Summer has predictably flown by. Earlier this summer Lady Kitty was playing in my bed making me laugh with her unique and charming personality, tossing around gems like “tummy button” right and left.

Most of these precious moments slipped by savored but unrecorded. A recent Lady Kittyism preserved in time long enough to transcribe and to share:

“‘Every eyebrow is in a line of mine’… It rhymes!’” she declared with a laugh and a twinkle in her eye.

Then came unexpected house troubles…

Cat 3 took on a whole new meaning at the end of June when we discovered the wax ring from our upstairs toilet had failed. As much as we’d like cat 3 to mean we got a third (very cute) cat, this meant we were dealing with a Catagory 3 Loss- read raw sewage inside the walls subsequently destroyed by water, mold, and stripped down to the studs.

As if that wouldn’t have been quite enough of a challenge for one season, a wayward dehumidifier hose drained onto the countertop instead of into the sink one night and half the kitchen floor was damaged by water.

You really don’t want to see pictures from this phase, but it explains why the blogger went on hiatus.

Life entered a time warp.

Blessedly the kids took turns having ~three week summer camp style holidays with the ever-generous Nana and Baba at Newman Lake.

First Lady Kitty was there on her own whilst Lake took four weeks of Summer School, and then she came down with a high fever. So instead of joining her, Lake gave her a big hug at the airport.

Then he took a turn at enjoying the lake lifestyle whilst Lady Kitty came home to convalesce and so we could try to figure out what was ailing her.

“You have two children, but one of them is at Newman Lake. It’s not me! Puz I’m sick. But I’m not really sick.”

Since the beginning of August the stalwart dear has had a relapsing remitting fever of unknown origin and a constellation of non-specific symptoms fatigue, malaise, chills all preceded by some arthropod assaults, swims in the lake, and a trip to the County Fair. She’s stoic enough but nonetheless it’s painfully clear how hard her body is working to fight off whatever foreign assailant gained access to her strong self.

Today I asked her, “Do you know what comes after 99?”

“Ninety-ten?” she ventured.

Life has skewed so sideways it does feel like what next? Pretty soon ninety-ten will come after 99. Well, and Lady Kitty will be prepared and unfazed!

I’m going to have to call this an imperfect summer. Nevertheless I’m evermore so especially glad I spent it with you.