House Party? Am I invited?

~~The short answer is yes! You're invited to travel to Cherry Hill, GA, the setting of my novel in progress.
~~The long answer takes some explaining. ; ) I'm a member of the CompuServe Books and Writers Forum and an active participant in the Writers Exercises folder. My fellow members and I do writing craft exercises every month and every few months, we hold an online house party in the setting of one of our works in progress. This time, my Laura Grace Chandler is hosting over forty characters that range from contemporary to historical and fantasy to scifi. Twelve different writers are adding to the running story that started late Thursday night and will continue into the coming weekend. They are from all over the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We trust each other with our characters and, as the story evolves, we can find our creations doing all sorts of strange and wonderful things. The greatest thing about a house party is that, as you write by the seat of your pants, you have to respond to suggestions and situations you could not have thought of by yourself. Characters have a way of deepening and stretching in reaction to the scenes and the writer's grasp on the person that inhabits their stories deepens with it.
~~If you would like to sample the story go to:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ws-books&tid=68081
You do not have to be a member of the forum to read the story. But a word of warning: It is wickedly fast, well over 200 posts long, and no where near to completion. You just might find yourself hooked. ; )
If you want to get a glimpse of how we communicate with each other outside of the story, try the commentary thread here:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ws-books&tid=68082
~~Happy reading! ; )

The Queen's Court

~~Darkness became an only cat again when Snow died. She took it in stride as with everything. We never saw her hunting for him, but then, she had watched him like a hawk as he felt his way about the house in his last days. She was about fifteen years old by then and we really didn't expect to get more cats until she had purred her last. In fact, she was starting to sleep more and more by the time she was seventeen. Cataracts, reduced hearing, and arthritis were slowing her down to a crawl. We began to talk about what we would do when she was gone from our lives. We thought we might hunt for siblings this time. A yellow tabby and a calico were on our wish list.

~~Then it all changed. Living by a church and across the street from another seemed to make us a animal rescue center. For years, we noticed that people thought that someone who went to church would have pity on a poor abandoned animal. Many dogs and cats had been dropped off in the neighborhood. We weren't in the position to care for them at all. So they either wandered off or found the wildlife to their liking. The woods in the backyard were full of squirrels, birds, rabbits, and chipmunks. It seemed that many a cat made a good living on the edges of our yard.

~~One day in the fall of 1997, we found a young female cat hanging at our door. She was striped like a tabby, but she was not all yellow or gray striped. Her legs would be both in the most interesting fashion. The vet would describe her as a calico tabby. At John's parents' house next door, there was a young yellow tabby male. They were obviously siblings with the same light green eyes and markings. We couldn't resist them, but the male had a lump on his abdomen. We were hooked and decided to keep them outside to spare Darkness the upheaval kittens would cause her very sedate life.

~~Named Sunshine and Meow, the twins had to come in when Sunshine's lump turned out to be an umbilical hernia and he needed surgery. Trying to keep the three separate was impossible. The cats decided that they were going to investigate each other and that was that. We soon realized that the kittens were just what Darkness needed. They would trot just fast enough to keep their tails in her eyesight. She would run as fast as she could, but didn't catch them. That's when we noticed that she was feeling much better. Darkness lived another four years thanks to Sunshine and Meow. They were Maine coon cats while Darkness was a small domestic short hair. She never weighed more than ten pounds in her life. The kittens would top 18 and 22 at one time and yet, Darkness was the undisputed queen of our home. Regal until the end.

~~Sadly, Darkness developed severe dementia at 21. She ceased knowing who we were and began to bite. When she latched onto my hand and refused to let go for minutes at a time, we knew she was ready. She had ceased to purr the last month until we took her in to the vet the last time. Then we were rewarded with the loving little girl we had lived with for so long. In the fall of 2001, Darkness passed into her reward. We have never forgotten her. She'll always be the queen.

Darkness and Daylight

~~Darkness remained an only cat until she was about two years old when a small white kitten turned up at out house while we were added the garage in 1982. He was a plush, sweet little boy and we had no clue where he came from. But that didn't deter us from feeding him. We quickly decided on a name. Surely it was Daylight to contrast with the Dark girl who already called us family. Until he disappeared...We hunted, but didn't find him. The church next door had been full of kids for Vacation Bible School that week and we thought someone recognized him or picked him up. Sad to say, but the Daylight had gone from our lives.

