ALLIE

                                                                    ALLIE  2008 - June 4, 2023

Allie (on right) and friends wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Vintage Jeans Repair

A pair of my old (vintage) jeans had been relegated to the back of the closet for possibly fifteen years, too damaged to wear but too loved to throw out. On a recent review I realized that they were super stylish distressed denim jeans and they still fit; even better they rested mid-waist, the low-rise style having come and gone. The only problem with putting them back in the rotation was that the rips widened every time I put them on. Somehow I just  couldn't avoid poking a foot through the knees and enlarging the holes. I desperately wanted to wear these jeans but they needed to be repaired and I knew I couldn't do it.

Then two things happened: I discovered Boro, the age old Japanese art of mending textiles, and I found out that my sister Lucia was coming for a visit from New York. My sister is an excellent and enthusiastic seamstress so I warned her that I had a sewing project lined up for her visit

Jeans mended in the Japanese boro tradition

I found a DIY site with clear instructions for  Japanese boro denim repair, I sent her the link  Boro Here and she agreed to give the new technique a try. This would entail sewing fabric beneath the holes and stitching around the repaired areas with sashiko thread which I bought for the project.

stitching the jeans with sashiko thread

But in the meantime I found a picture of the jeans below and I thought patches would better reinforce my fragile pair and they would be easier and faster to make. We only had four days and this was supposed to be a vacation not a sweat shop.

I love these jeans

In preparation, I traipsed to three fabric stores in Berkeley and at Stonemountain and Daughter Fashion and Quilting shop I fell in love with a bundled set of three cotton remnants. I bought the pieces, hoping that we could use them for the patches. Then I waited for Lucia's arrival.


The morning she arrived we dug out Dean's old sewing machine, I baked a batch of my favorite peanut butter cookies to encourage her and she set to work. Here's the recipe

Energized by the cookies she tackled the hole below the back pocket which I hadn't even noticed. She finished in a flash. What a pro! I loved the result.

Next she fashioned the patches for the front of the jeans and pinned them on. We consulted about size and placement and after some adjustments she sewed  them on. For the final touch she ironed on denim patches inside the legs, cut the threads and removed the pins. My jeans were beautifully restored!

The finished product

Here I am wearing my new patched jeans on a rainy Sunday afternoon with Allie streaking by

      Thanks sissy Lucia for a great job well done. You were a good sport and fine companion

Cat Pyramid

Allie dozing on her cat pyramid

A gigantic scratching post, originally designed for my first two kittens, Sparky (below right) and Wolfie (left), stands proudly at the far end of our present kitchen. We call it the cat pyramid, for obvious reasons.

Wolfie and Sparky, having outgrown their pyramid, relax together on a danish-modern chair

Eric Steinhauer, who designed the pyramid, reminisced about his inspiration and construction of the post. He made it for my first two kitties, black and white littermates, who were energetically tearing up our house on College Avenue. It consists of four plywood sides, a square top and larger square bottom.

After cutting out the six plywood pieces with a power saw, he stapled carpet scraps onto all the outer surfaces, applied them around the 1/4 inch cast iron frame shown above and screwed them together to form a tall pyramid. The kittens loved it. They raced up and down the vertical sides, chased each other to the top and scratched and jumped with abandon during their young, rambunctious years. But then they outgrew it and went back to napping and artistically scratching the furniture, as is so humorously described in the book Why Cats Paint. Since it was no longer being used, Eric took it apart and stored it in the basement and forgot about it until I found Allie— a darling calico kitten—at the Pinole shelter, five years ago. By this time, I had moved several times and was now living in an in-law addition in the Berkeley hills. From the moment Allie entered "her" home, she was a terror. While most cats would be drugged and drowsy right after being spayed, Allie tore around on every surface in the long, narrow apartment, squealing with glee at having been freed from her cage at the shelter. After several weeks of kitten pandemonium, I thought of the long lost pyramid.

Pyramid sits in back, right corner. Green Bin stays on kitchen counter

   

 Fortunately, the object was still stored in the basement of the College Avenue house and still in great shape. I moved the heavy pieces to our Shasta Road dwelling, Dean reassembled it, placed it in a comfortable kitchen corner, and introduced it to Allie. It was love at first sight! She scratched it ferociously, she bounded up, jumped down, leapt across and, best of all, held court on top. Now she naps blissfully on her perch while I prepare dinner. She can look out at the kitchen or through the small windows into the office (at right) or out the bayview window. She often lies on the floor at the base.

                                           

                                                                  She plays on top

A young Allie plays atop her carpeted roost (2009)

                                                         
                                                         
                                                             She stretches out at the bottom

                                                        She is queen of all she surveys

Full grown Allie looks out at the kitchen from her pyramid

     
                                                         A perfect place for a cuddle

Dean calls it "pyramid love"

All sorts of cat furniture is available in pet stores and online, and all too often these expensive objects are rejected by house cats who are particular about their perches. Below are two stylish examples from the website Hauspanther.

Frankly,  I think Allie looks much more comfortable on her very own designer cat pyramid. She refuses to outgrow it.

For a hilarious account of cats demolishing household upholstery in the guise of artistic endeavor, check out Why Cats Paint by Heather Busch and Burton Silver, Ten Speed Press, 1994.

                                      After all, not every cat is lucky enough to have a pyramid!

Ode to Allie's Prey, or Look What the Cat Dragged In

Today Allie brought in a hummingbird. Late this afternoon I heard cat commotion from the entryway, and familiar with this scenario, I arrived in a flash to see a tiny bird flapping up the wall, with my cat Allie in hot pursuit. I rushed to get a towel to rescue the pathetic little creature. Now quiet on the floor, I covered it with the cloth and tenderly took it outside. Sensing a tiny heartbeat in my hand, I couldn't help but peek. As I opened the towel in the sunlight,  the bird metamorphosed from a brown, limp lump into a magical creature sporting a  fluorescent-magenta circle on it's tiny head. It still looked half-dead, so I suspected it would not recover. But, repeating my usual ritual, I took it across the street, far from harm, and laid it on a soft, sun-warmed bed of leaves, possibly its final resting place. From this perspective I could observe the vivid coloration on the bird's brow, and was again awestruck by its beauty. I nudged the inert body a few times, and was stunned when the bird suddenly shot straight up into the air, flying freely and peeping joyously. A successful rescue!

 Freed hummingbird trying it's wings

Other rescues have not ended so happily. Therefore, in memory of all the fallen creatures brought in by Allie the cat, I have decided to make a list: ( N.B.  I never put Allie's victims in my green bin, nor in the large curbside bin, which would be permissible). In keeping with a certain innate respect, I always lay them to rest on the earth. And sometimes, they actually rouse themselves and scurry away.

Allie at work

Allie's "Gifts"

• 5 birds including a Steller's jay, a sparrow, some inconclusive feathers and the humming bird
• 3 garter snakes all deposited near the door
• countless mice, large and tiny, alive and dead
• one rat  (dead, fortunately)
• bugs and moths of all descriptions

FEATURED PAINTING

Frederick the Literate

My favorite work by the well-known painter of Americana, Charles Wysocki (1928-2002), depicts an old library. The shelves where kitty is sleeping are crammed with books with titles that would interest a cat like Allie:

Delicious Field Mice I Have Known
Lusting For the Giant Rodent
The Feline Comedy
The Three Mousketeers
Field Guide to the Garbage Can
A Tale of Two Kitties
How to Catnap with a Smile
How to Smell a Rat