Cat update

Freya and Narvi are at the Vet's making sure we won't have any little inbred kittens. They continue to be lots of fun to have around. Narvi has gotten quite stocky. He's a little round teddy bear who has gotten used to being held like a baby. I wouldn't say he's overweight, but we tease him anyway. Chris gave him the nickname "Narvimus Maximus," and Emma has called him "Buddha Butt."Freya is still a delicate little thing, as curious and athletic as ever. She likes to "flop," like Varda did. She will fall over and expect a tummy rub. She also likes a vigorous back scratch. They're both very sweet and cuddly, and like to chase each other up the cat tree.Athena is getting more used to the kittens and growls at them less. This morning, when all of us were still in bed, she got up from her usual place on my pillow and walked over to Narvi, somewhere in the middle of the bed, just as if to check him out. He jumped up and walked away, as if he was thinking "oh no, here comes big bad-tempered old cat!"Athena is still an old, cranky cat whose health isn't great, but thanks to the appetite stimulants, she's put back on a little bit of weight. She's still underweight, but she seems happy enough and likes to be cuddled and sleep next to my head. She gets most of the pillow, so I have to be content with the edge.In other news, my semester of teaching starts at Earlham tomorrow, so I've got a bit of syllabus updating to do today. Yesterday, I wrote a draft of scene three of my chamber opera, which I thought was going to be the hardest to write. I had to have two characters talk around a situation without actually naming it. I solved the problem by having the wife tell the husband a story that just happened to be relevant to their situation. I also started working a little bit on music. I'm not really much of a composer, but I have no trouble coming up with melodies.Oh, and I didn't get my 20 minutes of exercise in yesterday. Too busy teaching and writing. Bad me.