• Location: back home
• Mood: busy
• Music: Who are you? by The Who

"cat"ching up

We returned from our short vacay yesterday. My sister was taking care of Scout and Rocky and called the day before to tell us she could not find Scout anywhere. He did not even come out for food. So, of course, we were a tad concerned even though we knew Scout could hide well. We walked in the front door to be greeted by none other than the Scout-ster. He has been staying close to one of us ever since. Seemed he missed us. Awww. Did multiple loads of laundry, took down the tree and the decorations and rearranged the living room. Then crashed and napped for a while. Maybe I will make it until the ball drops tonight.

In any event, I did some reading today in between all the work.




WHAT THE RAT TOLD ME is a legend of the Chinese zodiac. Rat tricks his friend the cat into sleeping through his appointment with the Emperor and, thus, gets left off the zodiac. Hence, there is no year of the Cat. I was born during the year of the Rabbit for what that is worth.




This is a lift the flap book about friendly monsters that live in the cellar and under the bed and in the closet. Clever and fun for young readers.




Here is a good anthology of poetry for kids from Bill Martin Jr. There is a nice cross section of classic and contemporary poets and lovely illustrations by a myriad of award winning artists including Steven Kellogg and Aliki.




THE GHOSTS OF LUCKLESS GULCH by Anne Isaacs (she of Swamp Angel) was my favorite read today. Estrella was born to run (sorry Bruce) and run she did from the time she was a baby. She was also a gifted healer of animals who came from far and wide for her tender care. It is not long before some rather unusual animals come to Estrella's farm and there the legend truly begins. Estrella ends up helping folks find gold in California during the Gold Rush, and with the help of her unusual pets, tames some rude ghosts as well.

Happy New Year to all of you. No resolutions for right now other than to try to make 2009 a year with fewer visits to doctors...