Yes, we’re lazy. At least, we *like* being up until two at night and sleeping in with our kitties. And our kitties like to walk on *us*, especially when we are trying to sleep!

Anyways, I get distracted. The story goes like this:
Last year at Eurofurence hubby got to know   makenshi, who is   leinir’s boyfreind from the UK. He worked at a company that at one point ordered a  Hitachi Starboard EM by mistake, and he (Makenshi) thought I might be able to use it.

So a half a year went by, and Makenshi has moved over to live with Leinir. They are three miles away in Aalborg (here in denmark), but I managed to arrange to meet up with Makenshi at a midpoint on the train tracks, Aarhus. Every six months I go up to the hospital in Aarhus for a checkup with the doctors there after some surgery (I am an amputee of the left hand) to check and make sure I am healthy.

So Leinir and Makenshi decided to make a day out of it, and we met up after my checkup was done, and had lunch at burger fling, then browsed the walking street there (shops and everything). It was pretty exciting, because Makenshi brought the Starboard with him for me, and we stowed it in one of the lockers in the station. Aaaand we stumbled upon a fire in the third floor of a building near city hall there in Aarhus! Lucky it was warm that day, so we stayed to watch them put out the fire. It was rather cool - two large fire trucks, a water tank truck, four police cars, and three ambulances came in.

Fire!

16 Photos

It took nearly an hour for them to put out the fire. The rest of the day was spent in the mall and helping those two look for a good mortar and pestle. It took me forever to get home in the train! It was slow because of wrk on the tracks.

 Well, anyways, sidetracked again! When I got home we unpacked the Starboard and found that it needed a pen and USB cable to be used. Mike (my hubby) tried to order them through the store that supplies his workplace, but unfortunately Hitachi no longer produces what we needed. The Starboard can’s be used unless we buy a pen from an online store that still has them in stock, and the prices for them are ridiculous.

So cue the next day - we’d gone down to Mike’s workplace for him to peek at a laptop that needed fixing, before heading tothe grocery store. It took a while longer than expected, because the old laptop had some parts loose and unreliable. Basically hubby had to order a new laptop so he could transfer the data from machine to machine, because the laptop needed replacing. But while he was on the phone.. well, he did something unexpected. He started talking with the shop attendant about buying a wacom Cintiq tablet. A cintiq is basically a small flatscreen monitor with a touch-sensitive surface, which works with a pen for drawing, architecture, etc.. Yes, drawing on a screen. It’s COOL.

 Yes, he ordered it, right then and there for me. It costs around two thousand US dollars, but he just.. ordered it. O__O! His arrangement with his workplace is that he gets computer euopment instead of money for the repairs and maintenance he does with their computers - and unexpectedly he just decided to get the cintiq instead of fussing with the old Starboard.

It arrived today in a big black dox - all shiny and new and .. well, it’s got lots of cables, but what a beautiful drawing tool! I have two commissions to work on this month, so.. well, you can bet it’s going to get a lot of use! I need a DVI -> mini DVI converter to use it on my computer, but while we’re waiting for the cable to arrive, I’ll be doing the sketches. ^^;

I .. well.. heavens, it leaves me rather speechless. I’ve used wacom graphire  tablets since 1995 for painting my artwork on my computer, but somehow I’ve suddenly graduated into the really serious computer equipment. Just.. Wow.

A good day. Nyyyeeeup!

… And I have yet another dungeon to conquer in Twilight Princess on my gamecube. ^^ I’m having a good week.

We have a problem though, and it has to do with the history of the house we’ve moved into. Hubby’s mother, Ingelise, lived here alone after her husband passed away two and a half years ago, and she was very depressed and lonely because everything reminded her of her husband of fourty years. When she fell in love with a childhood freind who lives on the edge of the forest here in town, naturally she went out to stay with him on the weekends. (You cab read about it more in my older posts.)

