had to detour to my little neighborhood speciality grocery, which is licensed to sell six-pack and individual beers, so that Lil' Bro could pick up a Guinness.  The venue only sold over-priced crap beer, so it was necessary to pick up some more acceptable ones.  The grocery sold three different types, and Lil' Bro bought one of each.  So that we could go home and have a midnight beer taste-testing.  Of course.

Kelly Ann Visits

Old (though not in her person years) family friend Kelly Ann successfully finished university this spring, and headed back to her quiet Western PA hometown for a couple months, where she got antsy for busy times in a city.

So... I sent her a speedy email, something along the lines of, "These are the music venues in Philly.  Let me know who you want to see, and I'll procure some tickies!  Happy Graduation!"

Which is how I ended up going to see Owl City play at the Mann Center.  Note: the Mann Center is a super outdoor venue, and I need to get myself there more often next summer.  Free bus, leaving practically outside my apartment!  Permitted to picnic on the lawn during orchestra performances!  Clean friendly place!  Come visit me in the summer!

Anyway, Kelly came and we ate cheese steaks and Korean food and gelato and I walked her poor feet off, traipsing around the city, staying up really late.  I even took her to get her ear pierced by a friendly, tattooed, bearded giant-man!  It was her one thing on the to-do list, apart from the concert.

This is not from the Philly show, but gives you a good idea.  Visually, very nice.  At one point, people behind us started blowing bubbles, which drifted lazily through the air.  One kid was so into it, dancing away, he leapt on stage, dancing dancing dancing until the security guards hauled him away.  It was awesomely unexpected considering the style of Owl City.  Toward the end of the show, people started tossin around big beach balls.  I was momentarily stressed, hoping one wouldn't come near me.  Still not good with sports.

Natural Disasters

Last week was super-exciting, natural disaster-wise.

Earthquake:

Yes, my apartment shook.  I was home for lunch and thought there was some huge obnoxious piece of building equipment outside on my street, as they've been rumbling things around, repairing the facade of the building across from me all summer.  Things rattled a little, but mainly it felt kind of like low blood sugar, when you get a little dizzy and nauseated.  All in all, the perfect earthquake: all the fun and none of the danger.

Cordie Cat gave no advance warning, so she's absolutely useless for extra-sensory disaster detecting.  But then, she is a special needs kitty.

The news was funny, all "Philly Rocked by Earthquake!" when actually it was more like, "Philly Thinks Landlord Has People Working on the Roof" or "Philly Slightly Nauseated for a Brief Moment."

Hurricane:

This was all panic.  Rachel and I taught a workshop north of Philly, in Bucks County the Friday before.  Both of us needed small grocery items (mozzarella, pizza dough, kiwis, eggs, mushrooms, ricotta) for our individual Friday night cooking agenda, so we took the opportunity of a car to stop at Trader Joe's.

It was insane.  Bread = gone.  Hummus = gone.  Lines = starting at the cheese cooler, at the very back of the store. We made it out alive, with all of our random items, so I was able to make my long-awaited (waiting since like Tuesday) Swiss chard ricotta hurricane quiche.

Saturday, went to yoga, paused at bakery, bought blueberries.  The rest of the day was wimpy grey skies and pitiful spitting rain.

The Apple Store half-heartedly protected their giant glass storefront with sandbags.

I didn't venture out.  Like I need a reason on a crappy day to stay in my house, take long naps, read books, eat hurricane quiche, and watch Jane Austen films?

Some part of Philly got loads of water, mainly the western outskirts and the 'burbs.  The Walk for Health along the Schuykill River Trail was quite flooded.

(All these photos are from the Philly Inquirer).

Bastille Day

Every July the Eastern State Penitentiary hosts a Bastille Day festival, which includes a comic reenactment of the storming of the Bastille.  Eastern State is an excellent location for this, as the outer walls are quite imposing.

There is a French-themed street fair prior to the Storming.  Some French food, lots of can-can dancers, a drag queen Edith Piaf, wandering accordion players, mimes, etc.

Some friends and I, including our own personal Frenchie Friend, Marion, attended.  Pictured are Val, Marion, and Mia decked out in their revolutionary garb.  I made us all ribbon rosettes, and the flags and other pins were hand-outs.

Our French accessories, including a copy of La Marsellaise, which we all sang very badly at one point during the storming.  Marion, of course, knew it perfectly, and after the singing announced that the woman leading it had sung it "weird".

Val, me, Mia, and Marion.

Guillotine - for watermelon chopping only.

The Storming of the Bastille is led by a small group of Revolutionaries clustered around the guillotine.  They yell, the crowd yells, and eventually Marie Antoinette appears at the top of the battlements.

Marie Antoinette and her minions, including Darth Vader and some Imperial Storm Troopers.  Remember, this is a comedic reenactment.

The public demands bread and the queen says, "Let them eat Tastykake!" as the minions shovel hundreds of Tastykakes off of the Penitentiary walls and into the crowd.  We didn't get any, as the day was hot and the Tastykakes seemed a little gross.  After the Tastykakes, there is a trial and Marie Antoinette is condemned to death by guillotine.  This year, however, M.A.'s sentence of death was commuted, and she was sentenced to being Arnold Schwarzenegger's nanny.  She was not pleased, and stated that she's rather have her head cut off.

Moms in Philly!

The Traveling Moms came to Philly in mid-June for a long weekend that involved eating, museums, and lots of walking.  Here they are on the steps of the Art Museum!  I was hostessing, so no photos from me (this one by Mary Ann).

Cherry Blossom Festival

Back in the early spring days, Mum came to visit, and I made her walk ten million miles into Fairmont Park to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Very crowded, all watching the taiko drummers.

The cherry trees were beautiful.

Mum is such a sucker for the kitty.  All Cordie has to do it walk into a room and Mum is all, "Oooo... who needs some treats!  Odd numbers only!"  (Cordie likes to sit on paper.)

Mum and Cordie like to hang out together in the mornings.  Photo by Mum.  Glaring by Cordie.

Philly Snowmen

Word went around work yesterday afternoon - check out the snow sculptures in Rittenhouse Square. I didn't make it there until the evening, after my yoga class.

There were dozens of classic snowmen. This was one of the tallest, and the most impressive.

Pregnant snowlady.

This cupid, which was tall as me, had a complex and impressive internal armature made out of twigs.

A huge and sprawling cuttlefish-type thing.

The best ones:

This pointy-spined monster was big enough that you could comfortably fit your entire head into its mouth.

Winner for Cutest Snow-Sculpture Ever = baby polar bead riding the frog sculpture.

Barely eight inches tall, this is a work of genius.