On my way . . .

I'll be heading off across the pond on Thursday. I've been getting bags (well, one) packed and unpacked and the things I'm taking whittled down. I hate heavy luggage and I always pack too much.

Fortunately Greenies don't weight much. So Sid and Flora and Dylan, Kate Walker's cats, are going to get lots of treats. I couldn't go see them without the requisite Greenies.

Ever since the late lamented Bob Redford Walker discovered Greenies, they have been at the top of every packing list I've got.

I haven't done as much on Christo as I'd hoped to do this past week. I'm going to be working on some family history articles, too, and so I spent plenty of time going over the catalogue for the Cornwall Record Office to be sure I used my time there wisely.

There's never enough time -- so I need to make best use of what I get.

Consequently Christo has taken a back seat this week. But I expect him to accompany me on the plane. And now that I've figure out how to shut my wireless off, he can talk his head off and I'll type and type and type.

In case you haven't met my friend, the eeepie, it's a great little computer from Asus that has accompanied me on several jaunts this past spring and summer. It's the 900 version with the slightly larger screen than the original.

But it has the same footprint. And it's sooooo much smaller and easier to take along than a full size laptop. I love it. This is its first trip abroad, though, so I'm eager to see how it likes the trip.

My son's Asus eee pc just came back from Italy and had a marvelous time, so I'm hoping Eeepie will do as well.

On the getting things cleared up before I leave, I want to tell Avi that her books went out today. Avi, I hope you get them sometime in the next week (not sure how long it takes to get to your part of the world).

I'll check in and write on the blog when I can get wireless. You should hear from me from Kate's house. And then, with luck, from Cannes. After that, we'll see. Not sure where I'll run into wireless in Cornwall -- at least I don't know how likely it is where we're staying.

Behave yourselves while I'm gone. I'll send pix of the cats -- and anything else I think you'd enjoy.

Here's your friend to keep you company while I'm gone.


Oh, you thought I meant Hugh.

Right. Well, just because you asked --

What the Heck???

Kate Walker sent me an email yesterday with photos in it documenting the first encounter between her Maine Coon kitten (now a gorgeous teenager) Flora (aka Princess Flora Flooziebelle) meeting her first hedgehog. She's also just written the account up on her blog.

You may remember the hedgehog family who lives at the bottom of Kate's garden.

I christened them The Hecks after a series of Yorkshire villages we'd passed through the afternoon I arrived for my last visit in Sept 2006. The villages were called Great Heck and Little Heck and there may have been a Lesser Heck and even a Really Big Heck. One wonders what Heck meant in the days when villages got their names.

Anyway, the description seemed to fit the hedgehog family, who turned out for cat crunchies after dark that evening and allowed themselves to be photographed. They looked like a series of nestling Russian dolls -- albeit prickly ones.

As Sir Sidney, Flora's big brother, tends to give hedgehogs a wide berth, and Dylan (aka Dyl the Vil) has nothing good to say about them (not surprising as Dyl rarely has much good to say about most folks, except electricians with big hands -- and Bridget Coady who is His Favorite Person In The World), it was a surprise to see Flora and her new friend.

Apparently she wasn't quite sure what this new amazing creature was -- especially because it was Eating Her Food!

So she got closer, tentatively touched it with a paw, edged a bit closer with her nose (ouch!) and finally just decided it wasn't worth bothering with.

Rolling around on the ground and basking in the sun was far preferable.

It's an amazing world, as Flora is discovering. Glad to see you and Littlest Heck are becoming pals, Flora.

Enjoy your new friend!

Growth Spurts!

Those who were here six months ago remember me taking off to visit my son and daughter-in-law and brand-new granddaughter Ellie.

I shared a pic of her then. I thought I'd share another one now -- an updated 6 month old Ellie, wearing a shirt which came to her mysteriously by an unknown donor (can't imagine who!).

She's grown a lot.

