Love at First Sight

A short writing exercise on the theme of love at first sight

George

George, back in the day

George and Gracie joined us 11 years ago, twin purebred Bengal cats that tussled and slept and played and misbehaved and lit up our lives. In their early years they played fetch and leaped up on tall cabinets in single bounds. George loved to bring me leather sticks to toss from our bed, and he often somersaulted while trying to nab them in mid-air. But George had a genetic defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, which we soon learned would shorten his life. At about age seven he slowed noticeably, never even resisting when we gave him his medication. The jumping stopped completely, and he spent hours snuggling next to Gracie or curled up on Nancy’s lap. There were scary episodes involving late-night trips to the veterinarian followed by days of careful watching and TLC at home.

Then on Valentine’s Day, 2013, he collapsed and appeared near death. We rushed him to the vet, but nothing could be done. I looked into George’s eyes as the vet put him to sleep.

We were devastated, although Nancy held herself together better than I did. For over a week I moped until she said, “Let’s go down to Safe Haven,” the no-kill animal shelter. We looked at many cats of various ages, all so deserving of good homes, but we agreed we’d take only one. There was one older cat with an ugly face that looked like he’d been in some nasty fights – the poor fellow deserved a better life than he’d had so far, but we had to consider how he’d get on with our gentle Gracie, and decided that he wouldn’t.

Then we found a 10-month-old cat that had just given birth to a litter of eight. We entered their enclosure, and Nancy sat down. We wanted one from that litter, but which one? All were gray and white mixed-breed beauties, but most of them shied away from us.

And then one of them jumped into Nancy’s lap as if to say, “Here I am. Take me home.” She was mostly gray with a white breast and white feet.

Tina

“Her name is Socks,” the caretaker said. We took her home, deciding to call her Calcetines – Spanish for Socks. Almost as quickly, Calcetines became simply Tina.  Our immediate love for Tina didn’t diminish what we feel for Gracie and George.

They are all family, always including George.

Moving back East

Our house is emptying as we prepare for a 1700-mile move a week from today. We have lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico for most of a decade, and now we plan to move to a 55-plus community in the Tampa Bay area in Florida. So we've been selling, donating, recycling and discarding what feels like no end of stuff, much of which we once cared about. The rest, we'll let the movers pack for us. Still we fear we'll bring too much. That non-functioning laptop, that old tower PC, the old papers my mom held onto, the Southwest-themed rugs--time is running out to get rid of it all. We are moving into a smaller house on purpose so we'll be forced to thin and trim.

We all go through stages in life, with so many years of accumulating stuff, but now we are in the less-is-more stage. Time and each other's company trump material things now. Being alive and active, traveling, making friends are more important.

All of this is possible where we are, of course. But Tampa is closer to family and will be an exciting change of pace.

Anyway, this is some of what we are leaving behind:

A to Z Challenge: zenzizenzizenzic

Today we mark the end of the A to Z Challenge--whew! I've tried to dredge up uncommon words of dubious value. If you live in Seattle, you probably don't give a rat's patoot about xeriscaping, and if you don't play bridge or whist and haven't been a Green Beret, why would you ever care about a yarborough? 

Still, most of the words have at least some use to someone. So to bring the Challenge to an inglorious end, may I present zenzizenzizenzic, which refers to the eighth power of a number. Yes, really. Is there another word in English with more z's in it?

For example:

This is 2 to the 8th power, or 256. The zenzizenzizenzic of 2. Robert Recorde, who coined the word in the mid-1500s, wrote that it "doeth represent the square of squares squaredly." Eventually someone thought of the alternate word "cube," and it stuck. Go figure.

A to Z Challenge: yarborough

Here's a word that has several meanings. In Bridge, a yarborough is a hand with no cards higher than a nine:

A yarborough

Wikipedia says it's named after Charles Anderson Worsley, the second Earl of Yarborough and a member of Parliament back in the 1800s. The odds against being dealt a yarborough are said to be around 1828 to 1.

Yarborough also applies to a type of knife used by Green Berets.

A to Z Challenge: Xeriscaping

Anyone who lives in the Southwestern United States probably has at least heard of Xeriscaping if not practiced it. This is the practice of growing plants with minimal irrigation or none at all. The Greek root xer means dry, so this is dry landscaping. A yard with only desert plants such as cactus is said to be xeriscaped.

A xeriscaped yard with barrel cactus, yucca,
saguaro cactus, and desert flowers

A to Z Challenge: Wright

Tennessee Williams

We don't often see this word standing by itself, but it can cause confusion. A wright is one who makes or creates something, such as a millwright or a playwright. A person who is a play writer is not a playwrite, but a playwright -- one who creates plays. And although the legal protection is for what the playwright writes, it is not called a copywrite but a copyright.

Which leaves one wondering why if there is a playwright there isn't a wordwright instead of a wordsmith.

