Catching up

Mom, my brother, my niece, and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in San Antonio, at my sister's.  I got to see my family and a few friends, and ate quite a lot of Tex-Mex. (Yes, we have Mexican restaurants in Iowa City.  Some of the owners are even Mexican-American.  No, it's not the same.)

On New Year's Even we went to Pico de Gallo for dinner.  They had decorated for the holidays with rows of silver papel picado alternating with strings of colored lights.  It was so amazingly sparkly -- I may have to do something like it next Christmas!

That's my niece, under the papel picado.

These pictures really don't do it justice -- too much sparkle!

They also had a beautiful Dia de los Muertos-themed tree:

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I almost called this post "Cat Tales," because I've got two great stories, including one with pictures!

Pictureless story:

One night last week, I woke up around 4:00 a.m., because I thought I heard kittens.  Once I was awake, I didn't hear kittens anymore, but I did realize that neither Harley or Alice were in bed with me.  Although Harley comes and goes, Alice always sleeps with me, usually in a manner that makes it impossible to move my legs.

So I went downstairs -- two floors -- and as I stepped into the living room, I saw Harley scurrying away from the laundry room door.  Alice loves the laundry room, but isn't allowed in it -- she has to back out from behind the washer and dryer, and I worry that something might happen.  She's pretty good about staying out, although she always watches me closely while I'm in there.  I guess she had slipped in as I finished up my laundry the evening before.  Sure enough, I opened the door and she darted out, and ran across the room to Harley, who rather frantically licked her head.  It was so cute -- Harley acts like she doesn't like Alice, or at least that she's too energetic for her, but apparently she had been worried!  In fact, we all went upstairs, and in the morning, instead of hanging out with me while I put on my makeup, Harley was sacked out on the guest room bed.  I think she had been sitting in front of the laundry room, worrying, all night!

With pictures:

Despite not being a kitten anymore, Alice still like to chase her own tail.  Here she is, chasing it across the back of the couch.

And finally -- not a story, just a picture.  I know a lot of you remember Simon, my sister's cat who lived with me in San Antonio (that's him as my avatar over on the right).  Simon is almost 18 years old, and has had a bad heart since he was about 5.  He's definitely become an old man kitty and spends a lot of his day asleep.  However, the smell of chicken still perks him up!  Here he is, trying to get a bite of my Taco Cabana chicken fajita bowl --

Maybe next time I'll have some knitting to show you....