Pictures of kittens and also words.
This is the baby crew.
Every single one is my favorite.
First, we have Baby Sir Earl.
When he goes to Parliament, his official title will be The Second Earl of Grey… but unlike his predecessor, he cares nothing for wealth and power; as chancellor of the tea party, he believes the key to economic growth is a strong middle class.
You can scoop him up in the middle of wild attack mode, tuck him in your elbow to hold him like a baby, and he goes IMMEDIATELY into the loudest purr… he LOVES getting LOVE… out of the sweetest crew, this is the sweetest kitten.
Next:
Baby Petunia, trash lady, prima ballerina.
Sometimes the names just reveal themselves— Petunia is a dancing floof baby… (in my Instagram stories!) And when you have been gone for a while and she sees you again, she gets SO EXCITED— she does a prancing kneady dance… and if she sees that you are not petting her with BOTH of your hands, she gives you an outraged MEEP.
Also, she is a hoarder of trash. She LOVES a tissue. Or cotton ball. Or anything that can be shredded and used in her interpretive dance routines. I already knew this. But it was further confirmed just now when I found a whole hoard of ripped-up tissue behind a bin. I am positive it’s her stash.
Next:
Sweet Baby King Loulou, tribe of the shoulder monkeys,
Baby girl Louie’s namesake is my brother’s cat— named when they moved to St. Louis and got him… original Louie is massive and also some kind of reincarnated Egyptian king? Matthew explained to me his pedigree, but you know how hard it can be to understand all of the royal titles of other people’s animals.
Baby Loulou’s markings are the BEST— she is tiger on the top, cheetah on the belly. Her face fur is like Morse Code. Dot dot dash… but even better is her personality— for a kitten, this one is SNUGGLY… she LOVES to be up on your shoulder— EVEN when her siblings are doing crazy time… she LOVES to be with the humans.
She likes to ride on your shoulder and if you need both of your hands, you can just tuck her into your neck, like she is a violin chin rest— then you hold on to her with the side of your face.
Lastly, Tiny Baby Elvis.
If you are new, my soulmate catbaby died of cancer… she was a lady tuxedo, named Elvis… and at this point in my kitten-life, the black-and-white ones are always considered some iteration of Elvis.
Paul calls them Elvis Tribute Artists.
Little-known fact: the term Elvis impersonator is considered rude.
So this is my current ETA.
She was the tiniest of them all. OH MY GOSH SO TINY… A tiny baby runt.
It took her forever to start growing— now she has got the hang of it, but she is still half the size of Sir Earl.
She does not care. Elvis is FIERCE… she is a fighterbiter… all day, every day. Fighting and biting… Elvis gives no hedgehogs… she drinks 10 cups of coffee and STARTS ATTACKING AT DAWN.
Also, she is toy-aggressive— ALL OF THESE TOYS ARE MINE NONE OF THEM ARE FOR ANYONE ELSE.
I love her.
And yes, Petunia’s face is ALWAYS extra.
I’m rereading Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town.
Also, we watched two good documentaries, both on Netflix.
Inequality for all… (not new, but I had not even heard of it)… it’s why Sir Earl is soapboxing about how we must shed our political labels and realize that power has ALWAYS SOUGHT TO PIT THE WORKING CLASSES AGAINST EACH OTHER SO WE DON’T NOTICE WHAT THE RICH PEOPLE ARE DOING.
Also, Reversing Roe.
Also, apparently none of this even matters because the planet is almost over.
Meat and money are more important than oxygen and clean water.
October 9, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
Amen, Sister!!!!
October 9, 2018 @ 8:15 pm
Can you just pop those kittens into a box and mail them to me in Australia?
October 9, 2018 @ 8:45 pm
VEB. I love your blog and I love that you express your views at the same time that you write about kittens and tile and kitchen faucets.
That is life.
It is messy and scattered and there is always more than one thing going on at a time. People need to learn to walk and chew gum.
And to the women who are asking the Blogess to keep her thoughts to herself I would ask you to look at the top of the page and see whose little corner of the internet you are currently visiting.
Stay strong and keep on sharing your views!
