Have I ever told you about Steve’s reading habits? They drive me nuts!!! He goes through these little phases where he reads books back to back and gets completely enthralled in them to the point where he won’t even get out of bed in the morning without going through a few pages first. Then, one day, he’ll just stop and he won’t read a thing (other than the ESPN sports page) for an entire year. It’s the strangest thing!
I, on the other hand, usually have two or three books on the go at any given time. That, in turn, drives Steve nuts! He regularly questions the need for having books dispersed all over the house! What can I say, I love them! Just looking at them makes me happy!
My latest book was Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. I just finished it a few days ago and was pretty surprised that I enjoyed it so much. It has nothing to do with the writing as much as the fact that I’m not usually a fan of short stories. I usually prefer one long plot that I can get lost in for hundreds of pages at a time. It was good though…really good!
My next one comes highly recommended to me from a whole raft of my fellow book lovers; Water for Elephants. Surprisingly, I had never heard of it before and then sure enough, I received three copies for my birthday!!! Clearly, the universe wants me to read this!
I’ve been meaning to mention for a little while though about another book that I read this summer that I absolutely loved; Marley and Me by John Grogan. This was another book that I received for my birthday (from Steve) on the strict condition that I didn’t end up bringing a dog home one day after work!!
For anyone who hasn’t read this book yet let me just say that I highly recommend it! It’s such a simply story about a family and their dog, Marley but it’s also a story that just about anyone (especially any animal lover) can relate to. I had a lot of pets growing up and know first hand just how much joy they bring to a home but, one of my pets in particular came to mind when I was reading this book; my old cat Marvin…quite possibly the very worst cat in the world!!
Marvin and I came together in my second year of University when I finally moved out of residence and back into a place that permitted pets. For weeks I had been scoping out the Humane Society looking for potential fur ball to keep me company this guy in particular always stood out to me. He was large, handsome and had a big sign on his cage that said “very aggressive and not good with children”! Well then…what’s not to love?!?! After four weeks, I brought him home and we became fast friends. He was indeed very aggressive and what the quaint little sign on his cage forgot to mention was that he was also very destructive. He tore everything apart and destroyed everything that he could get his grubby little paws on. My downstairs neighbor even called the police one night telling them that I had a barn yard animal in my apartment! When the officers showed up I told them “I have a rather large cat and a rather large boyfriend…take your pick!!!” They smiled, turned around and asked my neighbor to do some fact checking next time before he called 911!!
The humane society wasn’t sure how old he was because he had been a stray since birth and clearly still had some of his wild tendencies. He eventually grew to be 26 lbs worth of wild tendencies!! Really, it was like having a small bear in your house! After about six months, I managed to ease the destruction and aggressiveness out of him somewhat and he became the loveliest of pets. He was my companion and I loved him to death. He slept on my bed every night, greeted me at the door every day and drove me crazy just about all the time!
The summer that I graduated from University was a little uncertain for me. I wasn’t sure if I was staying in Ottawa or moving away, hence I decided to keep my living arrangements as flexible as possible. Due to the life that Marvin had already endured as a stray, I didn’t want to put him through the potential trauma of too many moves so my mother graciously offered to take him until I discovered where life was going to take me. The clincher is that my mother lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands, about 100 miles off the coast of British Columbia, which was going to make this one move for him a bit of an adventure!
So, in late April of that year, I took Marvin to the airport in his fancy new cage, adequately doped up on veterinarian prescribed drugs and I bid farewell to my feline friend for a little while. It was hard and I knew that it was about to make an already tumultuous time in my life even lonelier with his absence. As misbehaved a cat as he was, he still made me smile every day.
By December of that year, my life began to settle down and it was time to bring my big guy home. I had started a new job and had just found the perfect apartment fit just for the two of us!! For nearly six months my mom had taken wonderful care of my roommate and I couldn’t wait to see him again! Very generously, my mom sent him on an Air Canada flight back to Ottawa via Vancouver for the first weekend in my new place (and just in time for Christmas!). He was leaving late on a Friday evening and due to arrive early the next morning. I spent the Friday night cleaning and unpacking our new place, and anxiously awaiting the purrs of my long lost feline. Late that night (around 11ish) I received a call. The person on the other end of the line asked “hello…is this where Marvin lives?” A bit perplexed, I responded “well, yes…in about twelve hours or so. Can I ask whose calling?”
