Don't be alarmed

... but there is a terrifying monster lurking in the inky depths of my linen closet. Looks innocent enough, right?



Look again!



Don't say I didn't warn you.

I CAN HAS LOLCAT PLZ

It's not in the same league as this, but here's (Sylvie's and) my humble attempt at a meme.

Heat is neat

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging soon, but to hold you over until I get it together and write some actual content, I present you with this:

These blissed out meerkats have their own private heatlamp at the San Diego Zoo.



Do they remind you a certain small brown cat?



I thought so.

I've never felt so glamorous!

Clearly, 2-D suits me. The weird thing is, it's surprisingly accurate.



Sylvie, on the other hand, has had better pictures.

(Courtesy of this site, natch. If you don't want to start with a photo of yourself, try this site instead.)

I'm one of the horde

Guess what we did tonight?



Yup, it's true. I have my very own copy of the new Harry Potter book right here in front of me. I figured hey, it's my last chance to join in the midnight madness, so Mr. Elinoire and I went to a favorite local bookstore and did just that.

My friend Tyee came this close to winning the trivia contest (she was stumped by JK Rowling's middle name (Kathleen) and one of the two significant ways Bartemis Crouch Jr. was similar to Lord Voldemort (she got that they both killed their fathers but missed that they were both named for their fathers), neither of which I could come up with) and I got to tell her the story of the first time my sister Sarache and I tried Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.*



Plus? Now I have the book! Don't expect me to answer the phone or anything in the next couple days.

(There's no fun story about the Harry Potter box. I just brought it home to put jam in, but like all of its ilk, it had to be throroughly inspected once it was in the house.)

* She bought some the first time we saw them and then we went to her car and drove somewhere while we ate them. The candy came with a cheat sheet but we thought it would be more fun to try the flavors one by one.

First, we each bit down on a blue one.
Elinoire: "I think this is just blueberry..."
Sarache: "Yeah, I think so too. Check the sheet."
Elinoire, after checking: "Blueberry. Okay let's try gray."
We each bite down on our gray jelly beans.
Sarache: "Ew, is that pepper?"
Elinoire: "Ugh, I think it must be. It doesn't taste awful but it doesn't taste like anything I want in a jelly bean."
Elinoire checks and confirms that gray = pepper, and then gives Sarache a white jelly bean to match her own. They bite down.
Elinoire: "Huh, that's just coco-"
Sarache: "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, WHAT IS THAT?! That is the most VILE THING EVER."
Elinoire: "Uh, it's coconut."
Sarache, spitting her jelly bean out into a kleenex and taking a swig of water: "That is NOT coconut. That is EVIL, is what that is."
Elinoire, consulting chart: "Ohhh... I think I got coconut, but the other flavor for white can be sardine.

In which I explain why I have posted so infrequently of late

Mr. Elinoire and I are leaving for our belated honeymoon in just a few days. We're visiting friends in NYC, France, Switzerland, and then having a few days on our own in Belgium and Paris. I haven't taken a trip this complicated in several years and the logistics have been intense and complicated. (Not horribly so, but quite distracting.) So... not much posting, and for that I apologize.

Today I began packing by placing my suitcase on the table and putting things from my "take me" list into them. Naturally, any open container must be investigated.



Here, Sylvie joins the investigative team while Mirabelle checks to see if I've accidentally stowed any finches or lizards behind the suitcases. Hey, you never know, and wouldn't she feel silly if she'd missed the opportunity?



I'm going to be really embarrassed if I say I have nothing to declare and then it turns out that I'm transporting a cat across an international border. Note to self: make sure both cats are occupied elsewhere ("look girls, a skunk!") when I zipper it shut.

Entry the fifty-fifth: In which Sylvie has strong opinions

Sometimes Sylvie gets to go outside to sniff the world. I'd say "go outside for a walk" or "go outside and look around," but really, what she's doing is sniffing everything she can. See?



The first couple times she went outdoors, she was pretty skittish. That is no longer the case. Now she pulls me all over the place, complains when I pick her up to bring her back in, and then YOWLS AT THE DOOR FOR THE NEXT HOUR.



I'm so excited that Sylvie is embracing the vocal aspect of her Bermese heritage. :-|



We may have to have a moratorium on these little excursions for a while.