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From commentor Dexwood:
The painting was done by my wife last summer from a photograph of our daughter-in-law’s cat Ripley. Ripley was a house cat who got out and “ran” away shortly after our son and his wife moved into a new house almost three years ago. Our DiL was heartbroken, but resigned to never seeing Ripley again despite an exhaustive search.
This morning, she received a call from the local Animal Humane Association saying they had her cat. A chip scan gave them the contact information. Ripley had been “surrendered” by her “owner” who could no longer care for her. Our kids, near the shelter while running errands, were there within a few minutes for a very happy reunion. Ripley is now home and adjusting nicely.
I’d like to think this is a “what goes around comes around” situation. Karma, if one is so inclined. You see, our kids foster special needs kittens for the city’s animal shelter, doing great work at getting them healthy and in homes. What a reward for them, huh?
Praise the FSM for microchipping, because after a couple days on the streets it may be impossible to tell whether that filthy, ravenous, collarless “stray” hanging around the yard might have a family desperately searching for them — or how far away that family might be. Of course one usually needs to check with a vet or a shelter to find out about the microchip… which is why Denis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River) has been putting up flyers all over his Brookline neighborhood, offering both a cash reward and a spot in his next novel to the person he hopes “rescued” his runaway (rescue) beagle Tessa.
***********
What’s on the agenda for the remainder of the weekend, as we gird ourselves for the first full business week of 2013?
Keith G
Thanks for a good start as I head off to work – After an extra belly rub for my two amazing cats…”The Girls”.
Raven
Cool.
Couple more games today and then tomorrow night. Get pretty blurry-eyed this time of year. I wait so long for football and then, poof, it’s gone.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
I feel the same way about the new “Downton Abbey” season.
JohnK
Orientation for.companion dog training with the youngest. We have some social issues to work on involving how to greet a stranger. He is good when I have him as a single. But in a group of dogs, he is the one who raises the alarm when a stranger enters the area and he is not shy about it. Not a good thing in a non-dog park public area.
JPL
@Raven: The NHL players and owners reached an agreement but will anyone care?
Raven
@SiubhanDuinne: We’re almost done with the Forsyte Saga. I hope Downton is a bit less soapy but I don’t hold out much hope. “Oh, you are paralyzed and can’t have children, oh my, who knew”!
Raven
@JPL: Not me.
Raven
Bohdi wants to go to the bakery but it’s not open for 45 minutes!
JPL
@Raven: A friend sent me a box of Williams Sonoma’s croissants. You keep them in the freezer and when you want one, you need to take it out and let it rise for several hours before baking. They are really close to bakery quality. That’s my breakfast.
Allen
@Raven: I’m just the opposite. I detest the NFL, it seems to last forever, never ending pain for me.
Raven
@JPL: Funny, we only go to Big City for coffee.
Allen
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m a big Downton Abbey fan but season 2 really sucked. So I was really waiting for season 3, I have already watched it. You would think in this day and age PBS would learn not to delay the showing of there biggest hit in years for six months from it’s original showing.
Raven
@Allen: Uh, this is America.
Ramalama
@JPL: Trader Joe’s has something similar in the croissant dept. Dept of Croissant Corrections. Simply heavenly. The best croissants I’ve ever had were in a cafe in JP (Jamaica Plain, MA) that closed after 17 years (Bread & Water). I discovered that one of the bakers shifted operations to the Blue Frog cafe down the street, but found it wasn’t consistent. I also came across incredible croissants in Montreal and one small mountain town in the Laurentians (I’ve also eaten my share of croissants in Paris) but nothing really as perfect as Bread & Water. Until Trader Joe’s.
I feel like such a heathen, dissing my francophone betters.
Ramalama
Also I did not know that Denis Lehane lived in Brookline. My friend is the best dog walking pet sitting person in Brookline. She’s likely seen his flyers, but I’ll alert her anyway in case she hasn’t.
Raven
Men…
Next week, we leave for the front.
The object will be to kill
as many Frenchmen as possible.
Naturally, they are going to try
and kill as many Russians as possible.
If we kill more Frenchmen, we win.
If they kill more Russians, they win.
What do we win?
What do we win, Private?
Imagine your loved ones
conquered by Napoleon
and forced to live under French rule.
Do you want them to eat
that rich food and those heavy sauces?
No.
Do you want them to have
soufflé every meal and croissant?
HelpThe99ers
A great story in the NY Daily News:
SiubhanDuinne
@Allen: War is suck.
JPL
@Ramalama: hmmm.. There is a Trader Joe’s a few miles from me so thanks for the info.
jeffreyw
I laughed.
Ramalama
@JPL: Oh yeah, anything to help the cause! Look in the frozen section.
dmsilev
@Ramalama: I was in Brookline last week visiting family, and the flyers were seemingly everywhere. Pretty difficult to miss. Lehane apparently also paid for a robo-call to residents (my parents got one).
Gypsy howell
@Allen:
Without resorting to spoilers, please tell me Season 3 is less ridiculous than Season 2. I just re watched season 1 again in anticipation of the S3 bitchfest between Cora’s mother and the Dowager Countess, and loved DA all over again, but I’m not sure I can sit through the absurdities of season 2. Still, I’m waiting breathlessly for tonight!
the Conster
@Ramalama:
The almond croissants at PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten anywhere on three continents.
Aimai
Oh yes. Pb boulangerie ! although the nearby blue willow does a standout almond croissant that is just as good.
Southern Beale
This is cool. A Northern California man is challenging the state’s corporate personhood law in an unusual way: he got pulled over for driving alone in the carpool lane and presented corporate papers as proof he was more than one person. Links here.
