Travel Diary: Cats and Birthdays
The ancient Egyptians worshipped cats. The cats have never forgotten this.
The American Midwest is the place of "amber waves of grain" if by "amber" you mean "brown" (at least this time of year) and by "grain" you mean "corn" (botanically a grass) and don't have your heart set a whole lot of waving since it is pretty still.
We are on our way to Iowa and I should remind you of these wise words from the immortal bard:
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.
Good advice. If you can't trust Iago for good advice, who can you trust?
One thing that we always need arrange to travel is finding care for Ada, our beloved cat (she's named after Ada Lovelace). If we are leaving for a day, or even two, Ada does fine on her own. Unlike dogs, cats are solitary creatures in the wild and leaving her on her own stirs her ancient nature of hunting on the Savannah. Or, at least that's what I've always assumed, she's never told me that directly.
We arranged to take Ada to a cat-sitter but when the time time to gather her up I could not find her. Anywhere. I systematically looked in every closet and under every piece of furniture. Not a trace. Finally, when Michele came home, Ada suddenly appeared curled up in Michele's closet. I swear to all that is holy, the little shit darling was not there two minutes earlier.
Crisis averted, I got Ada to the sitter where she immediately took refuge under a dresser:
Ada, perfectly relaxed, enjoying the sitter's home.
The sitter has reported that within a few hours she emerged for pets and food, so all is well.
We are heading to Iowa to celebrate a cluster of birthdays. We have a flurry of folks with birthdays very close to each other. days of each other. Here's a picture of a significant event in the year of each individual.
My grand-nephew (great-nephew?), Jack, was born the same year that Beyoncé became first Black woman to win country album of the year at the Grammy Awards:
Jack's father, Nick was born the year Stevie Wonder was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame:
I was born the year Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight in Project Mercury:
My mother was born the year Samuel Caldwell became the first person arrested for violating the Federal Marijuana Tax Act.
And now you know all the birthday kids and the important things that happened the year they were born! Lucky you!
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
