For some inexplicable reason, I slept in until 5:38AM today!!

And of all the mornings to oversleep — the kittens’ birthday today and Easter Sunday!

But a good time was had by all. The Happy Birthday breakfast (or “Happy Easter”, if you didn’t turn 1 today!):

And apparently my 14-year-old cats, who had birthdays on St. Patrick’s Day and who spend most of their time in the guest bedroom upstairs, liked their Easter breakfast just fine!!

And then the birthday toys came out in the kitchen!

And Kon Tiki and 3 of her furry friends joined us for Easter breakfast today, out on the kitchen porch. In the dark. Serenaded by a bunch of singing birds — and the sound filled the whole village.

We also had a wonderful — and really big!! — ‘possum join us for breakfast out there, too!

All before the sun came up.

And oddly enough, even after oversleeping, I’m still exhausted! Cannot imagine why…

But it was a beautiful morning.

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And Happy Easter, if you celebrate it, gang.

James Tabor re-posted this last night. It’s difficult to listen to, if you are sort of viscerally attached to Jesus of Nazareth, the man (as I am). But it’s worth watching because of all the archeological /historical stuff. (And by “Mafia”, Tabor is referring here to the family of High Priests in Jerusalem at that time, who were hellbent on first mortifying and then executing Jesus.)

Jesus Archaeology # 13 Killing Jesus–The Mafia Backstory (29 mins):

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Yesterday was strange.

My favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s week-long visit with his daughter was a success. But by yesterday, I knew he was exhausted and was very patiently waiting for it to be over. (She flew back home late yesterday afternoon.)

He even said as much to me — that he wanted her to go — when he and I were alone in his bedroom.

I found that part to be sort of astonishing, since his brain doesn’t work too great in the “here & now”. Yet he had enough mental faculties to express himself to me very quietly, without being rude to his daughter.

The problem was that he doesn’t like people to clean his house and his daughter would not stop cleaning. She cleaned EVERYTHING. All week long.

I understood where she was coming from emotionally, and she knew that all the cleaning was upsetting her dad, but she felt compelled to “take care of him”, in that sense.

Yesterday sort of reached the pinnacle, since it was her last day. And I spent my entire shift being cheerful and chatty and patient and supportive with each of them — trying to balance the energy between those two so that everything would stay peaceful.

Plus, she had confided in me that she is enrolling him in Hospice now, which is of course her decision and I understand why it makes sense to her, but it was really startling to me. (I’ve been with him several days a week for the past 18 months; his physical health is perfect. )

Anyway.

It was a relief to get out of there.

And from there, I went to do all the grocery shopping. Even though the stores were kind of crowded, since it was the day before Easter. But it kind of helped me clear my head.

And then, in the parking lot, while heading to my car, pushing my bags of groceries in the grocery cart, a woman who looked to be about 80, in complete distress, called out to me: “Please, please! Can you help me?”

ME (leaving my cart and going to her): “Yes I can.”

Without even knowing what she needed help with. It was just that call of distress from someone in need. Off I went.

I did eventually move my grocery cart over to my own car, and luckily what she needed help with, I was able to fix for her. (A problem with her car.)

And as I drove away, I was just sort of stunned. I was really glad that I’d been able to help her, so that she could drive herself home and feel safe and probably collapse…

…while I drove home to take care of 17 abandoned and/or rescued cats. In my 125-year-old home that through some miracle of grace, I manage to keep in really good shape…

What the fuck has my life become, right?

I was fucking exhausted.

And as I pulled up to my house, the neighbors across the road — the one who had dug my car out from under 4 feet of snow a few months ago — had no less than 10 pickup trucks parked along the side of their house. Happy guys outside, tinkering with the trucks. Kids running around, laughing, playing with toys. Obviously getting ready for Easter.

It was breathtaking, all the activity over there. And that was what I had always wanted, always assumed I would somehow have — a huge family, right?

Yesterday just wiped me out.

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However!

A great big thank you to whoever is pre-ordering The Curse of Our Profound Disorder !! It is already showing up in the sales ranking on Amazon!

I really, really appreciate it. (You can pre-order the print edition on Amazon US here, but it is available for pre-ordering at pretty much all online bookstores.)

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All righty!

Here’s this.

I’m not familiar with this photographer, but apparently she has passed away. Here are a couple of her photos, though. One of Richard Hell, and one of Iggy Pop:

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And here’s this!

A classic photo of Keith — it’s hard to see it here, but he’s wearing his “Marilyn” t-shirt:

And here’s this — no, not being taken off to jail, just being escorted through the crowd!

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And in honor of Easter!

A classic photo from yesteryear — of Nick Cave and a bunny!!

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And I believe that is it for now!

I have my shift later today with the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat. I guess it will be an interesting way to “celebrate” Easter.

And then not only do I have tomorrow off, but also my best friend Valerie in Brooklyn and I are planning on having a catch-up chat on the phone!! Yay.

Okay. Enjoy your Easter, or have a good Sunday if you don’t celebrate Easter, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this.

This is a video that I play a lot on my phone for my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man. He loves this song (and this video).

The classic from Louis Armstrong, “What a Wonderful World.” Enjoy, gang.