October 9, 2018 @ 8:59 pm
You are spot on, VEB! Love the kittens; love your blog; love your rage! All the folks crying ‘no corroborating evidence’ don’t comment on the fact that the ‘investigation’ was a sham. The FBI interviewed NO ONE who came forward after Dr. Ford’s appearance before the committee. We don’t know what evidence those people have, do we!? If you lose followers due to your rage, it will be their loss!!!! I regret that you are not my next-door-neighbor!!!! Take care…..
October 10, 2018 @ 12:06 am
Your kittens are lovely ! I thrill to the tummy dots ! I always enjoy your posts and I am very glad that you speak your mind, politically …. and stand up for animal rights ! I just wanted to say that because I noticed a few people were complaining . To heck with that … keep up the good work , Victoria !
October 10, 2018 @ 1:29 am
This is my first post on your site, Victoria. I’m posting just to say how much I appreciate what you have to say and hope you continue to speak your mind. I really don’t understand how your followers feel that they have some right to make you be quiet. How they feel the right to argue with you on your site! Seriously?
Turn off Fox News, people. You are being misled.
Thanks again!
October 10, 2018 @ 6:57 am
I understand your rage. I feel it too and cannot find an outlet. I live abroad and have limited possibilities for expression (except in FB). I HAVE already sent my vote, at least I can do THAT. Sad, angry, confused (what happened to my country?), lost, hopeless. . .
I am over 70 and lived the first wave of the “now we are equal” belief in the 60s. We didn’t know it wasn’t true then, and when we realized it (some sooner, some later), I still had hope because of the progress we’d made. Now everything is going faster and faster . . . . backwards. I keep thinking “This CAN’T be true!” But it is. The fight is very far from being over. “The Handmaid’s Tale” looms larger and larger as a future.
October 10, 2018 @ 11:33 am
I haven’t read all the comments, so someone may have already suggested this. WRITE POSTCARDS TO VOTERS! There is a website (https://postcardstovoters.org/) that will connect you with various campaigns around the county that want people from all over to write and send postcards to voters in a particular race. Back last January when we had a special election here in northwest WI to fill a vacant state senate seat that had been Republican for 17 years, voters here got postcards; I got 3 postcards — one from St Paul MN, one from elsewhere in WI, and one from California! Our candidate, Patty Schachtner, won that election by a landslide, and it made national news as evidence of an impending blue wave. Right now our county Dem party is writing postcards to all the rural independent voters in our county to urge them 1, to vote, and B, to vote Dem. (2/3 of the folks in our county live in the the country.) People who are reluctant to join in a phone bank or to knock doors will happily write postcards; I have more volunteers for that job than for all other volunteer tasks put together. (I am co-chair of our county Dems.) So, GO WRITE POSTCARDS! Put that screaming rage to work to make change, amen.
October 10, 2018 @ 2:24 pm
As much as I disagree with VEB on this issue, I very much enjoy her opinions, and look forward to all her posts. I came for the kitchen, but every post is a joy.
I enjoy thoughtful debate in the comments as well, and hope I’m not considered a troll, as I have commented here often. (Herself even replied to one about my attempts to recreate a Brunswick bar in my husband’s man cave; an unsuccessful attempt thus far, by the way, though Hope Springs Ever-Eternal) I am sorry if my reply upset anyone, and caused ugliness among us. It doesn’t have to be this way!
October 10, 2018 @ 5:28 pm
*mic drop*
October 10, 2018 @ 11:01 pm
Victoria, have followed you for quite some time, but never felt compelled to respond until now. I am so grateful to have found your blog! I enjoy your verve and advocacy for animals. I love the humor and quirky take you bring to your adventures, especial *big fancy things*. I enjoy bearing witness, from afar, of a couple who embraces their differences and uses love and humor as a bridge. I LOVE the cats/kittens, and have cried tears of joy and sorrow over their comings and goings. You give us all a gift by welcoming us into your life, and I am grateful to you. I especially appreciate your willingness to voice the anger and disbelief at what is has happened and continues to happen. I believe the vast majority of women are feeling the same way. These are tough times are made more bearable through the connection to other women who love this country, believe in the intrinsic value of all people, see fellow women as sisters, and dare to speak truth, even if our voices shake, or chins quiver. Thank you for your honesty in all its forms, and for making this online community possible.
