Astoria- Unfinished Painting & My First Apartment Then & Now

I'm off work today.

The plan is to go over to Astoria Park and paint.

Also, I have some parent teacher conference calls.

I got a late start but I did get over to Astoria.

I only lasted an hour and a half.

It wasnt the cold; it was THE WIND.

It was awful.

If I had realized how windy it would be, I probably wouldn't have even gone out.

There is a very cool painting waiting to happen but I just couldn't stick it out anymore.

I think I'm going to come back to this spot and finish it though.

It isn't very good right now but it CAN be good. 

It's right in the middle of being done.

The park was pretty, even tho someone was smoking a disgusting cigar and the stench kept wafting over.

My father used to play in this park when he was a kid... this would have been in the 50s, I guess.

My very first apartment is a few blocks away. I visited it but didn't pause because they have a security camera and I didn't want to be suspicious or possibly even recognized.  (The same family still owns the house.).

I had the basement apartment in this house, my entrance was down the path on the left.

My window was that tiny window in the garden between those 2 green trees.
And it looks like they covered up the bathroom window, that area next to the porch stairs.

I looked up my old apartment on Streeteasy.

...WOW.

(It was not #1 back then.  My mail went in the same mailbox as the land-people. They left it on the washer for me outside my door.)

They completely renovated it... well, they'd have to for today's rental market.

Someone is living in there, too.

I am ASTOUNDED that they are renting it for $1500/month.

(When I moved in it was $600/month, by the time I moved out it was $750/month.
I was there for 4 years, maybe a bit less.)

Value-wise for money and space, it's more expensive than my current one-bedroom which is an infinitely better apartment in all possible ways!

This entire apartment- and I mean the whole thing including the bathroom- is probably the size of my living room, and that's being generous.  It might actually be smaller.

It's also REALLY, REALLY COLD in the winter because it is subterranean and there is no good heat source. 

It's damp, too.

Once after a rainstorm, I had a mushroom growing in the bathroom.

They removed some walls...one of the walls came to where that support beam is.

They also installed a door blocking the staircase to the upper levels of the house.  

I used that staircase (and there is a closet there too) as storage.

So I actually had more storage space than how it is now.

But the space was not as open.

(Idk what that thing on the wall is.  Probably a heater.)

There was a wall partition between the windows.

Window below is the left window in the pic above.

That's not a closet back there I don't think; it's covering utility equipment.

That diamond door in the back was not storage space; it was the circuit breakers and stuff like that.

Same with the corner cabinet thing.

There was a wall coming to where that beam is.

That crawl-space-looking thing is new.

I went to the gym a lot in those days, so I almost never showered at home.
It was a horrible shower.

There is no room for a bathtub in this bathroom.

I didn't have a door on the shower either, I hung a curtain.

Sigynn! <3 

__PRESENT

Cat Pee Lake

On Friday morning, I woke up because Pebbles was sweeping my down comforter with her paw, in the way that cats sweep litter over their poop.

This immediately brought me out of groggy sleep-land, in a very alarming way.
I looked at my lovely down comforter, which I should mention I was underneath.

There was still-wet cat pee on it.

Not a dribble, oh no.  This was a LAKE of cat pee.  New cat pee. Wet cat pee.  Nasty cat pee.

PEBBLES PEED ON ME WHILE I WAS ASLEEP!!!

Before I went to Utah, she was confined to the bathroom when no one was home and overnights.  She was not confined while I was away, and she was good.  So I let her stay out all the time.  She had been so very, very good and then......then.....

SHE PEED *ON ME* WHILE I WAS ASLEEP!!!!

So we went to the vet on Saturday to see what we could see.

Pebbles was not a happy kitty.

She cried all the way to the vet.

Pebbz got some shots, was probed, they took some blood, and tried to get pee but.....she had no pee in her to give. She had no pee when we needed it. Astounding.

So, I have to take her back on Monday to see if we can get pee. In the meantime she is getting bloodwork done to make sure it is ok for her to go on Prozac. 

The vet agrees with me that Pebbles has some kind of attachment anxiety and she is making a statement that I am HERS, and the bed is HERS, and the down comforter is HERS.

NOT happy kitty

Pebbz did not mind scoping out the exam room
She really doesn't pee anywhere else besides my bed and the litter box. So, Prozac. I cried all the way home because  the visit cost exactly $300.
My Sigynn was on Prozac for years because of anxiety peeing, and it worked! So we are fixing Pebbles' mixed up cat-brain and hopefully life will be more harmonious and pee-free from how on. 

I require a pee-free lifestyle. 

Because I cannot tell you- there are no words to adequately express- how sick I am of cat pee. 

************
Page of Wands (reversed)

Unsuccessful new visions or new projects, flightiness, scattered, over-reactive, setbacks, wrong approaches in new ventures.  Can also be a person who is immature or has self image problems.

Cat Profile: Isis

Name: Isis
Color:  Black Tortie, Angora
Also Known As: Snuggle-Floof, Queen Isis of the Fur
One word description: Insane
Backstory: Isis was picked up on the streets of Brooklyn and carted off to ACC.  She was either dumped or she escaped.  In my experience with her, both are equally plausible.  She was a New Hope cat.
Household Roles: The Queen.  The Snuggler
Favorite food:  Wet food
Favorite spots: The Bathtub- with or without water.  Between the back of the couch and cushions.  Any window. Daya's top bunk.
Oddities: Loves water.  Loves strangers- will run up to them and talk. Will smack anyone who walks by, just because.  Loves to smack other creatures across the face without any warning.  Bites regularly but doesn't hurt.

Smooshed in the couch

Isis is the cat I got in honor of my Sigynn.  She came to live with us about a month after Sigynn died. Before we went to Brooklyn to get Isis, I had a talk with Daya about how the new kitty would be scared and hide, to leave her alone and let her settle in, don't bother her etc etc.

