Aby-a-Day – 18 Juni: Five years ago today…(Friday Flashback)

Five years ago today, Jacoby, Angel and I landed in Stockholm.

We took IcelandAir, which requires pets to travel in crates in a special pet cargo hold. It’s actually really great, because they allow two pets of the same species in one carrier. When we changed planes in Reykjavik, I actually saw them being loaded on the new plane.

We had a LOT of luggage. That was fun on the train to Skövde.

But once we had it all stashed, it was a very comfortable ride. Jake was enjoying the view immensely.

And then…

…we were home.

Aby-a-Day – 19 November 2020: Love in the time of Covid-19 (Thursday Things)

So, we have a little news: We have found another boy for Lorelai! He lives with our friend Susanna in Stockholm; you may recall we met two of her Abys, Rory’s half-brother and a girl born the same day as Rory at Rory’s very first cat show.

His name is S*Cat Claw’s Rockstar Ritchie. He’s almost a year old, and he happens to have a brother named Rory! He’s ruddy, but his mother is fawn, so it’s possible he’ll carry cinnamon.

This will be Ritchie’s second mating. We’re taking her to Stockholm next weekend…so keep your fingers crossed!

Aby-a-Day – 8 Augusti 2020: Celebrating International Cat Day with Jacoby, International Cat of Mystery (Special Saturday)

As most of you know, Jacoby was a very international cat.

He even had a passport to prove it!

He was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada…

…and moved to Boston, Massachussetts, USA.

Jake travelled extensively throughout New England.

He also went to New York and Pennsylvania for cat shows

Later, he moved to Sweden, where he visited Stockholm…

…Göteborg…

…and Jönköping.

He saw Helsinki in Finland…

…and Tallinn in Estonia.

Jake was no stranger to hotel rooms.

Jake travelled by air…

…sea…

…and land, most famously by subway in Boston.

Jake also loved elevators.

I’m sure there are cats in the world who are more well-travelled than Jake…but Jake’s the one I got to travel alongside with.

Aby-a-Day – 24 Juli 2020: The start of an amazing experience (Friday Flashback)

This memory came up in my Facebook feed today. Seven years ago today, I was contacted by Leslie and Sheila of the Westchester Feline Club because they wanted Jacoby to be the 2013 Westchester Feline Club Cat of the Year.

I have to admit, I really had no clue what a huge honour it was to be named Cat of the Year, but fortunately I’m a fast learner. Of course, seeing his face on the Jumbotron was a pretty big hint.

I was constantly talking to people, or doing something with Jake. Besides the Cat of the Year, Jake was also entered in the show (we only missed two rings, which is a bit of a miracle) and he participated as a model in the Fashion Show which was held both Saturday and Sunday. Jake is actually the first Cat of the Year to do all three things in the same show!

The show was good; Jake made a few finals. And the fashion show was fantastic. They originally wanted Jake to wear a Santa outfit…but when we saw how he rocked this turkey confection, everyone agreed that it was the costume for him! The person who made it even gave it to him afterwards, because he owned it so hard.

The list of previous Cats of the Year is impressive, indeed.

Jake was given an incredible rosette – the Scarlett Ribbon – with a photo of Scarlett, who was the very first Cat of the Year and the reason the award was created.

He was also given this certificate…

…and this poster. I was NOT prepared for all of it!

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience…but I didn’t realise that in July!

Aby-a-Day: 9 Februari 2020: Instead of Örebro, a tale of Finland (Cat Show Sunday) (Part 2)

Sunday greeted us with a chilly, frosty morning. We checked out from the hotel, went to the show hall, and got ready for the second day.

Our judge for the day was Marina Vinkel from Estonia. She was very thorough in examining Jacoby on her table.

Koshka and Jake waited for the Nomination…but alas, it was not to be. However, that ultimately worked to our advantage.

Not having to be on alert for the panels gave us a chance to explore the show hall and the merchants. Koshka was especially excited to see Arja’s Art, the woman who makes the harnesses the cats wear.

Koshka raves about these harnesses, and was thrilled to discover that Arja also makes passport covers for the EU Pet Passports.

Because we weren’t Nommed, we were able to get permission to leave the show a couple of hours before it ended, as we had to get back to Helsinki, return the car, and make our way to the port to catch our ferry. It was lucky that they let us leave when they did, as it took a bit more time than expected before we were ready to go to the ferry.

