edgar and stella are curled on the sofa, asleep and lightly snoring. happy and content. but my thoughts are troubled with questions about how to handle crabby's aging difficulties. last year about this time i posted crabby's story. and now we are beginning to seriously wonder and worry about her quality of life. i have never made a decision to put a pet 'out of it's misery' in this fashion. and i don't know that i will get there in this case either. but her struggles are becoming more evident. and harder for us to live with as well. we think she is deaf. and although we feed her premium cat food, we can't contain her foraging and garbage eating ways. her diahrea is becoming a real concern and problem now that the weather is growing colder and she's inside most of the time. the powders from the vet don't seem to be helping. i bathed her today. but her confused shrieks were so loud i couldn't finish. tomorrow i'll try again to get her clean and fresh, and maybe it will bring her contentment. oh crabby.....

the air was heady with spring scents today. all the cool rain has kept the scents damp and dull. but this afternoon it was suddenly hot and muggy and the air was crowded with lilac and apple blossom and crabapple flavors, all sweet and mingling so i couldn't tell them apart. the flowers aren't opened yet, but tight little lavender or red or pink layers of petals like tiny tight fists. we walked around the block, edgar and i, just as we'd done this morning. but by our evening walk, our little world had changed. and we breathed it in.