Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Non Sequitur is awesomeness incarnate.

Questionable Content is always fabulous but today’s strip is great.

That’s all… carry on.

coffee, comics, funny, literary references, non sequitur, questionable content

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attention, cats, comics, despondent, monster cat, silly, tennyson

Strictly speaking, I’m not sure this little pillbox is actually mine. It’s been around for ages and probably originally belonged to my mother. However, it’s been in my possession for years so it now lives on my desk when it’s not providing travel storage for pills. It’s small, cute and unique. It fits in a pocket, a camera bag, a computer bag, a laptop sleeve, etc. I love it – it’s the perfect size! Of course, I have run it through the washer at least once. Yes, there were vitamins in it at the time. Yes, it was gross.

Like many of the things I’ve appropriated from my parents, this little pillbox holds a special place in my heart. It not only makes me think of home but also reminds me of the gnome dolls my mother used to make. She did a whole line of gnomes inspired by the drawings by Rien Poortvliet. She’d make the gnome dolls by the dozens – female gnomes with generously endowed bosoms, male gnomes with their beards – assembly line style. They’d start as naked, pale fabric, then get hair, hand-painted faces, clothes and the ever important gnome hats. We didn’t realize it at the time, I suspect, but it really is a unique experience to grow up in a house regularly invaded by armies of naked gnomes and brownies.

gnomes, pillbox, things on my desk, yellow, Rien Poortvliet

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

Become a fan of Monster Cat on Facebook!

cats, comics, monster cat, silly, tennyson

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

Become a fan of Monster Cat on Facebook!

cat toys, cats, comics, monster cat, silly, tennyson

My very gray week needs a little more color! So here’s an older photo of very orange Japanese lanterns.

I tire of this gray, damp and not-cold-enough-to-snow weather. I want snow! REAL snow! This rain with a smattering of snowflakes just to teas me has gotten rather old.

In other news, I took the Clubman to the dealer today to have some manufacturing defects fixed. The service guys replaced a speaker and fixed the door that wasn’t quite hung right. I like it when my car doesn’t make noises it’s not supposed to.

I finally feel like I’m recovered from my cold of doom. I’m still coughing, but that’s just a small detail. I feel better and that’s the most important thing, right?
gray, japanese lanterns, orange, photography, weather

I adore pens in general and I absolutely love fountain pens. I might have a bit of a pen problem, to be completely honest. Fountain pens in particular have a certain heft coupled with the glide of the nib… It’s a totally different experience to write with a fountain pen.

Of course, there is a certain logic I could apply to my pen collection.

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

And there are many, many, many swords in our house. Clearly I need pens to counteract them.

Makes perfect sense. Right?

Of course the swords have nothing at all to do with why I have a pen obsession…

fountain pens, things on my desk

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

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cats, comics, monster cat, silly, tennyson, cat toys, mouse

Time to harvest the kumquats. The little tree is still pretty tiny but it is producing a ton of “fruit”. As I learned last time, this fruit is mostly seed and rind, but it’s really quite pretty. And adorable. Each fruit is about the size of a small marble or smaller (think 1-2 normal sized clementine or tangerine seeds encased in a thin rind) and I expect the tree will be instantly taller after I harvest the fruit. What I’d like is for the tree to actually grow. I transplanted it a while back in the current pot, so we’ll see if it gets a growth spurt this spring.

I know you’re jealous of my adorable little kumquats.

Indoor gardening rambling follows… you have been warned!

I worked a little on on the sun porch last week and I’m considering renaming it The Arboretum given all the trees I have out there. I love my Norfolk Pines of Many Sizes! Don’t tell the Fop, but I think I might need to pick up another tiny Norfolk sometime soon as all the others are well over a foot tall now! Of course, first I need to do more work out as I only go through organizing, rearranging, cleaning and clearing the first half of the porch.

The willow-leaved fig bonsai that was formerly traumatized and dropped its leaves when I transplanted is doing well: all its leaves are back! The asparagus fern which is supposedly sharing a hanging planter with 2 other plants is failing to share in such a way that the soil in the planter is being pushed up above the rim of the pot. I think I’m going to have to split it again this spring. Hmm… while I’m thinking about it, I probably should winter-over my bonsai trees in the garage to give them a rest. I’ll have to find a good spot for that.

bonsai, fruit trees, indoor gardening, kumquats, plants, trees

Ganesh is here to help. As the Remover of Obstacles and Patron of Letters, he has been a great companion through interminable conference calls, horrible e-mail threads and other quagmires. He’s a popular deity (Hindu) and generally nice to have around. When someone puts up yet another roadblock to making progress on a project or decision, Ganesh and I exchange looks (his always sage and stoic, mine usually rather exasperated), then I usually sigh and move on.

Perhaps we get along because he has a sweet tooth. (Offering to Ganesh often consist of sweets and treats. Shucks.)

This particular statue is barely over an inch tall and lives just below my monitor with some other key figures in the pantheon of my desk who we’ll get to later…

Remarkably, given the current/frequent/natural state of my desk, there is no depiction of Loki (or other deities of chaos) anywhere on my desk. And yes, my desk needs to be cleaned again.

ganesh, things on my desk photography