Jake was such a seasoned traveller, he lead the way to our cabin. After setting up our quarters, which was a mirror-image of the cabin we had on the way to Finland, we pretty much repeated what we did on our first trip, with a couple of exceptions.

This time, we took Jake to the aft sun deck for some pictures and a final look as we departed Helsinki.

We also took some porthole portraits with Jake in one of the elevator lobbies.

After our ship exploration, we settled Jake in the cabin with a snack while we hit the buffet for dinner and then visited the duty-free shop, where we bought liquor, cosmetics and candy well below mainland prices. The seas were calmer on the way back.

We arrived to Stockholm on Monday morning. A bus took us back to the railway station, where we caught the train for Skövde.

Finally, 6 o’clock in the evening, we were back home. Jake’s first trip abroad as a show cat was over.

Aby-a-Day: 8 Februari 2020: Instead of Örebro, a tale of Finland (Cat Show Saturday) (Part 1)

Note: today and tomorrow’s posts were written by Björn. We were supposed to go to our favourite show in Örebro, but for a constellation of reasons, we had to stay home. Since I had planned to do cat show posts this weekend, I thought I would share Björn’s account of Jacoby’s Big Finland Adventure.

We left for Stockholm on Thursday, 29 September.

It was our first time travelling with a cat EU passport!

Jake made himself comfortable on the train – his first big trip since he moved to Sweden. The train ride took two hours.

Once in Stockholm, we caught the bus to the ferry port on the eastern outskirts of the city.

We checked in, and boarded the ferry.

Jake, of course, made friends as we waited to board.

While in the queue on the gangplank, we could see the cars waiting to board (it is a ferry, after all). Sweden is known for its fascination with vintage cars, and it’s always fun to see them. There may have been a car show in Helsinki that weekend.

There was a photographer at the gangway, snapping photos of Jake.

After finding our cabin and setting up the litterbox, we left Jake to enjoy the comforts of the cabin while we explored the ferry.

The Baltic Sea ferries vary in standard, but the best are like cruise ships, albeit on a smaller scale. There was a mall, several restaurants and bars, and the inevitable gaming areas. The photographer sold prints of the photos they took during boarding, and those with Jake were awesome.

We stuffed ourselves at the buffet, and feeling content, we went looking for amusements. Of course, Koshka found a slot machine game with an Abyssinian.

Later in the night, high winds made the ship roll, making us walk like we were more intoxicated than we actually were. Jake was happy to see us return…but the rolling ship didn’t seem to faze him at all.

The seas were calm next morning when we neared our destination, Helsinki, the capital of Finland. We left our cabin, Jake riding in his stroller, and went looking for a cab to take us from the port to the city center.

As it was Koshka’s first time in Helsinki (and my first time in 15 years), we stored our luggage at the railway station, and did some sight-seeing and shopping. In every shop (more than half a dozen), we made sure that it was OK to bring Jake.

Not one turned us down; on the contrary, the staff in every shop were charmed by our furry companion, almost forgetting the other customers.

After a late lunch at a Finnish restaurant, we went to the rental car pickup place.

As the driver, I quickly realized that getting out of an unfamiliar city at rush hour on a Friday was a challenge. I sent grateful thoughts to the inventor of the GPS navigator, as it made finding our way a thousand times easier. Jake began meowing straightaway, and kept up the song of his people for the 45 kilometers (28 miles) to Siuntio, a small town west of Helsinki which was the location of the show. We found the hotel, the Rantasipi Siuntion Kylpylä, and checked in.

The sprawling hotel was pretty labyrinthine, but we found our room and installed ourselves. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, and by the looks of the other guests, most of them were there for the cat show.

Saturday, 1 October: Jake’s debut as a show cat in Europe. The vet check was pretty early, but we were there in time (again, thanks to the GPS).

We found the show cage and set it up with curtains, bowls and litterbox.

We were benched right next to Jake’s good friend Sketsi.

As it was the 50th anniversary of the first litter of Abyssinians born in Finland, the Aby people had the goal of showing 50 Abys and Somalis, a goal that was surpassed.

Our friend Anne Kontula was especially invaluable, helping us find our way in the strange world that is a FIFe show. Anne also shows in CFA, and she was just so great at helping Koshka navigating between the two systems. She and her friends and family treated us to snacks, and made us feel very welcome.

