Romeo and Juliet; Samson and Delilah

[rolanni]

A day of excitement and civic duty, here in Central Maine.

First, fortified by coffee and an excellent omelet produced by Steve, we went to the polls. Which were not crowded at 9:00ish, but not deserted, either. We cast our ballots, collected our I Voted Today! stickers, signed the petition for marriage equality (“That means,” said the man guarding the table, “allowing gay and lesbian people to marry. And divorce, too. Please read the petition and assure yourselves that this is not a trick question.”)

After that…we got rid of forty-nine zillion returnables at Joka’s, said Hi to the boss, Joe Karter (JoKa’s, get it? No? Does it help if you know that the pronunciation of the last name, in Mainer, is KAtah?) and zipped up the street to the post office.

Mail collected, we went to Juliet’s Bakery, chatted with the boss-lady, bought some cookies and eventually sailed up the hill to Home Despot. We took on blinds for the window over the kitchen sink, as the blinds that had been covering the window over the kitchen sink did not survive their removal for the painters. Also, AA and AAA batteries. We looked at rugs while we were there, since we’ll need a rug to go under the kitchen table, and located several good candidates. Had to come home and measure, to be sure, so another trip to Home Despot in our near future.

Back down the hill, into town, with a stop at The Framemakers to congratulate Amy on her new house; then to Childrens Book Cellar to exchange /g/o/s/s/i/p industry news with Ellen.

We then ran out to the Waterville Humane Society, in Oakland (Yes, the Waterville Humane Society is in Oakland. It used to be in Waterville, but the facility was inadequate and the land in Oakland was, I believe, donated.) and visited the cats. They have many fine and pleasant cats at the Humane Society at present, though none that stepped forward and made a case for joining the Cat Farm. The most likely candidate was Gabbie, a crazy quilt Maine Coon Cat done all in autumn brown, gold, and black. Miss Gabbie resides in solitary splendor in a cage in the hall, rather than in one of the community rooms. Before coming to the shelter, she had apparently never seen another cat, and did not take well to suddenly being introduced to a dozen at once. Needless to say, a new recruit to the Cat Farm must play well with others, since others we have. So, even though Gabbie immediately crawled into my lap when we (with staff permission) opened the cage, curled up, and commenced in purring, we did not bring her home. I hope that someone else will find and appreciate her, and be able to bring her to a house where she’s an only cat and properly honored.

And I feel terribly bad for her former owner, who turned her in, it said on the info-sheet, because she couldn’t afford to keep her anymore.

. . .

Stopped for lunch at the Weathervane and came on home, where I’ve spent the late afternoon paying bills and assorted whatnot.

I also printed out Dragon Ship, to date, as it has landed on my desk, while “Tinsori Light” has gone over to Steve.

I know some folks have asked for the unused chapters on the Mystery Disk to be posted to Splinter Universe. That’s not a bad idea, but it is complex in execution, and will therefore need to wait. Press of other bidness.

And now, I need to do some more bits of housekeeping before I call it a day.

I hope those reading in the US voted today; and I hope that everyone had a pleasant day.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Amazingly enough. I do not have anything to vote on today in CA. It's especially strange considering all the special elections we've had in the last couple of years. Other people in the county do apparently have local issues to vote on, but there is nothing county or state wide.

Feeling very odd,
--Susan in Northern CA

voting

[(Anonymous)]

well, we had a lean ballot, being in the county, and best of all!!! We had to vote last week. Mail in ballots besides, but the kicker is, the local-ish nut case/slum lord, who, several decades ago got a CONstitutional!!! yes, amendment put in destroying our tax base and making everyone miserable, also fubarred the voting in Nov. on local stuffs- behold, the first Tues., not the first Tues. after the first Mon.
I imagine he thought it would keep a lot of us from voting. Or something. I keep waiting for the gods to get him, but only the good die young.
Nanette

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

No Elections in New Mexico either.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Voted first thing!
And poor, poor, poor, poor Gabbie and her former person .....

[blitheringpooks.livejournal.com]

...because they couldn't afford to keep her any more....

That hurts my heart.

But yay, for voting! I voted in Texas but all we had were constitutional amendments. Meh.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for adding your voices to the struggle for sane treatment of queer folks everywhere.

I didn't think it was possible to hold you in higher esteem than I previously had, but happily it is. You are both Gentlefolk of the highest order : )

The Bob says that the highest praise an author can receive reads "Pay to the bearer on demand" but I've already gone and bought everything you've published. I'm waiting patiently until I can send you my praise again...

Gabbie

[barbinbandon.livejournal.com]

Me too, so sad for Gabbie and her former person. Makes me wish I had a one cat household to offer her.

What I have is a two cat household. Neither of them is a "plays well with others" individual.

Sigh.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Must be from Colorado. I recognize those facts. Newest ploy by some who doubt the ability of voters to make reasonable voting decisions is to clear voters who fail to vote in a single election (it used to be you had to miss two general elections).

Gabbie

[claire774.livejournal.com]

The story of Gabbie is very sad indeed. I hope that someone, perhaps someone who has just lost a cat will come along and give her a new good home. She's very pretty.
C.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Some coons are very definitely "only" cats. They can be integrated, but it's a difficult process for all concerned. Here at our cat farm, the five feral felines were a pack from the word go and simply took over. The three adult cats had no choice but to accept the mob. Everyone is now tolerated. The last cat in, Benny, was used to other cats, but not this many cats. He's sure there are too many around. And as he's a lover and not a fighter, he gets pushed around by cats half his size. But not seriously. And we give him lots of love, more than his last family could.

Cat farming is an art, yanno?
Oz