Well, there were still two cats left here at the old house, so she gave hubby’s brother the responcibility to feed them, since he lived closest. And that worked out really well for the year that she’s been living out there at the forest (and going back and forth between the two residences). Hubby’s brother has handled the responcibility really well, though at a point the cats becan begging to come over to his house, since he moved in just over the hedge from the old house (We have opened a path so we can visit through the back yard and the hedge) . So hubby’s brother naturally let them come in to his house where it was warm and there were cozy places to lay, etc. Especially Pjussi, the calm, sweet and cuddly long-haired russian blue cat, who is the easiest to like of the two.

Well, right now we live in ‘the old house’ - it’s been a lot of work moving in down here, and we’ve been in the place about three weeks. We’ve seen a lot of cuddliness from the usually terribly cranky yet cuddly tuxedo cat, pluto,  and seen Pjussi only when she comes over to eat. Hubby’s brother continued to bring all the food for the cats and sometimes come over and feed them on habit - and we have tried talking to him and his wife several times on possibly taking over Pjussi in their home, because she likes it best there.

Yes, we spoke with them about it before we got the new kitten, and expected them to take her - their answer was always ‘we don’t know yet, we need time do decide’. Since we officially switch our address to this place at the end of april, hubby’s brother thought that we’d let things just be as they are until then.

Well, Pjussi has gotten a cold in the current cold weather snap, and since she wheezes and sneezes, she needs to stay inside and out of the cold. Last night hubby’s brother came over with her and said he wanted us to keep her inside for the next two weeks, until she is healthy. The problem is, that Pjussi is constantly at the door and mewing to get out to go ‘home’, and she hates both Pluto and Kona, our kitten. Personally I do not think this is the best place for her to recover, and on top of that, I am irritated with Finn for dumping her over here as soon as she started showing a weakness. I think it was a silent ploy to try and solve his problem without saying straight out ‘We do not want to keep here here’.

This irritates my hubby three times as much as it irritates me. His brother is of that type that doesn’t take responcibility on his shoulders with ease, and this type of acting helpless as soon as something difficult is faced.. well, he has a history of it. If you’ve read earlier entries in my blog you’ll know that he’s faced much bigger challenges last year, and we are sorry for what he has had to face - but this..? It feels like a straight manipulation of hubby and I, and we definately are mad over it!

Hubby’s mom.. well, hubby’s brother tends to listen to her straight out. Last night hubby wet to bed silent but boiling, and said he wanted to talk to his mother about slapping some sense into his brother over this issue. And his brother said the same thing over an IM message when I expressed how bad the situation was - that he wanted to speak to his mother.

So what happened this morning was that Mike rode down to mom’s place, and they basically hammered hubby’s brother over it, because mom was also clearly upset by the action. It was mom that basically said to brother ‘either you adopt her or take her to get euthanized’ - because he basically has taken responcibility for her by letting her bond to him, his wife, and their home. His deadline for making his descision is this evening, right now - and as the sun was going down, hubby sent a rather clear IM to his brother online - then called his mom to try and call te brother to tell him to hurry up and decide and call my hubby. His answer was ‘I don’t want anything to do with him tonight’.

*sigh* That’s sent hubby upstairs for some time alone with his music and to simmer without being harassed by his phone, computer, or, well..  Me. I need more women in my life to talk to! My blog is most all the time the place to write out these things so I’m not boiling over them myself all the time.

Man, it’s been a rough day for me. We picked up the glass from our fireplace that *I* broke. The new glass cost a freaking 600kr (100$). And the rugs I wanted to buy, they were all sold out. And I didn’t get the trash-fan frame for under the sink I desparately need, AND my drawer set is all screwy.

Some days.. Just some days.. Bite my big fat butt!

Edit> Okay, I’ll admit it, I panicked early… I’m pretty darn tired already, and didn’t realize that  the white side of the baseboard actually faces *up*, and not down towards the feet. Sure enough, on the other side of the board, were holes that looked quite proper and *not* drilled by a guy high on weed. X3 For quite a while I was thinking that my drawers must have been assembled close to the pusher street in Christiania!

