I just got a call from K. Something's wrong with Tigger, my 17 year old baby kitty. She's always been a cranky old lady so I worry that it'll be hard to tell when she's not well. K noticed that Tigger was drooling in her sleep and also this afternoon. She's not a drooler. And when K went to wipe her mouth she noticed an area at her lip like a skinned knee or an infection and she screamed when K tried to open her mouth. She's not as vocal as usual. She is drinking water, so that's good. K's going to see if she eats when the automatic kibble feeder goes off this evening.
We have an appointment with the vet but that's not until Thursday morning. If it seems to get worse or she's not eating we'll take her into an emergency vet. Hope it won't cost too much - as money's tight.
I'm worrying and stressing, while several thousand miles away in London. :( I'm just so glad that K's there.
Any animal experts out there there an opinion?
Do send her some good vibes.

here are photos of our three kids

Tigger on her favorite spot


Tigger and the elusive Yoshi



King David at 5 month and King David at 10 month in the same basket





King David, first week at home and already claiming the laptop and lap. Tigger is not amused.




Yoshi shares her room and her sun with King David

In his kitty bassinet next to my desk. It's a large African market basket.
He's nearly 10 month old. About 24 inches from nose to base of tail. Aproximately 12 lbs. He's taller at the shoulder and hip than both the full grown girls. What exactly is in his bloodline?

So far he's been doing well with the harness and leash for walking in the back patio area. He's mastered "Up David" pose of grabbing my hand and standing on his hind legs. He's even done it for Miss Indigo. He's gotten used to walking through the "hoop" - a badminton racket gutted of it's strings. I need to find a bigger hoop to have him jump through. Any ideas? Something about 2 feet in diameter would be good.
I got him a white and blue doggie sailor shirt. He got used to it after a while. It's cute on him. I'll get a photo for you King David fans.
The other cats glare at him with disdain.

This is my mornings. The big fluffy one is King David, of course. Yes, the 8 month old kitten.
On my pillow is my old lady kitty, Bitchy Kitty, aka (Ti)Grrr. Er, excuse me, I stand corrected- that's HER pillow that I get to have a corner of. (PurrVixen is not in the shot. She's at the foot of the bed.)
Now mind you, I'm allergic to cats. So each morning I wake up with a Grrr on my head and King David's tail in my face. And I wonder why I'm congested. Thank goodness for allergy shots.



K is leash training David. He's quite comfortable with the harness. He gets to go out on the porch and eat bugs. Purr Vixen resents him. He's very good with the leash. This is from his first day.



I'm also working on getting him to jump through hoops - literally. That's a badminton racket with the strings cut out. He'll stand up and grab my hand with his paws "David - Up!" so now we're working on "David - Hoop!"
Yes, that's a Hello Kitty hoodie. I want one for him.

Updates from Berlin.

Xplore was just great great great! What an awesome event! I hope I get invited again!!!!
the party sunday night was soooo incredibly elegant and sexy.
More on Berlin later.

My art site's been updated a bit (thanks K!) to include the photo sequence and artist's statement of the
show that Kumi and I created and performed with Amrita at the Torture Garden Birthday
Bash. It's actually meant as a performance art piece for the contemporary performance
venues but TG was a good place to launch it. This is the short version at 90 minutes.

I gotta find a performance festival, gallery or theater to do this at!
Know of any?

While it is a general performance, there's obviously strong elements of eroticism and kink to
it as part of the narrative. Enjoy!

www.Ranshin.com

btw some of my photos are in the Purchase section. Should I make a separate photo section to show my work? It's a relatively new site so I'm open to suggestions.

After 2 days of travel by 9 different means of transportation, (boat-taxi-ferry-taxi-plane-shuttle-layover hotel-shuttle-plane-car), I'm finally home from the tropical sailing vacation. I'm feeling refreshed and recharged. I'm trying not to stress too much about the immense amount the work that's piled up while I'm away. (The last day of the trip I was on the phone w K talking about some work stuff and I could literally feel my heart rate and blood pressure rising. Scary.) A huge thanks and deep gratitude to D.O. for keeping things at the office in control a bit so at least I know what the priorities are.

[Reading] Ended up reading
- "Not So Funny When It Happened" by Tim Cahill. Really really funny true travel stories. My solitary chuckles and cackles got the others to read it too. Perfect travel book.

- Octavia Butler's sequel to "Parable of the Sower", "Parable of the Talents". Fantastic science fiction that I couldn't put down. It's a chilling tale of what could become of America under increasing social unrest and a powerful faith-based political movement. I really love the philosophy presented in there as well.

- Finally caught up on the last 2 issues of my favorite travel magazine Budget Travel. It's just the best travel magazine for real travelers. (Luxe travel magazines like Conde Nast is just so depressing. Sure if I were wealthy could travel like that. No, for real travel info, I love Budget Travel. Great tips and on line resources too.)

- I also started but have not finished "A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain. Totally a book for me as I adore adventurous eating, great travel and good writing. Looking forward to savoring this book over the next few trips.

I wanted to pick up some Nalo Hopkinson's books but I could not find them at my favorite indie book store before leaving town. bummer.
Thanks to all those who gave some great suggestions before my trip!

[Some hilights]
- Ackee and Salt Fish dish at the Trellis Bay Cafe.
- Sleeping on the deck the last night. Stars above and star-like lights of the masts of the boats around me. The slow rolling an rocking of the vessel. The sound of the waves lapping against the hull of the ship.
- Diving the Wreck of the Rhone. (Photo courtesy of http://www.bviscuba.org/wreckweek2005.htm. The disposable waterproof camera I had wouldn't take this sort of image and I didn't have the right housing for my little Cannon digital. But at least I wanted you guys to see how amazing this place is.) I've done this dive several times but I don't tire of it. It's simply amazing.
- Spending time with old friends and new friends that were my fellow sailors on this trip.
- Bought some great art and ceramics at Aragorn's Art Studio. I knew it was crazy to buy large ceramic plate and lighting fixture on a sailing trip, but they were so beautiful. Managed to get them home unharmed.
- Being out doors. Fish. Sea turtles. Detoxing from the digital life.

Here are a few photos from the trip. Eventually all of us from the trip will pool our photos so I hope to have some others to share.