Every Gift a Curse, by Caroline O’Donoghue

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Thistle

In this third and final edition to this series, Maeve is struggling with the knowledge that a curse is growing inside her. Her friends are equally distracted by their own troubles. When they realize that their preoccupation has allowed a Christian fundamentalist group to get a larger hold on Kilberg – with teens going missing and in some cases dying – they all have to decide what responsibilities they can accept, be they gift or curse.

I’ve loved this series from beginning to end. I’ve mentioned in the past that it reminded me a little of The Craft, with the tarot and witch’s circle and ancient powers being called up. Add to that the Irish setting, political history, and a fundamentalist group manipulating young people via scripture, and this just SCREAMS my name.

I’m pleased to say that the third book took what was already there and exquisitely shaped a conclusion that wasn’t necessarily kind, but definitely acceptable, and exactly right for the situation. In fact, I loved the ending so much that I hugged the book after I read it. Happy endings don’t have to be flawless, if that makes sense. The nuance makes it so much better – the potential and the hope and the togetherness even in a less-than-ideal situation. It was just perfect. What The Craft wanted to be.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Every few weeks there’s a story about how American laws are going backward. Could that happen here, too?” [Note: Series is not only set in Ireland but written by an Irish author, so this is particularly noteworthy as an outside-USA pov.]

“But I remember feeling, even though I was frightened, that I was in a Tumblr post about witchcraft. It felt cool and DIY in a way that was instantly photogenic.” [This made me laugh so hard!]

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Sunday Coffee – Kitten Update

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Thistle

First let me start with a little shoutout to the dads out there today, in whatever iteration of “dad” they are. Happy Father’s Day!

Now. Kittens. We still have both Juice and Fleabag, who has been renamed Florence. Florence, thankfully, has become an official foster through the shelter. The Venmo we received from the woman who found her paid her intake fee, and it was all quick enough that we only had one out of pocket vet visit. Whew! She has continued to mostly thrive, first coming out of her shell to become a wild and crazy orange kitten as we all expected. After a couple days, she decided that I’m her mama, and began to cuddle on my chest at night. That was okay until she further decided that as her mama, I needed to comfort-nurse her, and she began suckling on my neck. I don’t mind letting her do it for short periods of time but she would do it for hours if I allowed, so I had to lock her in the bathroom at nights for a few days until she learned how to behave while I slept.

She’s also dealt with a tapeworm infection, a secondary flea outbreak (must’ve missed some eggs), and loose stool, which she decided meant that she needed to go on my carpet instead of in the litter box. Grr. This is why we don’t normally keep kittens in my bedroom! But it is what it is. There’s now a second box and pee pads in the part of the room she was using, and meds are clearing up the loose stool issue.

Meanwhile, she’s not allowed to be introduced to Juice, even though both of them fight too hard and could use a kitten playmate for both fun and learning. Juice is…still Juice. We introduced wet food one day to get him prepared for weaning, and he loved it so much that he point-blank refused the bottle afterwards. Unfortunately, he decided that the way to eat said wet food was to face-plant into it and suck it up like it was milk. Between that and the diarrhea he still had despite his first round of med treatments, he’s the messiest foster we’ve ever cared for. Thankfully, his new round of meds is helping, so at least he’s now only messy on his face! Usually. We do worry about him a little, because he doesn’t seem to be learning age-appropriately. We’ve had plenty of dumb kittens (especially the orange ones, ha!) but this feels more like a neurological or brain-damage kind of issue (head trauma? nutrition issue?). He’s 6-7 weeks old but still acts/learns like a 3-week old kitten.

We are all overwhelmed. Having a foster group of two or three or four kittens has been fine in the past, but in that case, they’re all in the same room and able to entertain each other. This, instead, takes two rooms, two foster parents (or just me running double-time on the days Jason goes into the office), and a whole lot of work. Add to that my lack of sleep some nights because of Florence’s issues, and Jason’s because of Juice’s, and the household has fallen into complete chaos. It’s a wonder things like dishes ever get done. Sometimes I’ll go four days and realize I haven’t showered because said days all blurred into one. This is absolutely and definitely not a situation I want to invite again in the future!

