Hello, I am over 2oo days, maybe 300, behind printing out my blogs. I like to print them and then hold all the pages together and pretend it's a book.

Today at church our cat-loving friends, who have 3 cats, all rescues, said we should run out and get another kitten so Robby will have a best bud. Well, wow, I wasn't quite ready to hear that. Jazzi is supposed to be Robby's best bud. Jazzi is doing a good job not being jealous, sweet dog.

Robby minds pretty well. When I say, Robby, do not scratch on the basket. Or, Robby, do not bite the cords, he kind of says, Okay.

Robby loves to curl up on the piano bench or in the small basket on the desk, which is entirely too cute. I had my Sports Illustrated magazines, with blog notes jotted on them, and also my first grade class picture laying on top of this basket. Robby made them slide into the basket, kind of cock-eyed, which leaves a cozy small pocket of a space he barely fits into. He actually curls up right against his mother when she was in first grade. He also likes to chase his tail in a paper shopping bag. He's expert at playing soccer with a straw ball (which then I can never find again). He's smart and doesn't have accidents and he can find his food dish, which I had to move, tucked it in the pantry behind things that Jazzi can't navigate. Robby also enjoys staring at the computer screen. He can read and follows the cursor thingy. He is meowing more, a little pinch of a squeak. And he drapes beautifully over my head, a Cat Hat. Okay, so I'm a new mother, please give me a lot of leash. I'm sure I'll find a new blogging subject in a few weeks. Gosh, his black spotted pink nose is cute.

Okay, I DO love my friends. Oonagh, how's that for a great name, say it like this: Long O, NAY. O-NAY. Her brothers and sisters and children all have fascinating names, too. Well, she emails me today, she knows my BIG birthday is coming up, and her biggy isn't too far beyond mine. She says,

We woman of advanced maternal years must unite in solidarity -- Oonagh

That just busted me up. And it's wisdom in a nutshell. Honestly, what a great quote she summoned.

Have to mention this little boy at Mike's church. He is 3 and a half and is, oh, so funny, he definitely came out on the long end of the personality stick. Every week during the children's sermon, when the kids go up to the front of the church, he raises his hands to make appropriate (hilarious) comments. There is always one child who sets us off, it used to be a blond curly headed little Shirley Temple type. I anticipate the children's sermon now because of this charming boy, you can really count on him. Today the story was knocking on your neighbor's door until he tires of your pestering and hands over the loaf of bread. This was tied into how we can knock on Jesus' door when we need something. The teacher asked the question, What do you think Jesus does when you knock on his door?, what do you do when someone knocks on your door? So, this child shoots up his hand and says in a high-pitched voice, great cadence, You say, COME IN! Of course, you had to hear how he said it, but we all broke up. And it really struck a chord with me. Out of the mouth of babes, because now when I pray I can just hear Jesus welcoming me, with pure delight, sparkly eyes, COME IN!

I guess I was in a tickly mood today because a line in the hymn, What A Friend We Have In Jesus, also got to me. It goes something like this, When our friends despise, forsake us. So much for some friendships, eh?

Tomorrow is the big Robby Tour, I have added a stop, the church cat loving people mentioned above. In fact, one of their cats was an abandoned, or something, church urchin. This lady is now on the ARA, Advice Ready Alert to answer any and all of my cat questions. It's so nice having someone on call, don't you think? After the Toru I have to go to the pet shop and pick up some fun things like a cat bed and a poop scoop. And a springy toy, something that bounces on a string or spring, because Robby has been batting the price tags hanging on my clothes in the closet. And the zipper dangling from my music bag. He needs a scratching post, too. The guy at PetSmart (which I always before thought was PetsMart, not too Smart of me, just like my childhood friend always thought, for umpteen years, that it was MacDonalds instead of McDonalds), the guy said that some cats don't scratch and to wait to see what Robby was before I invested in a scratching post. Robby is a scratcher, of course.

Need to go give a kitty massage and get his motor humming.

Hope your last week of July is grand. LAST WEEK OF JULY?? You do realize that Christmas is precisely 5 months away, don't you? I always find that to be a shocking and totally unbelievable statement, Christmas 5 months away. Who ever heard of such a thing?

Kitty KEM