Making a House a Home

What should have been one of the happiest moments of our life, the time of moving into our house has been stressful. If it weren't for the pure joy expressed by our two year old Siamese cats, Jupiter and Ganymede, I don't know what we'd do. They love exploring their house, sliding on the hardwood floors and romping in the atrium is so much fun. And we have squirrels.

Ganymede has a new hobby: Bird watching. I am so glad he has taken such an enthusiastic interest in nature. The kitties are indoors only, with the exception of the going out in the atrium. Once the temperature is too toasty, they are told to come inside. Every morning at 6:30am, our precious Ganymede takes his post by the sliding door for the bird and squirrel show.

Just the other night, we were all sitting in our library on the rug, looking at a book, Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song. This book gets four cat thumbs up--the boys found it most entertaining. You push the button corresponding to a particular bird in the book and a beautiful representation of that bird's song is heard. Gans and Jups knew instantly what that sound was, no mistake. Jupiter nibbled gently on the corner of the book after each chirp and twitter!

I love this video about a baby squirrel, especially the message of this video, which I found by accident, or was it an accident. The song has stayed in my head since yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Jupiter!

Jupiter is two-years old today! To celebrate, Jupiter had his favorite cantaloupe, but he does everyday when it is in season. Ganymede's birthday is in two more days.


What a big boy he is!

We are planning to make a tunnel between our great room and master bedroom so Jupiter and Ganymede will be able to circle around the inside of the whole house, and I presume, chase each other with glee. I will faux paint a hobbit opening around of the tunnel on both sides. So much to look forward to!

Happy Tenth Wedding Anniversary to Me and My Sweet Husband!

Happily married, as always! We had the most beautiful, intimate wedding at the edge of Lake Tahoe, at Sugar Pine State Park. It was such a happy day, spent with the people who are most dear to us. Afterward, we all celebrated with lunch and strawberry cream wedding cake at the Tahoe House Bakery and Cafe. Our wedding was celebrated on the day of my parent's 50th anniversary. We miss both our moms and our dear sister-in-law, Toshiko; all three are no longer with us, but are never forgotten. The ceremony was elegantly performed by my dear friend, officiate extraordinaire, someone I miss.


Ganymede is as silly as ever. Everything continues to be endlessly fascinating to him. Here he is being held up to investigate a fluttering mulberry leaf!

Enhanting Qntal Music

This is the Qntal album and song that captured my imagination, several years ago; I have been under their spell ever since. Play this video and you will understand!



Which Qntal song is your favorite?

Happy Earth Day!

As our home renovation continues, I'd like to report that we are making greenest decisions possible, such as choosing low VOC paint, buying a barrel-style composter (we will buy another soon), installing Dark Sky and energy efficient lighting, and many other considerations.

Our English garden/cottage-style plants are now in the soil. I was overly concerned with the upper 90 degree temperatures yesterday and watered frantically. My abutilons have been looking wilty, I don't know what is up with them, maybe it is the shock of being planted. They are so whimsical and faerie-like, I will be sad if they don't make it.


The other news is, Ganymede broke his back foot. That was earlier in the spring, which should tell you how far behind I am with my blogging. He was in the kitchen, stretching up on his tip-toes to reach with his paw to the cutting board. He managed to catch a plate sitting there with his claws.

The plate came down and landed end-on-end, on his back paw. He took off like a rocket for the bedroom. We thought he was just frightened, but when we coxed him out and saw the blood, we examined him and decided one of the tiny bones was broken. I cuddled him in bed all night and then we took him to the veterinarian in the morning. They splinted him and sent us home with pain medicine (Ganymede's happy drops!) and a referral to Veterinary Surgical Associates

Ganymede had surgery performed by the wonderful Dr. Andy Staatz. The broken bone was stabilized with a pin and he was sent home in a splint, which did not slow him down at all. Ganymede happily returned to the clinic every week for a splint change, and to visit with his doctor. Ganymede and Dr. Andy were most smitten with each other.


The handsome boys, Jupiter and Ganymede, with his purple splint

The day Ganymede had his last splint removed, it was as if the break had never happened! Jupiter was overjoyed to have his Ganymede to romp at last at full speed with. We would like to thank Dr. Staatz for the brilliant care and loving attention!

Oh, What a Year...

Yes, there were good things, but there were also bad things. Jupiter and Ganymede have been a glimmering high point in a difficult year as we watched them grow and discover the wonderment of life through their amazing blue eyes. I don't know what we would do without these wonderful Siameezers.

We are still renovating the house, starting with the removal a brick fireplace, which nearly demolished our bodies. Renovating can be everything between utter exciting creativity to absolute terror. When it all falls into place and I see glimpses of the beautiful house it is going to be, I say to myself, "Did I really do that? Is this really my house?"

We just lost a delightful, precious member of our family. Toshiko, my brother's wife, was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the stomach at the end of September and gradually slipped into a coma as the cancer went into her liver. She died the morning of December 11, 2008. Life will never be the same without her, but my life will forever be touched by her.

Toshi: You inspired us with your grace and strength throughout that horrible disease. Between rainstorms, I have been spending time planting in my atrium Japanese garden that we planned together, it will be a happy place to reflect on what a wonderful angel you have been to us.

My brother made this beautiful video to honor his princess, Toshiko. This is the Buddist temple, Byodo-In, located in Oahu Hawaii, a replica of the 900-year-old temple in Japan of the same name.

Picking up Knitting Needles

Well, it had been a while since I have touched knitting needles, the house renovation has been the focus for the past few months. Everything is so dusty from the drywall sanding, I am glad we are not living there yet. Yeech! Next weekend I will start cleaning up one room at a time and priming and painting with low VOC paint. If I don't focus on just one room and not the whole house, I will get overwhelmed.

We found out just three weeks ago that my precious sister in law has stomach cancer. The doctors tried two separate operations and backed out, the tumors were all over her abdomen. We are all so devastated. This has been so surreal in a bad way, yet we maintain a positive attitude, fueled by the strong, brave princess. I am so proud of her and of my brother.

I have been inspired to pick up my lonely knitting needles to knit two soft hats for the princess. We don't know if she will lose her hair or not on the chemo, but it is good constructive behavior on my part, instead of sitting in front of the television, wallowing in self pity--never a good thing and not at all productive. We are being victimized whenever we find ourselves not in control of our lives. Avoid being a victim.

Back to the subject of knitting. The first hat is a beautiful brown-ish, blue-ish black yarn, with a small floppy brim. That gorgeous yarn I am using is from Green Planet Yarn, the place for fair trade, eco-friendly yarn. I saw the pattern on Head Huggers and thought it would be very feminine and cute on her pretty little head.

The instructions say to pick up stitches around the bottom of the crown to construct the brim. I was almost finished tediously pulling the new yarn through with a crochet needle and placing them on the circular needle, then I got to a weak spot on the yarn and it broke. I yanked it all out and started again, picking up the stitches. Now I am happily knitting the brim. I will be finished tonight.

The next hat is also from Head Huggers; a lighter weight style with a lacy edge. The yarn is a black organic cotton and milk fiber!