Gigi
1992-June 4, 2006

It’s a sad day here at our house. My little gigi-girl passed away this morning around 5:30. Friday evening, we noticed that she wasn’t feeling well, she wouldn’t eat or drink and was a bit wobbly when she walked. She wouldn’t stay in my lap, which is a sure sign of a problem.  I stayed up with her all night and we got to the vet’s office as soon as they opened the doors at 8:00 in the morning. We had to take her to an animal hospital where they hooked her up to IV’s and poke and prodded and did every test possible. She was in diabetic shock. She was there all night, but we got the call this morning at 6:00 that she was gone.

Thirteen years ago, before I ever knew him, Mr. Lucy went to pick up his new cat, a retired tonkinese show cat named Dune. While he was at the breeder, he saw a little box with three tiny kittens. One was going to be put down because she had crossed eyes and funny bent legs and would probably need surgery to correct her eyes. Mr. Lucy asked if he could take her too. She was Dune’s daughter and he named her Gigi.

Gigi was the most un-cat-like cat I ever knew. She was never arrogant or snobby or indifferent to the humans around her. She was shy and didn’t like a lot of noise, so she would hide when the house was too full of people, but otherwise she was usually in the same room as one of us. She always came when I called her. Every night at bedtime I would ask "Where’s Gigi?" and she would hop up on the bed. She liked to sleep in the crook of my arm. She loved to be warm. She was always finding her way into my lap, sometimes without my even realizing it. I’d be watching TV and knitting or just sitting and reading and look down and there she was. She would even sneak into the bathroom when she saw me heading in there. Just slip right through the door before I would get it shut. I guess she thought that if I was going to be sitting there, doing nothing, I might as well have a cat to keep me company.

Despite her crossed eyes, she was a good little hunter. Once, as I was getting out of the shower, I spotted a lizard in the bathroom (I still have no idea how he got in there!). I went and got Gigi and she chased him around the bathroom and just had a good old time. She’d do the same with spiders and any other little thing that moved. After the lizard incident, I caught her in the bathroom many times, creeping around the bathtub, still looking for that darn lizard.

She and Reggie were special friends. Every evening she would throw herself down on the floor in front of him for her nightly bath. He would lick and lick and lick her. She loved it, and rolled around so he could get her all clean. They played together too, and she let him herd her around the house.

One of her little quirks was her love of tape and paper and glue and boxes. When I tore off a sheet from the lint roller, she would come running so she could nibble on it. It was like Christmas to her when we’d bring home a box. Especially one with packing tape. It would keep her entertained for hours. We have a few books and magazines with little Gigi teeth marks where she chewed on the corners.

She had the prettiest little feet I ever saw


She walked like a little supermodel, putting one dainty paw in front of the other.

If I wasn’t sure where she was, I just had to look for the sunny windowsill. She would follow the sunshine around the house.

We have a rose bush in our yard called ‘Miss Gigi’, we dug it up and put her little body deep underneath it.

There is a big hole in my heart that will never be filled again. She was my gigi-girl. I loved her.

What a nice long weekend. One more day would have been perfect, I was just starting to feel productive and was getting things done. My peonies opened up and the color faded as they got bigger to a pretty, soft pink:

In my typical ADD fashion, I worked on many different projects this weekend. I finished a cover for our hot water bottle:

It’s still a bit chilly at night, so we could get a little more use out of it. I really should work on the timing of the projects I do. For instance, this would have come in handy a couple months ago when we were both sick. Isn’t this much more comforting when suffering from feverish chills than a water bottle wrapped in an old towel which keeps slipping off and getting tangled around your feet? Ok, maybe if you’re sick enough you don’t really care, but I like this version better. The pattern is from Sarah Dallas Knitting. Which is a nice book full of very pretty photographs of projects that are nearly all stockinette stitch. Not that there is anything wrong with stockinette, the two sweaters I’m making myself this summer are nothing but stockinette, but a little more variety in a knitting book would be nice. I think this is the most interesting pattern in the whole book. I have to show a close-up of the top:

That edging? Is crocheted. That’s right, I did it myself. It only took 3 attempts and 2.5 hours, but I sat there with the pattern and my Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework and a crochet hook and some pretty awkward maneuvering, but I figured it out. My technique is unique, I’d probably be laughed out of any self-respecting crochet group, and my wrist is a little sore, but it did it! Anyway, is that not the cutest hot water bottle you ever saw? I think it is (patting myself on the back).

I did some sewing this weekend too. I made a pillow cover:

Vintage eyelet, linen, a green satin ribbon and a pretty little print. It’s not the most exciting pillow ever, but I think it’s pretty. It has a buckwheat hull pillow inside. I also worked on my backtack project, and I’m happy to report that I think the fabric is going to work out well for the pointy kitty. I was a bit worried that the print was too big, but I lined it up just right for the face, and it looks pretty cute. I also tried making some patchwork coasters for my living room, but let’s just call the results an ‘experiment’ or a ‘learning experiance’ and move on. I’ll have to try that again.

