Iverness63 @ MindSay

During the first two visits I made to foreverknight's and iverness63's house, I fell in love with all their cats. Usually when I visit friends, I make it a habit to also introduce myself and spend time with all their animals. I've even been accused of spending more time with the animals than my friends! But Rebekah and Josh seemed to really appreciate it. I don't even consider other peoples' animals to be "pets" -- to me they are just another part of everyone's family. It's good to acknowledge and talk to the animals. A house, especially, is not complete without a cat in it, if you ask me!




This is Oscar. He loves Josh the best. He's this HUGE tom cat with a deep voice. He doesn't like to be picked up often, but whenever he's in the room, I so wanted to cuddle with him. There's something so wonderful about big, manly cats like Oscar.



See how Josh is Oscar's favorite? They even kinda look alike here.



Oscar wasn't too proud to finally show me that he likes to suck his paw. Check it out! What a wonderful character he is. Josh looks all mommy-daddy to Oscar.



RuRu is a big white pillow of a cat. He kept me company a lot in the livingroom while I slept on the futon. When I laid on the floor, he would come up and try to "clean" me as if I were another cat! Here I manipulated the photo I took of him to make him very fluffy-ghostly. I'm still finding "fluffs" of his fur in the clothes I wore when I visited last.



Here's another picture of RuRu I took on my first visit.



And another! The flash of the camera makes him look ghostly again. Can you just imagine him about to say something? He has that kind of look. I didn't mean to also capture the house's game consoles and collection, but I didn't edit it out because there's this little orb peeking out. How interesting...



Azrael is checking out my coat here. He most likely smells Mr. Snuggles on it. Plus he was also just checking me out in general when I first stepped in the house.



I regret not taking a picture of Dudley or Tigger or G-G, so the above is just of Dudley and Azrael waiting for someone to let them out of the livingroom. You see, Oscar is the one kitty in Rebekah's house who likes to spray. It's a many cat thing to do, marking territory, and he can't help it so he's locked out of the livingroom. The other kitties can come and go, but they have to wait for someone to let them out and in. Here Dudley and Azrael seem to be in jail. "Have ya hear from the Gov'r, love?"



Here's the wonderful Leif chilling out with Azrael on his lap. Leif is a kitty lover, too, so we got on well when it came to communing with the felines of the house. I remember when Rebekah first posted pix of Azrael when he was a kitten. He's so much bigger now! Look at him taking up Leif's lap. What a little black angel!

On my next visit I'll have to make it a project to capture more of the kitties on my camera. I kinda consider them Mr. Snuggles' cousins because Rebekah and Josh are like my family, too. So I can't forget the kitties! It's all about the kitties, folks. They make the world a better place.

Trick or Treating in Janesville was super sweet with fellow Mindsayers Foreverknight (Rebekah), paths4byzantium (Rachel), Iverness63 (Josh), and Silverfire85 (Nadine). We had a lot of fun. I could write a novel about it. Heck, I'm still hoarse from talking so damn much with everyone I need to go on a vow of silence just to get my voice back. I'm still pooped from our adventures. Look at Josh in the last photo. All arms folded over the chest like a slumbering vampire. Yeah. Need I say more?



Thank you all for sharing your home with me. *smiles with a tear* Miss you and love you, guys. Now... where is that teleporter so I can just show up whenever I want to without having to take a two hour drive to get to your place? *giggles*



Oh, yeah, and remember that dream-idea-vision thing I had about my friend Pat's charity raffle? If you want to make it a reality, go here! Or go HERE for more info! And Rebekah, those Mother Earth Oracle cards may have alerted us to "Fantasy Transforms Reality" and perhaps this relates to that since we both had it as a future card! But we have to look out for "Those Who Mock Kindliness must Change their minds" because I can see some folks not getting into it and thinking it's not right or real. (just a thought)

Over the weekend I was honored to have a few Mindsay friends, foreverknight and iverness63, sleep over at my place and then take me home to their place in Janesville! Sunday night was especially magical as we took a late night tour of the country. I don't have enough words to describe the experience. I'm still overwhelmed and in a very happy state of mind over it all. I feel like I owe Rebekah and Josh so much for the joy they gave me! We took A TON of photos during our respective visits. So now I have this HUGE catalog of images to mill through, but out of them all, I had to first post the collection I captured that Sunday night in Janesville. I was hoping to capture a spirit orb, and, sure enough, I did in the first photo pictured above. The second image is a close up of the orb. I know Rebekah will be VERY pleased as the photo features one of her favorite trees! Sometimes little blessings from the spirit world show up to wink at us.





