You don't have to write about it. I can't either, it's just too damn horrible. I have kids that will be in college in a couple of years, and it is too close to home for me, too.

I was glad to find a place that acknowledged it but didn't talk about it. Thanks. When bad things happen,a little "normal" is very comforting.

I don't know who Danny is, but it sounds like you lost a personal friend on 9 11. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thanks for the pretty kitty pics! My calico reminds me of your Soba, but without the commanding demeanor. She's temperamental, unpredictable, and also sometimes incredibly snuggly. The thing is, if you try to fend off her snuggles, she gets mad and digs in her claws, insisting that the snuggling continue until SHE is finished.

Happy Friday,
Helen

You are so right Anna Liza rocks :-) For the record she also has a very nice daughter, and I am jealous of her being in CA! (and her cool sock power) I am having one of those weeks where I wish to be ANYWHERE but here.
KarenM.

Shoot . . . I told my daughter she couldn't go to college. She is no longer allowed to leave the yard until I perfect my giant evil-world-proof bubble that will wrap around her and protect her. Then she can go out. She thinks I am crazy. My mother just laughs at me.

You don't have to write about it Laurie. We don't understand either.

just because you don't comment, doesn't mean a person doesn't care. It is too big to really comprehend. I knew no one there, but I hurt for them. Shit happens in this world, too often and I agree with AJ, it is comforting to have something normal to distract. thank you.
I am sorry about your loss of Danny. Hang onto the love.
Thanks for the Bob photos, he always poses!

And to not acknowledge Kitty Carlisle Hart would be tragic. She spent the last years of her life championing beauty and art and artists (and even the first amendment). That is something that deserves notice and is comprehensible. Thanks, Laurie!

I just tried to write something about the issue but couldn't find the words either.

It is just sad that he didn't get the help he needed and now his mental problems are being sensationalized in the media.

Poor Roy, that poor boy being all snuggled like that, it's an affront to his kitty dignity.

RE: Blacksbug. 'I'm so sorry' kind of says it all.

Just because you frequently express your feelings so well that you speak for multitudes doesn't mean that you can do it for this. Don't think we blame you.

I think you got our rain! It finally, finally stopped raining here, and I'm so happy to see the sun! So! Happy!

Also! Thank you for the battery info, because I have recently been bemoaning my vampire-camera for sucking the life out of batteries. Does this single battery-pack-thing replace my two AA batteries? Am I understanding it correctly? I will so get one right away, thank you again!

Boy, I need to go on an exclamation point diet now...

I think that it's your website and you can write or not write about whatever you want to. Pooey on someone trying to make you feel guilty. That's not fair. I have been too sad about it to write, either, so... there. Love you.

That was a stupid and insensitive thing for a person to ask you (not to post cat pics but the other).
A blogger has the right to blog on (or not to blog) their blog whatever they wish to blog about and just because you didn't doesn't mean you don't care. It was nice to go to some blogs that didn't.
One can have to much tragedy stuffed in their faces. Just because you choose not to watch for awhile doesn't mean you don't care.

Hey Laurie, its your blog, you can write about what you want to write about... I remember your Kitty Carlisle moment several months ago, so to me you blogging about her made perfect sense. (Besides if I wanted to hear about VT, I could find that in any number of locations - not in my CrAP vacation spot!)

BTW KIlleen, still resonates with me, because I have actually been there....

Oi, the rain. I am hating today's rain, even though it makes where I work pretty and doesn't impact my drive. The rain is the bane of my existence, it makes my neck hurt from the cold and the stress of wearing too much clothing, and it makes my home tiki bar tropical in all the wrong ways. Where you have lovely growing plants, I have... well. Bottles. (And thank you for your Kitty Carlisle entry - it was nice to see that I wasn't alone.)

There really isn't anything you can say about Blacksburg. I think we all feel the same way. My neighbor's son was there, in the courtyard, heard the shots... Thankfully he is safe. My youngest heads off to college in the fall and I am terrified. Just terrified.

Melly, when you get that giant evil-world-proof bubble perfected, I'll take two.

I was a senior in college on 9-11. I had just arrived back at school after an abrupt trip home for my grandmother's funeral, so I was already pretty spent emotionally. The college instantly arranged meetings and assemblies for people to come together and discuss the events, share feelings, and come together as a community. But I prefer to deal with stuff quietly and privately, at least until I've had time to digest it. Not every pain needs to be spoken, and every person's need is different. Laurie, thank you for giving us a place to go and think of something--anything--else.

**Also I love seeing pics of your gorgeous kitties. They all seem to have such great little personalities!

OOoh snuggly kitties. So nice. When all the world is crazy outside, it's lovely to come home to a couple (or four) purring kitties to make it all go away for a while.

Plenty of other folks to comment on Cho and the people he killed. You're just fine, Laurie.

I keep meaning to go to S N B and bring my Frank, but I had to work late last night and we're still moving my stuff to his, so it looks like I won't have a free moment for some time.

Have a fantastic weekend. Love the kitty pix!

It's just a tough thing. It makes me sad that his "manifesto" is the number one video on youtube right now.

It's rainin up here in Bakersfield too. This made me happy today because I got to wear my awesome Davinci inspired rain wellies.

VPI was one of two colleges I applied to. I have a lot of friends to went there (I ended up at UVA). There but for the grace of God... I've been thinking a lot about this since it happened. Yeah, everyone is right. What do you say? What can you say? If I could, I would give a hug to everyone at Tech.

Now that ROY--he is the ultimate gentleman.

CCR -- yes!! It replaces two AA size batteries and is WELL worth the cost, take it from me, "Girl whose camera eats batteries."

You can also find these at Target, the Energizer brand is the one I'm using right now and the energizer variety of this Lithium battery has already lasted me since JANUARY (!!!) which is a miracle.

