Rainy Summer Doings Update

By Elizabeth Prata

I love playing with my teacups. I mean by playing, looking at them, using them, and re-arranging them. I like the teacups because of their sweet designs. I love admiring each one uniquely and researching their origin.

The main trouble with starting a collection of anything, is that I live in a tiny place. My kitchen is small and there isn't a lot of space to display things, never mind using up counter space that has to be saved for the daily utilitarian things like the kettle, coffee pot, and utensil holders. And there's not a lot of wall space, either.

Last week I went to my favorite vintage shop because they were having a 'fill-a-bag' sale for $5. I needed office supplies, and also a few terra cotta pots to re-do my succulents. Along the way I saw a sweet Homer Laughlin teacup I could not resist.

However, that "one more cup" put me over the top in terms of adequate storage & display. Cups were stacked on top of each other, something that destroys the whole point of collecting pretty things so as to look at them and admire.

I searched and searched on Etsy and Amazon for a suitable teacup display shelf but I found nothing even after taking over an hour searching. I went to my garage to find something I already own, and thought a wrought iron old CD stand would be good. Its size was adequate to hold some teacups but it was too tall to fit anywhere in my kitchen. Back to square one.

Think outside the box. At the Dollar Store the next day I passed a hanging shower caddy. Hmmm. Only $5. HMMM! I bought it and discovered that it could hold 4 teacups in the unit itself and with two added S-hooks, two more for a total of 6 cups. I rearranged the teacups and voila, I now have a display.

It's not ideal, since I can't really see the patterns on each, and the saucers aren't with each cup, but it is vastly improved over the former stacking up, crowded situation I'd had.

I made a Teacups and Teapots board over on Pinterest if you are interested to see all of them. It's here.

I started (and finished) John Grisham's new book "The Reckoning". The story is given in 3 parts. The first part was the murder, arrest, and trial. Typical Grisham, so, it was good. The second part was a flashback to many years prior to the main event in part 1, and I read elsewhere that of the protagonist (a soldier who was in the Death March in Bataan) the part was detailed and gross about the tortures he endured. By then I didn't have the interest to make the leap to the distant past in the character's life, nor to read gory details of the Death March to Bataan, so I skipped to the third part to read the answer to the Big Question the 1st part hinged on.

I've been disappointed in the last 3 Grishams and I'm glad I got this one from the library and didn't buy it. Part 1 was 175 pages, so, it's long enough to be a book in itself. I moved on. Soon I will reserve "Mayflower" by Nathanial Philbrick, and Gerry Brooks' "Go See the Principal."

I also got Pat Conroy's "My Reading Life" from the Library which I am looking forward to starting today, and pairing with Tony Reinke's "Lit!" which is another book about books and reading.

For binging, I've been watching an old tv show called The Commish, as per Wikipedia- "The Commish is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC in the United States from 1991 to 1996. The series focuses on the work and home life of a suburban police commissioner in upstate New York." In my opinion the main character is a nice man, a great cop, in love with his wife, and a good dad. It's written by Stephen Cannell, who was all over TV in the 80s and 90s writing for so many shows. Amazon Prime has the first season. I also enjoy The Waltons, another family show that in my opinion is heartwarming and clean.

The scene here today, a humid but blessedly rainy day. I plan to stay home today:

Since Bert died, Murray has been sticking to me like glue. He doesn't like me out of his sight, and he's suddenly become more affectionate. I don't blame him. The last scene that he saw of Bert was that poor cat writhing in pain and me hustling him out the door, never to be seen again.

Even though Bert was no trouble, neither is Murray really, it's a lot easier to take care of one cat than two. I would not have thought that, but it's true. I decided when Murray goes, I won't get another pet. This is it. I can't take any more heartache.

I better get to today's reading. On the docket is the Letters of Margaret Paton, wife to missionary John G. Paton in 1800s Vanuatu, and I'll start Conroy's My Reading Life. Probably will slip in a bit of Where the Crawdads Sing, too. I hope you all have a marvelous Friday.

Rainy days and sleeping kitties

A few days ago we were madly covering pipes and adding antifreeze to every engine we own in frigid, below zero wind chill weather. Now we are listening to tornado watches and preparing our storm closet in 60 degree weather. Weird!!

I plugged in the weather radio, so the tornado siren would be on and could alert me. Though here in Georgia they don't say "plugged in" they say "plugged up". And they don't press buttons here, they say mash the button.

I made my new favorite recipe, Veggie-slaw wrap with hummus sauce, for lunch. Now making apple crisp. I've had a busy morning and when the crisp is done I plan to sit down and read with tea and dessert.

The addition of a new kitty is an exponential impact to the scene here at Prata Plaza. It's like earthquakes. As this guy said, "What this means is that for each whole number you go up on the Richter scale, the amplitude of the ground motion recorded by a seismograph goes up ten times."

