Dec

Six geese a-laying

Back to the bird gifts, it appears.

I suppose if I were creating an olden days ranking of bird-based love offerings, geese a-laying wouldn’t be so bad. Certainly better than the turtle doves and definitely superior to the calling birds.

However, I wouldn’t know as, once again, I have never been gifted geese in any quantity.

And trust me, I’m not complaining. I’m seriously fine with that.

At the same time, I was once ‘gifted’ (dumped upon with?) a female calico Siamese and her six two-day old kittens. The mother arrived with the fine name of Luna (later dubbed Lunatic due to extreme personality quirks) and her babies were soon thereafter named:

Biscuit (male/beige)

Chowder (male/beige – obviously there was some kind of food fetish going on here…)

Liz (female/gray tortie)

Wingnut (female/calico)

Jerry (female /looked like a British Blue. Jerry Garcia had died just days before and Jerry was gray…so it seemed to add up.)

Oreo (female/runt/black and white)

The only two successfully relocated to their own homes were the boys. The rest I raised and loved and tolerated and had my thumb nail bit through (Wingnut) and got peed on in the light of day (Liz) and had abducted and went through hell and high water to recover (Oreo) and thought was the cutest kitten to ever exist and had for her entire life (Jerry.)

Case in point, Jerry died about a year ago (of skin cancer which grew internally. I don’t understand what that means, but I know it’s deadly.), thus ending an era. Jerry was a bit like the Phantom of the Opera – she was a basement dweller who liked to lay super low in the dark corners and shadowy recesses – but she still had her moments. And she truly was the cutest kitten ever.

Thus, although I wouldn’t recommend rushing out and getting yourself one-cat-a-laying six kittens, I will say that they were a ton of fun in their own perfect way. I remember just sitting there and watching them for hours on end while they were babies. Amazing stuff.

At the same time, if you’re given six geese a-laying, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get one that lays golden eggs? And in that case – in honor of the story – just be glad for the damn eggs.

You know the story : A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose

Long story short, don’t be greedy, as those who want too much risk losing everything.

And those who don’t appreciate kittens and puppies are fools.

And people who endeavor to blog every day are even worse fools.

And not all who wander are lost.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien