Pieces of the Whole
At the end of this post is an invitation for the author’s Art Appreciation 101 course. I’ve followed this blog for years now, and I can tell you, she knows what she’s talking about. Regardless of whether or not that interests you, I think this article has a lot to say.
Many of you have already seen this, but in honor of International Cat Day, I’m re-blogging one of my earlier posts about how Walter, Mimi and I became a family. Kiss your cats and give them a treat! (You’ll have to excuse the captions. They ended up anywhere but under the photos.)
I didn’t have a job. I owed the Cat Clinic hundreds of dollars for the care of the late great Paco. It would have been irresponsible to get a new cat. So when the pitiful cries of two little ones are heard outside my apartment window, I steel myself and say, I can’t save all the kitties.
In that neighborhood, at that apartment complex, people were abandoning cats all the time. It was one of the hardest parts of living there, and that wasn’t an easy place to live. It was devastating not to be able to help all the poor kitties who sat outside my window, crying. Fortunately, one of the other residents worked at a no-kill shelter, and she was usually able to find them a home.
The late great Paco.
I had only the screen open, so I closed the window completely. The crying fades…
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Eleven years ago, the United Nations chose this day as International Friendship Day. Apparently the idea had been around for a long time, but in 2011 they made it official–July 30 is a day to celebrate friendship and community.
Coincidentally, I already had plans to spend some time today with a few of my friends. But knowing it was designated a day to honor them made that time together a little more special. We played Scrabble (I actually won one game, which is practically unheard of) and I reflected on what these ladies meant to me.
![AdobeStock_513820228 [Converted]](https://myworldwithwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/adobestock_513820228-converted.png)
If I need someone to drive me to the doctor’s, Deb is there. If I’m looking for an honest critique of my writing, Madlyn is there. Both have taken care of my cats when I’ve visited my mom. They would have done it for free, in fact, Deb did several times, but now I insist on paying them. They will be there for me when I get bad news, and I will do the same for them.
Without my friends, I’d be lost. The only family I have in the area is a second cousin who reached out to me once, promised to invite me to dinner, then never followed up. My family is either two thousand miles west of me , a thousand miles east or 700 miles north. I talk to them frequently, but rarely see them. I depend on my friends for day-to-day support and conversation.
So on this special day I say to all of my friends, “thank you for being there, for the role you play in my life.” Happy International Friendship Day.
Image Credits: Heart in Hands, © Volha Hlinskay–stock.adobe.com, International Friendship Day, © Basratstock–stock.adobe.com
Happy Birthday, sweet babies!! You make my life better. And Happy Birthday to our friend Parker, who turns nine today.
Well, a sign of the times–my local yarn shop (LYS) is closing its doors the end of August.
I haven’t actually asked the owners why this is happening. I can only guess. Perhaps online shopping is digging into their sales (although yarn is so tactile, there is nothing online that can compare with holding it in your hands) or the pandemic put them so far behind they haven’t been able to catch up. One way or the other, I’m assuming sales are down.
Or perhaps they’re being forced out of their building by land developers, who are rampant in the area, and they know they won’t be able to rent anything else for the same price.
All speculation.
What I know for sure is this: I will miss them. I’ve been an avid knitter for 43 years, and never lived in a town without at least one yarn store. Some have definitely been better than others, but they all provided me with what I needed. Not just yarn, but the supplies you sometimes forget about when you’re starting a project, like the right size needles.
Don’t tell me I can buy yarn at Hobby Lobby or Walmart. Nuh-uh. It’s not the same as the top quality yarn you can purchase at a LYS. There’s something wonderful about discovering a new merino wool, re-discovering Shetland wool or finding out there is such a thing as machine washable alpaca. You don’t get that at chain stores.
And yarn stores have been more than a place to purchase supplies. I’ve met some of my closest friends in them, debated relationships around the stitch-and-bitch tables, taken refuge during some of my saddest days. They are community centers as much as they are places to shop, full of character and spirit.
So I’m mourning the loss of a brick-and-mortar friend. Farewell, good buddy.
Image Credits : yarn © Maciej Bledowski–stock.adobe.com; women knitting © AboutLife–stock.adobe.com
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