Simplicity

 When I fed the Feral Fam this morning, the younger kiddos and HP were snuggled in the blankets, flannel, old sweaters and sweatshirts. The corner of the garage has become a little slice of warmth for the kitties. Up off the ground with kitty beds and other soft things help them. Several years ago when Riley decided to come into the garage every night to sleep, nothing soft, nothing bed like could entice her. She chose hard places to sleep. Maybe she knew she would give up garage life and didn't want to accustom herself with soft when she knew life would be rough. That is a lot of thinking to attribute to a feral cat, but nonetheless, nothing could tempt her. This group has taken up every offer, warm place to sleep, food, warm cat houses outside and toys. In the early morning, okay early for me, some wait out on the rocks like groups in the past. Now, with porch steps, they sit on that top step and crane their necks when they see the kitchen light has come on. I look out the window and especially Boo who has developed quite the sad look, motivates me to get treats out to them sooner than later. Before doing that though, I make sure I have left out treats for Buddy. Some mornings she is right there with me but here lately, she has been more the late downstairs arriver. 

After several attempts to rearrange and clean out my closet, I finally got serious about the job yesterday. Still some work to do but the basic plan of attack went into practice. Funny, the things one discovers that have been put away, then totally forgotten about. Happy to find several pairs of tennis shoes that can be used this spring as well as several pair my feet don't care for anymore. Yes, looking at you Asics. The next scheduled work in the closet is a drawer with leggings and another one that has shirts. I've seen on Facebook classes being offered to become a minimalist. Seeing that my attention span is rather short these days, twelve weeks of classes don't interest me, but I do know that I don't need so much of what I have and possessions are held rather loosely in my hands. Some people binge watch shows, I binge shop oh lets say leggings and shirts. The leggings thing was from a couple of years ago and the leggings I bought for clothes that have been given away a long time ago. If I was to analyze the binge it would come from the chaotic childhood we experienced. I never knew when, but I knew it would be happening, that my father would go through my stuff and decide whether I should be allowed to keep a pair of shoes, a notebook or a dress. He read my diaries and had a way of punishing me for my thoughts. I had to get really good at hiding the notebooks or I wrote the opposite of what I was feeling and experiencing. Every once in a while I come across a diary from the way back and it is filled with happy slappy gushing...lies...well maybe not the slappy, cause I did get hit in the face a lot, sometimes a slap or it would have been a hit with a fist or a hairbrush or some other object within reach.  As an adult I overcompensated when it came to stuff to fill that long ago void. There was a huge tree or shrub that had gotten out of hand in our backyard. It was tall and wide, in the corner. I got to working on that corner, cut out small branches to form a "secret" place in view. I smoothed out the dirt to make a level floor of sorts and built a low bench to be a table or a place to sit. Whenever I could, without being detected, I would tear off sheets of aluminum foil and take it out to my play area. I used the aluminum foil to wrap up notebooks and then hide them in holes I dug. Of course rain kind of destroyed that thought, and I had to figure out something else. This was the choice spot for reading library books or sometimes I climbed up in the trees to read. The Helms who lived on the corner grew cucumbers every summer and they had so many they told us, pick em on your side of the fence. Wow, what a great snack raw cucumbers and salt. I don't think I would think that was a very good snack now. 

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When I went to sleep last night, the snow was falling at a heavy and quick pace. It didn't seem to be sticking. This morning, what a lovely surprise to find snow scenes. A few of the Feral Fam sat out back on the rocks, watching for the kitchen light and hearing the alarm turned off. Slowly, several of them made their way to the back steps. Buddy was quietly eating her treats, the coffee was being made, so I went out to the porch and gave treats to those kitties. HP had been in the garage but heard the door opening to the porch. HP made his way through the group and came onto the porch as per usual and just like he owned the place. 

The sun is showing and the snow is slowly melting. The sound of it coming off the roof startles me the first few times, then gradually, I get used to the noise. When we have snowy days, I dust off my copy of Explorations by Wilma Dykeman, well known writer here in these mountains. I love the way she puts together sentences and thoughts. She not only wrote the definitive book on The French Broad River, she wrote fiction, nonfiction and had newspaper columns, one of which the NY Times carried. Early civil rights activist. 

My pair of Unlikely hiker boots arrived on Saturday and I am wearing them today. Haven't hiked in them but they are certainly comfortable boots. 

It is a little after noon and most of the snow has melted. It was certainly beautiful and it slowed everything down just a bit. I have just about decided on my theme, word for the year and I am leaning toward simplicity. Simplicity has meaning on so many levels.