I also love my exclamation points. :)

And I do understand why people would email and ask that question (about VT) and the comment as well, there is nothing wrong in that and I fully understand it, I get that need for acknowledgement especially if you live so near it or felt it so deeply. But I knew anything I said would fall short.

Also -- and this surprises the pants right off me because when I was younger I was so damn impassioned about the news -- but as I get older and older I have discovered the weirdest thing about myself. I am turning into someone who wants to focus less on the news. This is startling because I'm from a news family! My whole family has been in newspaper forever, my dad is THE newspaper man, we all grew up around the table discussing newspaper stuff at night like it was the most normal conversation.

We've always all of us been very politically opinionated and my mom and I used to follow news stories so carefully we'd call each other to discuss the finer details on a regular basis.

But as i get older I just find I can't do it, or maybe don't want to, or maybe the saturation of it has intensified? So as I get older I just turn it off more?

Has this happened to ya'll too? I feel like it's almost self-protection mode, unplugging, sometimes choosing to focus on cat poop or beautiful cakes or knitting when so much wrong is just everywhere.

I'm not a fan of having my emotions "bullied." Of having someone tell me what I ought to feel, or how I ought to display the emotion in question. I hope all your questions were not shaming you for anything, or lack of anything. You do share an awful lot with us, and it is our "gift" from you. It shouldn't be a demand or a condition. I, for one, appreciated that you acknowledged the horror, and then helped us all to "think about a dumb hat" for just a little while. We can all grieve, and wonder, and worry, and we do, but we don't have to be consumed by it.

Laurie,

I couldn't write about Virginia either. I thought about it, and realized I had nothing edifying to say (it would be the internet equivalent of massive stuttering followed by sobbing) - and that's just not what's needed right now. It's actually nice to come to a favourite blog and NOT have to read about it. I hope that doesn't sound insensitive, but it's like when you've injured yourself somehow. Sometimes you just want to leave the damn wound alone and forget for a little while.

In happier topics, I lurve your cat photos. My cats are SO not photogenic (adorable in person, but they make such stupid faces in pictures). Thanks for the wee bit of sunshine on a rainy day. :)

What Jules, Kari & Amy said re writing what you want. I don't know you in person, but I feel like I do (a little bit anyway) thru your blog.

Of course you are going to be thinking about this terrible event and all the families affected. What sentient person wouldn't. But you don't have to write about it (a) at all; or (b) until you've processed it a bit.

Yay to you.

Sorry, didn't mean to post anonymously last time. Yay to you.

Laurie,

It's your blog, you can write about whatever you want, don't feel you need to apologize to the masses by any means! In fact, it was good to read about other things besides the tragedy.

Love the kitties and your blog!!!

I read your blog to get away from Blacksburg.

More love--I showed my mom and her good friend and fellow cat lover (they are both divorced women with MORE than four cats EACH) your blog and they laughed for an ENTIRE Sunday afternoon at the pictures of the Insane Kitty Posse.

They are fans now! and they do not even knit!

(My fave is still Soba and the basket...you know, There is a CAT in my dictator basket. GOD, I hate cats. I'm laughing as I type....)

Thanks for spreading the love and cat hair!

You have nothing to be sorry about. I heard on NPR the other day: it doesn't matter how you deal with it just as long as you do. If you choose not to do so on your blog, I will still love reading it everyday. this is your forum and it always brightens my day. It seemed more right for you to celebrate the life of one of your icons then for you to add more sadness by bearing your emotions, as you do so well, on VT.

Laurie, as I was heading to your blog for my daily methadone I was thinking "Oh, good, now I can have some humorous distraction from the terrors of the "real" news (read "national news telling us what to concentrate on when 17 people lost their lives in the Nor’easter and 2 states were under a state of emergency for flooding and houses falling into the Atlantic and French elections and Somalia elections and a wedding in Bollywood and there is SO MUCH MORE going on in the world why aren’t you telling us about it?). I love your non-news posts that that's what keeps me coming back.

That and all the funny comments.

Sarah, now I want to see the stupid faces your cats make in photos!

Laurie, I'm kind of doing the same thing with news. I get most of my news from the paper, and keep having to tell people, I don't usually watch the news on TV. It's because I can control the paper, what I read, how much I can take at any one time. And I like to read it in the morning when I'm not fully awake, so the bad stuff doesn't sink in as much. It's self-protection.

Plus, no commercials, and the ads just aren't as bad ... except when I lived in Charlotte, and the Observer ran the nasty "guy" ads in the sports section (because, you know, only guys care about sports), so I kept seeing them when I was looking for the hockey scores. I have nothing to enlarge or enhance, people, I just want to know if the Bruins won!

I can only take the news in bits and pieces anymore. I don't just mean this latest horrific news. I mean all news these days. To me, it's omnipresent and repetitive.

In general, I find that the 24-hour news shows just spend hours and hours trying to find one more tidbit that is vaguely peripherally related to the main story so that they can keep the story alive - so they can keep their ratings up amongst the several channels pumping out the same information. I want my news (generally from NPR), but I don't want it ceaselessly pumped at me. Maybe I'm getting old too.

BTW, it never occurred to me that you would comment on the VT events. Honestly, I don't read your blog, for the most part, to read your interpretation of the news. I'm more interested in your interpretation of living a life - your life - hairspray, heartache and all.

I still get the crappy daily paper (because I have ALWAYS gotten the paper), and I check other headlines online. My husband wants the TV news, but isn't interested in the paper. Here's what I think about actively avoiding the news--if Walter Cronkite was still doing the news, I'd watch. I cannot watch gushing, hyperventilating pinheads read the news off of cue cards (often mispronouncing words and not noticing). Also, who got voted off American Idol isn't "news." The local paper is often lame, and the best written stories aren't written locally.
So maybe it isn't avoiding the news as much as avoiding the dumbed-down way it is presented to us. Give me validated facts in a pleasant manner--I'll decide my own reaction to them.

