zinny-land

I started this trilogy over vacation and recently finished it. I found it so disturbing. The writing wasn't that great either, but the story carried me forward so I felt obligated to finish it. I'm not going to read the other books in the "series".

Have some of you guys read it? I just can't forget some of the really disturbing things. I have frequently wondered at why so much fantasy is YA rather than adult, but if books like this are where adult fantasy novels would head, I don't want them to go there.

I know I'm being vague--people who've read it would know what i'm talking about. For the rest of you, there's child rape, torture, lots of sex slavery, a hint of pedophilia (though thankfully it's curbed and the girl finally grows up), and even though in the book it is faked, the imagery of a man burning his sister-in-law and nephew alive and breaking off limbs as if they're chicken wings really really really disturbed me.

I would like to start collecting some very lovely china, but given that a single dinner plate is over $200, I'm just not sure where to start. Maybe one place setting a year?

Hmm.

This is what I like: http://www.herend-moserboutique.us/Online-Store/HerendStore/Dishes/QueenVictoria.html

We saw Buttercup outside on Friday night. She appeared to be getting along OK because she wasn't super-skinny like Bubbles was after her adventure. Since then, we've had the trap set out in the yard. We've caught every alley cat at least twice now, I think, but no Buttercup. Last night, we caught Mama cat, so we left her in the cage overnight and Brent took her in to the vet this morning for spaying. Yay--no more chance of kittens out there.

So. It seems like we're down one cat around here. It's rather hard to tell at times because she's the house-feral one, Buttercup. She doesn't much care for people, including us, though she usually shows up for some morning petting with Brent. The last time we saw her was a day before we left when Mack chased her violently upstairs. She didn't come back down after we shut him in the bathroom, and I'm guessing she decided to see what she would find if she headed down the tree. We've checked all the spots she's known to hide in the house and there's no sign of her anywhere.

It's not the first time one has escaped from inside without going out a door. I'm pretty sure this was the way Bubbles got out last summer on her 10 day adventure.

I've seen all 3 of our alley cats outside, but no Buttercup. We're going to set the trap and see if she's still hanging around. If not--she probably found a new place to live outside where she doesn't have to deal with people and where she can chase all the birds she wants.

I should probably be more upset, but I'm really not--she came from outside and was never truly happy with us (especially since Mimi wouldn't give her the love she wanted), so she might have a better life out there.

Mack is still shut in the bathroom until we can figure out a plan with the vet to keep him from terrorizing Blossom. I'm not sure what set all this off, but it's so irritating! He's not bothering Lola at all now, and she's fine hanging out in the same room with him.

We're back. The trip was pretty awesome. I'll tell more and post pics later.

Mack and Blossom are having some kind of all out war. The chasing and the squealing and the growling has been going on all night and in to this morning. In the night I assumed it was Lola he was chasing, but when I got up to check it out, she was cautiously watching the situation from the hallway, rather than cowering under her sofa.

I've shot a whole water gun worth of water off at Mack this morning, and blossom is sitting under the chair growling because she doesn't know where Mack is.

I'm tempted to lock them in the bathroom together until they come to a peace.

I had a dream that a very popular blogger started telling people to randomly punch other people. Like out at restaurants, in line at the grocery store, at church, etc. In my dream it became quite the big thing to do.

The terrifying thing to me, is that it does not seem implausible that people would just go do whatever some people say to do without questioning it.

I haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd do a quick update on what I've been up to lately. This weekend was extremely lazy and lovely. Friday was dinner and hanging out with Robin and Laura and little James. I laughed so much. It was lots of fun. I also took some photos with a new lens I just got. I wanted something that does well in low light, so I got a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 pancake lens. It doesn't zoom, but it does a very nice job on portraits. I posted a bunch of pics of our cats, and from Friday night on facebook.

Yesterday I stopped at Hancock's to get some jean patches. I have two pairs of jeans that have holes worn into the thigh/crotch area. Ugh. I patched them last night, so hopefully they'll last another season like that. It seems ridiculous to have to buy a new pair just because of one little hole.

I'm in the middle of A Dance with Dragons. I'm enjoying it so much more than the previous book. There's just a whole lot more action going on and characters I really like.

The Craft Alliance has an "emerging artists" show coming up this summer for anyone who has taken classes there over the past two years. I'm doing some thinking about what I'm going to create for it. Probably a couple of boxes with inlaid lids, but I'm not 100% sure on that yet.

Off to warm up lunch now. It's a leftovers kind of day.

Last night Brent came home from lessons and said there was a cat howling constantly outside, and he thought it was up in a tree. About 20 minutes later we headed out to pick up some dinner and sure enough--there was the howling. We saw Mama and Ears, but no Tim Greenwood. We started talking to him and trying to see if we could see him up in the tree.

As we stood there looking for a tree colored cat at night, Brent saw a movement and we looked up just in time to see the cat try to scramble down and then fall a LONG way down to the parking pad. He got up right away and ran under the truck. I saw him limping a little, but an hour later I brought him some leftover chicken and he looked fine.

Craziest thing to see a cat dropping from the sky like that. I hope he learned his lesson.

I forgot to mention in my other post that I think I can consider Lola to be completely back to normal. She's currently headbutting my hand as I type, in fact. She's been chasing and pouncing Mimi a lot. Mimi takes it in stride, but it makes Lola feel like top cat. Mack hasn't been chasing her much, and she's visiting all 3 floors every day to follow us around instead of just hiding under the sofa or in the closet.

Yay for a happy, healthy Lola.