About a week after my housemate wished for her own cat, this cat appeared. When I first saw him he was on the front walkway, and I snapped this photo thinking he would probably walk away after that. Nope. He walked right into the house and made himself at home. 

This is amazing because my cat Happy usually runs off any other cats that enter his territory. He usually hides from strange people and dogs, too. Anything rat-sized is dinner, of course. But Happy tolerated this new cat. He only got hissy when the new cat jumped up on the bed where Happy and I were sleeping. Otherwise he was remarkably laid-back about the whole other cat thing. It's like magic. It IS magic. Freya magic.

The first few days we had the new kitty, I posted on social media and various sites to see if he already had an owner, and there was a false start that turned out to be definitely not this cat. He escaped the first try at getting him to the vet, and got into two separate cat fights, confirmed by neighbor sightings. So this kitty is a fighter kitty, yet, he didn't fight with Happy. He was nothing but friendly with Happy. Magic. 

The vet scanned him for a microchip and he did not have one, so he became officially my housemate's cat. She named him Sweetheart. So now I have my kitty Happy and she has her kitty Sweetheart. That afternoon for tea time I made rose black tea in honor of Freya, and we made a toast to her with tea. 

A couple of days later a big storm came through. There was a strong wind, which delighted me despite knowing it would mean a lot of cleanup I would have trouble doing due to the ankle issue. The storm wind delighted me because I enjoy storms, and like to watch them from the porch or through the window, and also rain is good for my plants. This particular storm wind was especially exciting because it felt and smelt like snow. Earlier in the winter my housemate had a reading that we concluded meant she should get in touch with winter goddesses, and I had promised that I saw actual snowflakes falling from the sky I would make hot cocoa with peppermint and we would have a toast to Skadhi. 

But, I was also concerned because Happy is a rain loving cat but he hates loud wind sounds and usually hides from the wind under the big bed in the suite that used to be my mom's, but is now my housemate's. Little Sweetheart now has his base in the rental suite. I was not sure Happy would be comfortable using the under the bed space as his safe space if there was another kitty in there. But Happy did go under there when the wind started and both cats were in the same room together and got along fine. 

It started raining, and I did my usual toast to Thor. The wind died down and Happy calmed down. My housemate and I went out on the front porch to watch the rain, and the snowflakes started falling. Rain and snow were coming down at the same time. I watched joyfully for a minute and then went in to make hot cocoa with peppermint. I could see the snow falling through the kitchen window. The snowfall lasted just long enough for us to make our toast to Skadhi. 

Image: an orange and white cat with amber eyes, photo by Erin Lale