October 11, 2018 @ 1:38 am
I have been reading Victoria’s blog for a long time and I share with her a love of beautiful antique furniture, Old Victorian houses and especially KITTIES! I am also pretty much diametrically opposed to her political beliefs. But that’s OK. That’s what it means to be a free country with freedom of speech. We don’t HAVE to all have the same set of beliefs! VEB is welcome to write whatever she wants on her blog and I support that completely. I don’t have to agree with everything she believes to like her blog and enjoy her posts. And I have never felt that she expects me to.
However, some of the commenters here who are in agreement with her have taken it upon yourselves to not only defend her viewpoint, but to call others who have posted their well-thought-out opposing viewpoints trolls and other ugly names. And telling them to just go away! And that is NOT OK. That is NOT freedom of speech. That is shouting down someone with an opposing viewpoint, and it is mean-spirited and the very opposite of freedom. You really need to think about that and how it looks to others.
I will continue to read and enjoy this blog for all the reasons that I love it. But I’m pretty sure I will skip the comment section next time a political viewpoint is expressed, because I don’t appreciate commenters ganging up on other commenters who fail to fall in lockstep.
October 11, 2018 @ 8:27 pm
I’ve been following you for years but never posted. Love the blog, love the kittens, and love that you stood up for the truth, sanity and decency. The stakes are too high for any of us to remain silent anymore. After all, this is YOUR blog, where you have the right to say whatever you like. Good for you. The only happy thing that has come out of recent weeks in this country is that women across the country–strangers–are reaching out to each other , realizing that we have to speak up and fight together to this madness.
October 11, 2018 @ 8:28 pm
I’ve been following you for years but never posted. Love the blog, love the kittens, and love that you stood up for the truth, sanity and decency. The stakes are too high for any of us to remain silent anymore. After all, this is YOUR blog, where you have the right to say whatever you like. Good for you. The only happy thing that has come out of recent weeks in this country is that women across the country–strangers–are reaching out to each other , realizing that we have to speak up and fight together to stop this madness.
October 11, 2018 @ 8:42 pm
Hello from Australia.
It is curious for me to watch the debate from afar, and, being so far removed from your politics I’m not invested in it like you guys…..
However, can I just say, that those of you who call others with opposing opinions ‘trolls’ is just so intolerant. I just don’t get it. It is really off-putting……
October 15, 2018 @ 10:38 am
If you disagree with the opinions espoused on Victoria’s blog and can no longer “take” reading her personal opinions, please exercise your right to EXIT QUICKLY & QUIETLY. Thank you.
October 15, 2018 @ 3:37 pm
I just love your posts about your kittens. I have 5 cats of my own, and each one has a distinct personality. Your photos are so sweet.
October 15, 2018 @ 7:14 pm
You think you’re angry? I am the wife of a good man, the mother of sons and an attorney. I have spent my entire professional life upholding the rule of law and I am INCANDESCENT with rage that a politically-motivated lynch mob tried to vaporize the presumption of innocence and destroy a man’s life based on nothing more than an uncorroborated allegation and the vicious fiction that women never lie. I am grateful that justice prevailed and Kavanaugh was confirmed in spite of the unhinged hyenas who tried to bring him down, and I am far from alone in being repulsed by the despicable tactics you support. We’ll see you at the polls.
October 16, 2018 @ 9:59 am
So if you are incandescent with rage, and your goal is to actually serve justice and find the truth rather than just elect another republican, why don’t you direct that rage at the administration that refused to allow the FBI to interview the +40 witnesses who came forward with information about Kavanaugh’s past behavior? You say that there was nothing but uncorroborated allegations–you don’t know that, because the witnesses were never interviewed. The witnesses have said in the press that there’s plenty of corroboration, especially in the Debbie Ramirez situation. Basically, the Senate rammed through a nomination with almost zero investigation into credible allegations. That’s a stain on our democracy.
October 17, 2018 @ 5:13 pm
I have arrived very late to this entry, but feel compelled to comment. How did we arrive at this place where everyone has a right to their opinion, as long as they agree with me? Blaming Trump for the negative, divisive, disrespectful attitude people have is ludicrous, especially when reading some of the comments here. If your rage at him is so sincere, why are you emulating his childish, petulant, MEAN, intolerant verbiage? Where is your support for the women who have voiced their opinion here? We are not sheep, our character should determine our behavior, not politicians. How about voting for individuals who have character & integrity, regardless of party? How about taking back our power by showing kindness to each other, instead of raging at the lack of it?