In the film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” Nurse Ratched arranges neat little paper cups of psychoactive drugs on a tray. The multicolored meds look like candy at a kid’s party. She won't rest until every one of her patients is drugged to the gills. Sappy elevator...
The first order of business after I roll out of bed in the morning is to brew a pot of strong green tea. The very next thing: feed the cats. As I peel the lid off a can of Friskies, Odie rubs my ankles then jumps from floor to counter in one effortless leap....
Let me count the ways. In reverse order of importance, they are: 5. The Food. OMG. My friend Karen Hester makes the most amazing pies, including a crumbly topped apple pie and yummy pumpkin with whipped cream. This year, I made a yam, pineapple, and apple casserole....
Have I mentioned how expensive my cats are? “I’m putting two cats through college,” I tell friends, when I explain why I can’t afford to go out to dinner. They nod sympathetically, but really as anyone who watches You Tube knows, Maru, the Japanese wonder cat has to...
I first met Madeline Sharples at a writing workshop at Esalen. I was immediately drawn to her calm, empathetic manner, her beauty, and her poems. We quickly learned that we shared some important life experiences - we were both grieving mothers and both of us were...
I am one of the most over insured people on the planet, believing that if something can go wrong, it will. So after I got Saffron settled in my home office, I called the 800 number for Veterinary Pet Insurance. VPI had previously insured my cats with policies I...
Saffron let out a plaintiff meow after I parked the car, so I poked a finger through the carrier door to give him a little scratch. “It’s OK, baby,” I crooned in my best cat mommy voice. Little did he realize that he was about to meet Odie, a supercharged orange tabby...
The story of how Saffron ran away is long and tragic, but here’s the short version: Once upon a time he lived in a spacious townhouse in the suburbs with a back patio, a high fence where he could sit and survey his kingdom, and a huge hill behind the townhouse which...
Maya’s 19-year-old heart was keeping Fernando alive but as I held him I realized in a new, deeper way that Maya herself was never coming back.