Freckles & Doubt

Genetics are weird. My niece doesn't have her mother's hands, she has mine. Slightly scaled-down version of the same basic shape, long fingers, long palm. Also, the weird double-jointed ring fingers which bend slightly backwards when straightened. And the baby fingers which curve inward slightly too much, and used to drive my piano teachers crazy, because it's quite tricky to do scales evenly when your baby fingers hit the key slightly sideways and are perpetually ducking for cover. Also, we both have the hideous witchy ability to bend over just the top joint of our fingers (I can't do it on the right forefinger any more since the nice doctor had to move the tendon out of the way to remove the weird cartilaginous lump). She and I can witchy-finger my sister in concert, thereby grossing her out considerably. But it's very strange, to see inheritance do a sideways curtsey like that. We are all lurking in our siblings, clearly, just waiting for expression.

I am very aware of hands just now because mine are not only shredded with eczema from all this damned hand sanitizer, but also somewhat liberally nipped by evil kitty teeth. Jyn has, yet again, had to have a giant abcess under her chin surgically lanced by the Splendid Vet, as a result of, presumably, being bitten by the sneaky invisible ninja tom who occasionally beats them up, silently and without visible presence, in the back courtyard. (How?! I am here all the time at the moment, and I've never seen hair nor hide of him). I feel much less guilty about this one, because I took her to the vet solely because she was all pale and quiet, I couldn't find a lump anywhere, and nor could the vet, despite knowing it was present from her very high temperature. He did a thorough examination, causing her to emit her astonishingly baritone growl when he fiddled with her hips, but I think that's her endemic weird joint issues which make her so loathe to jump. The actual abcess popped up two days later in her neck, and when he lanced it, he said it was incredibly deep and must have been agonising. Bloody tomcat. Anyway, I have been religiously shoving antibiotics down Jyn's throat twice daily for the last week, and she is significantly recovered to the point where she fights tooth and nail and tries to bite me, with occasional success.

She and Pandora are wreaking their revenge by refusing to eat the fancy arthritis-soothing prescription food Pandy needs for her old bones, they seem to hate the taste, and are consenting to imbibe just enough for continued life if I mix it with the hairball control they were on previously. I have had to order fancy alternatives via the Splendid Vet, so hopefully that will reach their high culinary standards. Sigh.

(This photo proof that they do get along, really. Also featuring my new bedroom carpet, do you know how difficult it is to find a persian-style design in dark green? And my Burne Jones wood nymph).