Both kittens get checkups tomorrow, and I’d guess that, assuming they make weight, they’ll be turned in on July 3rd for surgeries and such. They are both, thankfully, gaining weight regularly now with their latest med treatments halfway through. I’m hoping to talk them into taking Florence in on the 26th instead, because she’ll be the right age and likely the right weight, given her trajectory. But we’ll see. Either way, once these two are gone, I definitely need a week or so off from fostering after this madness. It’s the worst time of year for that, since kitten season is insane at the moment, but that’s what happens when I end up with two needy singletons at once!

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Candle, Rock, Feather

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Thistle

Awhile back, I was at a local shopping center and noticed something I hadn’t really seen before. It wasn’t special, just a small runoff area between two buildings, ground lined with fake cobblestones to guide the water and debris out of the parking lot and behind the shopping center. The thing about being a photographer is that you start to notice little spots like this that could make fun photo settings, and I was intrigued by the stone walls, cobbled ground, and surrounding plants. I wanted to take L out for a photoshoot there before my cruise, but we didn’t have time. However, we were recently in the area for something unrelated and I decided to throw together a shoot last second.

Before leaving home, I grabbed my feathered caplet/pauldron and a woodsy circlet tiara. (And my camera, of course.) Then I stopped at a nearby Michael’s and grabbed a candle and lantern-cage on clearance, and we headed over to the runoff area. A few small props can go a long way in a photoshoot, and the candle matched L’s current hair color perfectly! The runoff area was shaded in the spot we set up, and I got a half-dozen fun photos to work with.

Ironically, I didn’t even use the cobblestone part of the runoff. These ended up being more close-up photos because we only had a partial costume. That just means I can use the same spot later if I wish! We didn’t stay long because it was midday and nearly 100 degrees out already. Way too hot! But L was a good sport about it all.

I wanted to capture a really ephemeral, gossamer vibe to these so I played a lot in post-production to add filmy texture and glow. Loved the way these came out so much!

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A Tempest at Sea, by Sherry Thomas (audio)

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Thistle

This is volume 7 of this series, which if anyone remembers from my previous reviews, I’d started to get bored with. For the last few volumes, in fact, I struggled to keep up with the story because I didn’t remember a full half of the characters. There was some debate whether I would read this volume at all, but as it took place on a cruise – one of my favorite book settings – I decided to give it a chance.

It was better than I expected. I attribute this to three things: 1) the setting; 2) the setting creating a limited number of characters, most of whom were the ones I actually remembered; and 3) the narrator, Kate Reading, who always makes books better. I could follow the entire narrative this time, though periodically there would be mention of characters and former side-plots that I barely remembered. I’m still not entirely sure I’ll continue with the series, but this is one more volume, at least, that I’m invested in.

Not really much else to say except that I loved the descriptions of the ship rocking in rougher seas. Mostly because I absolutely love when the ship rocks like that. I sleep better than I do normally, and it took nearly a week of being on land before I stopped feeling a phantom rocking from time to time. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I love cruises so much. Maybe I was a sailor in a former life.

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Ghost Towns and Ghosting

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Thistle

Our last stop in Alaska was to Skagway, a tiny town heavily influenced by the gold rush. The tour we took there was the Ghosts and Goodtime Girls Walking Tour hosted by the Red Onion Saloon. This was another small group tour, with ten people in total. Our host was Madame Lavinia Moore, a “professional streetwalker” in full costume. The majority of the tour was related to the prostitution boom that exploded alongside gold fever, with a few ghost stories mixed in.

While the costume and stage name may make the whole thing sound campy and lighthearted, the tour itself was actually focused on history (especially women’s history), sociology, and politics. We learned plenty about the grim circumstances that caused so many women to turn to prostitution, and the often grim outcomes that followed. But we also learned the creative ways women survived the era. Our guide didn’t shy away from serious discussion: discrimination against indigenous people, the horrific lack of access to women’s health care, wage discrepancies, the marking of women with syphilis (which led them to be unable to get work in any field), and more. The costumes and stage names and silly marches across the street added a levity to the subject that made the entire tour extremely well-rounded.

