Tai-chi and Tennis rackets

By Vita Forest

Leap from the bed

Roll up the blinds

Release the felines into the day

Opening shutters and children’s doors

Shadowed by jogging cats

Tails held high

While crossing the drawbridge with my daughter

We stop at the scratch! scratch!

from the place where the moat would be

If we had one

Instead, a brush turkey in the garden bed

Sorting twigs and leaves and straw

Raking claws, giving me pause

On the way to the garage

Rousing the engine

rolling up the drive

Hovering, humming, hanging for my son

He tears down the path

Barefoot in Winter

Carrying bag and shoes and

That navy jacket he just will not wear in the flat

To save it from the white fur of the cat

The bane of his existence.

We roll through streets

Talking music and homework and dance and

plans for the weekend

Toes are pressed into shoes

Arms are threaded into jackets

Pockets are checked for keys and phones and

I plan the evening meal

In my head.

They leap out at the station

And I wish for a red light

So I might stop a moment

At the railway

Long enough to see

The elderly couple

in tracksuits and fleecy vests

Dancing

As they practise

Tai chi with tennis rackets

Balls tossed over shoulders

caught again in unison

Swinging back and forth

Again and again

On the well-oiled tracks

Of their knees.

Isaboe sits in strange receptacles

By Vita Forest

A tote tray full of tests to be marked

On the sewing basket

In a fruit bowl…

and her favourite – cardboard boxes

Tee hee

This week

By Vita Forest

This week I have been

WRITING Justify

READING

Greene on Capri by Shirley Hazzard
Tell the truth, Shame the devil by Melina Marchetta (well the last two days anyway – don’t normally buy “just released” books but it is MM).

RESTING due to being absolutely floored by the flu.

VISITING the doctor. Twice.

LOOKING after my sick children too.

WATCHING The Bridge (Swedish/Danish version) on DVD (not with the kids).

CUDDLING up with the kitty cat gals.

SOLVING puzzles in my Codewords book.

SLEEPING a lot

Crafting with cats

By Vita Forest

It’s lucky we are so cute

Visitors often note how tidy my apartment is. Part of it is aesthetic. But part of it is necessity – I have two curious cats. Take today, for example. Today I tried to craft with cats. I am attempting to make a little army of elves and fairies for my class. It is proving difficult.

HOW TO CRAFT WITH CATS

Food tents are essential

WHAT YOU NEED

Your usual equipment but also –

a food tent

takeaway food containers

METHOD

If you are painting, get a small-necked jar so the cats cannot fit their heads into it to drink the dirty water.
Only put a tiny amount of paint on the palette and wash up any surplus immediately – paint may be tasty.
Do not leave small pieces of felt on the table. (While washing the palette – see Step 2, Zadie pounced on a tiny mauve fairy cloak and chewed it into a mangled mess. Put all cut-out pieces straight into a takeaway food container and secure the lid.
Leave all unpainted tiny wooden dolls in their thick envelope shoved inside a bowl and with the opening folded over. This prevents any possible fairy-napping. (Zadie is a well-known fairy-napper. Folk made last year had to be resettled in new accommodation once they returned from their adventure with the cats. Now they live on top of the dry goods on a high shelf in the kitchen).
Cat-free accommodation
Once painted, place wooden dolls to dry under a food tent to avoid inquisitive paws. Note – curious cats may still attempt to push through the mesh and bite along the wire frame.
Attempt to cut patterns out of large piece of felt on the table. Tussle with a cat while forming scallops with your scissors as she bats the edge of the material.
Fight off cat claws as she tries another tactic and leaps up from below.
Attempt to cut the felt by placing the material inside a plastic bag.
Attempt to distract the cats by rolling a Christmas bell across the floor.
Give up and write a blog post instead.