Nonna and Ziggy

Nonna and Ziggy

There’s some heavy petting going on, and purring fills the house. Nonna is queenlike on her fat cushion. And Ziggy – “Big Zig” – reigns as king from his high perches.

Nonna is a 10-year-old, 11-pound, little-old-lady cat with an eye infection, dandruff and arthritis… and she’s FIV+. Poor kitty. She needed a good home with someone to dote on her. She’s loving, demure and full of affection. She’s a short-hair, golden tabby with soft underfur, a white chin and a creamy belly. Nonna’s happy just to have a cozy, quiet place to take a nap all day, and loves it when I sit next to her and pet her or brush her. (At the Seattle Humane Society they called her “Fluffy”, but I felt that “Nonna” – Italian for “grandmother” – was more fitting.)

Big Zig is a 2-year old, 16-pound, sleek, handsome, loverboy cat… also FIV+ (Yeah. Kitten energy with 16 pounds behind it!) He’s a lean and long, muscular, gray tabby and also has a white chin and creamy belly like his “Auntie Nonna”. He adores cuddling with me in the big chair, head-butting his nose up against my face, and burrowing his head into the palm of my hand. Once in a while, he’ll give me little love bites, gently closing his teeth against my hand or arm.

When Ziggy first came to the house two days ago, he immediately escaped into the dark recesses of the basement: one behind the furnace and water heater; the other, now his favorite sleeping place, on top of some six-foot-tall bookshelves, nestling in the niches between the floor joists. Silly cat. I’ve stair-stepped the boxes piled next to the shelves just to help him come and go: “cat accommodation”. (Silly me.)

What have I done?! I wanted to get a kitty, but came home with two “special needs” cats. But how could I have walked away from them? Because they’re both FIV+ (the feline equivalent of human HIV+), they have weak immune systems and can’t go outside and be exposed to other cats. They must be indoor cats. And since Nonna has the eye infection, Ziggy can’t be around her until the infection is cleared up. So, she’s cozily quarantined on her cushion in my office and I now have a litter box eight feet from my desk (oh, lovely!).

And Ziggy gave me the clear signal that he likes to be UP, so now there’s a cat tree with a top perch in my living room next to the dining table. (“cat accommodation” part 2.) I’d rather have him hanging out upstairs than down in the dark basement, but that’s just me. And I had to give him the means to work off some of that young energy, stretching, scratching, etc.

These two will both be sweet companions, each in very different ways.
(I’ve really tied myself down now!)

A Neighborly Salad

A Neighborly Salad

Part of what makes this feel like home is having my dear neighbors show up at my door with a fresh harvest of arugula – rucola in Italian – and radishes. I did have sweet people in Italy (over)feeding me, but the friendships and interconnections here in my Burien neighborhood, south of Seattle, make me feel more deeply rooted and appreciated.

Added to my neighbors are crab feeds, bike rides and brunches with family, and it makes it easy to say “There’s no place like home”.

For my lunch today I took the whole harvest of rucola, shaved the radishes, added some raspberries from my berry patch and some parmesan and fresh mozzarella bocconcini. I drizzled it all with a homemade roasted red pepper vinaigrette, Sicilian olive oil and crema balsamica.