Some nice stuff happened today though… Marina, the wife of my hubby’s brother, played her first two games of Backgammon with me today, and had a hoot of it. She ended up ‘kicking’  my butt on the second round, and teasing me silly with counting out every move. X3 In her homeland she’s basically grown up without company with her peers due to epilepsy keeping her home, and never really played games, because the religious folk over there think all card games are gambling. Really awkwards, but thank goodness I know a relatively simple game that’s card-and-text free. I get a feeling I’ll be harassed for more games by her. ^^

Oh, and dad just called. Yay, familyfutzing!

The fur hanging is alpaca wool from naturally-dead critters in South America. We bought it on our ‘honeymoon’ weekend in 2002 right after we got married May 18th - hubby got a wife for his birthday, which is May 19th. ^^ It was thanks to my long-working grandmother that we had funds for a hotel room and we sorta lounged easy until it was time to fly home to denmark. ^^;

I was in such a hassle yesterday, trying to RP and chat and pack at the same time! There’s so much stuff I want to be down at our new place to use and not be missing. It’s only about a kilometer and a half to get to our old apartment, but that’s  over 40 meters uphill, and in 2~10 degrees C. We have general storm weather here - we didn’t plan on moving all our stuff at this point, really. We’re three days early, because we dropped the idea of going to the winter break anime lan. Too much hassle in the middle of moving!

Gaaah, did I just bite my tongue over that one. I’m going to need a saturday off (aka, nesting in the new place) before I come out here to pack again. Next time I use my own computer will be when it’s set up at ‘home’ - the new house. That’s where Mike, our adopted kitties (formerly Mom’s, now they own us), the fireplace and much of our food is now - and where I’ll be, soon enough. <:)

*smirk*

Greetings! Thanks for quality apple products. My switch to mac systems happened three years ago with my hubby. To date we have two mac minis, one 24″ imac, a 6yr-old powerbook and a 4yr-old macbook pro. Both laptops were accquired through hardware trades with other mac users, but they’ve become integral to our off-the-desk activities and when visiting freinds/doing out-of-the-home work.

I’m practically drooling over the Macbook air. One of my personal concerns though is being a one-handed user - that is, one of a relatively minor percentage of users, but still looking to cast my vote in the ballotbox on the subject of keyboard design.

Namely? The function button. I’m a right-handed user, and while using a full keyboard (the apple KB that came with the imac solved all my stretching-my-fingers-across-the-keyboard-to-make-an @-symbol woes) is just great, I’m sunk on several degrees by the function and lack of an option key on the right side of the keyboard.

Let’s see.. My fenininely small thumbpad-to-pinkypad stretch is just tooo short to make an @ symbol. I use a fork to hit it when I need it. That’s right, le fork.

the function key is absolutely useless to me. It has to be held down to get any use out of the embedded numberpad. Normally I can just dance around this without too much annoyance, seeing as all that’s accessible by using the number-and-symbol keys available over the qwerty layout, but…

I miss my Page-Up and Page-Down keys. Yes, that’s right, I use them an awful lot, especially in text programs, web browsing, study and other applications. They they are winking at me in miniature on my handy arrow keys, but so help me Mister Jobs, I can’t use them. The home and end keys are similarly virgins.

A freind stopped by a few weeks ago to show off a glossy new PC-laptop they’d just purchased.. and right there on my dining room table there was a glorious full numberpad, somehow smooched right up next to the qwerty-goodness. They’d managed by some miracle of design to offer the unthinkable.. I think that’s called a 104-key layout or something.

Yes, I digress.
Could you guys play with your standard laptop keyboard layout a bit? Make it a little easier to hit those astronomically-spaced combinations (the holy @) and make beautiful music with Home/Page-Up/Page-down/End?

This writer would be very greatful.
-Jeanette

-Or how I don’t have a better title just yet…-

Okay! It’s been an awful long time since I turned out any new reading material for my friends and fans, and while it’s a far cry from what folk are used to from me, here’s a little weaving I turned out early this morning. With a bit of cake in my belly and an elevated blood sugar my mind wasn’t going anywhere but wandering, so I started letting my creative ‘juices’ ponder my little catspecies, the Hrra. Here’s the ‘Story of Lim’, told in the same format it’d probably told to kittens to get them to stay still for a short hour near the fire or to lull them to sleep.

