{"id":49,"date":"2008-01-14T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-14T07:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=49"},"modified":"2008-01-14T07:13:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-14T07:13:00","slug":"of-kittens-and-weddings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/of-kittens-and-weddings\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Kittens and Weddings"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/span>ne of our cats is a frisky, quasi-hyperactive kitten named Sophia.<\/p>\n

Right now, Sophia is tearing up the dining room, prancing and dancing and playing with a little plastic gizmo that I think might once have been a top. <\/p>\n

Earlier, I had to rescue one of Francine’s scarves. Sophia had wrestled it to the ground and was gnawing it to death.<\/p>\n

There are lots of little scraps and such for Sophia to play with right now. Francine and her niece and “best woman” spent most of the day sewing wedding dresses. The wedding has a 1920s theme, so there are a lot of little bangles and feather scraps and pearl-like beads scattered where they fell.<\/p>\n

I’ll vacuum in the morning.<\/p>\n

The wedding is in twelve days.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the house was full of wedding party and assorted assisting angels. It was a work party of sorts – we even barbecued ribs. Of course, this being January in Tacoma, this was done in the garage to avoid the rain. The smell of roasting cow bits mixed uncomfortably with the aroma of spray paint.<\/p>\n

I think we may have frightened the photographer. I hope he’ll recover by the 25th. <\/p>\n

We also worked on the schedule for the 23rd through the 25th – in its complexity it’s beginning to resemble a timetable for field maneuvers in central Europe.<\/p>\n

Still – it’s all coming together, and my panic level has how subsided to a slow boil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our cats is a frisky, quasi-hyperactive kitten named Sophia. Right now, Sophia is tearing up the dining room, prancing and dancing and playing with a little plastic gizmo that I think might once have been a top. Earlier, I had to rescue one of Francine’s scarves. Sophia had wrestled it to the ground and was gnawing it to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-francine-my-love"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-dreaded-list\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":0},"title":"The Dreaded List","author":"Thom","date":"17 November 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a ridiculous amount of time yesterday getting the wedding invitations out. This involved photocopying, folding, stuffing, stamping, stuffing again, licking and sealing, and stamping again (addressing and the first round of stuffing had been done the previous night with Francine). In the process, I discovered that we had\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110272,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/sophia-de-pistachio-2006-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":1},"title":"Sophia de Pistachio (2006\u20132026)","author":"Thom","date":"08 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"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,\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\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_4075-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109670,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-twentieth-spoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":2},"title":"The Twentieth Spoon","author":"Thom","date":"01 August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I noticed a tea towel hanging in her kitchen. It illustrated the various types of Welsh love spoons. It still hangs in the kitchen of Pistachio House. If you're not familiar \u2013 as I certainly was not \u2013 there is an old custom in Wales to give carved wooden spoons\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\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9477-copy-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/the-day-after-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":3},"title":"The Day After Tomorrow","author":"Thom","date":"23 January 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The wedding is on Friday.My parents have been here since Sunday.My sister arrives later today from Wisconsin.My friend Jason from Los Angeles tomorrow.The schedule is insane.Perhaps a nap? No time.","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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110225,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-dull-melancholy-roar\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":4},"title":"A Dull, Melancholy Roar","author":"Thom","date":"25 January 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"today, Francine and I were married at Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma. The celebrant was our good friend (and my former coworker and chess opponent) Rev. Bryan Dolejsi. Afterwards, we had a reception at the Holy Rosary school auditorium. Both the wedding and reception had a roaring 20s theme. Francine\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\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wherein-our-author-catches-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":5},"title":"Wherein our Author Catches Up","author":"Thom","date":"31 January 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The wedding was beautiful. But I get ahead of myself. My parents arrived from Chicago on Sunday the 20th and stayed with us for a week. We put them to work: my Dad was the consummate chauffeur, particularly to the airport as other folks flew in. My Mom did our\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":"At the altar","src":"http:\/\/pics.livejournal.com\/thomryng\/pic\/000858gb\/s640x480","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","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=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}