We ended the tour at the Red Onion Saloon, which is not in the same location it was originally built, but still made up of the same essential pieces (walls, floors, etc). The upper floor acts as a museum, with everything from wallpaper samples to a glass-encased mesh dress that was one solution for advertising wares while adhering to “morality” laws. I wish I’d had more time in the museum part, but there were several tours that needed to get through.

After our tour was over, we walked back to the ship. I would have loved to spend more time in Skagway. It was the smallest town we visited and I could have spent a long time walking around taking pictures and seeing fascinating things, like in Ketchikan. (I was particularly enamored by the rock-paintings that were everywhere on the cliff sides.) However, this was my third tour day in a row, there had been a lot of standing around, and I was at at the end of 48 hours sick. I just wanted to sleep. I hadn’t been able to nap when we got in from Juneau the day before, so that’s what I did in Skagway. Jason left the ship again and spent a few hours in town, which makes me happy. He loves to visit museums and always feels self-conscious going with anyone else, so that time alone was good for him. And I got in a really good nap!

The Ghost and Goodtime Girls tour was our last on this trip. Technically, we were supposed to go on another excursion in Victoria, BC. This one was a bit weird, though. First, our original excursion was canceled about a month before our trip due to some weird technicality that wasn’t explained to us. We thought perhaps not enough people had signed up, but when we went to go look up a new excursion, we saw that every choice that included the Craigdarroch Castle had been removed. I’m not sure if the castle itself was going to be closed for that day, or if the contract with the tour company had been discontinued, or what. That’s what we really wanted to do, though, so it was with a bit less enthusiasm that we signed up for a tour of the Butchart Gardens.

What we didn’t realize until getting onboard was that this particular excursion was going to take up the entire time we were docked in Victoria. It was a large group, with likely long, uncomfortable bus rides, and there would be no chance to eat from 4 to 9pm. It was the last night of our trip and we were pretty tired, not to mention not terribly interested in Butchart. Maybe if I hadn’t spent a few days sick, or if we had another day at sea before we’d have to get up super early the next morning to get off the boat. I think we were just done at that point.

So for the second cruise in a row, we didn’t leave the ship in Victoria. In 2018, it was due to rain (and oh the irony, last time we planned to make our way to Butchart on our own, sans excursion, if it hadn’t been raining!). This time, we just flat-out ghosted the city (ha!).

I did try to take some night photos of Victoria while we were docked. I thought I might get some fun light-streak photos where the city would be still and the boats in and out of the port would be moving. However, even moored at the pier, the cruise ship still moves ever so slightly, so even with my camera perfectly stabilized, there was up and down shaky movement in the background. I would have had to get off the boat had I wanted to take any night photos that actually worked. Oh well!

All in all, it was a good trip. I know I’ve now talked about it at length, and I hope no one is too bored. But mostly it’s for my own recollection. This should be the end of it, though! And as it’s been said in the rest of these posts: for more/better photos, see my Instagram: @pookasluagh (where I continue to post slowly so that I’m not overwhelming my feed all in a couple days!).

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SC: Favorite Photos of Vacation

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Thistle

I know I haven’t finished posting my trip stuff yet, but I’m going to take a moment to highlight my favorite photos of the trip for today’s Sunday Coffee. Somehow, I managed to choose 17 photos – out of the hundreds I took – as favorites!

This collage represents portraits of strangers. On the top left is a woman I spoke to after taking a photo of her and her partner together. While her partner left to get drinks, I asked if I could take a photo of her. She had the most incredible smile! Next to her, these two women accidentally walked into a photo I was taking in Ketchikan. They apologized but I told them not to worry about it, and I took their photo together for them, and then got a photo with my camera as well. They were so kind and I loved how bright the flowers and leaves were around them. On the bottom left was the very nice couple we stood with and spoke to as our ship approached the Dawes Glacier. We took turns taking photos for each other so no one had to take selfies. Lastly, the man on the bottom right had the most incredible beard. I wanted to ask him for a photo so badly, but I’m still so very timid about asking people if I haven’t had a reason to speak with them beforehand! So I took this photo from afar as he looked out over the water and mountains.

