Quick notice: I've had to revert to my old blogspot address for the time being while Blogger either does, or does not, sort out the issues with my custom domain. I think this will still go out to all your feeds, readers, etc. -- if you see this and are able to do so, please shoot me an email or comment here so I know it's working. Email is musingsonthemove AT gmail DOT com. Thanks so much!Now, today's post.....Pets. One can't really have kids, or at least not boys, without also having a parade of animals come through the house. Over the years, we've had all the traditional pets -- cats, dogs, birds, fish, guinea pigs -- and some non traditional pets as well -- snakes, frogs, insects, snails; all found in the yard, captured, deposited into bug cages kept around just for this purpose, and loved on/watched for days or weeks or months, depending on the life span of the animal in question and Mom's Tolerance Level for said critters. The tarantula, for instance, only lasted a day and a half. The tree frog was allowed to stay much longer.
Because our menagerie has included many beloved animals, most of which we no longer have, and has been a trademark of sorts about Life With Boys, I couldn't make my diary quilt without some slight nod to these furry (or not) loved ones.
The block itself is not my favorite; I found a printed fabric and made a scrappy patchwork from it. I think I need to redo it and add some element that ties it in to the rest of the quilt, but for now, it stays like this.
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Pets: The Block
tribute to the dogs, cats, birds, and other pets we've had over the years |
And here are a few pictures of some of the animals that we're paying tribute to. Once I add the setting triangles to frame out the block and turn it on point, I'll embroider their names into the surrounding fabric. I'm just not that far along yet.
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| Canela then... |
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| ...and Canela now. |
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| "magrinho" - a stray siamese who the boys loved but was never officially ours |
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Lia and her newborn kitties
Lia was the Artist's cat; she ran away after we gave away her kittens |
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| Pipa, one of Lia's kittens |
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| Ponkan & Padrao, 2 more of Lia's kittens |
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Galinha, the last cat to leave our house when the neighbors got crazy.
the Artist's favorite, and the only one of Lia's kittens that we kept |
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| the current crop of birds |
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Praia, our first Brazil cat, part Siamese.
she ran away after Lia had her kittens. |
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an old picture of the guinea pigs - Polly (the big one) and Millie (who is now as big as Polly)
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| Nickel, a stray we had in the US; she adopted us after she had kittens and hid them in our garage |
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Nickel's three kittens
we kept them and socialized them until time for them to be re-homed
we gave them away at our Moving to Brazil garage sale |
There are other pets in there that I don't have pictures of, not in this computer. Zoey-girl, our first dog, a golden retriever/lab mix. Poochie, a cute stray pup who adopted The Adventurer as his very own boy. Houdini & Nightingale, the first cats we had for any actual length of time. The birds and fish we had before, and the many many insects and critters. All were dearly loved, for however long (or short) we had them.
Have you had, or do you have pets? What sorts? What's your favorite type of pet?
Awwww!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat could be better than doggie and kitty pictures?
I find myself wanting to break into a chorus of:
"To all the dogs I've loved before..
Who've traveled in and out my door...
and in...and out....and in....and out.....and in....and out..."
Cats. Definitely cats :) I grew up with a dog (Bobo, a poodle), a cat (Candi, a Siamese), and a string of other cats from the streets (Goldie, Sam, and Prissy), plus a few random birds and squirrels that my sister found injured and just had to nurse. Oh, and also her turtle and her guinea pig. I guess we also had a bit of a menagerie :)
ReplyDeleteNow Jeff and I have our Egyptian cats, Isis and Cleo. We'd like to get a dog one day, but we want a big one, and we don't want to get a big one until we have a nice big yard for him to run around in ... so it'll be a while. For now it's enough keeping a curious almost-toddler from pulling cat ears and whiskers and tails; I can't imagine adding another set of pullable appendages to the mix :)
Sooze, you got me. That was totally what I was thinking/humming/singing when I typed the title :-)
ReplyDeleteDeborah, you are so right. Get that little one a bit older before a dog. Although, the right breed of dog would be great as they don't scratch when baby pulls too hard. Just sayin'.
And, we miss having cats, but our neighbors are psycho in regards to felines.
Mrs. W - we need to make friends with a cat so we can visit one. That's a brilliant idea.