Cooped up and going nuts, crackers and bananas

For the past two years, I have been screening the world through a 6-foot-wide garden window. When we had it installed during a kitchen remodel 25 years ago, I could not have imagined that someday it would morph into my private movie theater in a COVID world plunged into quarantine.

I have watched some amazing things through this window. Witnessing Lizzy, our resident lizard, give birth to the Lizettes on the kitchen porch is an education I would have missed had it not been for my lockdown theater. Thank you, resident kitty, Lark, for bringing this life event to my attention.

Speaking of Lark, I’ve noticed that she started picking up on another quarantine ritual of mine, changing dining venues. When your house turns into a city of its own, each space becomes a potential restaurant.

For example, “Dinner on Deck” is the name of my alfresco dining spot. It comes complete with Larkie clawing at the window screen because she can’t join me. It’s the downside of being an indoor cat. The upside is not turning into dinner for a roaming coyote.

Mrs. Patarky, as I often call her, has followed me faithfully around the house to nooks converted into eateries. When she found me seated on the floor, propped up against the bookcase under the window seat, I told her it was “Patty’s Book Nook and Bistro.” She looked at me with understanding and jumped into the spot I had emptied of books to use as a table for lunch.

One evening, I supped on soup by the fire, seated on the little three-legged milking stool I bought at a Pennsylvania Dutch Country farm sale a lifetime ago.

“Freddy’s Fire House,” I explained. I don’t know who Freddy is but I needed a word that sounded good with firehouse. She sat on my comfortable upholstered chair and looked down at me with wonder.

Apparently, multiple eating sites caught on with Mrs. P and she decided to try it. Her actual dining room is a small bookcase in my office that I call Lark’s B&B. One shelf for eating and one for napping. However, she’s started turning her nose up at food placed there and slinking out of the room. Today’s meal was served a la carte in the tiny hallway that connects my office to the kitchen. She ate enthusiastically and took a nap on the rug next to her dish. “Lark’s Nosh and Nap”?

I know, I know. I’ve been in quarantine mode way too long.