The rest of the images are from the same tree, the forest park floor, and branches of oaks that surrounded us. I love to occasionally take photos like this at night because of how mysterious everything looks in the dark -- to have that bright flash go off like a spotlight on the leaves... what else can I say? I'm happy exhausted. You can see that happy exhaustion in our eyes in the last three pictures. Savannah glows and flies like a ghost on a swing. A lovely long-haired willow tree let us cuddle up to it -- making it appear as if it was swallowing us in the last two photos.





Yeah. Go ahead and say it. We're just a bunch of tree huggers having the time of our lives. I know! *flashes big smile*

It was only a week ago that I was blessed to receive a wonderful visit from Rebekah and Josh. I'm not quite over their absence! It was dreamlike how we all got along so well. It's been so long since I've had company, that when I finally had it again, it was a race to do all the things I've wanted to do with guests ever since I moved into my little forest side apartment several years ago. I remember when I moved in foreseeing where and how I'd entertain guests. But I don't get out much and don't have much to entertain with, lucky for me I have friends who love to talk and share their lives with me. Visiting with Rebekah, Josh, and Savannah was a real breath of fresh air that cleared up the loneliness in my home. Even my cat, Mr. Snuggles, warmed up to everyone and acted the official greeter at my door. I have to have guests over more often and I have to travel again to meet more of my special friends.



I feel very blessed to have such interesting and talented friends. Here's a little break down of the lovely visit we had last weekend:



I watched WAITING while WAITING for friends

First, I wasn't sure if they were coming. We had discussed over and over again organizing a visit. On the scheduled day of their arrival, Josh told me that they'd be leaving or arriving (I wasn't sure which) at 11am. Me being the lazy girl I am, put off some minor housecleaning that Saturday, so I go up at 8am to put the finishing touches on my place. Then 11am came and went. By the time it got to be 1pm, I put in a dvd and snacked on a few hotdogs. The movie I watched was Waiting  which was very timely considering I was watching Waiting while waiting for my friends to arrive! I didn't even realize I was making a funny until Josh pointed it out once they were in my living room.



I am tucked away behind those ugly Village Apartments

By 2pm I paused Waiting to answer the phone. I debated picking up because my father had been calling me asking for money. But these days we is all broke! I didn't have to despair too long because on the other line was Josh's quiet, thoughtful voice telling me they were in town trying to figure out which apartment complex I was in. They had parked right in front of apartments I once lived in when I was a freshmen in college. Apartments that hadn't changed since the time I lived in them 18 years ago! So I just walked across the street and showed them, on foot, where to go. It was amazing to finally recieve warm hugs from Rebekah. It was as if we'd always known each other. Sure, we've been blog friends on Mindsay for five years, but you never know how a face-to-face meeting is going to go until, well, until you're right there face-to-face! The strongest sense I got from Rebekah is that we're sisters. Her scent, her voice, her laugh... so familiar to me. I wasn't sure if Josh and Savannah were going to warm up to me, but I was soon to discover I had nothing to worry about.



My apartment complex is a little weird. Each building is a little hut or hobbit-like dwelling with each apartment on a sort of pie wedge. I absolutely love it because living there is like living in a cabin. Located right next to the university's nature reserve, it's as close as I can get to living like I'm camping 24/7! Rebekah and entourage seemed to be right at home at my home.



We were old friends meeting for the first time

I felt a little self conscious, so I went firstly into tour guide mode. First exploring my little place, letting them play with Mr. Snuggles (who really soaked up their attention!), and then we were off for downtown where I introduced them to my friend Dala (who owns a really cool imported goods store where I do the window displays and signs) and got to show off some nice antique buildings. Every small city has little hidden away details only I seem to pick up on. It was great to spend time with people who knew "my language" which was the architectural terminology and art history references. I don't always talk like I'm reading from a book but occasionally I've had to explain what I'm talking about. No need to explain anything with Rebekah and Josh.



Biggest regret: I wasn't able to record the visit on my camera!

The only sad thing was I wasn't able to be Rebekah's photography buddy that day. It wasn't my fault and couldn't be fixed right away. All my photo memory cards were full and, after some trail and error, we discovered that my digital camera is out of date and only takes 1GB memory cards. Oh, no! Rebekah and I did our best to find a place nearby that carried a card my camera would take, but no such luck. Only 2GB cards are sold now and we didn't have a lot of time to go searching for long. They still gave me a cheap 2GB card anyway in the hopes we could go clicking away together another day. Days later I discovered that I have to upgrade my camera to take 2GB or more memory cards. However, poor me doesn't have the software available and I can't download anything onto the university library computers, so needless to say, until I can get on someone else's computer to do so, I have to wait for this upgrade.



In the meantime, Rebekah was the main photographer. She took pix of silly me standing in front of some lovely buildings. I also made sure she explored the Fox Theatre where Houdini once performed regularly back in the early 20th century. Back then it was known as the Fox Opera House. You can still see the original designs on the building, a theatre long out of use since 1985. It is now a giant house of bats. Several colonies of bats subsist in this place. I used to walk downtown late at night to catch sight of those bats. They're wonderful! But we didn't see any bats on this visit.