_This is the story of Lim, who was new when the world was new and walked all it’s paths before the first Children were ever born. Lim knew the rocks and the ocean, the trees and the sky, the sun and the three moons. She knew the great tide on the rising of Red on the first night, saw the lesser tide under the rising of Small Red, and on the rising of Blue, told it to take the waters back to the oceans on the backs of the rivers and streams. This is the reason Blue rises so long after Small Red, so that the waters sink into the grounds and water our crops. The nights between Small Red and Blue are long and dark, but it is a good time to hunt and thank Lim for the tides.

Lim in that hour created many creatures, walking the paths and finding the places that were good to live in. She made many small birds and lizards that live there in the high places; she made the weasels and their kind that burrow under the rocks, and walked to the plains, spreading many rodents and their kinds in the flowers and many grasses. She followed the paths down to the forests and filled the trees with many birds, and some with small rodents to bury their seeds, and some trees with larger fur-bearing creatures to eat the fruits and call in their family numbers so that the forests would be full of life; she smiled there and said ‘The forests are good’.

Then Lim went to the rivers and filled them with fish and small swimming creatures; she blessed the quiet places with many insects and furless creatures, and smiled at the singing waters. She followed the water-paths to the oceans, which were sweet and clear in those days, and made the creatures that live under the waters; the shellfish and unshelled fish, the ocean insects and the swimming furred creatures that live in the forests under the water. There too she said ‘The forests are good’. She walked many paths there and explored the deepest places, made all the sea creatures that are good to eat.

When Lim had walked every path in the sea and on the land she found that the World she had Made was good and alive, she sat at the foot of the first mountain and watched the creatures walk before her. The creatures of the mountains and plains went past, and she saw that they were very clever and reproduced well, but they did not bear her spark. The creatures of the forests walked before her, and she saw that they tended the trees exceedingly well and had many offspring, but neither did they have her spark. So she walked the paths again to the mouth of the first river, and there all the creatures of the waters swam before her, and they too were mute.

So Lim took the paths once more, making creatures of all shapes and of many sizes, the second creations. In the mountains and plains she made many hooved and unhooved creatures, on four legs and ate the rich grasses and flowers, and made many offspring. These are the sheep and the goat, the plain deer and the horse, the buffalo and the yak, the camel and the llama, the kangaroo and the lesser cat, the greater cat and the walking cat. In the forests and rivers she made the many climbing and crawling and swimming creatures; the swinging ape and the crawling ape, the hopping deer and the tunneling deer, the wolf and the fox, the swimming and burrowing greater weasel, the climbing snake and the swimming snake. She made more that the forest should grow and shrink in tides: the bear and the chimera, the elephant and the small elephant, the boar and the walking snake, the walking bird and the talking bird. She walked the path of the waters one more time and in the mouth of the first river created the creatures to tend the water gardens and the waterways: the greater fish, the swimming, furless cats and cows, the swimming birds, the laughing swimmers and the great singers that swim in the deep places.

All of these creatures she made to eat of the first creations, to eat and tend the flocks and herds, to sing and reproduce. The second creations bore her spark, and each sang their names to her as she passed. She spent many days in the high paths of the mountains and the deep paths of the waters, listening to the songs of the high and the low, walking far and wide and enjoying her gardens. She made many more wonders in those days; she planted gems in the mountains and hid many medicines and good smells in the forests, she taught the rivers to roll smooth rocks, and taught the singers of the oceans their songs. She loved it all, and especially in the paths of the forest said ‘The forests are good.’

_One day Lim walked the the forest paths, and saw a male walking cat under a dragonfruit tree. He was not hunting as he should, but looking up into the tree, holding a rock in his paw. Lim was perplexed, and stood to watch the walking cat.