Sobakowa sort of looks as though she'd hug you to death.

I live here in Virginia and my cousin is a freshman at Virginia Tech (who fortunately was asleep in her dorm Monday morning). If people want to hear about the shooting, they can tune into CNN. I don't want to hear about it everywhere I go and on every website I visit. The worst part for me has been the commercialization of the event--people were lined up at our mall (I'm talking a long line--75 people at least) to buy Va Tech shirts from this one kiosk. Someone is making a profit off of our pain! And I know today is maroon and orange day, but you do not have to buy a $15 t-shirt with the tech logo on it to show you care! It's not like the money was going for a victims' memorial or anything--the vendor saw a chance to make a dollar and he took it! Sick...

I used to watch the news AND get a daily newspaper, but have stopped both. I think it's true when you get older and more chipped away at by life you feel you need to protect what sanity and heart that you can. It absolutely does not mean you don't care. If anything, you care too much.

p.s. It just warms my heart to see the Sobatator loving her Roy.

People who aren't writers always ask questions like that. And the answer is, some writers are reporters, and some writers are commentators -- Laurie being the latter -- and every writer must digest events to some extent. A reporter's job is to digest the emerging facts correctly and get them out to you as fast as possible. A commentator has to think about it for awhile.

I started to write about the Virginia shootings on my own blog. At the moment I have an unpublished draft which boils down to "stupid guns stupid hormones stupid NRA stupid people stupid anger stupid rage rant rant rant -- oh wait -- I am angry, and if people shouldn't handle guns when they are angry? people also maybe shouldn't try to form considered opinions when they are angry."

Some things are just too huge to opine on right away. Especially when you opine in your free time, as Laurie does.

Things need time to make sense, and some things never do. My grandfather was a fire captain. He died long before 9-11. I still cry every time I see video of the twin towers going down. I have to go in the next room and get ahold of myself.

I refuse to watch "Open Water" (stupid exploitve Hollywood) because the actual, real sister of the wife in the movie -- the real person who died, not the actress -- used to work for my husband. These were real people, not characters. Their dive boat left them behind in the middle of the ocean. They may have been attacked by sharks. They may have become exhausted and drowned. This happened almost ten years ago and I still can't deal with the concept of of a movie full of people getting an armchair scare out of it.

So give Laurie some time. When she does write about it, I am certain we will all need an entire box of kleenex.

Again.

I don't care what you write or if the pictures you post are archived photos... Your blog is always funny or sometimes sad in a funny way or sometimes just thought-provoking. I'd love to start a blog someday, but as an engineer I do not have the gift of writing like you do. So thanks for keeping on the good stories, whether they're about onions, or boys or cats or traffic... I can't wait for the next one!

Laurie,
I sometimes still weep when someone talks about the civil insurrection in Compton (some call it "riots" others call it "rebellion"- all I know is that it showed me forever how thin the skin of civilization is, and how the answer to Langston Hughes poetic question is, YES, a dream deferred too long, for too many DOES explode...)the feelings of the cold emptiness of a city street under marshal law, and tanks coming down your very own streets aren't easy to convey. Sometimes it's too real to talk about for a while. At least in a non-rambling coherent way.
Talk about it when your ready- or how about not at all, if that's what you like? There's a whole lot of bloggers covering that event. Doesn't mean you have to!

That's not a snuggle as much as it is a Vulcan Death Grip. Poor Roy.

Fooey on emotional pushers of all types.
I also grew up in a newsy house. It wasn't a gradual thing for me to grow away from it, though. I dropped it cold when I moved out. There is too much pain and anguish just looking out (or sometimes in) one's front door.
Keep the focus on things you can affect, and pray for the things you can't.
And take lots of pictures of the ones you love- cats, babies or what ever (dog for me)!

I feel your pain. I am a huge Hokie Fan and married into a Hokie family and may get my MBA from VT (god willing) and I can't find the words to make a statement on my blog. Nothing seems right.

That poor Roy.

It's the lack of common respect in the media that I find so offense and that's why I stopped watching. It feels wrong to be having a pepsi and petting my cat while they are exploiting people in their time of such pain. No one has a right to do that and I'm not going to watch it.

For me, giving AnnaLiza a ride was about being a good human, not being a gentleman (which reeks of gender stereotypes and my baggage from grad school). Regardless, THANK YOU for the kind words.

And start designing your cake! ;o)

xo

If I wanted to hear more about WV, I would turn on the television or read the paper. I turn on the computer to read what's up with you as a break from my daily life. You inspire me and make me laugh and that's all any of us can ask.
thanks and hugs for the kitties.

brook

And where the heck is the cute picture placeholder of us?! harumph...

yeah. i think everyone just kind of went "Whoa." and then the earth stood still for a moment... and there was nothing left to say. you're right laurie, thanks for the thoughts.

BTW, have you tried rechargable? i have 8 rechargables, and a charger (er... obviously...) i blow through them like holy-crap-fast, but that was the last $30 i've spent on batteries, and that was 3 years ago. as long as you don't mind a little upkeep ("welp, these are toast, stick them in the charger"), they work pretty darned well.

I think the best thing we can do is to send the families our prayers and thoughts.. My only hope is that the media will give them space and time to heal rather than continue to keep the wound open long past the time it should be just to sell news papers or get ratings. I personally never read or watch the news. Far too depressing. I'd much rather see pictures of cats and gardens... things that remind you of all the GOOD stuff in the world. For all of those with rain today, I'm sending you some PA sunshine! It's the perfect Friday. Not a cloud in the sky.

