Not posting anything substantial for a couple of months has left me with that paralysis you get from not writing, when there’s too much to say and it’s difficult to coordinate. I’m getting round this by slapping together some headings and pasting in content. Please do not feel obliged to respond to any or all of this. Not that you ever should, but in this particular instance it really is all over the place. Sorry.

Coping mechanisms + pet ownership
Dealing with the grief of losing Telstar was tough over the past month. My workload was absolutely bonkers for the last four weeks of term, with the actual lecturing compounded by marking, transition to online delivery and assessment as the impact of Omicron became clearer, colleagues being off sick, and the level of demand for my admin duties and fellowship (more on this another time). I reinstalled “Neko Atsume” on my phone, which I haven’t played in years, and for some reason the daily check on my cat garden and appearance of adorable cartoon cats helped me to process his loss. I don’t know why and am not sure I want to dwell on it too much; the point is that it worked at a time when I had to have my emotions pretty firmly compartmentalised to get through the end of the semester.

Now that we’re getting a little distance from his sudden departure, I’m more willing to entertain conversations with the children about what pets we’ll get in the new year. There are discussions about stick insects, reptiles, birds, and small mammals, none of which I’ve ever kept before myself. None of them were options when we had a feline with prodigious hunting prowess; he would doubtless have killed them within 24 hours of their arrival. So although kittens are also under consideration, it seems like it would be a good moment perhaps to take a break from cat ownership and try out some pets that the children would like to have.

Cooking
As I’ve doubtless mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of cooking. I do like the slow cooker, although I came to realise after making my umpteenth tinned-bean-based stew that I should probably add some more recipes to my repertoire. I asked for a slow cooker recipe book for Christmas and got a great one (“Slow Cooked” by Miss South), which I’m now planning my way through. Earlier in the month I checked out the new Great British Bake Off “A Bake for All Seasons” and we made a few things from that which turned out very well, including the Pecan Pie, Winter No-Knead Loaf (wholemeal bread) and Prue’s Malt Loaf (extremely good for the digestion).

Film & Television
While the children have been off school, we’ve taken to watching films together. We watched all of the Jumanji films completely out of order. The bloke and I had never seen any of them, including the original 1990s Robin Williams version. First we watched the third film: “Jumanji: The Next Level”, which was quite confusing when you didn’t know any of the back story, though it did have some funny bits. Then we watched the original, which was Keiki’s favourite because it was actually a board game and according to him that made a lot more sense. Finally, we watched “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, which was Humuhumu’s favourite because of the slapstick humour, dad jokes, and most of all, Bethany and Martha. I’m with her there.

We’ve fallen asleep in front of (re-)watched several Disney films with them. I also highly recommend the series of Olaf shorts in which he parodies quite a few of them.

The bloke and I watched “Hawkeye” which we both enjoyed despite our very patchy knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. ( Possible spoilers ) Anyway, my primary point here is YELENA FOREVER and when do we get another Black Widow film that is just Yelena being sarcastic about everything? Yes, yes, I know the first film featured a lot of that and so did Hawkeye but I really cannot see myself getting tired of it.

I need to go and make mac n’ cheese in the slow cooker so it is ready for supper. To be continued tomorrow.

Three hours of Telstar napping in seven seconds. It is a beautiful sight to behold.

[A small project to get me to post again, and deal with backlog of photos I have.]

Patrolling the steps up to the canal towpath is of paramount importance.

"Stop laughing, human. I'm going nowhere near that armoured rat."



Hedgepig continued to browse the seed bonanza in the garden for at least an hour with a brazen nonchalance that must have been infuriating to our resident feline.

One of the many things I haven't had time to write about in the past few months is that the bloke dug a pond in the garden. It's just large enough for a few plants, a handful of snails, and two goldfish, Flippy and Not-Food*. It took Sir some time to notice that there were fish in the pond, but now that he has, it's Channel 1 on Cat Telly every day.

* Short for "No, Mr Heron, go away. I am not food."

 

I haven't posted in almost two weeks, which is most unusual. I've been going in to campus since term started up again after Easter, as the students returned and a lot of them are desperate for in-person contact. I'm not accustomed to the energy expenditure required by commuting and interacting with the other humans in physical space, so that has been exceptionally tiring. All is well in Telstar's world, though, which is the important thing.

Cat and Boy


( I'm getting a little bored with this meme but am worried if I stop, I won't post at all. )

January 30

What websites did you visit most frequently this week?

Dreamwidth, LiveJournal, the BBC, the virtual learning environment of My University, the search engine at My University which allows me to find peer-reviewed research publications, and the data archives of a scientific space mission.

January 31

What are your favourite things in general?

Mochi, whisky (single-malt Scotch, Japanese whisky and bourbon are my top three), Lego, computers, the internet, space, cats, space cats (thank you, the internet).

I'm not sure these question were particularly illuminating. Somehow we've gotten to the end of January. It hasn't been the most thrilling month in the history of ever, but we're still here, marching along in the same routine of the past ten months, hoping there's a future ahead of us with more diverse activities and companionship in it. Also, Humuhumu spent two hours yesterday crafting a cat toy for Telstar. Observe the immensity of his gratitude below.