Food warms the heart

It is always hard for me to decide where to eat with friends. Food is one thing that can bind people together. My other regret was I had no money or resources to fix a meal or potluck with my guests. I don't cook often, but it's one of those things I love to do when I have company. It's all part of that sharing process. I don't even though if I'm a good cook, but I try. Perhaps it's best we went out to eat! There are some cute little places in Stevens Point to eat at. One of my favorites is the Gyro and Kabob House where you can sit down on cushions and eat with your hands. My other favorite places are Green Tea (a lovely Chinese/South Asian restaurant where they serve free homemade green tea with your meal) and The Wooden Chair (an antique place that serves the best breakfast and lunch in town). Walking past The Wooden Chair, Josh thrilled to seeing an antique bike hanging up on the wall inside. There is so much more inside! Too bad they were only open for breakfast and lunch, closed by 2pm. Maybe next visit we'll indulge. Inside we ended up in another place I love called Guu's on Main. Guu's twenty years ago was once The Unique but after a few name and owner changes over the years, they still serve fantastic gourmet sandwiches and burgers that won't take too big of a bite out of your budget. Stepping into the bar is a little like stepping back in time as well. The walls are filled with old advertisements and movie posters, my favorite being a vintage STRIPES poster with a young Bill Murray posing as a smug Uncle Sam gazing affectionately at two innocent women.



In between bites, Rebekah, Josh, and I talked about nostalgia -- all the things we like we have in common and it was so nice to have that comraderie! The dinner we had refreshed my spirit as well as my stomach, but I was so excited around them, just so bubbling with happiness, it sat in my chest and lower back painfully. I had to remember to breathe more often, too. We were talking miles in minutes. You know how it is to try to get out as much talk as possible in a short amount of time? That's what our visit together was like. A race to get out all our words and share as much as possible before the inevitable parting of ways.



I hear her voice and start to run into the trees

We next headed for the woods. Darkness was fast stretching over us like an old dog hounding us. In the sunset light of deepest dusk, we walked through the trees and talked about ghosts, supernatural creatures, and other fond monsters we've met in our dreams. Our forest walk was special. Even the misquitoe bites we got were a small price to pay for exposing ourselves to the green. The moon was full and gold, like a big coin deposited in the sky, so big and seemingly so near, we could've reached up and grabbed it. Rebekah got as close to Lake Joanis as possible to record the Moon rise at the surface of the water. In the dark I saw her sink down to the shore beyond the tall grass and cattails. While Josh and I talked with Savannah, eventually we got a little worried. "Did you fall in, Rebekah?" Nope. She popped her little head up almost like a swan or human-maiden-shaped Loch Ness Monster and hopped back up to us on land, camera in hand.



Things I forgot to mention!

Before all of our little adventures, we exchanged gifts. Just a few little things I've been too forgetful to send out in the mail, of course. I gave Rebekah and Savannah two homemade paper journals that I decorated with glitter. I also gave them a book called "Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper" by Harriet Scott Chessman. It's a book I found to be of great comfort. Artists aren't just about their art, they have family and friends who influence what they do. One of my favorite and influential artists is Mary Cassatt -- her prints, drawings, paintings... so personal and emotional to me. I loved reading about the relationship she had with her sister. I hope Rebekah gets a kick out of it as well. There are so many stories behind each painting... and so many imagined. Oh, I can image if we all ever took a trip to an art gallery or museum we'd have ourselves a grand ol'time.



Rebekah gave me this lovely bright neon fuschia nail color. I put it on the Sunday after their visit and is shown in the photographs above. It lasted for a whole week before beginning to chip. It dried faster than my usual OPI nail laquers. The color was awesome. I'll wear it out again eventually! For now I have more conservative color on called "I'll Take the Cake" by OPI -- it is a sugar rose pink beige, fairly sheer, but really brings out the white parts of my nails in a way that reminds me of a French manicure. However, since I've been short on cash, at the end of this week I also ran out of nail polish remover, so there are still a few fuschia bits underneath the sheer sugar rose color, like little bits of lipstick smear that are just enough to remind me of Rebekah's gift!



All in all, it was wonderful to experience these people offline, to take walks, to talk long talks, and dream of travelling to visit and meet other friends on or off Mindsay. It was also a reassurance that I'm not alone in the world, that there are plenty of souls out there who are of a like-mind. We are all related in one way or another and, therefore, must be excellent to each other!



Love you all.

Here's a song that reminds me of the pleasant journey we had:


  


I know everything about you,

You know everything about me,

Know everything about us

from EMPIRE OF THE SUN, We Are the People