Gracie, Queen of the Night

This is something I already knew, but I re-learned it again on this day: black cats are harder to photograph than other cats! I'm used to taking pictures of Dexter, who is a tabbycat, and somehow is easier to photograph. But on this day, we had gone visiting, and so this is not my cat. It is in fact my little sister's cat, Gracie.

The whole Queen of the Night thing, she does not lay claim to; I gave her that title my very own self. Gracie is not, in fact, entirely black. She has a few bits of white on her, including a sort of star shape under her chin. But she is mostly black, and very, very glamorous, of course, the way that black cats are.

And she is a teenie little thing, about a 7-pounder, which is to say that she is a normal sized cat (and about a THIRD of Dexter's size). She is a petite little gal. And Gracie humored me with a few photos, and she meowed for me, and she and I rolled around on the carpet together, side by side, and stretched a bit, and bonded, the way that cats do.

I got to see Gracie twice on this day, plus some other cats as well, including Dexter's brother Bogie, whom you have met on these pages last summer. I think Bogie must have lost some weight since I saw him last; he looks a bit more svelte somehow. And all of my sister's friends' other cats seemed to be doing well too; they have several, almost one in every color.

Why on Earth were we traveling the world, meeting cats? Well, on this day, my husband and I were out and about, visiting family, including my oldest sister, who is no longer in the hospital or in rehab, but is now staying with some very good friends in Harrisburg. My husband and I drove to my little sister's house, about half-way between State College and Harrisburg, where my family is from, and then she and I drove the rest of the way down to Harrisburg for a visit.

It went mostly well. We only got lost for about 20 minutes within about a mile or so of their house before finding our way. Hooray for us. Mapquest is a real hoot, isn't it? It presumes that every road is labeled with good signage, when in fact, that is not the case. Where the heck is Sullivan Alley, anyway? I submit to you that it may, in fact, not exist, but is some pretty little fiction of the Internet. (Perhaps you've had this experience yourself.)

We found my oldest sister in generally good condition and being taken very good care of by her friends, and she was quite glad to see us. While I had visited her several times in the first hospital, in the second (rehab) hospital, she was so busy spending 150% of her effort getting better that she requested no visitors; and so we obliged, but it was hard. So while I have spoken to my oldest sister by phone several times since then, we had not seen her in more than a month! That's too long!

On this day, we brought my oldest sister some little gifts: my newest little There Must Be Magic photo book (for surely the magic BEGAN with her, as she, my sister, is the one who gave me a book by that name got me started on this whole "finding the magic" quest), some pretty note cards, a notebook, index cards, silly little smiley-face knick-knacks, stamps, and pens.

And we talked what business we needed to (for there are some taxes and financial things that my little sister will help with) and just generally caught up. And we talked and talked, drawing our strength from being together with each other, the way that sisters do.

And then we said our farewells and our I-love-you's, and we took off back up along the river the same way we had come. We met the rest of the family at my mom and dad's house for a nice supper from the local creme stop. I brought my parents up to date on the visit and my sister's general condition and played with my little niece's newest dolls for a bit, before my husband and I headed back home, as evening began to fall.

But not before nabbing a whole box of red-ripe tomatoes from my father's garden, as this is August, of course, and tomato time. Cats. Sisters. Tomatoes. Family. Some tasty snacks. I don't have to say much more, do I? It was a good day.

The song to accompany this image is a favorite rockin' blues tune, and a number of people have performed it well. Here are two really great versions: Carlos Santana and Jonny Lane, with I Ain't Superstitious, and Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck, with their own version of the same tune.