March 13, 2006
After years of pining over getting a tattoo, I finally got one. A black paw print on the underside of my left wrist. It’s simple, unique (not out of a book) and small, only about an inch by inch in size. I adore it. It means so much to me, on many levels.
I called my mother from New Orleans a few days before I went and gave her updates about what was going on with me, the happenings there, etc.. I also blurted out, "And I’m going to get a tattoo". Her response? "Cool! You’ve wanted one for years. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten one yet"!
It was done by Walt Clark on February 23rd at Rings of Desire, a piercing shop near the French Quarter. He was a guest tattoo artist there for only a short time. A friend of mine, Mark Morgan, also got a tattoo at the same time. His was much more elaborate and included a full-color cat on his shoulder. I’ll have to bug him for a photo. It really is a cool tattoo.
I wanted to wait until it healed somewhat to take photos. It’s still not 100% healed, but I was anxious to share. A few people warned me that I will have this when I’m 80 years old. You know what? That makes me happy. I’ll look down at my wrinkly old skin, with my tattoo all faded and remember my time in New Orleans, remember all the animals I helped save and be able to show my grandchildren a relic of my youth. Neat.
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March 10, 2006
There are a couple of felines that found a special place in my heart. Ruby, the adorable kitty in these photos, is one of them. One of our star volunteers, Alice, named her.
Recognize her? She is the cat staring wide-eyed out of the humane trap that Craig and I caught one evening. You can see the photo of her in the blog post I made on January 25th.
Little Ruby was so sweet and used to "make biscuits" as soon as you started petting her. For the first few days, however, the cat area staff thought she was feral (wild). She was not feral, obviously. A lot of cats who we once thought were feral came out of their shells in just a few days. It amazed me every time, too.
Anyway, I digress. Back to Ruby. During the Super Adoption event, she won the hearts of a mom and son family. The son was so gentle with her and I was very happy with the match. They had another kitty named Sapphire, so they wanted to keep her name. It was fate! She went home with them that day and I’m sure she’s spoiled and loved.
I will shamefully admit that letting her go to another family was rough, even though it is a perfect home for her. She wasn’t even my cat! I just trapped her and cared for her for a few days. Part of rescue work is letting go, however, and working at Celebration Station for 2 1/2 months taught me quite well on how to do just that. Rescue, care for, kiss them on their furry little head goodbye – all in a few days. No one ever claimed it would be easy, though, right?
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