Now, this is where the real fun starts!!
She politely answered “oh, of course! I’m calling from the Four Seasons Hotel at the Vancouver International Airport and I have your cat Marvin here with me and I was wondering if it’s alright for him to eat tuna?”
[insert look of confusion here]
As you can imagine, this wasn’t really a phone call that I was anticipating hence, I didn’t really have my list of witty comebacks available on hand!! Though once the initial shock of this statement wore off, I began to inquire a bit more about all the missing pieces in between!
As it turns out, a snow storm had hit Vancouver that night and my kitty’s connecting flight to Ottawa had been cancelled. Marvin had been left in the baggage claim area until another available flight was found for him to travel on. Some sympathetic employee saw him sitting there all lonely and decided to approach some other of his fur loving friends for a rescue plan and just like that, Marvin was being put up in a room at the Four Seasons Hotel for the night…tuna and all!
So how exactly does the worst cat in the world end up in one of the finest hotels in the world? I guess it just goes to show what happens when you show a little whisker!!!!
Marvin did, at long last, make his way home and what a reunion it was! Marvin and I spent the next three years together in that little home of ours and believe me when I say that he left his mark! Chocolate milk stains, scratched door frames, destroyed bathroom tiles and a tortured window screen that may never be able to be replaced!! There is no end to life and love with the world’s worst cat!!
Marvin ended up making his way back to B.C. eventually when “unresolved issues” between he and Steve finally forced us to part ways! Sometimes there is only enough room for one man of the house in a girl’s life. It was a sad day but he and my mom are happily chasing eagle feathers on the West Coast and Steve and I are happily getting accustomed to our furry friend over in the East. Let’s face it, after so many years with it just being Marvin and I, it was clear that he was meant to be an only child!
But when I look back on my life before love and marriage swept me away, I will forever be able to say that until I found the perfect man…I had the perfect feline!
I, on the other hand, usually have two or three books on the go at any given time. That, in turn, drives Steve nuts! He regularly questions the need for having books dispersed all over the house! What can I say, I love them! Just looking at them makes me happy!
My latest book was Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam. I just finished it a few days ago and was pretty surprised that I enjoyed it so much. It has nothing to do with the writing as much as the fact that I’m not usually a fan of short stories. I usually prefer one long plot that I can get lost in for hundreds of pages at a time. It was good though…really good!
My next one comes highly recommended to me from a whole raft of my fellow book lovers; Water for Elephants. Surprisingly, I had never heard of it before and then sure enough, I received three copies for my birthday!!! Clearly, the universe wants me to read this!
I’ve been meaning to mention for a little while though about another book that I read this summer that I absolutely loved; Marley and Me by John Grogan. This was another book that I received for my birthday (from Steve) on the strict condition that I didn’t end up bringing a dog home one day after work!!
For anyone who hasn’t read this book yet let me just say that I highly recommend it! It’s such a simply story about a family and their dog, Marley but it’s also a story that just about anyone (especially any animal lover) can relate to. I had a lot of pets growing up and know first hand just how much joy they bring to a home but, one of my pets in particular came to mind when I was reading this book; my old cat Marvin…quite possibly the very worst cat in the world!!
Marvin and I came together in my second year of University when I finally moved out of residence and back into a place that permitted pets. For weeks I had been scoping out the Humane Society looking for potential fur ball to keep me company this guy in particular always stood out to me. He was large, handsome and had a big sign on his cage that said “very aggressive and not good with children”! Well then…what’s not to love?!?! After four weeks, I brought him home and we became fast friends. He was indeed very aggressive and what the quaint little sign on his cage forgot to mention was that he was also very destructive. He tore everything apart and destroyed everything that he could get his grubby little paws on. My downstairs neighbor even called the police one night telling them that I had a barn yard animal in my apartment! When the officers showed up I told them “I have a rather large cat and a rather large boyfriend…take your pick!!!” They smiled, turned around and asked my neighbor to do some fact checking next time before he called 911!!
