Sophie's Story

   When we moved into our house we put the things we did not use a lot down in our storage room. One of those things was my viola. It was the one that I played when I was in high school. I had always intended to play it again someday when I wasn't so busy.    A couple years ago I found it in the basement. Our basement is not a good place for a wooden instrument. It's too dry. I also didn't like the thought of her sitting alone in our storeroom when she could be with the rest of our instruments in the music room. I brought it upstairs, checked to make sure that she had no large cracks. I put her in a corner by the book care where she wouldn't get knocked around.   A few weeks ago I saw her sitting in the corner. She had been sitting there patiently waiting for me to get enough free time to start playing her again. I felt bad. We have a rule about instruments in this house. All the instruments get played unless there is a pressing reason not to. The only exceptions to

   Yesterday I found an article about Candice Bergen. The article was about how she has gained 30 pounds in the last 15 years. In it she says that she just doesn't care anymore. She was talking about weight in general and commenting on how women do things to stay thin.   I'm beginning to feel the same way about eating what is good for you. I'm having trouble keeping track of what is healthy and what is not.   When I was young, there were the four basic food groups. There were meat, grains, dairy and fruits/vegetables. It was simple. Eat from these four food groups and use other things like butter, jam, syrup etc. sparingly. Then the four groups changed to a pyramid. It was still the basic four, but arranged to show how much you should eat of each group. Not too hard to understand. Then things began to change.   Fats are not good for you. Anything that contained large amounts of fat like meat for instance, was something that you aren't supposed to eat. It isn't

  Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. It's a time for eating soda bread, corned beef, cabbage and drinking green beer. Bars are full of patrons celebrating and if the bar is an Irish pub, it will most likely be standing room only.   I was not among the revelers yesterday. I didn't wish anyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day. I didn't consume any corned beef or cabbage. I didn't even wear green.   The reason is because this isn't my holiday. I'm not Irish, I'm a citizen of the United States. My ethnic background is German and Italian. I'm not Catholic and if I was my patron saint would not be Patrick. It would be either St. John Leonardi, St. Jude,St. Hannah or St. Gertrude of Nivelles. (These are the patron saints of pharmacists, hopeless causes, childless wives and cats respectively. I couldn't find a patron saint of stepmothers.)   I have never understood why this holiday is celebrated so widely. It's marked on most calendars. Stores sell g

   The first scarf in the Scarf Project is finished. After many hours of happy knitting, the green scarf is finally done. I washed it in the washing machine on delicate and hung it on a line to dry. I took a sticky roller and rolled off the few cat hairs that were clinging to it. (Colby insisted on sitting on my lap while I knitted.) I made it up into a neat roll. A few days later I delivered it to Denise, my oldest stepdaughter. She put it on right away. I was pleased with how it turned out. The shade of green complements her. I only wish I could have finished it sooner so she would have it to wear this winter.  I'm learning something interesting from the Scarf Project. Knitting these scarves is a little like having children. (Before those of you that have children become offended, please let me explain.) My plan was to knit these scarves out of the same type of yarn using a different colour for each stepdaughter. (The colour is their favourite colour.) My plan was to randomly

   Last week I was accidentally assigned the role of Toastmaster for the next week's meeting. I'm sure this was an accident, because every Vice President of Education in our club has known not to assign me to this role.   I knew that I needed to find someone else to take this role. The upcoming week was my long week and I would not have a day off until the Friday after the meeting. I would not have time to look at emails or make an agenda because I had two 12 hour days in that time span. Fortunately for me I was called on to do a Table Topic. I was asked how I would run a meeting as Toastmaster. I took the opportunity to make a plea for a replacement.   One of the members was going to step up with one condition. I would, at some point in time, need to take the Toastmaster role. Then Dana offered to take it instead. Her condition was that I take on the role that she would assign to me.  I accepted her offer.   The first person who offered apologized to me for putting me on

  Hi! This is Scamp. Last weekend Colby wrote a column and in it he called me arrogant. He was told to apologize to me. Like a good big brother I forgave him. I asked Sophie if I could write the column today because I want to correct a big misunderstanding about me.    I am NOT arrogant. I don't know why people and Colby think I am. I think it's because when I walk I keep my head,tail and ears up. I walk with grace and directness to wherever I am going. I suppose this might look like arrogance to some.    It's not though. It's not arrogance at all. It's confidence. Confidence is a good thing. I know where I am going and I know what I'll do once I get there. I am sure of myself. I know that I am  good Chief House Cat and an excellent Chief Therapy Cat. I am capable of scaring away intruders and can hold my own in any tussling with Colby. I am also a beautiful cat. I have good posture, piercing green eyes, a long tasseled tail and  silky, immaculately groomed