The ongoing kitten quest

Well, when the vat examined the kitten found in the woods, she turned out to have a serious heart problem and other health problems and is probably not viable. So we regretfully let her go. I continued to negotiate with the C.A.R.E shelter in Acushnet MA. They don’t keep any of the kittens in the actual shelter but the kittens remain with the foster mother until they arrive at the shelter for a 2 hour period at certain times for adoption. Wednesday in the late afternoon, we drove to Acushnet, about an hour and 45 minutes although longer since we got lost both going and returning. We met a number of kittens – no shortage there. We both fell in love with the same kitten, a black and white shorthaired kitten who has a very pretty face and is very lively. They call her G.W.; we will not call her G.W. Sounds like Bush to me. Names in the running at the moment are Dassi [short for star] and Vida [short for beloved]. Vida is also one of my novels, named for its protagonist. But we can pass the time arguing about names on the long journey to Omega Institute near Rhinebeck NY where we’re teaching memoir together next weekend. On the way back, we’ll arrive at the shelter @ 6 pm or as close as we can cut it and pick up the kitten. We are getting our first tomatoes, earlier than it’s ever been. Mostly paste tomatoes but some main crops. At this point, it’s basically for us. Soon we should be inundated. We’re getting many pole beans [that’s all we grow] green, yellow, purple. I’ve frozen 12 ½ lbs already. Many zukes, pattypans, some yellow squash, finochi, herbs and cucumbers. I’ve already frozen two packages of peppers for stuffing. The drought continuies. We had been promised a huge rain Friday but we only got a shower. Still that’s more rain than we’ve seen in a month. I was finally able to get back to writing this week. I’m also a farm wife during the summer when there’s so much to harvest and cook or turn into salads or process by canning, freezing, dehydrating, pickling. My friend who was my wonderful assistant for 4 years, Melenie, is coming next weekend with her husband Jay. They’ll stay here and take care of the cats. Melenie just lost her cat Bobo who had been with her since kittenhood and was a gentle cat very much like my Sugar Ray I lost two months ago. Melenie wants to put Bobo’s ashes into our land, which is fine with me. We only have to select a place. She could be next to Sugar Ray, who has a Radler’s red rose on his grave – as does Puck. Or with the row of my former cats, who mostly have rhododendrons on their graves. We’ve started getting ready for our workshop at Omega institute. Woody made copies of some of our handouts yesterday and then he went to hear Amy Goodman. I didn’t go as I am reading a fascinating book ON TRAILS by a guy named Moor. He writes well and the subject is intriguing. Today I’m making tabouli for supper, inventorying our tomatoes sauces and canned paste tomatoes, all the pint jars on the shelves in the storeroom. Today or tomorrow we’ll either make sauce or canned whole tomatoes. But first we have to deal this afternoon with the garlic that Woody harvested a week ago. We had a tremendous garlic harvest this year. I ordered garlic from Territorial and they turned out terrific. This week I ordered for this fall from them. Their garlic is the best! I used to get garlic from a place in Colorado but a few years ago, they lost my order and then would not answer me or do anything about it. I had to order on Amazon at the end of September and had to take what I could get that late—not the best kind and way overpriced.