"Garden Sketch With Mimi", 5" x 7", watercolor, 2013 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

July Creative Cat Preview Newsletter: An Anniversary in July

"Garden Sketch With Mimi", 5" x 7", watercolor, 2013 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Garden Sketch With Mimi”, 5″ x 7″, watercolor, 2013 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Typically my monthly newsletter is a “preview” of new items for list members before I introduce them to the general public. This month, however, I ordered new equipment and materials which took a long time coming and I’m still working out computer hookups and accessories. I’m pretty excited with how it’s going but I was never going to get things in place in order to come up with the new items I have in mind—or anything meaningful, for that matter—in time for my July newsletter.

But July is a special month, full of joy and sorrow, and it’s a good time to take a break from the usual and remember and celebrate. I mentioned this when I posted this month’s featured art and desktop calendar, and I also used this month’s newsletter to share some of the stories that make up this month’s memories.

On July 1, 2009, Namir left us for a place with no congestive heart failure or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or idiopathic cystitis, but left a big part of himself behind, especially to poke Cookie now and then and to show up out in the yard as a hummingbird or butterfly.

On July 10, 2007, Lucy left her FIP behind, but called her mother over to visit our garden at a specific time so I would see her, and know that I had to rescue her and ultimately the kittens she was carrying that day.

On July 26, 2007, four little beans were born.

On July 29, 2007 I finally had my house and my heart and my studio ready for the stranger Mimi and her beans to arrive in a very small box, but was unprepared for the miracle of Lucy joining us in spirit when I unpacked the box. I think Mimi was unprepared too. We’ve moved along together since then.

Those beans turn 10 years old this month. Mimi’s nominal birthday is the day she came here and my best guess is that she turns 15. Time moved so slowly then when I wanted to get far, far away from the sad memories, but it’s hard to believe a decade has passed. The world continued turning, even though I thought it wouldn’t. My broken heart healed with memories where the scar had been, and I have not forgotten, but it doesn’t hinder me.

So for this week’s Marketplace I invite you to click on over to my July newsletter and click all the links I have there that refer to all these stories, poetry, images and more. I’ll be sharing them here through the month, too. You are also welcome to take advantage of the 25% discount on all the things on Portraits of Animals with this month’s featured artwork, “Garden Sketch With Mimi”.

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