On March 25th, I called my mom to ask for a ride to some cat shelters in a nearby town.

CORINNE: Should we take the cat carriage?
MOM: Nah, we’re just looking for now.

We drove up to Zaandam during rush hour, which meant one shelter was closing just as we arrived. We checked out the other one, which I’d checked out beforehand online. One of their cats, Misty, appealed to me in particular. For one, she was already an adult, and was described as being fearful and requiring a lot of love and attention. Since I work at home and live on my own, my apartment is the perfect place for a Project™.

For another, she’s got a tiny spot on her nose.

When we arrived, she watched us with huge eyes–well, eye, since she was hiding–and we made soothing sounds at her. “It’s all right,” the shelter lady said at one point. “You can pet her.”

I opened the cage and she bolted to a different box. I reached out. Misty cringed. I very carefully stroked her head.

MISTY: *cri–purr?*
CORINNE: Awww.
MOM: Take the cat.
CORINNE: Wait, what?
MOM: Listen to that purring! Take the cat.
CORINNE: I thought we were just going to look. We don’t even have the carriage with us.
MISTY: Purr.
MOM: Shelter lady! Do you have transport boxes?
SHELTER LADY: Affirmative.
MOM: Take. The. Cat.

I took the cat.

MISTY: *stops purring*

Misty’s description on the shelter website had said that she’d been there for about half a year after being dropped off because she couldn’t get along with the other cats in the house. A different family adopted her, then returned her within two weeks because she wasn’t social enough and stayed in the same spot in the house 24/7. Anyone who adopted her would have to provide her with a quiet, stable environment, and not expect her to be a lap cat straightaway.

The first day, she actually did better than we’d expected–she wandered around the house sniffing and rubbing up against absolutely everything, and even allowed very brief cuddles before finding a hiding spot in the bathroom and surgically attaching herself to it.

The hiding spot was behind a bucket. It was deeply cute.

I tried to mostly ignore her that first day to let her get settled in at her own pace. I cleaned up, sat at my computer for a while, watched some TV.

MISTY: My own pace is lap time. RTFN.
CORINNE: The shelter lied!
MISTY: *purr*
CORINNE: This cat is well-adjusted! False advertising!
MISTY: *purrrrrr*
CORINNE: I can live with it tho’.

She made herself fairly comfortable over the next few days and weeks, and did not particularly seem to mind my dubbing her Terra rather than Misty.

I’ll wait till you’re done squeeing, and yes, that is a little cat tongue in that third photo. I know. I know.

Unfortunately, for all her endearing sleeping poses, high-volume purring, and insatiable love of cuddles, she’s not as well-adjusted as I initially thought. At night, she’s clingy. I don’t let her into my bedroom, so she spends forever scratching at my door and yowling. During the day, though, I can only approach her when she’s on the couch, and then only if I make eye contact and talk to her in a soft voice. The rest of the time, she won’t let me come near. When I walk through the apartment, I have to give her a wide berth or she’ll scramble out of the way. Anything within three feet is risky.

I can live with that–though I hope it improves, since this can’t be relaxed for her. Worse is her reaction to–well–anyone not me. One or two visitors, and she’s behind the couch. Not scared, but very, very cautious. If there are more people than that, like when I had my family over on Sunday, and she’s genuinely terrified. Crouching in a corner, ears flat, pitiful mewling.

Even the sounds of the doorbell or the neighbors coming home send her into hiding:

CORINNE: You are not very good at hiding.
TERRA: I am invisible!
CORINNE: Your tail. It’s like. Right there.
TERRA: Invisible.
CORINNE: I feel like you’d be waggling your eyebrows right now if you had any.
TERRA: They would be invisible eyebrows.

It’s only been a little over a month, so I’m giving it time, and hopefully she’ll learn that there’s nothing to worry about. If any of you happen to be cat experts, though, I welcome advice.

In the meantime, we’re both enjoying our evening couch cuddles.

Lastly, I should point out that–as obsessed as I am with my apartment and color-coordination–I did not select Terra purely because she matches my sexy floor.

… but gotta say, I like it.