Top left: a scene from the streets of Seattle that was too iconic not to shoot. Top right: I loved this mirrored sectional wall by the Sky Lounge on board. Because the windows in that area let in blue-tinted light, it was difficult to get any photos colored correctly in post-production. I ended up going the b&w route for this one, which Jason wasn’t actually posing for (he didn’t realize I was taking a picture at the time). On the bottom left is the only phone photo in my collection of favorites. I only meant to take a quick pic of my iced bianco, but Jason made this ridiculous face in the background, and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Lastly, we have my final photo from our Ghosts and Goodtime Girls tour, which I’ll post about tomorrow. I took this one with soft light and a slightly blurred focus to capture an old-timey feel!

Top left: This seagull was strutting around the back of the dining area as we waited to disembark in Seattle. Top right: I loved all the little antique details at the Moore hotel, including the carved clawed feet of the tub. Bottom left: One of the Tlingit carvings seen in Ketchikan. Bottom right: In the gardens we visited in Juneau, there were all these tiny details in among the trees. I used to have an elephant statue carved like this one, with little holes throughout, and another tiny elephant carved inside. Sadly, it broke during my last move, so I was very excited to see this similar tiny statue in the crook of a moss-covered tree.

Top row: ferns and flowers in Ketchikan. Everything was so vibrant there! Bottom right: a photo of our reflections in the shop windows along Creek Street in Ketchikan. Bottom left: the edge of town by the old train depot in Skagway. Again, I love how vibrant all the colors were, and I cannot imagine living with the mountains just there every day!

Last and definitely not least, this is at present my favorite photo from the trip. These mountains lined the Endicott Arm on the way to the Dawes Glacier. Despite our ship moving through these waters, everything was so still. It was maybe an hour or 90 mins past sunrise, with the sun still very low in the sky, and mostly cloudy. Just enough sun to bring out brilliant reflections in the still waters. This turned out looking like a painting, and I just love it!

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Glacier Day: Endicott Arm and Juneau

Posted on June 9, 2023 by Thistle

Our three stops in Alaska were all back to back days. Unfortunately, the middle day was the day when I was sickest, and the lack of sleep I got the night before didn’t help. I’m not sure why I was so fitful – maybe just because I was sick – but it was the only night when I was pretty much up all night long, and then I woke up super early for a special event that was my most-looked-forward-to part of the trip.

Back when Jason and I first planned our Planniversary, we booked our cruise for May 2020 on Royal Caribbean. We’d always sailed Celebrity before, but on the dates we needed, Celebrity didn’t have any itineraries that took a side passage down Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier. I’d heard about this particular side trip, and how you could see the glacier and potentially see it calve, and that was a definite Must on our trip. So we booked RC, and then there was covid, and then our trip was canceled and rescheduled over and over again, each time losing money in our RC account until it was just not worth it to book with them. Honestly, Royal Caribbean left a really bad taste in both our mouths, so with the last booking, we went back to our standby. (Since then, I’ve seen photos of the food on RC, and bleagh, I’m glad we go Celebrity!!) Happily, Celebrity had available itineraries that went to Dawes and also sailed in/out of Seattle this time around!

Anyway, we had to get up super early for this part of the trip. It was very cold, and we were all dressed in jackets and beanies and such. I wished so badly for gloves, the only cold-weather gear I hadn’t brought! The ship doesn’t go all the way to the glacier, but instead it goes as far as it can safely before turning around, and you see Dawes in the distance. Ice chunks from previous calving float all around you, and the landscape is awe-inspiring.

Tbh, I was initially a bit disappointed in Dawes. We were far enough away that it was hard to see, and there was no calving – or so I thought. Later, when I uploaded my photos, it turned out that I actually managed to capture a moment when several chunks of ice had just dropped off the glacier into the water, creating a huge splash (photo with boat above). I just hadn’t seen it with the naked eye. Now that was cool! Plus, I got some of my favorite photos on this part of the trip.