Koshka said that she had no idea what she was doing, apart from going where her friends told her. That said, our first judge, Martti Peltonen, was very impressed with Jake, and said almost immediately that Jake looked like an Instincts cat! Nailed it!

There were three ruddy neutered males, so Martti got to name a Best in Variety (BIV). Jake ended up being chosen!

Martti also Nominated Jake for the final! Of course, we didn’t know what, exactly, a NOM was…but we knew it was good.

Jake was awarded a rosette and a little charm on a purple ribbon as his award.

Then it was time for the panel. Jake was up against some stiff competition. It was nice to have someone else handle the cats to display them rather than the owners, as it gave us a chance to just watch the proceedings.

All the Category 4 judges examined each Nominee, including the judge who nominated the cat. Then they vote for their Best In Show. Jake only got one vote (from Martti), so we didn’t win BIS, but we were pretty happy with our first go.

When the first day was over, we returned to the hotel. After dinner, there wasn’t much in the way of distractions. A bar, a slot machine…

and the TV in the room…But we knew we had to get up early for the show’s second day, so we went to sleep fairly early.

Aby-a-Day – 3 Januari 2020: Using the tools you have to get the results you want (Photoshop Friday)

The ferry boarding photos I posted yesterday were not, exactly, the photos I originally purchased on the boat. We did get a photo of Izaak and Lorelai, but it was the close-up above. I had wanted one of them together in a photo with one of the special frames (I really like those because they have the date and the ship we were on). The photographer told me she couldn’t get that photo to fit the frame, and she had only gotten one shot of just the cats.

I asked if I could have the digital photos with my purchase, and she emailed them to me. I assured her that I could fix it.

Then too, that nice photo of Björn and me boarding together with the cats? Yeah, that also wasn’t exactly the perfect shot. They got one of me…with a cheesy Minnie Mouse suitcase behind me. And they got a decent one of Björn, dragging our crippled suitcase onto the boat (this was the trip that it finally became an ex-suitcase and ceased to be).

So, as you saw yesterday, I fixed that, too.

Aby-a-Day – 2 Januari 2020: Ferry cross the Baltic (Travel Thursday)

As I mentioned in my Christmas post, we went to Turku, Finland, in November so that Izaak and Lorelai could earn their International Champion titles. As we did when we’ve gone to shows in Helsinki and Tallinn, we travelled by ferry. And what’s the best thing about ferry travel? The boarding photos!

Okay, so…Rory and Zak are far more photogenic than we are, but to be fair…we have to schlep all the luggage whilst they chill in the stroller!

Aby-a-Day – 17 Augusti: Dash on the Silja Line

At long last we boarded the Silja Symphony ferry to Stockholm. First we rode the elevator to our cabin to put our luggage away and set up Dashiell’s food and litter.

Dash really seemed to enjoy the windowed lift.

This is kind of a dark photo, but you can see the shopping promenade and the cabins with overlooking windows. We stayed in one of those cabins on the way to Helsinki and it was kind of fun do have that view. They don’t have pet rooms in that block of cabins, though.

After we got our room set up, we went up to the deck to say goodbye to Helsinki.

This is what the ferry looks like from Helsinki. We happened to be at the waterfront the day before when the ferry was leaving for Sweden.

Here is me with Dash.

I posed almost the exact same way with Jacoby in 2016.

Björn posed with Dash as well.

On the aft deck, there is a little sandbox for dog owners to let their dogs go to the toilet.

I have to say, it was pretty amusingly decorated. I have seen dog toilet areas on other ferries, but none decorated like this.

Dash was not impressed.

He was more interesting in people-watching from the vantage of a deck chair.

Just then, a dog passed by on his way to the toilet. I guess we took a look at it in the nick of time.

Despite what it says on the website, the crew staff assured us that cats were allowed anywhere onboard the ship. We thought a nice refreshing beer would be nice before taking Dash back to the cabin and checking the duty-free store.

Dash was happy to sit in his carrier and watch Björn pour his beer.

Dash never even tried to get out of his carrier.

After our drinks, we took the elevator back to our cabin.

I think Dash was happy to go back to the cabin and take a nap after all the excitement of the cat show and boarding the ferry.

Ferry rides are a lot of fun. They go overnight, and some people treat it as a party. On this trip, there was what looked like a stag do going on. Not sure which guy was the groom, but my money’s on the guy in the bell bottoms.

