When they cut the woods down across the driveway, they began building an overpriced townhouse. It's taken them about 2 and a half years to get one almost done, because there's been a lot of stops & starts, sometimes months go by without anything being done.There's been quite a number of work crews on the project, but the best ones is a half dozen  Amish guys. They really do a good job & are more efficient & careful than all the other crews combined. They've mainly done the woodworking, which appears to be finished now, so I don't know if they will be back. It's unfortunate, since there were several very attractive ones & I enjoyed watching them with their flexible, muscular bodies.The toolbelts were a hot accessory, in my opinion. I snapped a few photos of the best looking one, who looks good from any angle.

       
   A few more photos from kitty sitting. The Holder's apartment is on the second floor and there is a row of ornamental fruit trees outside, their crowns at window level. Jelly likes to sit in the window and spy on all the birds that land in the branches. I joined her in birdwatching  and found it quite soothing. She looks like she's smiling in the photo above, doesn't she?
    While the cats have the run of the house, they aren't supposed to get on the dining room table. I don't know if they follow this rule when their people are home, but they certainly don't when I'm there, as you can see from the evidence below. I told them they weren't supposed to be up there, but Cosmo was too busy peering into my totebag & Sheevie studiously ignored me. Such bad little kitties.

Last month I got to kittysit for the Holders, a couple who used to live next door, but moved a few blocks away. They were attending a festival & wanted me to feed their 5 cats, including a new one named Cosmo that I hadn't met yet. All the others like me, since I've done this before, but I was worried that the new youngster wouldn't. Thankfully,he was quite friendly when I met him the night before they left. He's about 6 months old, affectionate, playful and has a long, slinky body that indicates a Siamese ancestor.

   Winston, the burly male, would patrol the place a few times a day and always popped up at mealtimes.In cooler weather he will sit on my lap like a purring heating pad, but it was too warm in August. A couple times he & Cosmo chased each other through the house, light-colored blurs streaking by. I have no idea who won these skirmishes.<
The Holders returned on Friday evening, relaxed & excited by what they saw, showing me pictures they'd taken with their cell phones. It was much too short a time that I got to spend with their cats, but I had fun. Missing out on so many things this summer because of sickness, it had felt like a mini vacation for me too. Snuggling a few kitties will do that. 

   Last fall, a friend asked me to join a new site she was launching called Vulpes Libris  ( http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com ), which means Book Foxes in Latin. It was to be a literary website focusing on books and there would be a team of writers from around the world reviewing whatever they wanted to read and interviewing authors & publishers. Since most of the other contributors are authors, I was flattered to be asked to join, which was because I read about 200 books a year. Since VL began last year, it has expanded to posting opinon pieces, bookish celebrity interviews, theme weeks, guest writers & any aspect of books & reading we can think of. We now get about 20,000 hits a month, which is surprizing to us all.
  My involvement with the site is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I love reading and writing reviews often helps me get more out of a book. Then there's the added bonus of "review copies", which are free books sent by publishers or authors for the sole purpose of reading them & posting a review. Can it get any better?
   Apparently it can, because as we began Environment Week, we somehow came to the notice of CNN and they linked to my review on Monday of a book about extinction.I'm absolutely thrilled!  If you'd like to read it, here's the direct link--
http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/the-ghost-with-trembling-wings-by-scott-weidensaul/
   Will I be hearing from Anderson Cooper or Christine Amanpour? I'll let you know....

               Happy Labor Day!