I think it's wonderful that you didn't write about it. Whether your news and insights are happy, sad or indifferent, whenever you write I always take vast pleasure from it. Not every single person has to be on the soapbox or the horn about tragedies. It's so nice to get to come to your blog and feel cosy and hear your wonderful words without always having to focus on the bad news that is out there.

Thank you for having written your hilarious insights on Kitty Carlisle instead of focusing on some psycho!

I cherry pick my non-local news these days - news dot google and have it set to skip the "entertainment" news entirely (I really don't care about Paris Hilton's undies or this guy on Idol which I have never and will never watch), etc. Local news from the two local papers (one much better than the other) and occasional forays into local TV news with lots of "Link TV" and foreign news.

I guess that's all to say that I too am insulating myself from a lot of the junk news and junkier news readers so prevalent these days.

I appreciate your NOT writing about Virginia Tech. It's a tragedy but I don't need my nose rubbed in it 24/7. And if anyone gives you grief about it just ignore 'em. It's YOUR blog, you write what YOU want.

I finished my socks and want a piece of Frank's cake to celebrate.

hmmm. i find it shocking that people would question why you had not written about VT, instead focusing on Kitty Carlisle (and kitty deserved her post). i'm glad that you aren't. there's a side of me that feels guilty for mourning the death of my cat, when 30+ children were so recently murdered. but his death is what i can rationalize. he was old, he died. i'm sad. i miss him. the VT massacre though is just mayhem. all i know is that we can't write about it, if we can't put our head around it. and i certainly can't. all i can say is "WTF!" and if you only write about it 2 weeks from now, 10 years from now, or NEVER, that should be ok.

it's ok with me. besides, i'd rather see pictures of roy.

and how funny. the sun finally shines in New England and you've got rain. enjoy it!

and i'm a huge fan of rechargeables. get two sets of batteries -- one for the charger and one for the camera.

Frank, I honestly had no idea that calling someone a gentleman meant it was a gender war thing, I'm just from a place where people say it as the highest compliment on your good manners and so on. I think it is very funny how old fashioned I am. I feel like I should go get a wash 'n set and maybe buy some support hose before I sit down to watch my stories. hee.

It's OK to talk about something by not talking about it.

Dark chaos churns around us; sometimes it's on the other side of the world, sometimes it's on the other side of the door, sometimes it's inside us. We have two defenses: one is to seek "the still point of the turning world," where there is no chaos, but champagne and opera gloves, kindness, elegance and cakes decorated with sugar orchids. The other defense is to embrace the bright chaos of daily life: waistline frustrations, poop (cat or other), a refugee vegetable named Victor with a new home, cats who unravel an entire knitting project throughout the house, Soba the Merciless, Roy the Adorable.

So, to make a short story long (as I do), I thought you WERE talking about it.

There are no words to make it better, no words to truly explain the loss and tragedy of VA Tech. We live in Fairfax County and the loss of five beautiful young women is too much to bear. Having to sit my very young children down and explain to them what happened, because I knew they would hear about it at school, was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I actually turned to you this week to lift my spirits with your fun and wacky stories, which, as usual, you provided.....and for that, I thank you.

Nobody knows what to say, honey. There are no right words, but unfortunately there are lots of wrong words, and I happen to think that among the wrong ones are "Why aren't you writing about it?" Like you must not be feeling anything about it if you're not writing about it. I can't believe anyone had the nerve to take you to task for not writing about it. It is too close to the bone, it's a horrible open wound, and though of course it has hurt the victims and their families most, it's hurt everyone: everyone at Virginia Tech, everyone with kids in college, everyone with kids period, everyone with a heart and a soul and the ability to think "Who DOES something so horrible? How could anyone be so depraved?" Just because you didn't write about it until today doesn't mean you didn't cry while watching the news like so many of us did - and no one has any business calling you on it.

By the way - I think that when you finally did write about it, you did just fine. I am so sorry, too.

It kind of looks like Sobakowa is throttling poor Roy.

I have completely given up on TV news and newspapers. I've not watched the news in years. Anything I need to know I get from the internet. Anything big I hear about from other people (like the attempted bank robbery 2 miles from my house that was national news last week). I go to bed a much calmer person having finished watching something that has been fabricated for my entertainment, not for news ratings and sensationalizm. I am perfectly happy getting my news after everyone else.

I think Roy secretly loves the Soba death hugs!

OK, I don't get it. Why do people think it's OK to criticize a blogger for _not_ writing about something? How many other bloggers did they send the same guilt-ticket email to?

If I am grieving about something the last thing on my mind is visiting all my favorite blogs and tsk-tsking the blogger for not writing about the thing I am grieving over.

You have the cutest cats ever :)

CCR,

I have better pictures on my home computer, but here are two LOVELY pictures of the stupid faces:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Pets/IMG_2060.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/LaCane/Pets/SarahPictures048-1.jpg

The first one is Eris making the Crazy Eye, which I swear she does in EVERY PHOTO and never in real life. The second is the standard post-bath photo.

after i got my D70, the battery issue was resolved: rechargable battery! it's like the best thing ever.

was there any resolution to your poop problem?

i am ready for my nap with roy.

Knitting has kept me sane this week, and I don't expect anyone to talk about it, because there really isn't anything anyone can say that will make me stop crying every time i think about it.

I have a lot of ties to the VT (my brother went there--I went to the rival school) and I'm still in total shock.

I personally don't think it's fair for people to expect you to talk about something that makes you upset.

Laurie
It's your blog hon, you write about whatever you dang well feel like.
Isn't it amazing how people start to feel entitled to tell you what you should be writing about just because they are reading your diary? It's like telling you that you are not grieving the appropriate way and how you should be feeling. Really, people just amaze me sometimes. *sigh*

Congradulations on the rain, long live the garden! Maybe this will perk up Victor.

