AWW

That title today has a double meaning. First we have the cuteness of carroty goodness:

A boy and some punkins. Also doing his Lily Tomlin imitation. He really really liked the rocker, and it was kind of hard to persuade him to vacate it. The pumpkin display, on the other hand, didn't hold his interest t hat long--I think the hay bales tickled his legs. These pictures were taken at the Apple Farm, which is one of my very favorite places. And SLO is a great place to stop when you're heading to Monterey from L.A.--it's far enough to top off the tank, and of course lunch/dinner/breakfast at the Apple Farm is always a treat. No, they didn't pay me to say that!



Next part of AWW is this (with apologies to Dave Daniels, the originator of AWW):
and a view of the whole horse. (Taken outside of PF Chang's in Monterey, where we did NOT eat dinner that night since the wait was going to be over an hour and The Carrot was already fussy-hungry. California Pizza Kitchen had no wait and they bring the baby's food out pronto so he can start eating right away!)
Or as Col. Whozits on MASH used to say, that's one heckuva horse's patoot.
Some carrot-buns.

All together, now:

AWWWWWWW!

Showers of...?

May you live in interesting times. This is supposed to be an old Chinese curse, and while I don't know about the "curse" part, I do know that the "interesting times" certainly is a good descriptor for my life.
Take this rather sullen gentleman on the left. (Or wherever, depending on Blogger's whimsical placing of my photo.) This is Padua. He's 16 and one feisty survivor of a cat. When I came home from my nice relaxing vacation, I had approximately half an hour to get my gear in the house and get ready for the quilting class that night. (Teacher shouldn't be late, it sets a bad example.) As I was rushing out of the house, I stopped to feed the cats and this guy didn't come out for his meal. Now, this is highly unusual since this cat is an appetite with legs and teeth, so I called him. He finally wobbled out but wasn't at all interested in eating. I called D5 (who had just been telling me about her latest dr. appt, which you can read about here) to ask if she could take him to the vet ASAP. Turned out to be a good thing she was able to, as the poor guy was suffering from urinary blockage, plus an infected tooth and an elevated white cell count. (I checked with D4 after the fact; she said he'd been fine when she left for work in the morning, woke her up to feed him and gobbled his breakfast as usual.) So, several days later, he got to come home again, with instructions for sub-q IVs, antibiotics, special food, and (of course) a nice addition to the credit-card bill.
He seems to be doing fine. He learned how to walk right out of the IV needle (I felt pretty silly standing there holding a spurting needle while the cat walked out of D4's grip, and yes I was holding the needle in place) and I was the one who got stabbed. Suffice to say, I am not going to get any gold stars for kitty IVs any time soon. His grumpy look above is what he's been treating us to, when he's not stomping around demanding his next meal. He eats all his special food and then cleans out Simon's bowl.
I think he's going to be just fine. This cat is wasted in his current "housecat" role, I think; he should be a mighty hunter or a barn cat or something where he could stalk other things than the refrigerator and the carton of catmilk.

So the weekend brought much happier things:
(funny thing, at the end of the shower the fruit plate was a picked-over mess but no one had eaten any of the letters!)

a shower for the impending arrival of "Baby A" aka Courtney's sweet-pea-to-be.
This was going to be a shower without a theme. (Can you see the little peas on the bottom edging of the cake?)

However, from the moment the shopping crew found invitations (here) with a pea-in-the-pod motif, the wheels started turning.

Favors became green bags holding shower gel and lotion, decorated with a sweet pea-pod baby. Oh, and a clear plastic peapod filled with "peas."

So, green and pink colors, pea pods everywhere.

Flowers everywhere too. Centerpieces had pink roses in a pink baby carriage. Pink tablecloths, except for the green one on the cake table.
Just a few baby presents. The bookcase is from Leigh and Mary U., the cradle is our "family heirloom" one. It was purchased just before my first child was born. 44 years ago this month. All my babies came home from the hospital to this little bed. Now the tradition continues (though with new bedding!) for another generation.

See? Pink!

Pinkalicious!

More pink.

Refreshments for everyone--lemonade, ice water, champagne in a bucket.
Lots more photos on my Flickr page--just click on the badge in my sidebar.

The weather cooperated, after giving us a bit of a scare with rain all night Friday and sprinkles Saturday morning. By Sunday, though, it was bright and clear and sunny; the lawn was dry, the temperature mild. A perfect summer Sunday in the middle of October!

Today, of course, dawned grey and overcast. We are now hoping for more rain since this state is parched and the water situation is not looking good. Grey overcast suits me, makes me feel energetic and ready to get down to business. Whatever (monkey) business might come up! Actually, after a week of vacation, sick cat, shower prep, and general busy-ness, the house needs a lot of attention and the cat-boys do too. It's nice to be loved... but really, shouldn't I be able to turn around without tripping over one cat or another??