{"id":110272,"date":"2026-02-08T17:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=110272"},"modified":"2026-02-08T18:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T02:03:43","slug":"sophia-de-pistachio-2006-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/sophia-de-pistachio-2006-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophia de Pistachio (2006\u20132026)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

F<\/span>rancine and I bought Pistachio House in the Autumn of 2006. We moved in with a tribe of kids and cats. Sometime before that first Christmas, we rescued two kittens who had been born under the porch next door in the Autumn and abandoned by their mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These were Sophie and Linus, who by our reckoning were the first of our family who had known no home before Pistachio House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie was fierce from the beginning. When we rescued them, she was standing protectively over her brother, hissing at us. A year or so later, Linus wandered off, probably to a new home with fewer cats. But Sophie stayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was immediately taken under wing by the late great Abiu<\/a>, the old Colonel. He taught her to hunt, and together many evenings they would beat the bounds, walking the entire inside perimeter of our property before heading back inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Abiu passed, Sophie very much took over as the guardian of Pistachio House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a fierce hunter. I once saw her go from sitting on the porch to taking a bird out of the air in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She probably would have hated this photo of her looking so goofy, but it’s one of my favourites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She was always Francine’s cat. Francine was mama, and I was clearly the hired help. I think that changed a little in the last year or so, but she never stopped trying to order me around or loudly express her displeasure with me. That’s fine. I loved her just the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, I think she decided to retire. Her time outside was mostly spent in the sun. By this time, she was in her late teens. She still did manage to bring Francine a decapitated mouse for her birthday the year before last, though. I think that’s probably the last time she hunted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She survived all the cats we had together. But 19 years is a good, long life for a cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About a year and a half ago, the vet told us that her kidneys were failing<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. It wasn’t painful, and there was very little that we could do other than give her medicated food. He gave her eight months to live. She basically doubled that estimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it was pretty clear that her health was in decline. She slept more and more, and she only went outside for a few minutes a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, Sophie woke up from her nap, walked downstairs, and sort of collapsed at the bottom of the stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was very weak, and she staggered when she tried to walk. Figuring the end was near, I basically cuddled her all evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I carried her outside into the yard before it got dark to visit all her favorite sunning spots. She occasionally weakly meowed, but she just seemed to want to slip into sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spent last night in the bed with me, though at some point she somehow managed to slink off to one of her many cat beds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I laid her in front of the (fake) fireplace in my office so that she would stay warm and comfortable. It was a spot that she always enjoyed. I don’t know how many photos of her I have sleeping in front of it over the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About 40 minutes after I took that one last photo of her, Sophie passed from this world at about 4:15 this afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m absolutely heartbroken. She was such a good cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Francine and I bought Pistachio House in the Autumn of 2006. We moved in with a tribe of kids and cats. Sometime before that first Christmas, we rescued two kittens who had been born under the porch next door in the Autumn and abandoned by their mother. These were Sophie and Linus, who by our reckoning were the first of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-moments-in-time","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sGA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2857,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/pistachio-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":0},"title":"A Sunday at Pistachio House","author":"Thom","date":"22 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So. My wife and I live in an urban neighbourhood known as Hilltop, or \"The Hill\" as I prefer to call it. The Hill is one of the oldest and grittiest neighbourhoods in the city of Tacoma Washington, a place that sometimes calls itself \"Grit City\". So that's a whole\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/thom-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86127,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-feast-on-the-feast\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":1},"title":"A Feast on the Feast","author":"Thom","date":"23 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, we held our annual feast of thanksgiving at Pistachio House. We had a houseful of guests for dinner, including family and friends. We ate good food, drank good vino tinto (or beer, tonic, cider, water, coffee, or tea as the occasion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "community"","block_context":{"text":"community","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christ the King","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Christ-the-King.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":89403,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/requiem-for-a-hen\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":2},"title":"Requiem for a Hen","author":"Thom","date":"28 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Although we live in a city, we keep hens. Our very first egg was laid and eaten on Ash Wednesday 2012. The hen that laid that first egg died today. Violet de Pistachio was preceded in death by her sister, Vera, who died on Thanksgiving day, 2012. She is survived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Hens.png?fit=1132%2C956&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86321,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/class-of-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":3},"title":"Class of 2015","author":"Thom","date":"21 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, my son Tristan graduated from the Art Institute of Portland with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Game Art and Design. He's a 3-D modeler, and a good one. For my long-time readers, you know that Tristan's life has not been without it's troubles. That sentence there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Victoria Ryng","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Tristan-graduation-03-e1450721421534-240x377.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":87514,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/reason-438-why-i-love-my-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":4},"title":"Reason 438 why I Love my Wife","author":"Thom","date":"01 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"in both the Extraordinary Form and the Benedictine Ordo is the Memorial of the Seven Holy Maccabees. Their story may be found in the Bible - provided you've got a Catholic or an Orthodox one. Martin Luther removed these books from his Bible - so if you don't know their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Thom-and-Francine-parish-bbq-2016.jpg?fit=582%2C582&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110292,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fridays-the-thirteenth\/","url_meta":{"origin":110272,"position":5},"title":"Fridays the Thirteenth","author":"Thom","date":"13 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"before we bought Pistachio House, Francine and I shared an apartment with the various children and cats. The address was 13o2 Division Avenue, and we were in apartment 13. Francine was convinced that 13 was a lucky number (\"it's lucky in Italy!\"), so on most Fridays the 13th we would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/13.jpg?fit=736%2C633&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110272"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110286,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110272\/revisions\/110286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}