I loves my news & politics and I have a favorite site I visit daily to purge my outrage....but when I need to see what another kitty loving, wine drinking, single chick who likes to garden is up to - like visiting a friend, I come here.

I didn't know knitters were so cool & clever (thanks for linking to all the other's blogs)....but I should have known since my quilting Mom is cool & clever - and she introduced me to this site.

Now that is a snuggly cat. Poor Roy looks like a deer trapped in the headlights. 8)

Dr. Weil says it is good to be informed, but not to overdo the news. Mostly bad stuff ends up on the news anyway. Read a newspaper, get the info and when you're done throw it out. Television news is overstimulating and makes us insensitive to horrible happenings.

I loved ready your blog today (and every day) and NOT reading about VT because it was a "self protection" mode. We are innundated with tragedy and bad news these days--love the blog and love the pic of cuddling cats.

I found your blog through the blog of a friend and I have SO enjoyed reading your posts. I also survived the shame of divorce and I gotta say that you seem to be doing a great job surviving yours. Thank you for sharing your experiences so that maybe others can too. You may never know it, but there are probably women right now telling a friend that they didn't know how they were going to get through it when they found this crazy cat lady on the internet and they realized that they weren't the only one in the world to feel that way. Keep writing and sharing, you never know whose lives will be touched by it.

De-lurking to say...
Hey... I enjoyed the post about Kitty Carlisle. I, too, always liked her. Classy lady! I was glad that you didn't post about the goings-on in the world. Sometimes we just need a break from all of that!

Love the kitties! Too cute!

First I gave up TV news, then I gave up the newspaper,then I gave up radio, then I gave up all TV (except for the Tour de France).

As I get older (39) and especially after I had kids, I just can't take knowing everything all the time.

A friend of mine questions whether there are more horrible things that happen now than before, or whether we just know about them more. I don't know.

I do know this: there are fine and wonderful things in the world more than the evil and horrible, but you have to look at your neighbor's face, or at a baby's toothless grin, or at the peppers in your backyard to see them. They won't be on CNN.

Yeah, I read your blog to know about you...whatever you focus on is what I want to read.

And, my nephew goes to VT. He is fine. I don't want to read anymore about it.

And one of our closest friends who spent Easter with us works at NASA--he is fine too.

Please write about Kitty Carlisle. She lived a full and good life. Right now that seems....hard to do.

Maxly

I'm glad you didn't write about Blacksburg, Laurie. In this Age of the Internets and up-to-the second news updates, I reallyy get overwhelmed. It's everywhere you turn, and obviously it's on all of our minds, but I'm thankful to have found at least one wee oasis of happiness that is CAP. Keep it up, girlie-girl. Laughter helps with the healing. ;)

If you thought THOSE batteries lasted forever, wait till you discover these... http://www.batteriesplus.com/c-98-Rechargeable-Batteries.aspx
They're rechargable hybrids and I LOVE them. I've taken almost a thousand pics with my Canon Rebel XTi (digital SLR -- those suck up batteries) and haven't had to change my batteries -- flash, auto focus (with telephoto zoom lens!), and no battery change. I'm in luv with Hybrid!

Laurie - I knew I would like your site when I read your byline. I remember when I turned 40 (still single) and was talking to a guy at the bar. When I mentioned I had 3 cats...long story, wasn't planned, he just flat out looked at me and said "Why, You're Un-datable."

Life goes on....I have a cute, fun boyfriend who understands - kitties come with the package.

I grew up about 90 miles from Kent State. I still remember that day (what?? 37 years ago??). Everything that happens after seems to be a repeat. Yet people do not remember or change.

We do not need to speak about the elephant in the room; it is there to remember what we cannot process until some time later.

But perhaps let the cats make friends and serve it some tea??

Well, I decided to open my mouth and say something that will probably get me in trouble. It seems to be my forte...

Not to sound callous or rude, but why should anyone expect you or anyone else to *have to* say anything at all about Blacksburg? It's your blog, you write about whatever you want.

I could say to others, "Why are you writing about the murder of 32 people in Blacksburg as if it was something special? Don't you know that, on average, 43 people are murdered in America EVERY SINGLE DAY?" But that would be really rude and insensitive. And it's their blog, so they can write about whatever they want.

I just don't think you should feel guilty or even that you have to explain yourself.

Ditto to what all those other people said. It's nice to have somewhere to go that gives you something else to think about.

I'm gonna be like the other 1000 people before me and say it's OK that you didn't post anything about VT. I'm 40 minutes away and, as others before me, have been thankful for somewhere "normal" to go when I just can't cry anymore.

Yup, I still read my regular blogs that are talking about it but cats and knitting are good things.

Sarah, I have never bathed a cat in my life, and after looking at your pictures, I think I've missed something! ROFL!

CAP... your cat pictures are JUST what I needed to see today.

Thank you.

Other Ruth,

You know what's better than bathing one cat? Bathing two at once! I recommend closing the bathroom door and wearing all-kevlar. Face shields are optional, but very helpful.

I'm just chiming in with everyone else, to thank you for giving us some sort of normalcy and a smile or two, in a world gone terribly, horribly wrong. If we wanted the news, we'd turn that on. What we need is some comfort food for thought - and with your own brand of Southern hospitality, we find it here. Thank you for giving us that!

Frankly, I would love nothing more than an entire week on the web of cat pictures and Kitty Carlisle quotes (I always thought she was the epitome of a sophisticated lady actress - I know that sounds redundant, but really the two can be mutually exclusive).

Hope the commute's not too much of a nightmare. ((Hugs)) to you and all of us this week.