We had seen them in the bar earlier. They were going around to people in the bar with a straw, asking if they could have a sip of their drink, taking photos of it. It was pretty funny.

There was also a new machine in the ferry’s casino – Diamond Cats! It’s a bit like Kitty Glitter except with no Somali. It was not a bad game; at least the Siamese have blue eyes on this game. But it was fun to play and I ended up winning a little, which is always nice.

Aby-a-Day – 16 Augusti: Waiting to board the ferry

After the long drive from Lempäälä to Helsinki, Björn dropped Dashiell and I off at Olympia Terminal where we waited whilst he returned our rental car.

This was Dash’s first time with a leash and harness, and he did really well.

But mostly Dash wanted to be in his carrier. Despite having been in that thing for 30 some hours on the trip to Finland from Newark, it represents safety and security to him. Which makes sense; it’s just like Jacoby’s attachment to his stroller.

He was happiest when the top was open, so he could look around.

In some of these photos, he reminds me so much of Jake. Especially the one where he’s meowing!

Björn was taking longer than expected to return from dropping off the car. I was starting to get worried that the gates would close before he got back.

I don’t know what would have happened if we missed the ferry.

Dash was a wonderfully patient little cat, which bodes well for future trips.

He also charmed the employees at the terminal. They took turns coming over to where we were to meet him.

They also were very reassuring and told me that the gates wouldn’t close until Björn came back. Whew!

Aby-a-Day – 14 Augusti: Wordless Wednesday (Dashiell’s Ferry Photos…and one of Jacoby)

Aby-a-Day – 12 Augusti: The train home to Skövde (Hipstamatic Monday)

When we got back to Sweden from the ferry from Helsinki, we met up with Björn’s ex to get Emma to spend a week with us and the cats.

We got there a little ahead of them, so we had to chill out in Stockholm Centralen until they arrived.

Emma loves cats. I am sad that she doesn’t get to live with any.

If ever a girl deserved to live with a cat (or cats), it’s Emma.

Emma was amazing with Dash. I think he’s going to miss her when she goes back home.

Dash also looked out the window at the passing scenery, just like Jacoby and all the other cats who ride trains.

Finally, the train arrived in Skövde. Emma wanted to carry Dash’s carrier.

From the train station, a quick taxi ride home.

Dash was quick to feel at home in our bedroom. And after the long, long, long journey…He was finally home.

Aby-a-Day: 10 Augusti: Comedy of Errors

Yesterday was…interesting. We were supposed to meet Meg, Russell and Dashiell at Helsinki International Airport at 17:15.

That…did not happen. Their flight from Newark was delayed, and they ended up missing their connection in Frankfurt to Helsinki.

This is the photo Meg sent me when she finally got to Frankfurt.

And here is Russell with Dash (under the banana), waiting for the connecting flight.

Above is the Facebook Messenger conversation we had about meeting up and collecting Dash. FINALLY I got the bright idea to include my friend Anne, an Aby breeder who happens to live in Helsinki near the airport. We had booked a hotel in Tampere, two hours away from Helsinki, which was supposed to be the show hotel, but it got overbooked because of a German heavy metal band who were having concerts nearby. Turns out, we might have been able to cancel our “non-refundable” reservation…but, yeah. 20/20 hindsight.

But we had to drive to our hotel, so there was no way we could be at the airport to meet them and collect Dash on Friday.

So my hero friend Anne met them at the airport instead.

They landed sometime after midnight, and my friend Anne was there to meet them.

This is all of them, taken by Anne, at sometime around 1am. At this point, Dash had been in his carrier for 30-something hours.

Meanwhile, our hotel had been notified that we would be arriving with a cat, so they prepared a little gift for us: a packet of wet food in the cutest little bag.

Look how cute the print is on the bag, all little kitty faces! I just wish we had had Dash that first night.

But here he is on Meg’s bed, happy to finally be out of that carrier!

Aby-a-Day – 6 Augusti: “Railroad trains are such magnificent objects, we commonly mistake them for Destiny”

The thing about going to cat shows in Sweden is, you have to travel all over the country (and also to other countries). We sometimes rent a car, but usually the rail and bus system is good enough that we don’t have to. It’s tough sometimes because the luggage for cats and humans gets heavy, and if the elevators are broken it can be a struggle.

But our new super stroller makes it a million times easier. We can put things on top of it, or inside with the cats, and it can be steered with one hand (that was a problem with the previous strollers).

