Monthly Archives: December 2023

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Wordplay

The Ragtag Daily Prompt today is protagonist.

Sol Duc is ready to go outside in the dark and explore.

So there is also an antagonist.

I looked up contagonist and that’s a word too, though I haven’t seen it used much.

Agonist is a word too.

So if the heroine of a story is not a pro, is she an amatuagonist?

Sol Duc doesn’t care. “I’m a cat and I am always the protagonist.”

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Lichen and web

It is almost the solstice and there are fewer flowers, but there are still plants that are thriving. The lichens love my old board fence. It was there when I moved in 23 years ago and is weathering and weathering and supporting moss and lichen. Apparently there are still spiders who are building webs in a hopeful manner too.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day.

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Growing in spite of challenges

This tree is in Fish Park in Poulsbo. I was down there for an appointment last week and had some extra time, so walked through part of the park.

Did this tree get cut early, leaving the base? Or blown down by a wind storm or hit by lightning? It is growing anyhow and is a wonderful home for moss and lichens in the winter. Quite beautiful.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: off-kilter.

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Caught in the act

This is the first time I have managed to photograph one of the cats doing “Cat Art”. Sol Duc. I have two bowls for the cats, with a smaller bowl inside a water barrier bowl. I shut the door between the two when I feed them, because Elwha will eat all his and then bully Sol Duc. He outweighs her by five pounds. When I started limiting their food, they started decorating Elwha’s bowl. With toys. There are often toy mice, that pair of in ear headphones that I’ve given up on, a sponge, tissue paper when they can get it, as many as four different things in the bowls. I have to wash the outer bowl and toys often.

Is this play? It started when Elwha was overweight and I started measuring their food. All of my other cats have been self-regulating about food, but Elwha and Sol Duc were very starved tiny kittens when I got them and Elwha is the first male cat I’ve ever had. Art? Trying to trade toys for more food? I tried reading about it and found that cats will bury their food. Sometimes the art shows up when the bowl is not empty.

This is the first one with tissue paper:

This was the first use of a sponge:

I think this is a particularly fine installation and sophisticated use of tissue paper as well as the toy creature, headphones, and the combination flashlight/whistle.

I hope it is play. It certainly entertains me. I wondered which cat was doing it but I think it is both. It is almost always Elwha’s bowl, though, not Sol Ducs. The mysterious plays of cats.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: play.