Charon, the Odd Angel

Tonight is my last night at the Palace of Wonders until later in October when I’ll be back off the road. I’ll miss the place a great deal. Much of the staff I know and love will be gone when I get back home and there are still major changes taking place with the scheduling of acts that may or may not be settled by then.

My To Do list is getting smaller as I’m managing to stay on top of it by not waiting until the very last minute to get absolutely everything completed. I work well under pressure, but there’s a time and place for that sort of pressure. Prior to leaving home to live on the road for two months is not one of them.

We have a new cat. I know, I know, what with Celt nursing the mangled leg and not being able to work all we need is another mouth to feed. But we had to have her, and all of her extra toes. Her feet make her look like she’s wearing oven mitts and her ears look capable of picking up deep space frequencies with the tufts on the ends acting as antennae. She’s an older girl, needed a home and we couldn’t resist an anomalous animal.

We’re rather stupid that way.

We were concerned about how Pinball, our orange alpha male who would absolutely be a drag queen were he in human form, would take the new addition, as he is a bit of a jealous diva at times. Turns out that the New Kitty chased him all around the house so much that first evening that he gave up his position in the pecking order and now hums ominously at her from well across the room or up the stairs, his eyes narrowed to bitter slits. He’s still speaking to all of us, though.

She is still adjusting, being sweet and affectionate one moment and then morphing into a tempestuous ball of kitty death hurling herself at our legs to beat them soundly with her declawed mitts. Celt calls her Fists of Furry. Anaphys calls her schizophrenic. I call her “hey, cut that out!” Today we plied her with treats and the aggression seemed to subside a whole lot. A second feeding station to prevent territorial issues was also a big help. She even let us put a nice new green collar with a bell on her so she can’t blindside Pinball anymore.

Pips just folds herself into corners and sulks. She’s speaking to us, but making it plain that she’d rather do other things with her abundant time.

We’ll all find our way eventually. Breathe in, breathe out, one step at a time. On lots of extra toes. It’ll all be fine. I just know it.

If someone had told me just a few months ago that I’d be turning into a total web geek (complete with eye strain … ) I would have laughed in their face. So five websites and four blogs later I suppose the laugh is on me. I’m going to get my eyes looked at. Really. Just as soon as I finish this next website …

I’ve rediscovered my love of illustration in rich vibrant colors with the request from the Palace of Wonders for a banner honoring our adoptive cat. “Adoptive” because he adopted us, not the other way around. Cats are that way. It suits us all just fine.

I had a plan for the piece but through discussion with the staff it was decided that the very best way to depict Al (named for Al Tomaini, the Italian Giant), was the way we and all our clientele and performers experienced him on a regular basis.

So here it is:

We’re very proud of it. I’m personally very delighted that one of the owners uses it as wallpaper on his MacBook.

It’s Saturday and there’s lots to do. On to the next list item and whatever adventures it might bring.

Getting ready to stir things up with a whole new website. Lots of news & fun stuff here. Stay tuned …