StrangeRanger

Turkey Day for One of Us

We had a *lovely* Thanksgiving.  Absolutely wonderful!  Thanksgiving is the one Holiday that LadyRanger and I take for ourselves.  We had our traditional Thanksgiving Soup (butternut and acorn squash in a veggie-broth with corn, onion and garlic garnished with avocado, toasted walnuts and cheese) and fresh-baked bread from Lady's oven.  Also had a delightful viognier to go with it.  w00t!  Here's a pic:

Can my wife set a table, or what?  One part of the meal delivered a deep sense of satisfaction to the soul, as well as the body.  The bread recipe comes from a special place.  I'm sure that some of you will remember back in 2006 when a guy named Malcolm rescued a kitten after it had been hit by a car.  He put out an internet call for help to pay for the kitten's medical bills.  The cat-blogging community came through and the cat, christened Millie (from the french mille, meaning thousand {a reference to the dollar figure}) lived.  Malcolm had to give the little critter away, but she's been rediscovered!  Head over to Darling Millie and be content to see she's living the life of Reilly!  Anyways, *that's* where the bread recipe came from.  We call it "Millie Bread" and it is worth the making.  Laurence might even have to get the bread machine out again for this one!

Anyways, I'm sure you noticed that there is a conspicuous lack of turkey on the table.  LadyRanger is a vegetarian (and so am I, by marriage).  The only creature who gets turkey on the holidays is Maddie.  Even gets to eat it on her stool!  Nom!

Afterwards, she headed to her papasan and got ready for a nap.

And then I showed up with the flashy-camera.  Don't worry, she got her zzzz's by the fire.  As did the humans.   We hope your day, thanksgiving or not, was wonderful!

Meagre Blogger...

...but a Marvelous cat.  Enjoy.

Directors...

....sigh....they're never there when you're ready for your close-up...

Good thing *I'm* here to do the honors

I'm not letting a Hollywood director *near* this cat.  Mine, Mine!  I say!

Speaking of Japan (rare non-cat post)

A friend of mine was given this mask several weeks ago.

It reminded me of Noh masks (something I'd picked up in my varied semi-academic wanderings).  I did a little web-research and I think it might be a tengu mask.  I am probably quite wrong, but that's my first guess.  Anyone have any idea what it actually is?

It had this on the inside:

I'd love to know what this says, and I'd be most grateful to anyone who can translate.  I'd be happy to send a pic of Maddie or Ivy or both to the wonderful human who increases my knowledge on this.  Though I'd never know if you're telling the truth or not.  ;)

Probably says "Inspected by 12" or "One size fits most" or something mundane like that...

Maybe it's for an asian production of Cyrano. 

Go ahead.  Amaze me!
 

Easy to translate

Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I have a friend in Japan.  Good guy named Peter.  He's living in Sakurai in Nara Prefecture (I *think* that's the proper translation) teaching English.  From my own experiences in the elementary classroom, I can imagine how demanding that is.  Anyway, he likes to hit the mountain trails around Sakurai for a little R&R.  On a recent expedition, armed with only a camera, he was confronted by these little guys:

Even though I speak no Japanese at all, I think the translation is easy.  "Feed Me!  Take Me Home! And Feed Me!  oh yeah, and you can feed them, too. "  When Peter and his girlfriend went back the next day, no sign of the tykes.  This is, though, a very popular trail, and it's certainly possible that someone had already nabbed these little bundles of cute.  I certainly hope so.  Thanks to Yukie for posting the video.  Good luck to the cats.

Wistful

This is the first Halloween in years that we haven't had Ivy representing the wee-black-cat demographic.  It's made for a modestly sad day or two.  We smile wistfully when we are reminded of her spooooky presence. 

 Boo!

Maddie, for all her magical self, just isn't the same inspiring feelings of Halloween-y-ness.

 I don't get it...

We're happy we have Maddie, but we surely do miss Ivy.