Under the Dome

One day last week, while my husband was home getting ready to go jogging, the Tiffany-style glass lamp shade fell from the ceiling near the deck doors. It's a heavy thing, weighing probably 10 to 15 pounds.

And had it hit the floor, it would have shattered into a million pieces. It could have killed the cat, had it fallen on him. Or had he even simply walked through the broken glass, the results may have been dire. But my husband, quick impulse guy that he is, turned and CAUGHT the lamp shade in mid-air, just as it fell. Heads-up and well done, husband, well done! (He points out that it was not a graceful catch, and just about ripped his left shoulder out of its socket - it was a "just barely" kind of catch.)

And so on this day, he asked that I wipe the lamp shade off and wrap it up to put it into storage in the shed. We're not sure we'll hang it again. It's a heavy thing, old-fashioned, and it had stopped working a few years ago anyway. We were never sure if it was the lamp itself or the wiring.

But the cat had other ideas! He immediately began investigating it, and when I lifted it up, he crawled right under and started purring and bathing! He moved right in!

The lamp shade was here when I bought the house, and it was already missing just one piece of glass. The Tabby thought that was a marvelous thing, as it gave him a little Tabby window to peer out of, from under the dome! And of course he immediately turned it into a sort of glass-igloo-cat-fort: "Sorry, Mama, this is my Tabby cat fort! No girls allowed!"

Shortly after this photo was taken, I lifted the lamp shade off him and sat it down next to him. Upon which time, he curled up right against it and fell asleep! I think the lamp shade may have to stay inside a few more days so he can play with it before we put it into storage . . .

In honor of the Tiffany style that this lamp shade is made in, today's theme song is Deep Blue Something, with Breakfast at Tiffany's.

P.S. A special note about the weather: on this day, a huge storm moved through the Northeastern U.S., where I live, causing chaos and disruption, and ultimately leaving us with about a foot of fresh, powdery snow, by the time it was over. I read that on this day, every single one of the contiguous U.S. states had snow except Florida! I decided to do an impromptu work-at-home day, and so we simply stayed inside and watched it snow. The University where I work shut down around mid-afternoon, an event that is almost un-heard-of.