That portion of the day took place around 6am, and we got into Juneau about midday. By this point, I was in the worst part of my cold, and considered bowing out of the excursion completely. The tour sounded a lot more strenuous than I could handle while sick – a mile trek into the rainforest up a 600-foot elevation gain during one stop. But the tour was also listed as “mild” (our photo safari the day before had been “medium”) and so I realized that the elevation gain and “trek” were all going to be done via vehicle. Not what I’d planned when we signed up, but doable for sick-Manda. We loaded up on a (very crowded, not particularly comfy) bus and headed off to Mendenhal Glacier and the Tongass National Forest.

Of the excursions we went on this time around, most were small-group tours. This one was the exception, taking two busloads of about 80 total people out to the two locations. It was four hours long, lots of driving, and nothing like I’d been expecting. If I hadn’t been sick, I would’ve been extremely disappointed. As it was, I just wanted to take some pictures, go back to the boat, and sleep. Heh. The glacier was beautiful, but we had less than 45 mins to explore the park. The rainforest and the gardens we went to were also beautiful, but we literally had five mins of free time to take photos at the top of the mountain and about ten mins down in the gardens. Four hours of excursion, and a total of an hour of it wasn’t sitting in uncomfortable vehicles.

Lesson learned: large group excursions aren’t really the way to go. We definitely preferred our small group excursions in Ketchikan and Skagway! At least I got a few good photos out of it, even if there weren’t nearly as many as I would have liked to have time for!

For more/better photos, see my Instagram: @pookasluagh

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Ketchikan, Alaska

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Thistle

I have to admit, this was the most intimidating post of all the trip posts I wanted to write. Why? Because Ketchikan was so wonderful, so expansive, that I’m struggling to put it into words. Jason and I took a small-group tour in Ketchikan, a photo safari led by a photographer named Mark. There were five of us in the group, and Mark took us to four very different locations for photos, teaching us about the city’s history along the way. Of the five attendees, two of us had cameras (mine, a DSLR, and another woman’s, a mirrorless), and the other three had phone cameras. Mark was able to show us all tips for both kinds, and after he found out that I’m a photographer, he often called on me to answer questions he normally poses to everyone. He also took our cameras from us at times so that we could get photos of ourselves from him, and he was able to adapt to each of our setups, whether automatic or fully manual. As a guide, he was knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The tour itself was perfect except that I wish we’d had more time in each location!

When I planned for this trip, I kept checking the weather in each of the locations we would be stopping at. Every single day called for about 25-40% chance of rain. I bought rain gear for myself and my camera just in case, but as it turned out, we had great weather at every single stop. In Ketchikan, it was about 50 degrees and cloudy, a perfect setup for taking photos in the middle of the day. There were actually two times available for this tour and I chose the early morning one on purpose, thinking it would provide better light. I forgot that being so far north, sunrise wouldn’t be in the 6-7am hour, but closer to 4-5am. I could have taken the later tour and slept in without a problem. I’m glad I chose this one, though, because it gave Jason and me several hours post-tour to explore Ketchikan before returning to the ship for lunch.

Did I learn a lot of new photography things on this tour? Tbh, I didn’t. I did learn how to make blurred-water photos on my iphone, which was neat. I’d hoped we’d play around with the multiple-exposure shots, which were advertised on the tour website but we didn’t get around to in actuality. On the other hand, in reading about them, I did some research beforehand and found where in the settings of my camera that I can do this, so I learned something obliquely (despite not trying it out yet).

So I didn’t learn a lot on the tour, but also, I didn’t take it for learning – I took it for the “safari” part, going to all the best places to get the best photos. We started in the Creek Street area, little shops along the boardwalks and Ketchikan Creek. Next up were the docks, where I saw my favorite wildlife of the trip, giant purple and orange starfish!! Then we went up to the library, where there were really good views of the mountains, and lastly to Potlatch Totem Park and Museum. If I’d taken another excursion, or just explored on my own, I couldn’t have seen nearly so many different places. Mark really took us do see and do so many things!