~~Until...two years later, a sleek white tom came calling at our door. Neighbors nearby had moved and we couldn't find any owners for the cat, so we took him in. The vet said he was about two years old and we had to wonder--had Daylight returned? Not being sure, we named the tom Snow. As you can see from the photo, Snow had a preference of laps--John's. (By the way, this is the only time I convinced John to grow a beard. I think he looks dashing, but the itching thing was red and his hair was blond, so bye, bye beard.) For about ten years, I had fun telling my new students that I had two cats--white and black. I always said, "The white one is named Darkness and the black one is named Snow." The two seconds it took for the information to click was priceless and set a tone of ease for the new class. Of course, some of the kids never believed me that both cats had learned to blow kisses. Snow was not less a champ at that than his sister. ; )

~~Darkness and Snow were our two kitties for about ten years until Snow had a stroke and went blind. He was miserable and wouldn't get out from under the bed. Sadly, we had to let him go. Darkness went back to being an only cat. I'm not sure it mattered to her. After all, she got the choice of laps with no competition.

The Lost Photos

~~Well, technically not lost. Only not available to upload. Here are three of the photos I've mentioned in other posts. The first one isn't the best one of toddler me and Snowball, but it is the one I found. The best photo shows me center frame with Grandmother's arm holding me back while I'm reaching for all I'm worth for Snowball's tail. ; ) The middle photo is about a year later and, as you can see, I loved Snowball's kisses. The third photo is much younger. I'm probably about 15 and I'm holding Etcetera the Siamese. My how young I look!

~~I bet you're wondering how I scanned these in since my scanner and computer seem not to communicate. What I did was use my Corel Paint Shop program. I was using it for some other task the other day when I noticed the drop down menu included scanner. On the off chance that it would work, I tried it. And lo and behold! It did. So, now I'll be able to illustrate the rest of the Darkness posts correctly. I'll be back later with "Darkness and Daylight".

A Kiss of Darkness

~~When you have had a pet since you were eight years old, you really feel the lack of having a warm, little, furry animal to love. When we married, we didn't have a choice to take our beloved elderly pets with us to our apartment. It was clearly a NO PETS ALLOWED sort of place. So my kitty, Etcetera, and John's dog, Trouble, had to stay with our parents. How the two would have gotten along is a question that will never be answered. Neither lasted very long, though, and we were soon truly petless. Until...
~~...1980 when we began to extensive renovation of John's grandparents' house in Temple. It's the lovely lady home you've seen all spring in my posts. We moved on September 1 and on September 5, I had us a new kitten. She was small and all black. In fact, she was too young--only five weeks old, but she was ours. I named her Darkness. No usual name like Blackie nor Midnight for my kitty. ; ) Her yellow eyes glowed in contrast to the glossy fur. The vet did ask me what I paid for her. I told him nothing. He grinned and said, "Good. Because you now owe for flea treatment, testing, and worming." I guess $70 wasn't so bad...
~~The first night we took Darkness home, we put her to bed in a large appliance carton. It had all the comforts--litter box, food, water, and bedding. But in the morning, Darkness wasn't in it. Her tiny claws had nicked the side where she climbed out. Now where would you go in a 2000 square foot house when you are only the size of a person's palm? We began the hunt among the boxes and the furniture and finally found her. She had scaled the sofa and was sitting, paws tucked in regal splendor on the folded afghan in the living room. And so the Queen had arrived. ; )
~~From that day forward, she took over our hearts and settled in. And never stopped amazing us. We knew cats greeted each other by touching noses, so we would touch her nose and make a kissing noise. Imagine our surprise when she began to "kiss" us back, smacking her lips. We then would make the sound when we came in the room and would then come over a repeat the nose touch routine. Darkness began to kiss back from a distance. But the day that she kissed us first from the other side of the room was a red-letter day! Who has ever had a cat who blew kisses before? ; )
~~I'll continue Darkness' story in later posts. You've not seen anything yet!

