….We hope! This past weekend was lovely! My youngest sis, Nan, and her family drove up from Indiana to spend the weekend with us. We went to have Portillo’s famous Italian beef for lunch, and then came home to play with some of the preparations for Easter.
Saturday night, the girls all gathered to do a baby shower for a niece who will be giving birth April 7th. One of my nieces lives in Perth, Australia, and since she was going to be in town for the weekend, they decided they would organize the baby shower so she could participate. It was lovely to have dinner with all the women in the family, and to see a store-ful of adorable baby clothes!
Sunday, my sister and her husband fixed breakfast for us, and we all headed off to my oldest sister’s church. Our family filled three pews. One of the members of the church asked how many generations of our family were there. This is an old farm community church, where generations of continual attendance matters. There were FOUR generations present.
We rushed home to set tables, heat the ham, make green bean casserole, and generally get ready. It should be said, that Dear Husband, Elegante Mother and I offer our home, but everyone else pulls together to see that the day is special. I could NOT have done it without the help of my youngest sister and her family. My-Sister-The-Nurse brought half the meal, but Nan’s family saw to the tables, the seating, the decorations, the logistics that ultimately made everyone comfortable, and made the house look lovely.
There were approximately thirty people here yesterday, including two first-time visitors. We were talking about spanning those four generations, and I suggested that it was possible that there could be five. The mother of the oldest great granddaughter fanned her face, looked panicked, and suggested that it was too soon for us to even consider that! *G* Okay….it’s too soon, but it’s lovely to see our gathered family and enjoy the continuity of our line.
I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did. The final and perfect touch to the day was discovering that the crocus are up! Spring is on its way. We’re blessed!

…or as we affectionately call him, ED, is my old black cat. You can see the silver threads in his coat. I think our vet believes he’s a miracle cat.
Ed has been an outdoor-indoor cat since he first adopted us in 1991. He was roughly two years old at the time, and we were having a vicious winter. Somehow he made it into the garage and was curled up on the seat of the riding mower when I first met him. He had obviously been raised around people, and had just as obviously been abandoned. It’s taken him most of his life to warm up to us, and he’s been grudging about giving away his love and trust.
I know…..WHY keep a cat like that? Who can explain how you fall in love with a “pet?” This cat has trained us to his bidding. Elegante Mother opens the door for him to come and go, and she and I feed him on demand. He’s as likely to slice our hands with his claws as he is to rub around our ankles, begging to be petted. He’s just Ed, and he’s a major part of our lives.
Unfortunately, he has begun to show signs of kidney failure. I knew, before we went for his annual checkup what they were likely to find. I approved the drawing of blood for tests just to confirm what I was seeing, and I was right. He’s past the early stages, and is moving into the more pronounced middle stage.. He’s lost weight, and the fat that normally covers his shoulder blades and pads his hip bones. He drinks, and pees, a lot.
Despite that, he seems to be in good spirits, and is still eager to go out, at least, when he feels the weather is bearable. He’s been inside for most of the winter because it’s been so bitterly cold.
This morning he went out. It’s a bright, sunny, chilly morning. I set the timer for ten minutes and went to see if he was ready to come in. No cat. I looked again five minutes later, and to the side of the door, there’s this black shadow. When I opened the door, I realized that Ed had caught another chipmunk, and was just getting ready to eat! YUCK!!!!
Dear Husband is on burial duty. It’s his job to whisk away the remains. I sure hope that we don’t have any visitors before DH gets home! *G* I suppose I have to go to the door and let Ed in…..
Despite my complaints about chipmunk parts being left around, I’ll really miss this cat. He’s my “kid.” He comes to sit with me at the end of the evening, and we share warmth. I’ll miss the little bugger.

A member of my family is angry with me. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no clue as to the cause. I realized more than six months ago that he was very carefully not speaking to me unless he was cornered. When he had absolutely no choice, he spoke to me in a sarcastic tone of voice, and still does.
One day when we were visiting their home, he offered a beverage to everyone but me, and though we’ve visited several times, he’s continued that practice. When he comes to my home, he speaks to everyone but me. Yesterday, we were packing up the leftovers for the families to take home with them, and I asked if he ate ham. He replied that he did, but they wouldn’t be taking any of it home.
My inclination is to turn my back on this childishness. Speaking to him is not going to resolve the issue, because he doesn’t care to hear what I might have to say. I could refuse to go to their house, given that I am not welcome, and I could even make a point of not welcoming him to my house, but that doesn’t resolve the issue. It only escalates the problem, and spreads it further throughout the family.
The question is, what do I do? Do I confront him and ask why he’s behaving this way? I suspect that he would deny that he’s been rude to me, but others are beginning to notice what’s going on. One of my concerns is that if I let it go on to long, I’ll snap one day, say something that compounds the problem, and we’ll have a worse situation than we have now. He’s the master at passive-aggressive behavior, when I’m a what-you-see-is-what you-get sort of person. I’m more likely to avoid conflict until it can be avoided no more.
I really don’t want to cause any division in my family. I don’t want anyone to have to consider whether or not they should invite me, and by extension, Dear Husband, or whether it’s not worth the trouble.
If you have advice, I’d love to hear it.