In total on our trip, I couldn’t tell you exactly how many photos I took. I know that before uploading to my computer, there were 500 or so that I hadn’t deleted, and after sorting through them and whittling them down, there were about 250 remaining. Almost half of those are from Ketchikan. It was before I got sick, so I had energy and drive and absolutely no exhaustion pushing me to return to the boat, and as I said, Mark took us to so many unique and beautiful places. Afterwards, he dropped us off downtown because we all wanted to spend more time in the city. Ketchikan was walkable and friendly and honestly just perfect. I couldn’t have wished for a better day!

For more/better photos, see my Instagram: @pookasluagh

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Seattle and the Solstice

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Thistle

I have been so ridiculously busy over the last week between dealing with kittens and trying to sort through and edit around 500 photos. Oy. It hasn’t left me a lot of time for putting down my thoughts on this trip, but now it’s time!

Jason and I flew out to Seattle the day before our cruise. Travel was (almost) completely uneventful on the way there, and we made it to our hotel in good time. The Moore Hotel is an old, quirky place with all the remnants of being an old, quirky place: clawfoot tubs, old chandeliers and radiators, physical key locks, no a/c. As it was an extremely hot day in Seattle, we were warned profusely about the a/c issue, but honestly, it was the same temp as current San Antonio mornings, so while it wasn’t the most comfortable in the late afternoon, we were fine. We kept the windows open and a rotating fan on us throughout the night, and it was perfect.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews that complain about the Moore, but honestly, it comes down to one thing: if you want modern conveniences, don’t go to a historic hotel. Period. We loved it, and the front desk staff was extremely knowledgeable. They set us up to go to the pier for a decent price the next day, and they helped us out with the one glitch from our travels. The airline completely broke my suitcase. I mean, they snapped one of the long poles holding the side together into two pieces, so if I rolled it along, the suitcase would bend in half. The Moore staff was able to help us find a place within walking distance to replace my case and to pick up a few things we needed that were either forgotten, or got damaged by the broken case. I have nothing but good things to say about them, and I’d gladly stay there again.

Bonus, the hotel was on the edge of the Pike Place Market district, so we were literally a couple blocks from the fish market, flower market, the original Starbucks, etc. We found this awesome restaurant called The Pink Door for dinner (no actual signage that we could see, just a literal pink door to let you know you’d arrived), and there was live tango music while we ate. Apparently, there are acrobatic shows (from hoops and swings on the ceiling) on certain days, but we missed that. Again, 10 out of 10 recommend, but if you go, be forewarned: it is definitely pricey. It was our one big splurge meal.

Lots of exploring, crumpets for breakfast, so many photos, and then we were off to the pier in a van with a bunch of other cruisers, some who were also going to be on our ship. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet (forgive me if I have – I’ve been posting across four different social medias!), but we were on the same exact ship as our last cruise in 2018! The Solstice is definitely more rundown now than six years ago, as you might imagine, so there were a few hmmm moments along the way – lights that went out through the whole ship mid-dinner one night; seats in the theatres sagging and broken; a few large windows cracked or with broken seals, etc. Still, it’s a good ship, and we were amused to see that one of the two copies of Oathbringer (that were brand new in the ship’s library in 2018) was still there, with book cover gone and half the spine pulled off. Poor, well-loved Oathbringer.

Because we’d been on the ship before, we already knew all the good places to hang out. Jason and I tend to avoid the loud, chaotic areas (like the shops and casino). Because this was a cold-weather cruise, the library and card rooms where a lot fuller than usual, so we ended up spending time up in the sky lounge or in the earth room, which were mostly empty. There were also mornings at the specialty coffee place (I was completely enamored with their iced bianco). A movie (A Man Called Otto) in the hidden little theatre. (There’s a literal joke about people being unable to find this spot despite events being set there.) A “musical Shakespeare mystery,” which I thought was going to be a singing kind of musical but instead was a mystery with pop songs played at intervals that we had to guess the names of. A world wine tour where I learned so much!

