The kittens, Max and Noola, mostly get referred to as “the woozles“. Woozles are notoriously hard to photograph. I suspect it’s because they’re so bizzy.

You have to catch them sleeping.

And tiptoe up real quiet.

This is what Annabelle has to say about living with kittens.

I wouldn’t mind plopping down and sticking out my tongue myself.

I’m back from the Buyers Market in Philadelphia; I had a good show and I have lots of leads and ideas I need to follow up on, but I am pooped and I need to sit still for a while. Maybe stick out my tongue. Possibly blow raspberries. And then go make some jewelry…

I’ve adopted Lucy‘s surviving babies. Inevitably. I mean how could I resist?

Wolfie is being surprisingly great with them, seeing the potential for playmates once they move beyond this erratic stage of “I’m wild and crazy and everything is a toy!”

Annabelle is not a happy girl. She’s keeping guard and hissing at them, but it’s been a couple of days and the hiss frequency is getting less intense so I suspect they’re wearing her down.

I’ve never been one of those people who work x-number of hours in the studio every day. I’d like to be but I’m not. With envy I imagine those regular-studio-hours people as having impeccable exercise regimes, and eating healthy meals at the same time each day. Laundry-is-done-on-Saturday type of people.

Not me. I’m more prone to activity binges. All studio for several weeks, followed by 2 days of website updating, followed by a stretch of solid gardening is more my style; it balances out over time.

I’ve been in a phase of house projects, house guests, a trip up to Canada for a family reunion… so it feels like ages since I’ve had concentrated time in the studio.

Before leaving for Canada I reorganized the studio, moved furniture around, tidied up. Now I’m excited to get in there and to make some new pieces. I have a little pile of envelope backs with doodles of earrings and pendants and I need to make them to find out if the designs work.

I’ll let you know.

Lucy died. Not too much more to say really. I’ve been doing some sobbing and a bunch of healthy-cat-hugging.

Her remaining two kittens are looking healthy so I’m continuing to cross my fingers and hope that’s how it stays.

Ugh. It’s a tough world.

Two weeks ago a little cat showed up late at night in my driveway. I was taking out the recycling and saw green reflective eyes at the end of the path, and when I came back out with a dish of food she gobbled it up and let me pet her. I called my cat-sitter and local rescue expert and we came up with the plan to put her in the barn overnight and figure things out in the morning.

By morning I was calling the cat Lucy (where do names come from?) and planning to introduce her into the family. But it turned out that she already had a family – five kittens stashed in a shed across the street, which I followed her to when we let her out and she aimed for the road.

Over the next couple of days the kittens were trapped and four were taken with Lucy to a foster home; a temporary place for them to stay while they weaned and got used to people. It was looking like a great tale of rescue and happy endings.

Then on Monday of this week they started to get sick and by Tuesday one of the kittens had died. It was diagnosed as distemper, a horrible illness only seen in cats that haven’t been immunized.

They’re at the vet now, getting the best care possible, but we’ve lost two more kittens in two days. Lucy has a fever but is hanging in there. It’s strange to be attached to a creature I’ve barely met, but I am; she’s my cat. Please send healthy thoughts in the direction of this little mama and her sick baby.

Kitten number five seems to have avoided the virus, and is doing well. Thank goodness for small mercies.

Sometimes beauty finds you during the most mundane moments.

I planted this snow drop (and more) last November. The bulbs were sitting around for a long time and I was afraid I had waited too long and they’d no longer be viable. I finally just ran around in a frenzy shoving them into the ground willy-nilly.

I’m so grateful this one made it. Don’t know how much longer I could go without some evidence of green.

It’s peaceful here. Lots of snow on the ground and only the odd car driving by. I hope your day is as quiet and cozy.