The cat had claws but was not climbing the tree, and he had teeth, but had no prey between them. He spent many minutes staring into the tree, and then threw his rock into the branches of the tree. Lim was again intrigued, and when the male walking cat picked up a new rock, she looked at him and gave him the gift of speech. “Why do you cast stones at the tree, cat?”

The cat looked back, and said, “I like to eat the fruit of this tree, o Walking One.”

Lim again was perplexed, for she had made the walking cat to eat the many small birds and rodents of the forest. “Why do you not eat what I have made you to eat, cat?”

And he said to her, “Walking One, the creatures you have made me to eat are very good, and fly and climb fast. One day when I was hunting, I saw a sprinting mouse eating this fruit, and I thought to myself, ‘If I eat what this mouse eats, I will sprint and climb fast, and my kittens will have much prey to eat.’ And I ate the fruit, and found that it was good.”

Lim saw that the walking cat was clever, and asked, “Why then do you throw stones at the tree, and not eat the fruits that are on the ground, cat?”

And he answered her again, “The fruits that are on the ground make my pouncing poor, o Walking One, and I do not grow fast from them. They make my prey slow and dizzy, but the fruits that are fresh from the tree make my prey fast. I wish to have the freshest fruit.”

Again Lim saw that the cat was observant, and she was pleased. “Come, cat, and I will teach you a good thing.”

So the walking cat walked with Lim, and she showed him a fruitless tree in the forest. “Cut with your claw a strip from the tree’s bark,” She commanded, “Peel it off, and cut strips on the inner side, and peel them off to make strings.”

And so he did, cutting from the tree and taking strings from the bark, the length of his tail and very flexible, green and light.

“Weave the strings together, like so,” Lim commanded, and showed him how to weave the strings. “And form a long line of the strings, tying your rock in the end.”

So the walking cat did as he was told, and after the line was dry, had the first bola. He was pleased, and praised Lim for what she had taught him, but did not know how to use the bola. “O Walking One, what am I to do with a rock on a string? I cannot eat it, and now my rock will not fly straight.”

Lim chided the walking cat, and taught him the first lesson in patience. “Cat, you must be patient to catch a listening bird, and so you must also be patient to learn to use your tool.”

The walking cat understood, and thus became patient. Lim led him back to the dragonfruit tree, and instructed him, “Cat, swing your stone from the line and cast it high in the branches of the tree.”

So the walking cat did as he was told, and lo! His stone flew high, and the line caught in a branch.

“Now pull on the line, cat, and shake the branch.”

And the walking cat did as he was told, and indeed, many fruits fell fresh to the ground because of the shaking of the line and the branch. The cat was glad, and again praised Lim for her wisdom and the secrets of the bola and string. Lim was much pleased, and walked her way.

So the first talking cat was made, and our kind learned to eat fruit and make string, from which we weave our baskets, bolas, bindings and many things that help the Children.

_Again Lim was walking the paths to the ocean, and traveling by way of the forest. Many of her creatures were caring for their young, and she saw that it was very good. She walked the path that she had travelled many times, and lo, when she passed the dragonfruit tree, many seeds were on the ground, but no new plants. She was perplexed, and walking under the tree, found many pawprints, and in the trunk of the tree, many clawmarks. Lim was disturbed, and walked the path of the pawprints to find an empty den, and sitting in the den, the first talking cat.

“Lo,” Said she, “Why are you not tending your many kittens, cat?”

“Rue the day I saw the fruit, o Walking One! She will not have my kittens.”

“Lo!” Said she, “Why have you torn rents in my dragonfruit tree, cat?”

“Rue the day I saw the fruit, Walking One! Under the tree I met you, and you taught me to talk.”

“Indeed,” Said she, “And why have you trampled the seedlings of the tree, cat?”

“Walking One, do you not know? I have fallen many fruits and brought my mate many prey, but she will not have me. Rue the day I saw the fruit! She will not have a talking mate.”

And Lim knew what he said was true, for the den bore his digging-marks and his bola, but no mate and no kittens. “Cat, do you rue the day I taught you to talk?”

