Happy Mother's Day from Frieda's Five

Mother’s Day, last week, had been a little more difficult than I’d thought even though much of the day was spent trying to get two short posts up on “Dr. Dick’s [Other] Blog,” thanks to major issues logging in (and staying in) to blogger... There were lots of things I wanted to do that day but just didn’t get around to any of it, given the blogging frustrations. Finally, after several hours of foiled and failed attempts, I managed to get them posted but I also wanted to do a quick one here: who has that kind of time? It’s not been completely resolved and it seems to be an issue with THIS computer (which is where I do most of my blogging, anyway). The next day, I tried again to post some pictures of the kittens, but even though by then I was able to log in (and stay in) alright, the photo up-loader kept saying “sorry, loser...” So forgive me if I haven’t been posting a lot here.

One of these days, I’m going to get back to composing again, but I have to get my piano out here and that just hasn’t been in the cards: though it turns out the hernia is really two hernias (herniae? hernii?), the problem basically is a pulled muscle in my weakened abdominable wall which is keeping the packing and moving down to – well, nothing, at this point.

Meanwhile, some of Mother’s Day was spent with the new mother in my mom’s house: Frieda the Ex-Stray whom I’ve started calling Frieda Farrell with her five kittens. As of May 14th, they were 3 weeks old. So here are a bunch of pictures I took this past week.

This is a typical group shot. Frieda had them in the right corner behind the toilet of the “turquoise bathroom,” one of 2½ bathrooms in the house, then more recently moved them to the left corner which seems a little more spacious. She still hasn’t gotten used to me and hisses if I get too close to them. After all, not only is she a stray, she’s a new mother, defending her babies. Here they are, lined up (from left to right) Abel, Baker, Guy Noir (the dark one) and Blanche (the cream tabby) and Charlie.

Here they are, trying to get a meeting organized to wish Frieda a happy Mother’s Day, but Baker seems to be having a little trouble getting them called to order. Guy Noir & Blanche are wondering what’s going on with the guy and the camera and Abel is just easily distracted. That’s Charlie hiding under Guy Noir, trying to pretend he’s AWOL...

Here’s a close-up of Guy Noir: who, more and more, is beginning to look like those gremlins you’re not supposed to feed after midnight... Originally, I thought this one was solid black but in the first week or so, all you saw were butts and back legs while they body-surfed into nursing positions. It was only later that, after the eyes opened up, he (or she) began showing more specific signs of orange tabbiness mixed in among the black -- and dig the white bib! Technically, I imagine this is a tortoise-shell which means, like calicos, most likely a female and hence not likely a Guy, and not really Noir enough, either. But for now, it works...

Abel and Charlie (left) have begun working on their wrasslin’ moves... Originally, the three orange tabbies looked identical but even now, as their personalities start surfacing, it's sometimes difficult to tell them apart. Abel is paler with more prominent stripes; Charlie is darker, generally, and more subdued.

Baker, right, probably wondering about life beyond the toilet bowl... This one probably has the greatest sense of curiosity and not surprisingly, a few days later, was the first one to be seen testing her sea-legs in the vast space in front of the toilet! But she soon scampered back into the corner and Mother's protective presence. It's a big, scary world out there.

Apparenly, Blanche has doubts about the wider world, too. She and Charlie are the quietest of the litter. And I'm not sure who wins the Cutest Face Award, Blanche or Baker...