The Day After

~~It's the day after the 46th Georgia Author of the Year Awards and I didn't win. And that's okay. I have learned so much and I still get warm fuzzies from seeing my book on the table with the other nominees. Check out the photos. My book is the third from the left on the top row. It's a funny thing how something so simple as seeing the cover you designed standing out and shining can be. Simple and moving. An Easter Walk was nominated in the Creative Nonficiton Inspirational category.
~~I'm thankful to John for taking me to the ceremony. We met Joann Dunn, and Frank and Mary Rogers for supper then went to the KSU Center. Joann was nominated in poetry for The Implied Now and Frank's book, Upon a Crazy Horse, netted him a nomination in First Novel. That's a fine sampling of the creative output of the Carrollton Creative Writing Club. Here's to all of you for the lovely words you spin. ; )

Puff, Malek, and Etcetera

~~The title says it all--at least to someone who knows about my first three cats. I received permission to get a cat when I was eight. I never looked back and thought about what that really meant until much later. What I received was permission to love a being outside of myself on the level I could understand at the time. It was my duty and privilege to care for my cats. No one else would except my mother. My daddy and siblings were dog people. I think all children need this responsibility to learn how to give love, but they also have to have been taught that little animals deserve our best love. They are not toys nor are they ways to express rage. Unfortunately, many never learn this basic truth.
~~My first cat was Puff, a large tuxedo tom in the classic markings. His white, dipped-in-cream feet and white chest were perfect. But why would a tom cat be named such a frilly name? I didn't remember for years until someone reminded me that our first Dick and Jane readers had more than one pet. The cat's name was Puff. That tells me more about myself than the cat. ; ) I loved to read and my cat bore the name with dignity. We lost him to a mouse or rat that had been poisoned with strychnine. I didn't immediately add another cat. Daddy didn't let me. But another cat thought differently about the situation.
~~When a full-grown, plush-coated tom took up with us, I fed him. His smoky gray fur was soft and thick. Pale green eyes watched everything carefully. He had survived without help and he didn't relinquish control of his life. He came and went as he wished and lived with me for several years. I named him Malek after a wolf-human hybrid character in an Andre Norton book. As you can see, I was still reading. Malek was a comfort and a hunter. His skill at catching squirrels from what looked like a deep sleep never ceased to amaze me. He wandered off one day and didn't return, always the independent operator who allowed me to share his life for a while.
~~When I reached ninth grade, my piano teacher raised Siamese cats. She had several and offered to give me a tom from a litter of chocolate points. Daddy agreed and that is why my last cat before graduating from high school and college was named Etcetera. My sister Thea suggested it because the king of Siam always loved saying "et cetera, et cetera" in the "The King and I". And it fit. The long, sleek, sophisticated cat clearly knew he was special. Daddy even allowed him to live inside for a few years. In that time, I became very accomplished at meowing in Siamese. It has a distinctive sound all its own. Etcetera was my confidant when teen-aged angst hit and even took revenge for me when my siblings teased me too much. Have you ever had a large cat pounce into the back of your knees and make you nearly fall? That might be why Daddy decided that in the house was just too close for comfort. Etcetera had a room in the garage with the freezer to keep him warm in the winter. He continued to be my listener as I grew up.
~~All these cats hold special places in my life. That might be why, when John and I moved to a place that would allow us to have pets after three years of marriage, our next cat was home within a week of our move. I'll tell you about Darkness next time. ; )

Hidden Treasure Found

~~I know what you are saying to yourself right about now--Wait a minute, doesn't Zan Marie have poodles? The answer to that is, yes. But before Casey and Max, I proudly belonged to seven cats. The two in the photos above are the last two, Meow and Sunshine. When I had a problem finding my photo of the boys in their new harnesses, I realized that the memory card wasn't seated fully and the photos saved to the camera's memory instead. Once I downloaded it, I found wonderful photos of the cats. I didn't have a digital photo of Meow at all. At least I didn't think I did. ; )

~~This treasure trove has allowed me to show you the kitties. These two were throw aways that someone left on our doorstep. They were Maine Coon cats and weighed between 13 and 22 pounds during their adult life. Sadly, we lost Meow at eight and Sunshine at 13, both to cancer. It was during Sunshine's last days that John said he wanted puppies and the rest of that story is history.

~~As you can see, Brother Sunshine (Shiney, Shine-Shine) was a gorgeous yellow tabby and huge. The shoe he posed by is one of John's size elevens. The shoe is exactly a foot long. Sister Meow (Yowy, Yow-Yow) was a beautiful calico tabby. She had stripes of both gray tabby and yellow tabby that met up and changed color down her legs--one side gray and other yellow. I truly think she is the most beautiful cat I've ever known.

~~I'll have to tell you about all my cats as the next few posts continue. Unfortunately, my scanner doesn't "communicate with this computer" and I'll not be able to include photos. That is unless you want to come and fix this glitch for me. ; )