And we get to see a lot of interesting things. This is Södertälje Syd station, closest to the show and our hotel. The swoopy thing is just a shelter to wait for taxis or cars to pick people up.

I just thought it was wicked cool. It could have been plain and boring, but instead they made it look interesting. I like that.

Riding the train is nice. Sometimes it can be crowded, or there can be screaming children or annoying people having FaceTime conversations. Since we have to travel in the pet compartment, sometimes we share it with dogs.

Usually the dogs are well-trained and polite, but on the trip to Södertälje, there was a Labradoodle who was not so nice. His human was seated across the aisle from us, and he was on the floor at my feet. Lorelai was chilling on Björn’s bag under the table, and Izaak was on my lap, closer to the dog. Zak’s okay with dogs, but he’s more used to small dogs. At one point the Labradoodle lunged at the cats with no warning! It even surprised the dog’s owner, it was that sudden. After that, Zak decided to sit on the table and shoot stinkeyes at the designer mutt. (I wanted to get a photo of it, but after the altercation I was afraid the woman would see me take the picture. But it looked almost exactly like this.)

Even Rory, who likes dogs, decided that sitting on the seat next to Björn was a better idea after that.

Sometimes Zak gets bored on the train and walks around. He likes to climb up the backs of the seats, too.

This is from the trip home, which was blessedly canine-deficient. Rory was fascinated by the passing scenery.

Zak also had to check it out. I love watching them crawl all over Björn…it just shows how comfortable they are riding the rails.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Juli: Do they miss us when we’re gone? (Monday Mystery)

Do our cats miss us when we’re gone? Alfred and Angel are used to us going away, I was particularly curious how Izaak and Lorelai would react to our being away, since usually when we go off on a trip, they come with us.

Hero the London Lion which I had seen in a shop in Covent Garden, but we were too tired and hungry to go in and look at him. Later, after a rest and some food, I wished I had stopped and gotten the “Lion in a British jumper” because he was wicked cute!

As luck would have it, I found him at the airport as we were leaving!

I introduced Hero to Rory…but she didn’t seem very impressed.

“Really mom? Really? You left us ALONE. For a WEEK. Without taking us with you! And you bring this thing back with you?

“Look at me. My eyes are bigger, and I am way cuter!”

In the end, I am not sure if Rory missed us…or the fact that we take her outside to run.

Meanwhile, the moment we walked in the door, Zak was yelling for his chicken neck.

After he had demolished it, we sat on the sofa and I gave him cuddles. At first, he seemed happy I was home…

…but then…

…I think he remembered how much mommy kisses him.

I have a deep suspicion that he didn’t miss the kissies.

But he did miss me.

So much so that he is clearly contemplating his escape from my dastardly clutches.

Aby-a-Day – 12 Juli: Cat toys trump all (Fashion Friday)

In Kensington High Street, I discovered a brilliant card shop called Scribbler. But not only did they have cards (of which I purchased many), but they also had cat toys. I was not expecting that.

And these weren’t just any cat toys…these were none other than the leader of the flea world, Donald Trump cat toys.

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Well of course I had to. In case you were wondering, the UK really dislikes Trump – the rumours are true. He’s the only non-UK political figure to be made into a cat toy. That’s saying something.

It was our last full day in London, and it occurred to me that we hadn’t gotten any souvenirs for the cats. So, I Googled “best cat shop London” and found Pet London. It’s not a big, fancy store, but it is awesome and a definite must-see on a trip to London if you need souvenirs for the kitties, especially since most of the shops I found catered more to the canine crowd.

It’s definitely a hidden gem of a shop. It’s on the top floor of a rather ordinary office building in Marleybone. We almost didn’t see it.

You ring the buzzer to be let in. There’s a tiny elevator (Björn and I were very cozy) and, of course, stairs.

But it is so worth it! They had an amazing collection of cat items – including kitty clothing!

A lot of their items were their own designs, too. They even have a plushie of their feline mascot (I told them that if they ever mass-produced them to save me one).

That’s not all they had…they had a different Trump toy, this time for dogs.

And they also had a catnip Vlad Putin to go with that catnip Trump I bought earlier!

Shirtless, of course…complete with cowboy boots. Of course I had to buy it. Oh, yeah.

And nifty story, the catnip Putin and Trumpy chew toy are from a company based in Vermont.

I also got this Catnium credit card…

…and a Catberry, both with their signature kitty on them.