So has another young lady -- Ms Flora Floozibelle Walker -- feline daughter of Kate.

Flora is posing alongside the Easter card we sent her. She wrote me a thank-you note for it just this morning.

Ellie often writes me thank-you notes, too.

I'm very impressed with the manners of this younger generation!

While you're out wandering around the internet, check out the Tote Bags 'n' Blogs site on Wednesday where I am extolling the virtues of yet another sort of research.

You might even see someone you recognize there! And he might be wearing a towel.

And then on Thursday I'm blogging at Fresh Fiction. Drop by and say hi if you have a chance. No towels there, but some reflections on linked books and loose ends.

And be sure to come back here for a pic of one of my absolute favorite heroes on Wednesday.

A Gentleman and A Cat

It is fitting within our discussion of heroes -- which was really good (take a look at the comments section on the post below) -- to mention a cat of note who passed away on Tuesday.

Ivan "Spiffy" Walker, one of the luckiest cats in the world because he lived at Kate's (which is basically as close as you can get to feline nirvana) crossed the Rainbow Bridge that day.

Kate paid tribute to him at length on her blog, as well she might since he enriched their family life for 16 years.

But I want to say a few things here to commemorate him because he was just a terrific cat. Kate said he wasn't the alpha cat -- and in the strictest sense of the word -- that's true. But he didn't need to be. He didn't need power or arrogance or to make things happen.

Things happened just because Spiffy expected they would.

He was a dapper cat, a charming cat, a self-deprecating cat with a sense of humor.

He was, if you will, the Cary Grant of cats.

He didn't throw his weight around. He didn't have to. He could accomplish as much with unassuming grace and a soft touch as the biggest blusterer in the world.

He reminded me of my father-in-law. Now there was a prince among men.

And Spiff was a prince among cats.

He didn't demand, he waited. He knew you would do The Right Thing if only he gave you time. You knew where the cat food was. You'd get to it. He understood. He was tolerant, patient, dependable. He was the epitome of a low maintenance cat.

You can never have too many low maintenance cats.

You can never have too many Spiffys.

The Prof and I were privileged to know him, to be thudded upon by him when he decided to allow us to pet him. He could have purred for England. I can still hear the rumble he made.

There will always be a hole where Spiff was. No one, not even the wondrous Sid or the flirty Flora or the gangster Dylan will be able to fill it.

God speed, Spiff. You will be deeply missed.

Head Above Water

The taxes are done, quarterly payments sent in, receipts filed. The decks are cleared. I wish I could say the same for the desk.

Somehow it is as messy as it usually is mid-book.

Partly that's because I'm mid-project on about three or four other things, mostly to do with family history, local history and genealogy. And then there are three reviews I have to write. And a map project I'm working on.

And I don't want to neglect any of them, but I need to get more organized. I'm missing my Early Modern Genealogy book. I haven't seen it since I didn't take it to Texas for Thanksgiving, convinced I wouldn't have time to continue reading it. I was right. But I should be able to lay my hands on it again now. I can't.

That's what I mean about 'messy.' Ordinarily, when I'm dealing with a book, I know exactly where everything is, even if anyone else looking at my office would sigh and shut the door. But that's because I work on one book at a time. In my other lives I work on lots of things -- and obviously I can't keep track of them all.

So tomorrow, while I have my head above water a bit, I'm going to tackle the piles of stuff on the desk and on the floor and in boxes and see if I can find my book. And pick one project to focus on.

But first . . . I want to say 'welcome home' to Kate Walker's new family member -- Flora, an absolutely gorgeous 12 week old Maine Coon cat. Flora looks as if she is going to improve the quality of life in the Walker household (if indeed it can be improved inasmuch as Sid is already in residence). And Flora is lucky to have found such a terrific 'forever home.'

I'm sure you'll be seeing more of Flora both on Kate's blog and here in the future. More pix of the lovely young lady on Kate's blog, so be sure and stop and visit.