After the retreat, Kimberly Welchons, Natalie Parker, Tessa Gratton, and moi got in a car and headed into Austin, had lunch, then promptly drove north to see an awesome cave. Photos are just a click away~

Continue reading “The Trip: Austin” »

Previously, I left y’all on a cliffhanger.

Worry no more! The trip to Texas miraculously healed my feet.

(Sorry about that anticlimax.)

Anyway, my carefully ordered day-to-day reports will now end, on account of there being no rhyme or logic to writing retreats, merely writing and drinking, and it is easy to lose track of time that way.

Anyway, a bunch of us took a bus:

To a house:

A seriously pretty house:

With an even prettier view:

People spent a lot of time talking…

And laughing…

And looking pensive…

And walking…

And diligently working…

And, in general, being completely lovely.

(I, on the other hand, spent a lot of time chasing down squirrels and geckos.)

The absolute highlight of the retreat, of course, was Beth Revis shocking Victoria Schwab and Amy Plum TO THEIR VERY CORES by… actually really enjoying the salty liquorice I brought.

Beth, you have most excellent taste.

The first half of my trip consisted of a few days in Boston with my delightful friend and CP Helen Corcoran. Photos below!

Continue reading “The Trip: Boston” »

When I was in the United States this summer–weird to think I’ve been back for over a month now!– I made an effort to go out and see nature. This for two reasons:

• Nature is pretty.
• Animals are cool.

I got to see plenty of the former, but not as much of the latter, despite all my obsessing over bears and cougars (critters we do not get in my tiny country).

After spending several hours trudging through pretty American forests and mountains, I realized is that it’s kind of weird to obsess over long nature hikes while abroad, but completely neglect the very lovely nature in my own country. Once home, I invited my mother, my mother invited a friend, and the friend invited a friend, and last Friday morning–early, early Friday morning–we took off for the Veluwe, a gorgeous nature area in the east of the country. I was expecting to see some deer, and keeping my fingers crossed for wild boar.

Literally thirty seconds after exiting the car–we were still sorting out our bags–we heard grunting. Things picked up from there.

All in all, in a walk of under an hour, we spotted boar on three or four different occasions, plus two deer, something small that was likely a rabbit, and tons of bird of prey.

ALERT. There is a BABY BOAR.



(The tail here cracks me up.)
The Veluwe is particularly known for its heathland. In fact, my sister plans to visit the Veluwe tomorrow with her fiancé–so her first question when she found out we’d gone: “Is the heather blooming?”

… affirmative.

It’s far too easy to forget how lovely your own home can be.

… of my seriously epic US adventure.

I’m about to start my last full day here–my flight tomorrow leaves around 10, so I think you can safely call it ‘my last day,’ period.

Monday morning, Amsterdam time, I’ll be home again. Ready to sleep. A lot.

(And then write a book or something.)

Anyway, until then, enjoy the mystery du jour of my present location:

(You might have to zoom in to read the name. And then you’ll understand my fannish giggles.)

(Also, witness my frozen yoghurt obsession in action.)

(And yes, I forgot to update last week’s location. Here it is, if you wanted to look. Hint: background!)

WHERE OH WHERE.

… I’m on vacation to a mystery location.

Can you put together the clues?!

Well, two weeks, at this point. I’m such a slacker.

In lieu of actual blog content, let me show you what I’ve been up to…

… witnessed my dad and stepmom’s new Thai restaurant being blessed by a Buddhist monk. (My stepmom is the lady in blue–my dad’s not in these photos. All the elderly people are family, though. The man setting next to me is my granddad.)

… revised BLINK and sent it back out to betas. Here’s a comparison of different versions of the first few chapters. I… very badly want to be done with this book.

… started “The Tales of Sigma City”–a pulpy ’50s superhero novella–from scratch. This is how I envision my main character, Joan. She needs a hug.

… biked into town so I could work on the above novella in the Central Library. On the way there, I encountered this bike parking boat, which is the coolest thing ever. It is out-Dutched only by our habit of pointing at a significant body of water and going, “That. That right there is where I’m going to build a house.”

(The floating flower market visible in this picture is also high up there, though.)