Playwright Edward Albee

A to Z Challenge: Velodrome

Now here is a word you might come across now and then, though it's been a while for me. A Velodrome is a building for indoor bicycle races. As to why it's not called a cyclodrome, I'll have to get back to you on that. Apparently there are plenty of them, and they have steeply banked tracks like the one at the left. Sorry to be a wimp, but that would scare the bejeezus out of me.

A to Z Challenge: Uxorious

Back in the day, we used to get mail from our bank addressed to Robert Sanchez et Ux. What is an ux, you may well ask? Why, it's the woman you're married to. Or it's you, if you are a married woman. It always seemed a rather demeaning reference to a woman, as though she were simply an attachment to a man. Has anyone seen that word lately? Not I.

Anyway, that brings me to uxorious, referring to the excessive fondness of one's wife. But what is excessive when it comes to loving one's wife? Maybe this cartoon illustrates.

A to Z Challenge: Tittle

We're back again with a post for the A to Z Challenge. Most readers will have come across the phrase "every jot and tittle," meaning every last tiny detail. Specifically, a tittle is the dot over the i or j, as in this illustration borrowed from the Web:

One of the earliest uses of the phrase appears to come from the King James Bible, Matthew 5:18: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

Incidentally, Tittle is also the last name of the great pro football player Y. A. Tittle, who quarterbacked for the Colts, the 49ers, and the Giants.

A to Z Challenge: Synechdoche

Merrily we roll along through April in our A to Z Challenge. This word rhymes with "Schenectady."

Synechdoche
Where do we get words like this? It's pronounced sin-EK-do-kee and means something that represents a larger whole. If you were to say "I want your daughter's hand in marriage," for example, you probably mean you want to marry the whole woman and not just her hand.

Not to be confused with Schenectady.

A to Z Challenge: Rebus

If you are a puzzle aficionado you probably know this word, which represents "R" in this month's A to Z Challenge.

Rebus

This is simply an image meant to take the place of a word. 

A to Z Challenge: Quisling

As we wend our way through the alphabet during April's A to Z Challenge, we see that not every word lends itself to humorous comments. Such is the case with

Vidkun Quisling (left) sitting with Nazi brass in 1941
(Wikipedia)

Quisling
A traitor, in particular one who collaborates with an enemy occupying force. Named after Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian politician who aided the Nazis when they took over his country.

A to Z Challenge: Pettifoggery

Hello again, fellow A to Z travelers and other cyberspace wanderers. This month we're working our way through the alphabet to find words that you might not often see but are part of our beautiful language. Today's word is

19th-century pettifoggery: Each assigns blame to
someone else, and each is right.

Pettifoggery
This is bickering over unimportant matters. It's not a word I knew as a lad, but my brothers and I engaged in lots of it. Whose turn was it to wash the dishes? That was a perennial favorite source of pettifoggery in my household.

If you'd be so kind as to leave a comment, I will reciprocate.

A to Z Challenge: Osculate

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention, sometimes deservedly so. Today's word has two meanings.

Superman gets lucky

Osculate

To kiss, as we see the blue-haired superheroes doing at our left. Can we assume this is going on somewhere romantic, like in a telephone booth or in the supply closet at the Daily Planet?

But osculate has a more arcane, less titillating meaning. In mathematics, it means for two lines to intersect at a single point, per the illustration below. (Yawn. Bo-o-o-oring!)

Mathematical osculation

A to Z Challenge: Natatorium

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention, sometimes deservedly so. Today's word is

Photo from
http://www.pemsurface.com/us-swimming-nationals.html

Natatorium
A swimming pool.

A to Z Challenge: Mellivorous

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention, sometimes deservedly so. Today's word is

Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris),
Female on Common Heath (Epacris impressa),
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Tasmania, Australia
(Photo by JJ Harrison via Wikipedia_

Mellivorous

This means honey-eating, such as bears, honey badgers, and hummingbirds.

A to Z Challenge: Luminaria

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention -- or not, if you live in New Mexico or have traveled South of the Border.

Luminaria
This is a light, typically a candle, inside a paper bag. It's used as an outdoor Christmas decoration in Mexico and parts of the Southwest. Travel north to Santa Fe, and you'll hear it called a farolito, or little lantern.

A to Z Challenge: Kachina

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention. Today's word is

Kachina

If you live in the Southwestern US, you know this word. A kachina is a Pueblo religious spirit.

A to Z Challenge: Jolly boat

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention, sometimes deservedly so. Today's word is (all right, today's words are)

Jolly boat
Back in the days of sailing ships, a boat used to ferry people ashore from a ship.

A to Z Challenge: Inselberg

This month brings the A to Z Challenge, which I choose to meet with a series of words that thus far may have escaped your attention, sometimes deservedly so. Today's word is

Inselberg

An isolated mountain. Ship Rock, in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, is a perfect example of an inselberg.