Frank, with all due respect, I do not consider being a gentleman (or lady) to be gender stereotyping, even though I consider a great many other things to be gender stereotyping, such as those folks who still believe the ideas that men shouldn't knit or women shouldn't be in the military.

Being a lady, or a gentleman, isn't about sticking out your pinky when you drink tea. It's simply about being raised with manners and respect for others. I am a woman who almost never wears makeup and who wrangles animals for a living, and when I say "That Frank is a real gentleman," I mean it as the highest of compliments, because it means that you have good manners, you are gracious, you treat women with dignity, you don't talk with food in your mouth, you wash your hands when you go to the bathroom, you hold doors open for old people, and you don't stare at my breasts.

Nothing in the world is sexier in a man than a combination of impeccable manners and an excellent sense of humor.

Thanks for the kitty pics, I miss my cats who are back home waiting for me to come back, just a couple more weeks. Not sure if thats good or bad lol

Ya know, I don't think you owe a single solitary soul any sort of apology for what you decide to write on any given day. You keep on writing whatever your sweet little pea pickin' heart wants to and I'll keep right on reading and loving it! This world can be a scary hard place to inhabit and writing about cats and pants and bread and admiration for another human being sounds wonderful to me. You go, Woman!

It's your blog, say whatever the hell you want!!

I Love Bob, the awkward cat.

Your blog was an oasis from VT and I was a big Kitty Carlisle fan. Loved her on What's my Line?
(which means I am old):(

It's your blog, say whatever the hell you want!!

I Love Bob, the awkward cat.

Your blog was an oasis from VT and I was a big Kitty Carlisle fan. Loved her on What's my Line?
(which means I am old):(

Goodness I am getting SLAMMED with spam comments today! I keep deleting them and they keep coming back! I hate spammers, yucky yucky gonna sic the Soba on them!!

One of the downsides of having a personality that so many people relate to is they expect you to react to something the way they would. Then blog about it. So they have someone else out there like them. Sentence fragments activate! You are a powerful writer and an excellent blogger. I knew when I found out about Kitty Carlisle you would acknowledge it...that is your thing. You should write about you. This is, after all, your diary. You don't need to say a thing about it. There is plenty of coverage, believe me.

I think we love the cat pictures as much for the captions as for the cats and it's why we look forward to them. Both are whimsical and funny and adorable! A feeling person would know, whether on their first visit to your blog or 101st, how deeply you would feel something like Blackburg so take no notice of expectations - either of volume or content. This is your creation, not Meet the Press. Re spam: If you're running Windows try going to "Message" in the tool bar and "Create Rule from Message". This lets you create filters for spam the other filters don't catch. Don't mess with the address options because those are the things the spammers are alway changing. Create some using key words from the body of repeat offending messages like "Viagra" and "Canadian". This is pretty effective for email. You probably already know this and it may not work in a blog environment (which I know nothing about) so it's just a thought.

laurie--as someone who has daughters your age and also lives alone--I have not only quit watching the news,I don't watch TV at all! Had my satellite turned off a little over a year ago. And the set was on from the time I came in the door until I went to bed. It was a decision a long time coming and I thought I would miss it terribly and turn it back on in a few months. Can't give a good explantation of what moved me to this choice. Just began to feel I was watching the same stuff over and over--even when it was new--and I would find myselfwatching the same Law & Orders and HGTV over and over. Tired of the news--they don't just report it--you feel like you are drowning it. I agree with Dora that to much of the daily dose of violence & aggression in the world desensitizes one. I very seldom miss the TV. I use the internets to stay informed and get my daily lift from my favortie bloggers--I read, crochet,(had my first knitting from my oldest daughter a few days ago), watch movies, go for walks, work in my yard, visit with friends--always something to entertain myself with. We who visit you every day KNOW you care. I grew up watching Kitty Carlise--she was a class act. Have a great weekend!

Not writing about tragedy does not mean it isn't recognized as tragedy. Trying to go on with life is recognition of normalcy (whatever that may be) as the important, grounding living one can do. Your pants, sourdough, cats, etc. are important. So is whatever you want to write about!! Thank you.

Have they threatened y'all with water rationing yet? Because up here, we've been told that if we don't conserve now, it might just happen.

It constantly amazes me to no end, that people feel like they have a right to critcize what people write on THEIR OWN BLOGS. Seriously. Laurie you just keep on doing what you do, and to hell with all of those who would question you doing otherwise.

Hugs to the kitties...

Another Virginian (about 40 mins from Blacksburg) chiming in to say that while I realize that most people are trying to show their support; I don't want to hear about it (or read about it) on every channel, radio station, website, forum, and blog I watch/listen/visit. So, I appreciate you being "normal" (ok, silly word to use; normal for you) and taking my mind of of it for a bit.

No one ever has to write about something unless that is their job of course. Better to say a prayer for the departed and the ones left behind than attempt to analyze something that is incomprehensible. Personally, although I am feeling sorrow for the lives lost and the hurt caused, I am very glad not to have to read about the tragedy everywhere.

Love the cat photos. Soba looks like she has quite a snuggle. When she takes over the world, will there be rain?

I couldn't write about VT either. I made a very brief reference to it on my blog. As you said the other day, sometimes you just want to think about a hat. I was extremely glad I don't own a TV when 9/11 happened, now I'm glad again. I wouldn't be able to take the images. NPR is hard enough. And now I'm at an academic conference for two days and grateful to be able to sit in a room with a bunch of intellectuals and talk about art, literature and politics. I'm trying really hard not to flip out when I pass an angry looking undergrad on campus. So thank you for giving me a chance to remember there are indeed other things out there.

