Clarice Taking Notes

She's not quite two yet, and she's lived with us for about a year and a half. She's an intelligent cat, and she works hard to figure out How Things Work. She does this thing I call Taking Notes: whenever anyone--human or feline--does something she hasn't seen before, or hasn't seen very often, she'll sit and watch intently, trying to figure out what we're doing and what it means and what role she might have in it. I swear if she had opposable thumbs and a notebook, she'd have it almost filled by now.

This morning I've been altering a necklace. The EGE and I used to buy each other jewelry, long ago, and I've got a couple Real Necklaces. You know, with stones in them and stuff. Over the years, I've hardly worn them--I'm hard on jewelry because I put it on and leave it on for months, even in the shower, so I usually wear gold or silver bands with no stones. I recently began wearing these two necklaces again, though, because I like them and because one was the first gift he ever gave me and because, geesh, what's the point of having stuff you never wear, right? But wearing two necklaces together is problematic because they twist and tangle and are just a pain in the butt. So I figured out a way to put them together with some bits of gold chain and tiny, teeninsy gold jump rings. Not a great solution, and I may decide I hate it, but it's OK for now. It took a lot of time because the jump rings were so tiny and fragile and some stuff was soldered, and I had to cut the solder without ruining the metal.

And this process completely and totally fascinated Clarice. She got up on the table, right in front of me, and settled down, paws tucked under, watching every single movement. And started purring this quiet, gentle purr--not the happy-getting-petted one, but the intent-on-something-new one. She's such a cool little cat.