Well, that's not what happened.  Isis was so ridiculously happy to be out of a cage.  She played. She sniffed around.  She hissed a little. She woke me up three times in the middle of the first night because she wanted love.  So much for being shy.  I heard a loud bang in the bathroom- when I went in there she was halfway out the window above the bathtub.  I pulled her back in and had a heart attack.

She's ready to strike!

Isis was incredibly obnoxious at first.  She would attack anything that moved.  She wasn't aggressive at all, she was just playing.  No social skills at all, just a big overgrown kitten.  I did some research on cat behavior and concluded that Isis was probably taken from her mother too young, and raised with people who interacted with her a lot and probably played rough.  When I adopted her the rescue said she should be an only cat.  We couldn't walk without getting attacked.  She even attacked the landlord.  (He didn't mind)  She was seriously obnoxious.

Itchy cat

That's why I decided Isis needed a kitten to play with.  I was going to adopt one of Pebbles' kittens, but it died.  So I took a different kitten (Furball) and Pebbles and that's why I have three cats instead of one.

Getting a kitten for Isis dramatically reduced her obnoxiousness.  It worked perfectly.  She has someone to chase and wrestle with, which is so cute to watch.  She is still pretty evil though.

Ridiculous cat

Isis is my snuggler!  She is the only cat that will really snuggle, and she is a champion snuggler!  She's soft and fluffy and has a loud rumbly purr which is always turned on full volume.  She snuggles under the blankets.
She also likes to come say good morning- when I wake up I call her and she comes flying over from wherever she was to say hello.

She truly loves the bathtub.

The Snuggler

painting and cat

Carey says my blog is too sad and maybe she is right. But I am very sad so it is fitting.

I went out painting today in central park, up at the pool around 103rd street, away from all the tourists.  Here is a little 6x8 I did in just over an hour.

The more I paint the more I realize that painting is really a test of how good one's focus is. I am glad I painted small because I only had about an hour of good focus in me today.

I forgot my rigger and my trees at still a little too fat (WHEN will I get over that) but for an hour's work I'm ok with the painting.

The Pool 6x8 oil on panel

***********************
I am still ridiculously sad about my cat.  I still look down and expect to see a kitty, I have to remind myself I can't go and lug the cat to sit or sleep with me.  I have to stop myself from calling out hello to the cat when I get home. It's too empty here.

So last weekend I started filling out applications to the cat rescues to get pre-approved so I can have a new hope cat pulled from the NYC Urgent Cats kill list. I sent my application to Anjellicle Cat rescue, and filled out the NYC Urgent Cats Pre-screener which is sent out to many rescues.  A rescue, K9Kastle, contacted me immediately. I applied with them and was approved. I told them I was looking for a long-haired tortie, young, preferably between 1 and 3 years old who would be ok as a single cat. And...they have one!

I wasn't expecting to find a cat so soon. I go to see her on Sunday, and I'm 99% sure I will take her home.

It's bittersweet- I am so sad about Sigynn and I miss her so badly, but I am really excited to have found another kitty. I hope that having a cat around will lessen the sense of loss- I will miss Sigynn for a long time but it really will be wonderful to have a kitty around again.

Goodbye Sigynn

My beautiful, wonderful, evil, lovable, self-important, furry purry cat is gone, it will be one week tomorrow and I am still a wreck. Sigynn was with me for almost 15 years.

Sigynn
199?? - November 8th 2012

Also known as:
Catsy
Kitsy
Seenee
Seenee-Neenee
CarpetCat
Puke
Smeegan
Relaxicat
Pretty
Kitt-ten
Queen of Fur
Furcat
BabyCat

It was worth a try......

webuyanycat.com has valued my cat at £2.74.

Snowcamp!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to go to Snowcamp, a winter painting workshop with Stapleton Kearns.  I had a good time and learned a lot. The days were 13 hours long.

Here is the group:

I learned some really important things, such as:

MOXIE IS DISGUSTING.


The scenery was gorgeous.

Stape did demos.....pictured is the SMALL brush he used.....

.....and took us through paint handling exercises.  Here is my Magritte tribute:

We painted.

And it was pretty cold.

The cold was fine with me though, because I had this in my room:

Stape talked a lot about OBSERVATION AND INSTALLATION.

I have now observed that a jacuzzi is an absolute necessity, so I would like someone to come over and install one in my apartment immediately.  It would really help me to maintain my UNITY OF EFFECT.  I pay the landlord on time every month; it's absolutely baffling to me as to why this has not happened already.

 Here is the inn we stayed at, from the back.

I stayed an extra night because of travel arrangements. I knew one person was checking in that evening, but what a surprise when I went downstairs at 7:30pm to find that all the staff had gone home and I was literally the ONLY PERSON IN THE INN!  They do not serve dinner on Monday nights so no one was there.

It was a little creepy and I almost died from culture shock.  The front desk was wide open, the computer was left unlocked, and the front door was also, of course, unlocked.  All the keys to all the rooms were just out in the open.  This would never ever ever in a gazillion years happen in NYC.

I called my friend in NYC and talked to my daughter for a while.  Then a family who was also staying there came back!  Special thanks go to My Lovely and Fabulous Oily Girlfriend Sandra who kept me company via texting all the way from Australia!  Special thanks also to My Other Lovely and Fabulous Oily Girlfriend Carey who kept me company during my travels.  Big hugs and zebra kisses to both of you.

*********************
While I was adding layers my cat was getting hers taken off:

Good news!  Kitty is officially no longer diabetic and is off insulin!  She remains on Prozac and her appetite pill.

Between the cat and Snowcamp...I am really, really broke.  It was worth it though.