Things my cats eat

It started soon after I got Jean Luc- my first cat. I found him drinking my coffee. Now granted, there was a fair amount of milk in it, but now in hindsight, it was the beginning.(I even named him Jean Luc because he was obviously a Parisian cat. I expected to come in and see him in a beret and smoking Gauloises.)
I think because it was just him and me living together for a couple of years, and because I like to learn accents by mimicking sounds, Jean Luc and I developed a "language." It was made of cat noises but I'm not sure whether I'm actually saying anything or he's just humoring me. He would make his "I want to play" sounds, I would say them back and pretty soon we were chasing each other around the apartment, jumping out at each other, etc.
Now that Isabel has joined us, I can see that maybe it's a "him and me" thing. When we go into these bouts, she just moves aside and looks bemused. She doesn't act like she understands the sounds and she looks like she thinks we're both a bit crazy. (as probably some of you do at this point.)

I say this because it might explain the point of this post.
Obviously, it's more normal for cats to want the meat products, cheese, milk, etc. All of which both of them like quite a lot. I will now add to the list: green beans, roasted beets, almond butter, coconut, nutritional yeast, lentils and many more. Oh - did I mention wasabi peas? And choclate? Isabel is so fond of fried tofu that she grabs it and runs away growling as if she had a piece of chicken. As my sister said when I called her to relate a new food item one time, what she said was , "The only thing that surprises me is that you're still surprised."

Recently, my diet has changed due to an effort to deal with adrenal fatigue and candida overgrowth. I'd become intrigued with the idea of eating raw- many veggies and green smoothies with LOTS of greens. At this point, I would say I average between 60 -70 % raw in a week.
I had thought that short of sushi, the days of the cats- and especially Jean Luc- eating my food and munching away were over. Nope. More than once he has shared some of my bowl of grated vegetables. No cheese on them; no tasty sauces.

But the kicker happened this morning- I sat drinking my green smoothie with a rim of veggies one the side of the glass. I put the glass down to type on the computer and looked up to find Jean Luc licking inside the glass. And not just for a taste. He licked for a minute or so, then walked away.
My conclusion? I think I bonded with him too much. He thinks he is whatever I am and that he should be eating whatever I am eating. And Isabel follows his lead.
I don't know what you would call this household, but don't call it normal. :-)

The Thrill of a Lifetime

I'm a little late in posting this (ok a lot- but I do have a LIFE going on) but last month I got to participate in a wondrous event.
The Richmond Ballet joined in a partnership with the Richmond Symphony to produce A Midsummer Night's Dream. Richmond Shakespeare was hired (meaning Grant and me) to provide the narration for the ballet and 2 soloists from the Virginia Opera sang along with the women of the Richmond Symphony Chorus.
I don't know that I have words for the experience. Me - without words! But to provide the voice and give character to Puck, Hermia, Titania and Hippolyta, as danced by these amazing dancers just put me in a place above words. The dancers were excited to have character to play with. It was a lovefest all around :-).
It was good enough just to be in the rehearsal hall with them and be THAT CLOSE to their dancing, but when we moved to the Landmark Theater with all the sets and the lights, and the dancers in costume and makeup, it went another step toward nirvana.
We were set in two high chairs (I'm sure there's meaning in that!) on the stage left side of the apron (this means we were out front and to the left.)The orchestra was at our feet, the chorus was on the ground on both right and left sides, the dancers were on stage to our right, and would occasionally interact with us. We'll probably never have seats better than that.And THEN we got to do our favorite thing: speak the words of the Bard.
We also made some friends there as well as the choreographer, William Soleau.
It just doesn't get better than that.
And the word for the day is MERDE, y'all!