Enter freely and of your own will

Classes were scheduled to start on Tuesday, January 16th, unfortunately, that first day saw the school closed due to cold and snow. So all classes started a day behind. Then the following Monday the school was closed due to freezing rain. This coming Monday I will finally be able to attend Film and Lit which meets once a week. For homework the Professor has us reading a section of a novel and watching clips of various film iterations. Because I have Fridays off I took the opportunity to donate platelets while listening to the audiobook of the novel. If you've got to sit quietly for an hour and a half at the Red Cross I highly recommend a good recording of Dracula. It really puts a unique perspective on the encounter.

And just for fun here are some hip vampires from What We Do in the Shadows.

Be kind

The neighbor’s cat is my new best friend, or I am hers depending on how generous I am with cat treats. Not that she isn’t gracious, she has plenty of kitty love and she does accompany me around the house on occasion. 

Last week we discovered the wire I had put on the deck to keep the flat cats from getting under has been torn down near the steps. And I appreciated how she went right under to check it out for me. It’s not flat cat time so that leaves a few other critters in this Disney backyard. I placed my yard-cam out that night and saw this creature coming out. 

The next night I rigged the camera under the deck and could see their glowing eyes way under it. My next step will be to make the deck an area they will not want to stay strobe lights and German Death Metal may fit the bill.

The town is small but spread out, the downtown is only a few blocks but then the suburbs and sprawl are along the freeway and a couple of state routes that intersect. We live on the side of town that is almost farmland. Today as Jerry and I were running errands we saw a fox cross State Street and go into the community garden where it paused and then made a beautiful leap straight up and over a fence into one of the raised beds and then posed like a model; lither than a cat (don’t tell my friend). And a good omen for the year I think. A local store has a sign out from that reads "Dear 2024, be kind. From all of us." If this was 2024's first effort, I'll take it.

A link to the best writing I did in 2023?

Maybe: No Spoilers 

Happy New Year!