Remember how I said Mr. Lucy was very generous? He did it again today:

These were delivered to me at work this morning. I have a hard time picking a favorite flower, but I really do think peonies are wonderful. What makes them more special, for me, is that they don’t grow in Southern California. Since we live in the mountains, we thought we might have some luck, since it does freeze in the winter. We planted a peony bush, and it’s come up every year, but we’ve never had any blossoms. I’m going to enjoy these for the rest of the week and take them home Friday and see if I can’t get some better pictures. Office lighting isn’t the most flattering for flower photography.

Good grief, this is adorable.

UPDATE: I am not the only one loving peonies right now.

Sometimes I just don’t feel like talking. Am I the only one who gets like that? I’ve been busy busy busy the last few weeks, and I’m always happy when I have something to share here, but I just didn’t have it in me to actually type an entry. It’s not that I’ve been particularly down or anything, I was just feeling quiet, I guess. I was just looking at the pictures on my camera, and realized that I have a few that I’ve been meaning to post. I also realized that I have more pictures that I want to be sure and take before I totally forget or in some cases miss out all together. Like the irises that are blooming right now. We have a pretty pink one and some white and yellow and purple. They are so huge and ruffle-y and just frothy. Back to the subject at hand…

I made a bread pudding:

I can’t say that bread pudding is a favorite dessert, but every now and then it just sounds good. I used a loaf of brioche to make this one. It wasn’t bad for my first attempt. I think next time I will have a little less bread and a little more pudding.

I took a day off to do nothing. I just wanted to do nothing at all and not feel guilty about it. When I got up that morning, this was waiting for me in the kitchen:

Tulips and bagels and lox and cream cheese. A book full of beautiful tulip photographs and a very cute chocolate cake. Mr. Lucy is one of the most generous people I know. He was forgiven for the sink full of dirty dishes for the day. He is also very smart sometimes.

I tried to take some dog pictures, I think you can see that it is very very difficult for Bear to sit still. Oh the effort!

And one last picture of the lilacs:

We had so many this year, but they are nearly all faded now. I could smell them every night when I pulled into the driveway, it was heavenly!

Next time, here at Hey Lucy: the Irises, books, knitted washcloths and what every household should have, a cable knit hot water bottle cover, of course!

What is more boring than knitting-in-progress pictures? Maybe talking about the weather? Well there is going to be a little of both going on here today, so I understand if you just click on out of here right now. It’s my blog and I can be boring if I want to be boring.

I started on my Blue Sky sky blue sweater, and it knits up just lightening fast. I’m already done with the back and have cast on the right front. This yarn is like crack for knitters, it’s so very soft and pretty. I better start practicing my crochet technique, it looks like I’m going to have to be doing that edging pretty soon. I’m working the macro again:

Delicious waves of soft blue cotton! Has anyone out there made a sweater with this yarn? I tried doing a blog search, but couldn’t find much of anything. I’m wondering how well it wears and if it keeps it’s shape, being cotton and all.

And now for more blue skies, as in the weather, not the yarn, I was fooled yet again today. It was beautiful when I got up this morning, so I went with the light, Spring-y outfit, even wearing my new espadrilles, and look what I had to drive into:

See the bright blue top half of the picture? That is where I started out this morning. And see that big dark bank of grey-ness? That is where I’m spending my day. The land where no sun can reach through the clouds. Isn’t this San Diego? Don’t we pay a whole lot of money to live in the land of sunshine, particularly in May? I want a refund. I would just like it to be Spring already, quit teasing me like this. Please excuse my dirty windshield, I kill a lot of bugs on my drive every day.

Finally, the second sock is finished:

I tried to hide my first attempt at kitchener stitch on the toes, because it’s just not so pretty, but that’s okay, these socks are for me, and will probably just be worn around the house, because, really, I don’t have a yellow, turquoise and green outfit to go with them. I really didn’t think that second sock was ever going to end, but then, suddenly, it did! I like the fun factor of this yarn. The stripes were nicely formed as I knit around the legs, but then I got the feet and they’re all weird and wide. At least they match, more or less. I do like the way the stripes narrowed at the toes.

This past weekend I gathered together my Backtack supplies:

I got some Sis Boom fabric, and lots of sparkly buttons, so I’m thinking about a very glamorous pointy kitty, a la Paris circa 1950. I’m making a softie for the one and only Super Eggplant. I can’t wait to get started. I did some other sewing this weekend, I’ll have to share that tomorrow.

The lilacs are blooming:

I’m trying to learn to use the macro on my camera. There’s a really great show in DIY Network, called The Whole Picture, I’ve been Tivo’ing, so I’m learning a bit more about photography.