Sunday Rarely Contains Such Adventures as These


Doing the Best We Can with What We Have.
It was a chilly March morning, threatening rain outside with a leaden sky. We sat with coffee and the Sunday papers, making tentative plans for the day. Saturday had been bright, sunny, and warm and our activities had matched that weather. What to do with a chill rainy Sunday?

A thump reverberated from the upstairs. John looked at me and asked if I had closed the window to my office that he had opened the day before to catch the warm breeze. I had not. Half-jokingly, he suggested that Dash might be exploring the porch roof beyond that window. I commented that Simon would be the more likely candidate, as he is an experienced escape artist. I hauled myself out of the couch's warm embrace and moved upstairs to investigate.

"John," I yelled. "Come up here and bring the Pounce™." I chirrupped and called to Dash, who was stalking about the roof like a silver-gray panther, body held low and occasionally dipping his head to sniff cautiously at the unfamiliar shingled surface. The entry of the rattling treat can drew him inside, and a quick survey of the house confirmed that Simon had not been a member of the expeditionary force. Still, it was sometime later when our heartbeats slowed to a more normal rate.

If only I had had the presence of mind to take a photograph.

Our musings over what to do with a rainy Sunday took us to IKEA for inexpensive paper napkins and additional cushions for our increasingly broken-down den couch. The toy aisle contains an odd array of stuffed animals these days - bats, rats, and dragons included. John decided to form a likely tableau with the materials at hand, and entertained me with his best impression of The Crocodile Hunter. These I did have the presence of mind to photograph.

Low-budget adventures. All you need is a cat, a window, and a Swedish housewares store.
Posted: Monday - March 21, 2005 at 07:45 AM         | |

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