And the walking cat looked up, and saw, indeed, there was pity in the eyes of the Walking One. “No,” said he, “O wise Teacher, what you have shown me is good, and has many uses. I mourn the day I saw the fruit, for there I thought to have many prey. My mate is right to refuse my kittens, for I am selfish.”

Lim looked upon the walking cat and saw that he was humble, and was pleased. “Lo, cat, it is true that it is wise not to take more prey than one needs. Come, and I will teach you many things.”

_And so the walking cat followed Lim, and she gave him the first name, Red, for he was dark red like the forest floor in fall, and red like the little Red moon on a dark night. His tail was long and his claws were sharp, and she taught him many things.

She taught him the fashioning of the staff and the spear, the plants of the forest that were good to eat and the medicines for the healing of wounds; she taught him the drying of meat and the spinning of sinew for thread. She taught him the tanning of hide to make his traveling den when he could not burrow or shelter in caves, and she taught him the hunting of the bola.

When the days had grown longer, Lim led him from his hunting grounds and led him to the sea, teaching him to eat on the shores. She showed him which shellfish can be dug from the sand and where, how to spear fish and find the nest of birds, how to swim and listen to the songs under the waves. Here he learned wonder, for he could not follow Lim on the deep paths, and listened often to the songs of the water giants. Red grew strong on fish and the sweet water of the ocean, and grew crafty with the uses of stone, shell and hide; he fashioned many beads from coral, shell and pearl, and adorned himself with his work. He lived many moons on the sands when Lim was in the deep places, and moved his traveling den often, for the moontides rose in the low sands and fields. Here Red learned the value of the hilly places.

One night when Lim rose from the water she spoke to Red. “Pack up your meat and tools, for tonight we leave for the paths.”

Red was dismayed, for he had grown to love the shores, and did not wish to travel. He said to Lim, “O Walking One, must we leave the sea? The prey is plentiful, and the sun has made my fur blonde. I will not hunt well in the paths of the forest.”

“Indeed, kitten.” Said she, “In two days the wind will blow in from the sea, and it will be cold. The cows of the sea will come to eat the prey and have their pups, and you will be in danger.”

So Red heeded Lim. He packed much meat and his tools, but he loaded the den of his hide with shells and unfinished coral, and had much to carry. She led Red away from the shore with his burdens, and they travelled two days on the dune paths, but when they reached the grasslands Red stopped and would travel no further. His pack was heavy, and she brought him to rest near a stream.

“Walking One, must we go further? Surely the cold wind and sea cows will not come this far. I have meat, and I must nurse my pads from the cut of the dune grasses.”

Lim saw that Red dragged his tail from his burden, and that his toes bore blisters from the sharp dune grasses; she saw that his pads were grown soft from the sweet water and sand. “Very well, cat. I will follow the path, but in one day you must pack again and travel where I have walked.” And so she walked, and Red longed for the soft sand under his toes. He made his camp and nursed his pads, and drank from the steam.

Red found that indeed the dunes were good to lay on, and the water good to soothe his pads, and that the grasses were good to weave, so he stayed and made mats for himself. On the evening of the first day he said, ‘My pads are still a little sore, and I still have much meat. Surely Lim will wait for me.’ So he stayed and weaved, and slept on the dune.

On the second day Red woke to the bark of sea cows from the beaches, and lo, it was just as Lim had said; a cool wind came in from the sea. Still, Red said to himself, “My pads will take one more day to recover, and I do not wish to cut them up on the dune grasses. I will stay and drink more of the cool water.” So he slept, and did not mind the barking of the cows.

On the third day Red woke to see the sea cows on the banks of the stream, far up into the dunes, and lo! A bull was at the foot of his camp, grazing upon the grasses. When he stood the bull bellowed, and Red was very afraid! The way of the sea cow is to fight his brothers for territory when the she-cows come to breed, and thus, seeing that Red was male, the bull charged the walking cat.

In his terror Red grabbed his meat and sleeping hide, but the sea cow charged fast up the dune. It scattered his belongings and bit his tail, and Red struggled mightily to free himself from the mouth of the bull. He was forced to flee with naught but the beads on his neck and his meat.