The humane society wasn’t sure how old he was because he had been a stray since birth and clearly still had some of his wild tendencies. He eventually grew to be 26 lbs worth of wild tendencies!! Really, it was like having a small bear in your house! After about six months, I managed to ease the destruction and aggressiveness out of him somewhat and he became the loveliest of pets. He was my companion and I loved him to death. He slept on my bed every night, greeted me at the door every day and drove me crazy just about all the time!
The summer that I graduated from University was a little uncertain for me. I wasn’t sure if I was staying in Ottawa or moving away, hence I decided to keep my living arrangements as flexible as possible. Due to the life that Marvin had already endured as a stray, I didn’t want to put him through the potential trauma of too many moves so my mother graciously offered to take him until I discovered where life was going to take me. The clincher is that my mother lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands, about 100 miles off the coast of British Columbia, which was going to make this one move for him a bit of an adventure!
So, in late April of that year, I took Marvin to the airport in his fancy new cage, adequately doped up on veterinarian prescribed drugs and I bid farewell to my feline friend for a little while. It was hard and I knew that it was about to make an already tumultuous time in my life even lonelier with his absence. As misbehaved a cat as he was, he still made me smile every day.
By December of that year, my life began to settle down and it was time to bring my big guy home. I had started a new job and had just found the perfect apartment fit just for the two of us!! For nearly six months my mom had taken wonderful care of my roommate and I couldn’t wait to see him again! Very generously, my mom sent him on an Air Canada flight back to Ottawa via Vancouver for the first weekend in my new place (and just in time for Christmas!). He was leaving late on a Friday evening and due to arrive early the next morning. I spent the Friday night cleaning and unpacking our new place, and anxiously awaiting the purrs of my long lost feline. Late that night (around 11ish) I received a call. The person on the other end of the line asked “hello…is this where Marvin lives?” A bit perplexed, I responded “well, yes…in about twelve hours or so. Can I ask whose calling?”
Now, this is where the real fun starts!!
She politely answered “oh, of course! I’m calling from the Four Seasons Hotel at the Vancouver International Airport and I have your cat Marvin here with me and I was wondering if it’s alright for him to eat tuna?”
[insert look of confusion here]
As you can imagine, this wasn’t really a phone call that I was anticipating hence, I didn’t really have my list of witty comebacks available on hand!! Though once the initial shock of this statement wore off, I began to inquire a bit more about all the missing pieces in between!
As it turns out, a snow storm had hit Vancouver that night and my kitty’s connecting flight to Ottawa had been cancelled. Marvin had been left in the baggage claim area until another available flight was found for him to travel on. Some sympathetic employee saw him sitting there all lonely and decided to approach some other of his fur loving friends for a rescue plan and just like that, Marvin was being put up in a room at the Four Seasons Hotel for the night…tuna and all!
So how exactly does the worst cat in the world end up in one of the finest hotels in the world? I guess it just goes to show what happens when you show a little whisker!!!!
Marvin did, at long last, make his way home and what a reunion it was! Marvin and I spent the next three years together in that little home of ours and believe me when I say that he left his mark! Chocolate milk stains, scratched door frames, destroyed bathroom tiles and a tortured window screen that may never be able to be replaced!! There is no end to life and love with the world’s worst cat!!
Marvin ended up making his way back to B.C. eventually when “unresolved issues” between he and Steve finally forced us to part ways! Sometimes there is only enough room for one man of the house in a girl’s life. It was a sad day but he and my mom are happily chasing eagle feathers on the West Coast and Steve and I are happily getting accustomed to our furry friend over in the East. Let’s face it, after so many years with it just being Marvin and I, it was clear that he was meant to be an only child!
But when I look back on my life before love and marriage swept me away, I will forever be able to say that until I found the perfect man…I had the perfect feline!
p.s. Thanks mom for the picture!
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