a moment to be still.

Lena is sleeping.  The kitty is lounging.

The menu for tomorrow's Thanksgiving meal is looming.  The kitchen is dirty.  The floors are dirty.  The laundry is clean, at least, but needs folding.

But for just a moment... let me sit still.

I like doing a travel series and sharing photos with you, but in the middle of that it's hard to share what's going on right here, right now, this week.  So here's a bit about life around here, and why it feels so good to sit, and why I would like to curl up with a book until the end of nap time.

This holiday season is a busy season.  I think I didn't quite realize it until all at once the deadlines were approaching and the holidays were upon us.  I also recently decided to get much more involved in my community by joining or taking positions in my women's Bible study and the All Officers' Spouses' Club, and with these commitments comes a lot of (joyful!) responsibility.  While most of the year these two organizations have minimal commitments, around this time of year there are holiday parties, book club meetings, Thanksgiving potlucks, and party planning committees galore, not to mention creating all the sweets and treats that are fun to bake, cook, and prepare to share at all these events.

The biggest upcoming event is Night of Noel, a beautiful evening of food and fellowship for the women of our community, and I am responsible for all the decorating for the event (yikes) as well as hostessing a table and making a dessert.  I'm thinking multiple Christmas trees and twinkle lights, gold spray painted pine cones, and fondue, in that order.  Thoughts?

I also somewhat randomly decided to sell my handiwork at my first craft fair ever.  (Double yikes!)  The craft fair will take place on December 1... a little over a week away!  I spent most of last Saturday at my sewing machine and spend every evening with my knitting needles between my fingers.  (Why is it that I only get crafty in the fall and winter?  I need to stay crafty all year so that I have a good inventory!)  Honestly, I'm somewhat ridiculously excited about actually attending and selling at a craft fair, even though it's only three hours long and I fully expect to sell nothing.  It's the anticipation... the camaraderie... the officialness of it!  I'm a real craftswoman. 

Anyway, that's a little bit of what is constantly running through my mind these days.  "Knit gloves... finish book for book club... email about decorations... run over shopping list again for Thanksgiving... sew fabric beach balls... etc. etc. etc."  Not to mention playing with Lena, cooking meals, keeping the house clean, dealing with our chimney repairs (still not finished!), and all the other sweet trifles of life.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the holidays or just caught up in the joyful busyness of it all? 

to fix a leaky chimney

what is actually happening in my life vs. what I wish was happening in my life

Well, I was thinking of sharing some fun photos from our time back in the States.  (See above right photo.)  However, at 7:40 this morning (5 minutes after I woke up) the door bell rang and there was a work crew on the front step.  What?!  So early. 

It's okay, though.  Early can be good.  I knew they were coming to do an assessment today because we have an issue with our faulty chimney leaking smoke into our house.  After the assessment we planned to decide on huge chimney repairs vs. getting a wood stove installed in the fireplace instead.  Suddenly, a few minutes after they arrived, I heard a hammer hitting the wall and chunks of plaster hitting the floor.  "Stop!  What are you doing?!"  Well, so much for an assessment.  The chimney will be fixed this week! 

Well, maybe not this week.  But in "a few days."

My house is a total disaster, with dust everywhere, a man pounding on the chimney, and huge chunks of plaster falling to the floor.  (See above left photo.) My baby, meanwhile, is trying to sleep in the other room. I think she actually is sleeping, but that's only because I have the White Noise Lite app on my iPhone turned up so loud that at first she couldn't sleep at all.

Oh living in Italy!  I really love it, but it's definitely hard with the language/communication barrier sometimes.  I only wish I spoke fluent Italian and could be trusted to do all the communicating on my own.  But instead every conversation has to go through an interpreter, often over the phone... and when you're cell phone doesn't get good reception in your house, that adds to the complications!

Anyway.  Here's a fun video of Siena and Lena to end today's post.  (I keep calling Siena "Luna" because that's my sister's cat's name.)  You can see one of Lena's greatest interests every time I take a video of her... oh vanity, you start so young!

of toddlers and kittens

she stretched out her paws to rest them on my leg and then fell asleep like that

I wish I had captured today on film, but the photo above is the first photo I took all day.  After a weekend where my camera barely left my hands, I was DSLR'd out.  So the camera never took a picture, and even my phone mostly sat by itself.

That's fine.  It's just that today was so peaceful and homey and full of love.  I wish I had a few more photos capturing the little moments.

Lena slept so much today.  Two 2.5-hour naps... what?!  My poor darlin'.  I guess she's still recovering from jet lag and travel exhaustion and she also had a super busy weekend with friends and festivals and hikes and late bedtimes.  She was a happy camper today, though, with a sweet attitude that just made me so glad to be at home with her, savoring every day of her being 18 months old.  I watched her as she busied herself with her toys.  She is very into stacking and sorting things.  Later I found all her wooden puzzle pieces in two neat little stacks, one for each puzzle.

(I wonder if I will have another daughter?  I have been sorting and storing all her outgrown clothes from this summer.  Will another girl of mine ever wear them?  Or is she my only one?)

Lena can't really say "cat" yet ("ca... ca?"  or "dee-tee" for kitty) but she can say "meow," and so that is Siena's name in Lena's mind right now.  Watching her squat down beside Siena and gently rub a hand in her fur, then stand up and look at me and giggle gleefully... oh, my heart just melted into a big puddle of love juice.

As for Siena and me, well... I'm smitten.  OK, I wasn't so smitten when I saw her on my kitchen counter licking butter out of my butter dish, but she is just five months old and part of me thinks of her as a toddler in need of guidance.

The other part of me looks at her as this beautiful, foreign thing--a cat!  in my house!  my cat!--and marvels at her, the mystery of her, the delicacy of her grooming, the lightness of her leap, the austerity of her gaze.

But I think she loves me.  She followed me all over the house today.  She really is like a dog, just like they say Maine Coons are.  At one point she lost me--I had gone into the laundry room and partly closed the door--and I heard her yowling at the top of the stairs.  I stuck my head out and called, "Here I am, Siena!" and she took one look at me and came bounding across the room to join me.

Big puddle of love juice.

In other news, this is how we blog now, apparently.

welcoming our Maine Coon kitten!

Well, we did it.  We adopted a cat!  We're probably the only veterinarian's family who hasn't had a whole passel of dogs, cats, and other animals since vet school.  

I guess the idea of adopting a cat started this spring.  I mentioned it could be fun to get a cat, and Elliott immediately began looking for Sicilian Maine Coons.  We both already loved these cats after Elliott cared for a rescued Maine Coon in vet school.  They are known for their beautiful long-haired coats, talkative and almost dog-like personality, gentle and friendly attitude towards children, playful and personable natures, and their unique looks.

By "unique looks" I mean that they look a bit wild, perhaps because of the manes around their necks (especially pronounced on males) and tufts of fur at the tips of their ears.  See what I mean in this photo?

Perhaps needless to say, Lena loves her!

So far we're thrilled with her personality.  She spent the first five months of her life with the family that owns her parents, and this family also has multiple children as well as two huge mastiffs.  So she's not only used to people... she loves them!  We had a houseful of adults and kids over last night and she was happy to interact with everyone, wandering around between little legs and curiously watching the children's games. 

She's sitting behind my head on the couch as I write this, watching me type and purring up a storm.  Already this cold winter will be warmer with her next to me as I write blog posts or knit or read.

Oh... and her name.  We finally picked a name last night.  It is Siena.  She's named after the beautiful Italian city of Siena and also for the burnt orange color (ie. sienna) mixed into her beautiful coat.

 Welcome, Siena!  We're so excited for many years ahead with you, our beautiful kitten.