More Cats and Still More

Did I hope that my cat Thyme and my mother’s cat Callie would get along in time? Well, they do normally stay out of each other’s way most of the time. When they do meet, it’s hiss-hiss, swak-swak. But Callie is such a friendly kittie!

If that is not enough, I will be taking care of the cats of my sister the ex-teacher for one day this week and all week next week. My other sister will come to live at Madre’s next week, but it is not known whether she will bring her own two cats.

Yesterday was the birthday of my sister the ex-teacher. Since Madre is in rehab with that broken foot and cracked tibia, I decided to take Tina to Pizza Hut for lunch on Sunday. (She will have to get her own cake.)

Madre was moved to a rehabilitation center in Marion a couple of weeks ago. It is a new building with labyrinthine halls, rooms for dining, reading and gameplay, therapy and living. Madre’s room is comfortable, but my sister the ex-teacher and I had to move one of the armchairs from her house to her room because she could not sleep on the hospital bed provided.

The center itself was built on the site of larger retirement center called the Emily Flinn Home. The retirement complex for old women was extent for most of the twentieth century, but Marion’s economic decay and fickle Medicaid funding forced the complex to close. The buildings were torn down in the early 2000's to make way for the present-day center. The Emily Flinn name lives on as that of the neighborhood in Marion between the Cardinal Greenway and Baldwin Avenue.