On A Brighter Note.....

Thank you so much to EVERYONE who has been so kind and compassionate toward us for our recent loss of Thomas P. Cat. It is especially hard when, every so often, we sort of just "forget" that he's no longer here....as we look for him in his usual places, leave lights on for him when we go out at night, and expect him to be at the door, as usual, when we arrive home. Its hard. It really is.

But, on a brighter note, here are some pictures of the little handsome man known as Callum Stuart Goldsmith. He just brightens our day with all the new "stuff" he is doing, most notably, of course, being the fact that he's "giggling" out loud when his mommy gets silly with him. And he's starting to really react (in a positive way!) to my voice when I sing any one of the "Callum songs" I've written for him--most are just silly, jingly kinds of things--but he loves them!

Does he still look just like me? I see a little Amanda here, no?
"Hey! Who took the last spare rib???"
Last night Chris and Michelle came over for supper, and we decided two things. First of all, it would be PJ night (I thought I heard something else, and I got really excited, but PJs are good too). Second, the menu would consist of "stick to your ribs stuff." With that in mind, Chrishelle brought over a perfect ham, and I concocted some homemade macaroni and cheese. Chris and Michelle were incredibly thoughtful in bringing us THREE framed photographs of Thomas--one of a closeup of his face, one of him in front of the wood stove, and one of them being a huge "collage like" type of frame, with lots of great memories of our cat. We'll each bring one picture to work, and we'll hang the "collage" in Thomas's "room" which is the guest room where he always slept in the sun. Amanda made her signature Swedish Apple Pie, which is a regular during this time of year. It was delicious...especially served with cider from the Apple Farm, and some great vanilla ice cream.
This morning I worked on some firewood, and Amanda and Callum went into Augusta to do some errands. I put Callum in his new plaid flannel shirt, since it was a nice crisp fall day in Maine. This afternoon, we planned on going to Lynne and George's to paddle our canoe in Belgrade Stream, but it was so nice out that we decided to head into the woods instead. As I've written before, Lynne and George have AMAZING trails in back of their house, connecting to beautiful logging roads, and clearly marked snowmobile trails. Amanda and Callum took a walk, and I opted for a trail-running workout--which sure as hell beats running on pavement for a change. I've been doing more running lately since I know my biking days are numbered for the season, and soon I'll have to make the transition to ALL running (and, in the deep winter, swimming too). So I might as well get used to it. It was beautiful back in the woods, and the fall colors are blazing. For dinner, grammy and gramps put out some snacks (as always) and made a cozy sausage, kale, and bean soup. An A+ meal. Tomorrow, Amanda heads off to Michelle's wedding shower, and Callum and I will probably hit a bar someplace. Then, next weekend, Callum sees his Nannie and Papa again! How fun!


"Hey mom, put me down....I'm gonna be late for the Pearl Jam concert!"