_Many days passed and Red did not find Lim; he wandered far west, seeking the paths that she had walked. He ate the meat that he had left and thirsted for the cool waters of the stream, he walked until his pads grew thick again, and his fur grew rough and unkept. He came to grasslands and sought fresh prey among the rodents and small birds, but they saw him from afar, and ran before he could come near. He tried to eat the grasses and flowers, but he knew nothing of what was good to eat, and cast up his meals.

One evening Red saw a stream running between boulders in a gully. The pain in his belly was great but he walked to the water’s edge, drank deep, and then laid down in the grass for his last sleep. He felt the cold of the ocean breeze chase down over the plain to bite him, and then heard no more.

Lo, he did wake, and Blue was low in the dawn sky; he heard humming, and cast his gaze to the boulders. There he saw a wonderful sight. “O Walking One, have you come to show me where your creatures go when they are passed away?”

“No, kitten,” Lim said, and smiled. “Go over the rim of the gully, and you will live.”

And Red got up, even though he was weak, and saw on the plain a great old doe had come to drink, and it did not see him. He slew the deer with his teeth and claws, and filled his belly on it’s meat and blood; he slept then, and again knew no more. When he woke a new evening was waning, and he ate again from the deer, but buried the heart in the ground; this is how we give thanks to Lim at our feasts.

Again Red drank from the stream and slept on the sweet grass beside the boulders; one more time did he wake, and Lim smiled upon him. “Go and eat the marrow of your kill, kitten, and you will live.”

Red did as commanded, and found he had the strength to break the bones of the doe; he ate the marrow, and with the shoulderbones scraped the new hide. This is why we break the bones of our kills, and use every part of our prey.

The third night Lim appeared again to Red, and asked him,

“Kitten, why is your tail naked?”

Red hid his tail in shame, and answered, “I lingered at the stream, o Walking One, and a bull caught my tail in his mouth.”

Indeed, Lim saw that Red was ashamed. “Kitten, why is your fur so dry and ragged?”

Red looked down, and saw that his fur was ungroomed. “I lost my tools and my shelter when the bull attacked, Walking one.”

Lim knew it was true, and she asked one more time, “Why are you so weak from hunger, kitten?”

And Red, who had many days to ponder his folly said, “Wise One, you knew that my life was in danger, but let me linger for my comfort. You knew I carried many things, but let me bear them in my foolishness.”

Lim nodded, for she saw that Red was sorry for his misdeed and ashamed of the nakedness of his tail. “It is true, kitten. You must bear what you gather, and it is better to have your life than your possessions. Keep your beads, and remember what you have paid for them.”

Red bowed his head to Lim, and praised her. “You are wise and just, O Walking One. I will follow you, and do what you say.”

Lim saw what he said was honest. “But you are still ashamed, kitten?”

“You know my shame, Walking One.” Red cast his ears downwards, and would not look to Lim, “I will be an outcast in the forest, no females will look on my tail. I will never father kittens, for I have lost my pride.”

Indeed, Lim saw that Red had no pride; his tail was naked and as a rat’s, and kinked where the bull had bit.

“This is true as well, kitten.” She gestured, and spoke, “Now you will be Red with a white tail, because you have cheated death twice.” And Red’s tail grew long, white fur and was again beautiful, but his kink remained.

This is why we dye the tails of mischievous kittens - so that they are ashamed of their troublemaking, and are easy to watch in the long grasses.

Here’s the first batch: <3

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Whew.. Today has been one long Shakespearean comedy, to say the least. As usual I took a $60 train ride out to Aarhus for my six-month doctor’s visit to check to see if the tumors in my left arm or lungs ever make a reappearance. It’s been four, almost five years - they haven’t shown hide nor hair of themselves, so I hardly sweat it.

Normally on such a visit I take a signed paper from the specialist out in Aahus back to my local hospital, and they reimburse my travelling costs. It’s one of the small benefits that socialized medicine gives. And before you go ‘eeew’, socialisim (you americans) think it over.. I’d be in debt for life in the US for the operations that saved me from a messy end here.

Well.. still, the control visits are no picnic. See.. I travelled out there one day too early…

Yes, I was at the x-ray area for the normal see-through portraits of myself, and the secretary calmly announced ‘You know, it’s tomorrow you’re supposed to be out here…’ Oh yes, oh yes.. A few minutes later when she walked by after carrying papers to a doctor, I said in English to her ‘Gee, I’m just sitting here having one of those oh-Sh1#! moments’ - she laughed, and agreed. I was able to get the x-rays done early, at least, but the secretary downstairs at the oncology department couldn’t help me. They only see control-visit (follow up) patients on thursdays, and the doctor I am going to see tommorrow is on leave. They’re always on leave, don’t ask me why…

And those little signed papers for travelling costs? No… you only get one if you actually /see/ the doctor.

So my bus trip back to the train station was a quietly mortified one. sixty bucks, down the bin, on a month where our budget is already strained.

At least Aahus is beautiful this time of year. I took a picture with my mobile while waiting for the bus… Needless to say, I was trying to find all sorts of ways to avoid having to pay that exorbitant train price again. I tried to call one of my sisters-in-law who lives a few minutes outside the city, but predictably at three in the afternoon, she was at work. What can one do?

Another crazy little thing at the bus station - Clogged nose? - It’s an ad for cold medicine. It’s meant to stop the runny nose symptoms of a cold, but the side effects read ’sting in nose and throat, dry and irritated mucous membranes, sneezing, burning, nasal discharge’. … I’ll take the cold, thank you! Still, it’s an amusing picture for an advertisement.

I took the bus back to the station and made my way blearily back on the train. We started pulling away from the station when I had a hivvup of terror - I’d forgotten to get my clip card stamped.

A clip card is a ‘multi-use’ ticket over here - you buy it for more than one trip between two stations, and use a little machine to stamp it before you get on the train. Being caught on the train without a ticket or a stamped clip card means you pay $110 in a fine, and on top of that, the cost of the trip you take… So that would mean, if the train attendant wasn’t feeling generous when he came by to check the new passengers, I’d be paying a $140 rather than just loosing the sixty I just wasted by going out to the doctor’s too early.

Understand me, the fifteen minutes between Aarhus and the next station was a nervous, somewhat tearful affair. I did pass that mural on the side of a house on the way out of the city again though.. A great, big purple and green cartoony elephant, like something out of Dr. Seuss, with the multicolored words across it ‘Aarhus is an old, tired elephant’. Hehe.. I’d wanted to get a snapshot of it since first rolling in with the train today.

In my rather dull, shocked distress, I took out my clip-card and stared at it - and tore off the little piece of paper that the stamping machine ‘clips’ off when it stamps the date on it. Searched for a pencil or a pen in my backpack too for a way to write the date.. but no use, I didn’t have anything to write with. I was hoping that at the next station I could get the card clipped with the date - but that came to no avails either.

We were slowing down to stop in the next station when the sound of the automatic doors between train carriages warned me that the conductor was coming to check the tickets. I whimpered a little prayer and dried my eyes as best I could - yes, I’m of the christian sort - adn then waited for the conductor.

When he came through, I was closest to the door, so of course he came to me first - asked for my ticket, and I showed him the unstamped clipcard and tried to explain myself. He was rather quiet, and forgiving, I suppose, for a red-eyed woman. It must have been very embarrassing, getting a semi-hug and a teary thanks.

The rest of my day has been pretty quiet, though at least hubby has been sweet in trying to cheer me up. It’s namely him who pays these little mistakes out of pocket, because I live off of his income. We share the small pension as best we can - and while we’re not rich, in another year I can apply for citizenship here and get a small income of my own due to the handicap the operation in 2003 created.

I know the majority of the population under the big blue sky don’t set value on the idea of a personal and caring God, but I do. In my ride home I just had a slightly tuneful set of words in my head ‘I still love you, and I always will’.