Flowers And Kitties

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I feel like the tenor of my last couple of posts has been kind of…depressing. While it’s true it’s been a strange couple of months here on the island and also that I’m heading off into another not-completely-stress-free transition time very soon, that’s no reason not to appreciate all the good things going on in my life, you know? To that purpose, I present some pictures of kittens and flowers, to remind myself that life is good and that I’m grateful for everything I have. You check these out while I get back to packing, okay?

The big news around here is that the little baby kitty—named Potato because when we got him he was about the size of a Maris Piper–is not so little anymore and has been granted limited outside cat status. This policy has been greeted with great enthusiasm.

The neighbors bouganvillea (which I always pronounce boo-gan-VEE-ya but apparently some other people pronounce it boo-gan-VILL-ee-ah, which: what the hell, do you not see the double L there or what?) is doing nicely.

Since she moved to the new house my mom doesn’t have the same crazy jungle garden she used to have but it’s nice to see that these weird spotted things made the move with no adverse effects.

Please enjoy viewing this lizard, brought to you by me for your lizard-viewing enjoyment.

And here’s what the beach looked like today. Often in winter the beach is totally covered with gross sand-flea infested sargassum weed and the water is usually really cloudy and yucky. Today, however, it was smooth and cool and clean and lovely.

I am wearing long pants because at 65 degrees it was a little chilly today. A beautiful multi-lingual Belgian couple who are studying at UM took this, and we got into a very backpacker-y discussion, my first ever in my home country. They gave Obama and the beach a thumbs up and college dorm food, the state of public transportation in Miami, and the fact that cigarette prices vary from store to store a thumbs down. Always good to get outside insight into your hometown, right?

Personally speaking, I give my whole day a thumbs up. I felt very relaxed yet productive all day: I worked a couple hours at school, had a good lunch, took my hydrangea dress to be altered, took the little baby kitty to be vaccinated, got a pair of shoes in the mail, made dinner plans for tomorrow. After feeling so inert and unsure for so long it’s been nice to open my eyes a little bit and understand what’s here for me, how lucky I am in so many ways.