Fascinating.
quannlace
And don’t forget “Long lost relative who everybody thought went down on the Titanic and may now inherit the entire estate; oh my!”
Gypsy howell
@quannlace:
Geez, I forgot all about THAT storyline. Hope S3 is better.
PurpleGirl
I was thinking of going to a Trader Joe’s this afternoon… croissants… hmmmm… I’ll have to look for them.
I’ve completely forgotten the time period and the Manhattan neighborhood but there was a shop in NYC that had fabulous croissants. They had great breads. The owner was French. It was becoming a bad habit but it later closed and I was so disappointed to lose it.
Steeplejack
Today is the Christian holiday of Epiphany, commemorating (in the Western church) the revelation of the baby Jesus to the Magi.
In a broader, DFH sense, the word can refer to any manifestation of the sacred or sudden realization of great truth. So be on the lookout today.
Steeplejack
On a more mundane note, Swansea-Arsenal is turning into a shootout.
PurpleGirl
@Steeplejack: Last night I saw a TV commercial for a used car dealership. The commercial had a bunch of Spanish-speaking guys dressed up in costumes for an Epiphany parade/pageant. The thing that struck me was that the commercial was being shown on an English-language channel as opposed to one of the Spanish-language channels.
pat
There were a number of WTH story lines on Downton Abbey. The Lord of the Manor and the Chambermaid.
The fact that it took YEARS for Mary and Matthew to finally bow to the inevitable.
The convenient death of Matthew’s fiancee to Spanish Flu.
The middle daughter and the yoeman farmer kissing in the barn.
But I watched both series and then watched the marathon showing of the entire series, and I will no doubt watch the series 3 the same way.
Altho I am a little apprehensive about Shirley McClain dropping in. I expect a lot of drama…..
rdldot
@Steeplejack: I’m waiting on my epiphany of sunshine. I’m sick of these clouds.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
We took my mom to look at kitties yesterday and my brother may be taking her to look at some more today. She’s wanted a new pet for a while now, but my dad needed too much care for one to be practical. She’s already been approved by the rescue org, so it’s now a matter of finding cats that she likes who like her.
handsmile
@Steeplejack:
Arse-nal…Arse-nal…
This year has pretty much nailed shut the coffin on my years-long support of the club. Losing to a 4th-division side in the Capitol One Cup. Squandering a second-half lead after four minutes against Swansea in the one competition in which they might have a chance to succeed. The rot is deep and seemingly intractable. They’re as brittle as the clippings of the club’s former glory.
Like so many here (and evidently throughout the English-speaking world), I am so looking forward to tonight’s return of “Downton Abbey.” And like so many I anxiously hope for a return to the first season’s rare qualities of screenplay and plot/character development rather than the melodramatic treacle of the second.
And between the morning’s football and the evening’s footmen, a return visit to an inspiring multimedia exhibition at the International Center of Photography: “Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography of the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life.”
icp.org/museum/exhibitions/apartheid
Roger Moore
@JPL:
Bagel that’s still warm out of the oven with homemade cream cheese for me. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, but oh so good.
scuffletuffle
Gorgeous painting of gorgeous cat! Thank you for sharing this.
Ramalama
@the Conster: Oh boy. Next time I get to the Cape I’m DEFNITELY checking PB out.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Thanks for that.
I was belatedly catching up on some BJ thread last night and noticed you had said something about a kitty tree. I think I have the best kitty tree ever, which I got a couple of years ago (on sale for 1/2 off) based on WereBear’s recommendation.
Let me know if you want me to look for the info on what I bought.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): That sounds like a very good idea, something that will help her.
dexwood
Thanks, Anne.
gogol's wife
@handsmile:
We recently rewatched both Season 1 and Season 2, and honestly, I don’t really see the big difference. I loved them both. Yes, the burned long-lost relative is a pain, and Lord Grantham’s dalliance with the chambermaid was far from believable, and Matthew’s recovery . . . But I still found a lot of great acting and emotional truth in it. What about Daisy’s conversation over tea with her father-in-law? And any scene with Maggie Smith, any scene with Mrs. Patmore, any scene with Carson. I’m actually quite worried that Shirley MacLaine’s acting style is not going to fit in, but I’ll deal with it. I’m just really mad at the New York Times for printing a spoiler that my eye ran over before I knew it was a spoiler.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I am so sorry to learn that you lost your dad this week. I had hoped for more time for all of you, but it sounds like he went peacefully, so that must be a comfort.
I am heartened by seeing that she is looking for kitties.
Peace to you and your family, Mnemosyne.
WaterGirl
Nice to read this heartwarming story about the “found” kitty this morning. Beautiful story, beautiful painting.
handsmile
@gogol’s wife
Oh indeed, there was so much to love in the second season (and you identified three of my favorite characters-I would add Anna; otoh, Daisy often drives me mad, a testament perhaps to the screenplay and the actor’s talent). My ardor has only slightly cooled.
But the first season did not rely upon the contrivances and creaky idioms you mention (and those only the worst). The broad cast of characters and the interwoven plot-lines were more coherent, more tightly-focused, and adequately developed (all of this IMO, of course).
With the loathsome Alessandra Stanley beginning her NYT review of “Downton Abbey” with the ludicrous conceit of comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey, I stopped reading.
Permit me to clink your champagne flute now in anticipation of this evening’s entertainment!
gogol's wife
@handsmile:
God, I hate Alessandra Stanley. I started to write an indignant letter, but then decided to let it go. I think they actually know how horrible she is.
It will be fun tonight, regardless!
[email protected]
@PurpleGirl: Was the shop perhaps Dumas on Lexington & 89 St., a shop ruled by Madame Dumas? It closed quite a while ago. I can think of a few other wonderful bakeries that have closed but Dumas was extraordinary.