I think it is a relief that there are some places where we are not bombarded with what happened at Va Tech on Monday. The whole thing is just inconceivable…

I come here to see what YOU want to write about, not expecting you to write about whatever anyone else might think you should write about. I have reread your divorce posts repeatedly, which have helped me more than you will ever know. Also, the declutter posts have got me quite inspired. I need the everyday life perspective and humor that you do so well.

I live here in Virginia not too far from Blacksburg. So many kids from here go to Va Tech. I sent my son off to college in the fall – an engineering student. He had been torn between Va Tech and UVA. He wound up choosing UVA. I called him on Monday when I heard about the massacre – he brushed off my wanting to check on him, saying “Mom, I’m not at Tech.” I said “I know, but I just really needed to hear your voice.” This could have happened anywhere. I feel so deeply for the parents who have lost their children this week. They won’t ever again be able to call them just to hear their voices…

I heard a nice song today, “Forever Changed,” written this week by 2 Tech grads: http://www.myspace.com/theseasononline

Too much of what they call “news” these days is just sensationalism. When I was younger, I watched the news everyday, read Newsweek cover to cover, etc. Now I just can’t do it anymore. The day to day war, politics, violence etc. is just too much. I think it takes a toll on a person.

Anyway, Laurie, don't let anyone else tell you what to write about. You are aces.

Laurie, crikey (oh my I have never actually said that) I think it is a lot of pressure to be put under by people to have to make a comment on a situation like that.
I am also one who has nothing to say - oh not quite true - maybe America has to look a LITTLE (to put it mildly) more closely at gun control. If they don't have them then it happens less often! From an outsiders point of view such tragedies seem to repeat themselves way too often in your country - it seems that other countries it is much less frequent! In the large-ish city I live in one murder is a big deal and on the news and everyone knows about it.
So, yeah I find it hard to talk about that event but there is something to be said for gun control!
You take care now and just comment on whatever the hell you want to Okely dokely,
Mia

Looks more like Soba is strangling poor Roy..... Roy puts up with alot, doesn't he?

It's your blog, your rules. If anyone is suffering from a lack of Blacksburg news, it's on all day on CNN. Kitty Carlisle Hart wasn't mentioned at all. So I say, Thank God for YOU sister, for saying something about something ELSE so we could all realize that there are plenty of things left to shift our focus when harsh reality is kicking us in the grapes. Well, girls don't have grapes, but you get the idea.
The only thing that got CNN to change their story was a NASA shooting. I'd rather crawl into my iPod.

I'm sorry, but I have trouble with people who dictate blog content. I read your blog because I like the way you write and what you write about (not to mention the cat pictures), not because you're a comment-on-current-events blog. Blog on, Laurie! I needed to hear about Kitty Carlisle yesterday. She gave me a much-needed laugh.

And thanks for the subtle suggestions that pictures look better with borders. I now do that with the pics I post on my blog. Yes, I'm a shameless hussy-copier but it works for me.

hey-I live in Blacksburg and we went to VT and lost people we knew and had friends who were shot but survived and I know...what can you say about it? I have not typed on my blog since the day it happened b/c I just can't-and I thank you for being honest that you just don't want to-and I understand. It is just impossible to fully grasp what happened and to write about it seems so small in comparison to the enormity of emotion felt.

Your blog your thoughts your rules. Nobody gets to tell you what to write about, unless it is a polite request. Everyone deals with tragedies like this in a different way, and it might feel like what you're saying is trivial in comparison, but dude. I'm a grad student, and I work at another college as well, so the VT coverage seems to be all I see right now. It's kind of a relief to be able to come here and not have to think about it for five minutes.

One of your commenters said, "It's OK to talk about something by not talking about it." Very true. Sometimes silence is more profound than saying anything at all, particularly when one hasn't had the chance to digest the event.

I loved your tribute to Kitty Carlisle, perhaps even more so because of all the ugly that's going on now. The "real world" is such a scary place, at times, that it was important to me to remember that charm, manners, grace, clean things, shiny things, comradre, intellegence, wit, optimism and grand dames are also part of the real world - more so than the uglyness. Thanks.

I found some Kitty Carlisle tidbits, that seem pertinent (too me anyway) to this weeks events and to your "don't eat the bread" friend and to loving yourself. If it takes up too much space, delete.

'“You get so tired when you do what other people want you to do,” Carlisle said. When she was 90, she started work on a second book.'

"She was known for her grace and charm, but by her own account she was slightly eccentric, a trait she treasured because she believed it gave her a lot of leeway"

'“I’m 96,” she told The St. Louis Post Dispatch in October, “and I’m loving it.”'

'“I’m more optimistic, more enthusiastic and I have more energy than ever before,” she said just after her 79th birthday. Energy, she said, came from doing the things she wanted to do.'

She wrote in her autobiography that she started each morning by smiling at herself in the mirror.

David Lewis, her longtime musical director, said when he once asked her "why she would attend events every single night of her life, and dress up and be the grand dame Kitty Carlisle Hart, she said that the grim reaper was lapping at her feet. She had to outpace him."

She was indeed an optimist. As a girl, she once said, she would try to lift her mother out of her frequent dark and angry moods. “Oh, mummy,” she imitated herself saying, “it won’t rain and there will be a picnic and everybody will have a wonderful time.”

"...and it was a really, very traumatic experience, and my mother thought, in order to take my mind off the terrible experience that I'd been through - I was then about 8 - she decided to take me to the movies."

......and some of us go to Crazy Aunt Purl to get back to a bit of normal.

I would like to tell you and all your readers that I am the reason you got rain in L.A. yesterday. Apparently, I am unable to travel without incident. And I have been traveling a lot. So of course, as I am making my way out of Sacramento yesterday morning at oh-five-hundred, it starts to rain. It waits until I am on the scary mountains that lie right before L.A. before it really lets loose and a downpour occurs which causes me to almost wet myself. Because Californians have NO IDEA how to drive safely in the rain. NO IDEA. It seems that I cannot drive long distance without a few near-death experiences and at least one expensive car issue.
I'm from Bremerton, Washington and I did bring the rain. Uh huh, I brought it.

