PhotoHunt: Mellow & Tabby's Therapy Cat Tales

Tabby writes:

Wednesday was a very mellow day, because the snow had melted and the weather warmed up.  We were supposed to go visiting last week, but it was down to freezing by the time we would've been coming back home.  That's too cold for me to be outside!  I'm an inside kitty, so I don't have much of a winter coat!  My fur gets a little thicker for winter and I shed, but I don't grow the very thick coat like outside kitties do.

It was really raining on Wednesday, so Mommy brought my little umbrella along and I wore my raincoat.  I was all nice and warm then!  At one point, I wanted to crawl into my carrier bag instead, while we were going from one inside place to another inside place, but Mommy put my jacket on me instead.  I had fun watching everything go by then, and didn't worry that I was not in the bag.  I had a wet head, but the rest of my fur was dry.  My jacket doesn't have a hat or a hood, but it has a collar that I curl in if I need to.  Sometimes, I end up wearing the jacket over my head and looking out an armhole!

When we got to the Lloyd Center MAX stop and got off the MAX light rail train, we got a surprise!  Some things were lined up along the street, but they didn't look familiar.  I know what most cars look like, but these were shorter than cars and they had branches sticking out from the windows!  What were those?

Mommy laughed and told me they were cars, too, and they had reindeer antlers!  There were three of them lined up, plus some people in blue shirts advertising Car2Go.  One of the people was dressed as Santa, but I didn't get my picture taken with him.  He didn't want to pose with me.  They all wanted to pet me, though, and one of them asked a ton of questions about therapy cats!  I love being an ambassador kitty for all therapy cats!

H. had a decorated Christmas tree with lighted packages around the bottom of it, plus poinsettias on all the little tables in the lobby.  There were Christmas lights in some places, too.  I didn't get my picture taken with any of it, though, because we were running late and didn't want to keep my friends waiting longer than we needed to.  I didn't wear my "Santa Baby" dress like I normally do for my December visit, but I had the mini Christmas lights blinking around my stroller handle, so everyone loved those.  We visited with a lot of ladies named M.  Well, their real names were longer than that, and not all the same name that starts with M., but I can't tell you their real names.

One lady named A.M. loves holding me on her lap and snuggling with me while she talks with Mommy.  I watched her tv while she petted me and snuggled with me (and talked).  She kept saying she wished that she had a camera to take a picture of me.  She didn't have a camera, though, not even a disposable one (which she wants to get).  Our friend S., who walks around with us at H., has a cameraphone, so Mommy asked her if she would take a picture of A.M. and me.  S. said that of course she would!  A.M. almost cried, she was so happy!  She said that was the best Christmas present in the world!  I posed on the arm of the recliner and we both looked at S. for the picture.  It turned out really cute, and I wish I could share it with everyone!  A.M. is going to find a nice frame for it and put it on her table!  *purrs*

Another of my friends, one of the M.'s, talked about a kitty she had when she was young.  Her mom didn't especially like Kate the kitty because Kate was always pregnant or nursing kittens.  At that time, they didn't spay or neuter cats.  M.'s mom didn't let Kate in the house, but would pour some milk into a bowl and set it out for her and the kittens after she milked.  I think that M.'s mom must've liked Kate more than she let on, if she fed her!  M.'s mom was Norwegian, so M. knows some Norwegian.  She and Mommy had a conversation in Norwegian about Christmas and about how Mommy knew how to speak that language!  S. was present and couldn't understand a word of it, but I was listening and could understand a bit.  I used to go to classes, and I pay attention when Mommy teaches her internet class.  She speaks some of it to us around the house, too.  Daddy understands more than he lets on, but only says a few words of it.

My friend who used to be afraid of cats and now loves me was in her room, so we had a nice visit with her.  She's another M.  She, S., and Mommy had a great conversation about traditional Christmas food and desserts.  Mommy was telling about her family and about Great-Grandma coming out west from South Dakota after Great-Grandma married Great-Grandpa.  The rest of the family on that side lives in South Dakota still, and my great-uncle sends cookie boxes back to them every year as their Christmas gift.

This picture was taken at C., where we visit after we visit H.  I get to share this picture because there's no identifying information in it.  I love how their tree looks!  You can see the lights on my stroller in this picture, too, as well as my jacket.

The elevator at C. wasn't working properly.  One side of it was broken, and it was dinnertime, so everyone was using the other side or the service elevator.  We waited and waited for it!  Finally it came, then we got to visit P.  We had a great visit, then we rode the service elevator back downstairs again.  Mommy talked with a couple staff members at C., and we might have more people to visit with next time!  There isn't a regular scheduling person for outside visitors, but the different floors have schedules so we'll be on one of those schedules.

After we got done visiting, we went downtown Portland to see the big Christmas tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  We found a funny thing!  This is a bronze statue of a man holding an umbrella, but look what he's wearing!  If that's not mellow, we don't know what is!

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