I clean the litter box three times a day now instead of once. I vacuum almost every day now, instead of once per week. And when I do, I move furniture. I wash each and every throw I've put over the 2 chairs, couch, and bed. That's two extra loads of laundry.I've already made a couple trips to the store for more litter and more food. But it's all to be expected and I don't mind at all.

I've been playing with the three cats each day so that if there is any aggression or hierarchy-shifting pecking order fights then they will have less energy to do it. Bert stays away from Murray. Murray will play-attack but Bert just sigh and lumbers over to a spot where he can put his back to the wall and watch with a wary eye (weary eye?)

Things seem more active between Luke and Murray. I think that Murray is either playing the way kitties do, or he is trying to establish himself as new Alpha cat. We will see. Hence the play times.

I drag a fishing pole with a ribbon attached to the end that looks like wings of a bird. Each cat gets a turn and they each wait their turn, lol. I forgot how much Bert loves the fishing pole. As he has aged, I'd take it out and entice him with it, waving it in front of his eyes or dragging it across the rug in front of him. He would simply look at me like I was an idiot. After a while I'd feel like an idiot and I just stowed the pole. Now that Murray is on the scene, Bert is suddenly VERY interested. Amazing what jealousy can do.

After the play sessions, Murray gets pooped and collapses on the hassock. Then the other two clamber up on the table and look at me accusingly and then heave a sigh and lay down around the laptop. I make sure to give each some attention and reassurance. All in all, things are going well.

We have received a tremendous amount of rain the last two days. The entire lawn is a standing pool. As I walked out the door and crossed over to the garage to check the laundry, I saw the whole patio between my apartment and the rest of the house (shaped like a square U) had at least 4 inches of water! I sloshed over to check out the problem, the cold water covering my entire foot up to the ankle. Oh, it's only that the neighbor decided to put her patio umbrella stand directly over the culvert drain.

I mean what sane person says, when looking for a spot to set up the patio table and put the umbrella down the center hole into its stand, "Here is a great spot COVERING THE DRAIN."

I got soaked while trying to find the drain, move the table, and then in the rain, standing there moving the leaves that drain down to the mesh and with my foot, swirling it again and again so more water can drain before it clogged up again. It took a while. The gutters were just gushing more water down, and the place was a pool ducks could safely paddle in.

I don't know much about home ownership and house infrastructure, but I do know what a drain is for. Oh well..

 Well the apple crisp is done and I plan to have some dessert and maybe take a lesson from the 3 sleeping cats and take a nap myself...

Bert heard me coming in and sat up a bit to see what was going on.

That lump is Luke under the throw.

Murray. Cute isn't he!

Even sleeping he is all-motion.
He stretched a nanosecond after I snapped the first photo of him

Rainy day black bean soup

This is Saturday in December in Georgia,

Cold, rainy, dark. That's OK. It's a lot better than Saturday in December in Maine, where I used to live. Where the sun is deceptive,

And the snow never ends,

Nevertheless, it is a dreary morning so I decided to make soup. That always cheers me up! This time it will be black bean soup with roasted chilies, green peppers, and rainbow carrots. I think black beans are pretty. So I took a picture of them.

I know, I'm weird. Call me weird, geek, strange ... just don't call me late for soup.

It was raining

It was raining. You can't really tell, though, This is the top of the windchimes I have hanging next to my front door under the living room window awning. I cut off the bottom of the chime so it would not make noise. Hey, works for me.

Soaking rain is nice...for a while

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain,...

AccuWeather says,

"Soaking rain will continue its slow journey across the South through Monday, ruining outdoor plans and heightening concerns for flash flooding. The steadiest rain through tonight will remain centered on areas from Georgia to central Kentucky, neighboring Indiana and central Illinois."

All I know is, the lawn is now mushroom-town!

Large patches of mushrooms are springing up all over the lawn. Not only are they cute, but they look very tasty. I'll resist the urge to pop one in my mouth, of course. My homemade cream of mushroom soup with safe, store-bought mushrooms I'd cooked earlier will be more than enough to satisfy the fungal urge. But they are so cute, aren't they!

Even this chickadee stopped by to grouse about the rain

RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See the wet leaves? We had rain! By some accounts, 3 inches.


This tiny watering can actually has standing water in it. Yay! Standing water!



Wet hills, yay!

Holy astronomical pollen, Batman!

The Washington Post says: "Atlanta's pollen count hit 5,499 particles per cubic meter of air Monday, the highest this season and the fourth-highest in the 12 years that the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic has kept records. In South Carolina, the pollen count hit 4,862, according to the Allergic Disease and Asthma Center in Greenville. A reading of 120 is considered extremely high in the Southeast. A lack of rain, which scrubs pollen from the air, is blamed for the high count."

Do a rain dance for us, would you?