Jason and I didn’t attend any of the big evening shows. Most of them were uninteresting, and the one I really wanted to go to was on the night I was super sick and needed to sleep. After three years of avoiding crowds, I got a cold after our trip to Ketchikan that lasted 48 hours. It was just a cold, but it sucked. I napped a lot. The rocking of the boat, which was quite strong at times, was the perfect lull-me-to-sleep tonic. (I don’t get seasick on cruises and actually adore the way the rocking feels!) Being sick meant that I missed most of the events I wanted to attend (like dance and archery classes), but at the same time, it gave me time to read and play murder mystery board games with Jason. Super laid back trip!!

I think the last thing I wanted to mention about the cruise itself was the food. We’ve always cruised on Celebrity, and I’ve been told by a travel-agent friend that they have the best food. I was also told by another friend who cruises a lot that many cruise lines cut back on food quality heavily during the pandemic. I was worried that would be the case with Celebrity, too, but for the most part, it wasn’t. Or, if they have cut back, it’s only to a level that’s still superior to what I get at home, so I didn’t really notice. My favorite thing that I ate onboard was a panna cotta in strawberry puree, which was divine. I wish I’d gotten a second serving.

Post-cruise, we traveled back to San Antonio on a trip that was far more eventful, with extreme delays, an incredibly dirty Denver airport, lots of turbulence as we flew through tons of lightning strikes, and an eventual arrival back at home around 2am the next day. I kinda wish we’d stayed another night at the Moore before traveling home!! But it’s done now, and most of the rest of the trip was good (minus the stupid cold). After five years, I remember why I enjoy cruising so much. It’s unfortunate, because the cruise industry is an environmental disaster, but still. I loved it.

Random notes from onboard:

  • we saw whales breaching beside the ship!
  • it was so cold and foggy every night that being out on the decks was madness
  • we bought regular wifi on the ship, which was meant to be on one device, but they upgraded us to two devices out of nowhere, no extra charge!
  • they also upgraded our drinks package from Zero Proof (just sodas, juices, and specialty coffees) to a Classic package, so I could have wine at dinner without it costing anything – I have no idea why they did that, but I’ll take it!
  • at breakfast one morning, a waitress sang a song to a couple celebrating their anniversary
  • the staff did a really good job helping J avoid nuts on the trip – so good, in fact, that when he ordered peanut butter ice cream (he’s not allergic to peanuts, just tree nuts), they brought him a different dessert altogether, ha!

For more/better photos, see my Instagram: @pookasluagh

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SC: Mr Juicy and the Fleabag

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Thistle

Oh my, what a week it has been! First, I mentioned that I would introduce our newest foster kitten, Juice (Juicy? We’ve been told both names, so we’re just calling him Juicy or Mr Juicy for now). Juicy is a four-week old bottle baby. I don’t know anything about his history except that he was surrendered to the shelter as an orphan when he was three weeks old. He’s friendly but over-exuberant, with a propensity toward biting and aggressively-futile attempts to eat. Much like this kitten, except that he does this even when being held properly for eating. We have to purrito him to get any milk down his throat instead of splashing everywhere else. He’s at that age where his claws don’t quite retract yet (should be in the next few days) and he still struggles with the muscles that help him go to the bathroom (younger than this and he would need manual stimulation to go).

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to pick up another bottle baby. I asked for one of the two smaller groups on the foster list, but they asked if we could take Juicy instead. You know how everyone always says that two kittens are better than one? It’s so very true. Singletons are incredibly difficult to care for. You have to teach them everything. How to play, how to fight without hurting others, how to snuggle, how to eat, how to be a cat. With groups of kittens, they teach each other, finding the right boundaries, and we can focus on helping them learn the difference between “cat” and “human” when it comes to play and affection. Singletons often lack a lot of social skills, especially when orphaned young. Juicy was clearly orphaned before he had a mom or sibling teach him not to chomp on things. He bites HARD, harder than any other cat I’ve worked with. It’s not meant to be mean, he just doesn’t understand. I’ve been training him by giving a high-pitched yip of pain when he does it and pulling away, and already I’ve seen his bites get softer. But this is a job I prefer kittens do together, rather than with me.

