I have some new photos of Ryan. [link] So what's our little boy been up to?

His cousin had a birthday party: [link] She's about three months younger than Ryan. It was held at the quality establishment, Monkey Mania: [link]

Said cousin's grandparents (Biyi's uncle and his wife) have been in town, and we went out to lunch with them today: [link] Led to a photo op outside: [link] Personal opinion: Ryan was exceptionally photogenic today. Some highlights:

Smiles all round: [link]
Happy chappy: [link]
With Mei Mei's grandparents: [link]

Yay! After six weeks of recuperation, my mom is well enough that I won't need to be staying overnights to help her transfer Dad in and out of his wheelchair. She's basically back to 100%, though still being careful.

I have a new piece up at Hilobrow as part of their Kirk Your Enthusiasm series.

Read here as I explore "The Enterprise Incident" and address the important issue of why it's so important for James T. Kirk to be a prankish dick at times. Also, sexy Romulan Commanders and Spock's sexy finger dance.

Please to Like on Facebook if you're inclined, or even better toss in a comment, as these things (somehow) magically turn into revenue stream for my fine online publisher.

Sigh. Could we have some "Switch come home" ~~ ma, please? He escaped at some point yesterday without us realizing it until Joe saw him outside this morning. But, idiot cat that he is, he ran away when Joe tried to grab him. I did just see some of his fur on the two-doors-down neighbor's fence, so hopefully he isn't going far.

Anyway, I want my baby giant kitty home.

HE'S BACK!

When Joe got home, he let the dogs out in the backyard and thought, "Hey - I'll follow the dogs!" and sure enough, they led him right to Switch! So he is home and cowering in the basement once again. Dumb giant baby kitty!

Thanks for all the ~ma!!

We had to put our fluffy girlkitty to sleep today. Goodbye, Trinian.

My Mom died peacefully last night. She'd had a really good day on Thursday, with my aunt & cousin & SiL and niece visiting and getting a takeout dinner with her, so they were making jokes and she was definitely wrapped in familial love, but according to the home health aides she just faded away all through Friday.

She made it to 90, which meant a lot to her, too. When last we spoke about her dying, she said she'd prefer just not to wake up one morning.

I can't begin to say how lucky I feel that we had her around as long as we did, with the various health crises she'd overcome over the past 20 years, that she was in full possession of her mind and able to enjoy life. She got to see her grandkids (all but the 16yo) in college or graduated, to know that I'd come through my unemployment and was getting real work again, that my brothers were healthy and her daughters-in-law were a joy.

At the moment I'm surprisingly dry-eyed, mostly from shock I suppose. We knew it was coming, but Mom had pulled back from the brink a couple times (stubborn is a family trait) so we could hope that we'd get a little more time. As they say, it's always sudden.

Job offer has been signed; I start work on Monday.

This has been a day of upsetting news. My grandmother passed away last night, leaving my grandfather and her five sons, plus her extended family in mourning.

I have also received news that one of my closest friends since high school is gravely ill, with multiple types of bacteria in his blood, and a compromised immune system. His wife and two kids are pretty worried about him.

I took the cats to the vet today. Nova is fine, other than needing her teeth cleaned. Luna, on the other hand...

She had lost a significant amount of weight since last year, and had been hiding out a lot more. The vet found something odd when she palpitated Luna's abdomen. X-rays were kind of ambiguous, as there was a good bit of biological matter in her colon. Monday they're going to clear her out and take another X-ray. I left her at the vets over the weekend, as it's very hard to get her into the carrier.

Some nothing serious~ma for Luna, if you can spare it.