Oh, and also, I have to say with regards to "why didn't you write about..." questions. I am a writer too. And I write about what I can write about, what I want to write about, and sometimes I want to write about something, but I cannot. I really get irritated when someone asks me, "Why haven't you written about..." because it's like I hand them a twenty dollar bill and they look up and me and say, "Why didn't you give me a fifty?" You get what you get and I give what I can give. In life and in words. Amen.

Of COURSE you have more pictures of your cats than the lady with the twins -- you have twice as many kids as she does! As if!

Regarding Virginia Tech -- it hits very close to home here, as everyone I know, myself included, knows or has someone there. I was finally able to write about it, (in fact, write anything at all) on my blog yesterday.

It has helped me most to focus on the faces and the accounts of the lives of those 32 people who lost their lives, and to pray for their families.

I love that photo and caption...The CAT keeping the scarf warm, tee, hee ;-) thanks for the kitty pics

Roy looks like a lion in that photo! And your Soba looks a lot like my Bella (only Bellsie has long fur and soba has short fur).

Anyway, I just want to say that I'm reading through your blog from beginning to end and I just want you to know that I think you're an amazing person with real talent. You are a great writer, and so funny, and so strong...I kind of wish I was you...not in a weird way like "give me your life, biatch" but in the "I really identify with you and we seem to have a lot in common only you seem to have the courage to live life out loud and be yourself and do things with your life and say things that I think I could never do or say ever in a million scrillion years."

And also, I know what you mean about not knowing what to say about Blacksburg. When bad things happen that I can't wrap my head around, like how my Aunt could lose her father to illness and her sister to suicide in the space of a few months, or how a young man could take a gun to 32 people because his girlfriend didn't want to be with him anymore...I just freeze and I don't say anything because nothing I could say matters...and what do you say when something like that happens anyway? What do you do? There's nothing...nothing...

Um....I'm rambling and probably blogstalking you so I'm going to go now. (Notice I didn't link to my own knitblog because yours is so much better than mine and you're such a better writer than I am and I don't want you to see my shame...)

Ok...um...right. May have just posted the most inappropriate, and stupid comment ever.

Ok...um...bye.

(Btw, I get the nervous sweating and the saying innapropriate things too. Also with the word porn for some reason...I totally said porn to the IT guy like 6 times on Friday. So...you know. It's good to know I'm not the only one.)

Hey Laurie! I, like many others, have been lurking for quite some time and finally decided to 'come out of the wordwork', so to speak. Also, I'm just technologically challenged and finally realized how one goes about posting a comment! Hahaha!!!

I actually wanted to stop by and tell you that I think Fransisco has made his way to Texas! Photographic proof to come soon.

Anyway, I got caught up reading (as usual) and I had to say that I too was relieved to see no mention of the Blacksburg tragedy on your blog. I can't come up with the words to express how I feel regarding that either and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one. =) I also feel incredibly dumb because I'm guessing that Killeen refers to Killeen, Texas and I have no idea what happened! Here's the really sad part...I live less than 20 miles from there! As I'm sure you can tell, I avoid the news as much as is humanly possible...

And last but not least - I also have a field day with overusage of exclaimation points!!! LOL

Hey Laurie! I, like many others, have been lurking for quite some time and finally decided to 'come out of the wordwork', so to speak. Also, I'm just technologically challenged and finally realized how one goes about posting a comment! Hahaha!!!

I actually wanted to stop by and tell you that I think Fransisco has made his way to Texas! Photographic proof to come soon.

Anyway, I got caught up reading (as usual) and I had to say that I too was relieved to see no mention of the Blacksburg tragedy on your blog. I can't come up with the words to express how I feel regarding that either and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one. =) I also feel incredibly dumb because I'm guessing that Killeen refers to Killeen, Texas and I have no idea what happened! Here's the really sad part...I live less than 20 miles from there! As I'm sure you can tell, I avoid the news as much as is humanly possible...

And last but not least - I also have a field day with overusage of exclaimation points!!! LOL

Uhhh I don't know why that posted 2 times...undoubtedly, I did something idiotic.

I don't wonder at all why a blogger wouldn't write about the V. Tech stuff on their blog. I haven't. I've got plenty of thoughts about the subject, but what good would it do for me to talk about it? The news talks about it enough for everyone, and whether we like it or not, life continues on with all its mundane details. Focusing on those mundane details is often what gets people through tragedies like this one. The loss of all of those young people is horrible, and the lives of their family members and all who knew them are likely standing still right now in confusion, but, honestly, I think it would be giving the gunman too much credit if we allowed the world to stop for what he did.

We must show respect for those he harmed, and we shouldn't make light of what he did, for sure. We should ask ourselves how this type of tragedy can happen. How can a person build up so much rage? He saw himself as a martyr, and somewhat of a messiah who was going to change the world. Though we might question ourselves and our current culture, we can't allow him, even in death, to force us to feed off of his hatred.

It isn't the place of one blogger to interpret the world for others. You shouldn't feel compelled to express the thoughts that you can't quite form into words for the benefit of others. It's just not your job.

Sharon G thanks for all that info on Kitty Carlisle! I always wondered what the heck she was doing on a game show. It seems like she was slumming it, especially in the later years when they had some celebs that were polar opposites of Kitty.

Thanks Laurie for the tribute. She was a great lady.

I live in the Pacific Northwest were we have rain all the time. My ex and I lived in LA for three years and I always hated how the traffic got when it rained! We always thought it was ridiculous. People need to learn how to drive in the rain!!!