Here we go again, for the 5th year.

For me 2013 had some wonderful moments. But it also had some absolute cr@p moments and on balance, I'm glad to see the back of it. My PADing in 2013 was also less than optimal but did have one redeeming feature; it's the first time that I shot a PAD on more days than the previous year since I started. Not that 2012 was a massively hard target to beat.

I start 2014 with one hand tied behind my back photographically speaking. In the first place I have yet to replace the failed 24-105 lens on my 40D. The other more critical one is that I'm still desperately short of time to photograph. Relying primarily on the Olympus E-P1 backup camera I'm not optimistic about creating great works of art and will be doing more story-telling than artistic aspiration for at least the first month or so.

However I was trying something artistic before taking this shot. I had been down in the garage trying to create an effect with the LEDs of some of my power tool batteries. The results weren't quite as I may have hoped. When I came back up the stairs I was confronted by this, lying at the head of the stairs. El Gato Diablo, a.k.a. Lucy. "What you waz doin' down there? Doez it in any way get meh fuud?" (Being 8kg, she quite likes her fuud. And expects me to get her the first course of her "breaffass" when I get up at 04:10 each day.)

I was going to dump all 12 days of my 2014 photos up tonight, but I figured that this one deserved a little time in the sun.
-----
Edit, April 2025: I'm updating and posting this on Flickr mainly just to create my 2014 PAD gallery (album, in Flickr-speak) so that I can post some photos related to my Book Of Firsts album (which was not created on PBase).

Since I'm here I may as well update the descriptions as well.

Puss is still with us. Just. She's 19.5 years old now. It has been years since she's worn a collar, and since her world these days is all the various rooms indoors and the back garden around the pool, we don't need bells to keep track of her. We just listen for her "grumpy old woman" "Mrooowww!"s of complaint about... whatever is on her mind at that moment, really. She has arthritis so she can't jump. It requires daily pain meds and a monthly injection. She has thyroid issues which require daily medicine, she has had diabetes for at least a decade or so (which cats are supposed to either recover from or die from within 2 years) necessitating insulin injections, has cataracts, is now closer to 5kg than 8kg and has been dropping further over the last few months, and has had to have most of her teeth removed. There is a mounting consensus that it's time for her to go gently into that good night. The main thing standing between her and that is... me.

If I thought she was living a life of pain, obviously I'd have to be on board with the idea. I don't think she feels great... there are a lot of humans in retirement villages who don't feel great... but when she comes over and headbutts my leg for attention and scratches or demands food it's clear that she's still "there". And while that's the case, I have severe doubts about my right to take that life. It's clear that we're on the downward slope, and for everyone that only ends one way. This photo is over 11 years old and that's a lot in cat time. It's a lot in human time as well if we're being honest. But not yet. Not yet.

(And although I'm usually up at 4:20 rather than 04:10 these days, yes, she usually still does want her "breaffass" as soon as I'm up. Like I said... she's still "there".)