Especially now, with Fleabag in the house.

Here’s this story: I went to pick up meds for Juicy on Thursday. A woman arrived at the same time as me, two toddlers on her hips and a cardboard carrier. She asked the shelter if they had room for an intake, as she’d rescued this tiny kitten from the street after it was almost hit by a car. She’d been to several vets that turned her away, and the shelter was also full with a waitlist of 15 ahead of her. They were advising her to go to Animal Care Services, a location about 30-45 mins drive away, as she was near tears. She hadn’t planned to be out with her kids so long, had six animals at home already, and her family was leaving to go out of town in a few hours.

While she was there, I took a look at this kitten. It seemed about 7-8 weeks old at first glance, dehydrated but uninjured, and crawling with hundreds of fleas. I was not going to let that baby just die, and so yes, maybe I’m just a sucker, but I brought her home with me. L and I scrambled to convert my bedroom/bathroom into a makeshift foster care situation. We washed and scrubbed the kitten twice, picking off fleas with tweezers between washes, and we still didn’t get them all. Flea baths, blankets, litter box, water, but no food yet because she needed to warm up completely first. I scheduled a vet visit for Monday, the earliest time they had available. L put flea meds on our other cats in case the fleas spread in spite of our best efforts. (Fleabag herself was too young/small for the topical meds we have.) Jason left work early to come help, because in addition to everything we were doing for the new kitten, I had to care for Juicy (who needed to be fed every 4 hrs) and take L to an afternoon doctor’s appointment.

The kitten, who we’d accidentally named Fleabag because it was the first thing that popped into my brain when the vet asked me, was becoming more lethargic. We knew she was dehydrated and possibly anemic, given the number of fleas on her, so Jason began a pedialyte treatment via oral syringe while L and I were at the doctor. By evening, she’d become more alert but still hadn’t eaten (and she barely weighed 1.1 lbs despite being at least 6-7 weeks old!), so we had to syringe-feed her watered-down kitten food. We didn’t know if she’d last through the night, but she did, and by noon the next day, she ate a little on her own and her nose had a slight cool, damp feel to it for the first time. Our vet had a cancellation, so we were able to get her in Friday afternoon for dewormer and such. All out of pocket, of course, because unlike official fosters, no one helps with the babies you rescue on your own. (Note: The woman who found the kitten took down our Venmo info and sent us some money for the intake fee at the shelter, which was very kind of her. Every little bit helps!)

(Let me just take this moment to say: please, spay and neuter your pets. If you feed strays, please get them fixed, too. This kind of situation is so preventable. A full half of kittens born outside will die, often miserable, starving, illness-ridden deaths. TNR – trap, neuter, return – works and it saves lives. Please find local resources that can help, low cost clinics or TNR organizations who will come to you. Don’t just assume someone else will do it. This takes all of us.)

Thankfully, Fleabag is doing marvelously well. We discovered that she prefers kibble to wet food, and she has perked up enormously, though she has yet to gain any weight, so we’re not entirely over that hurdle. She wrestles with the bath mat, she’s stepped into the main room briefly, she’s purred in my arms even though she runs if you try to pick her up still. A typical curious kitten raised outside and timid around humans, in a brave new world that she doesn’t yet realize is the VIP life. Juicy is also doing well, and we can’t forget him, because he is The Darkness, and he says that no one should forget it. But also, I’m now caring for two different singletons with two different and unique challenges, and I’m beyond exhausted. TBH, I’m considering returning Juicy back into the shelter’s care, to be fostered by someone else while I’m unofficially fostering our little Fleabag. So far, I haven’t had to care for both alone, and maybe by the time J goes into the office again on Tuesday, Fleabag will be independent enough that I can spend more of my time on Juicy’s socializing and needs. This is not a situation I’d gladly enter another time, though. Oy.

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