Both of them have catnip inside of them. The credit card rattles, and the Catberry has feathers on its antenna.

But, as we’ve seen before, cat toys that appeal to humans don’t always appeal to their target audience. So, did the cats enjoy their British gifts? To be continued…

Aby-a-Day – 6 July: Poetry in Paris (Special Saturday)

On one day of our trip to London, we took a daytrip to Paris on the Eurostar.

We were only in Paris for nine hours. Not long; just enough time to see some sights, grab a bite (about which more later), and wander the streets looking for adventure. At one point, we came upon Shakespeare and Company, the famed English bookstore and sister store to San Francisco’s City Lights Bookstore (you can see a tribute to the SF store above the door). I used to walk down Jack Kerouac Alley, alongside City Lights, when I was living in SF and swing dancing almost every night. So seeing this bookstore kind of resonated with me.

They have interesting snippets from news articles written on chalkboards on either side of the storefront. This was my favourite.

But the best thing about the bookstore was this guy outside with his manual portable Remington typewriter. His name is Leo, and as you can see, he would write you a poem upon request. Leo only asked that you decide to pay what you think it’s worth only after you’ve read the poem. So I asked him to write a poem based on my tattoo of Gun-Hee and Logan. He was impressed with the concept, and only asked what the breeds of the cats were, and confirmed that the plants were maple leaves and pussywillows. Then he thought a moment and started typing.

This is what he wrote:

singapore, abyssinia
maple leaf and pussy willow

meeeeeoooooow

stare into these eyes
deeper than the wisdom
collected through the course of
nine lives
wider than the stream of
time into which so much is
washed away

meeeeeeoooooow

we are they who traverse
the limits you imagine

we are they who were once
worshipped and are glorified
still, have you discovered
why, in the course
of your one
life?

Leo signs the back of every poem he types.

Of course I loved it, and I paid him 10€ for his work. I also explained the story behind the tattoo, how these two boys died ten years apart from the same awful disease. About a year or so ago, I found an awesome antique glass frame that I’ve been saving for the perfect thing to put into it. I think I finally found what the frame has been needing.

Aby-a-Day – 2 Juli: Sketches in London (Cartoon Tuesday)

Even though the posts have been coming regularly every day, Björn and I have been in London since last Thursday evening. We came mainly because I got tickets for both games of the two-game series of MLB games between the Yankees and the Yankees, the first time major league baseball has been played in Europe. Even though Boston was the official home team for both games, and despite there being more Red Sox fans in attendance than there were Yankees fans…the Evil Empire ended up winning both games. But it’s been a lot of fun, and we’ll be home Thursday afternoon.

When we weren’t at the games, of course, we have been doing a lot of sightseeing and shopping. One necessary stop, of course, was Harrod’s. Whilst in the souvenir shop, there was a display of pens, 3 for the price of 2. Whilst Björn hunted for pens, I decided to test them out on the provided pads.

First, I drew Jacoby…but I didn’t like the way it turned out; the ears were too small. So I tried again, with Izaak. This one turned out much better. Still not as good as I’d have liked…but then, the pen I was using wasn’t the best.

Harrod’s is known for its souvenir shopping bags. I bought a rather generic one back in 2002 the last time I visited…but this time I found something much, much better! And, not to mention, Cartoon Tuesday-appropriate.

One last thing: at the first baseball game, we were sitting just in front of a Red Sox fan, Charles, from Connecticut who had come all the way to London to see a game. After the first inning, he started sketching, saying he was “a bit bored.” He was a wonderful artist! Here is the drawing he did of the game; Björn is in it, but I am not…the lines to buy merchandise were insane, so I sucked it up and went to stand in those. For four innings! If you ever happen upon this post, Charles…it was great to meet you!

Aby-a-Day – 2 Maj: Thanks, Facebook…(Travel Thursday)

Love it or hate it, Facebook is a reality. It’s annoying as hell, but it’s also a great way to stay in touch with friends and family (like friends from second grade and several of my cousins in Canada). And then there’s the “Memories” it likes to show you.

This photo was today’s memory, four years ago. Jacoby and I were on our way to the Seacoast show in New Hampshire, one of our favourites. We’re riding the T on our way to meet the friend I was staying with. Interestingly enough, I never included this photo in a blog post about the show (and I made several posts about it, too)!

So bittersweet…a happy memory, to be sure, but I miss that way he gazed at me.