Today I have sad news to post on the blog, a departure from the norm. In the last ten months, I'm proud that the blog has been upbeat, during a time when it seems things in the rest of the world is falling apart. But today I lost a really good friend, and that's what I'm writing about.
On Halloween 1992 I adopted a kitten who I named Houston. Amy, one of my best friends, went with me to pick Huey up from his foster home. We picked the name when we realized he had been born diring the Republican Convention in Houston, which was that year in August. Huey became his nickname almost immediately.
Huey (aka Hugh, a man of many aliases) lived with me in my 400 square foot studio aparement in Washington, DC. While I was there, he fell out of a third story window one day when my friend Sheila and I came into the apartment squealing and scared the daylights out of him. When we realized what had happened, I had to call the guy and cancel the date. He thought I was blowing him off at first, until his roommate pointed out the story was so crazy it had to be true.
The next year, we moved to North Carolina, where he had to travel back and forth to Washington on holidays in my 1986 Mazda which had no air conditioning! That was pretty toasty. When I lived in Colorado for my summer internship in 1994, he stayed in North Carolina, not being a fan of car trips. Susan Dettmar, my dear roomate, was his caretaker. Hugh did not remember me when I first got home after being gone 8 weeks, but soon we were friends again.
In 1995 Hugh moved with me to his mother state of Texas, where he lived for the rest of his life. He had to take a plane here, because no one wanted to travel in the car with him! My mom and I moved him into my first apartment and he was lost for several hours. We were distraught with panic until we realized he had climed into the wall behind the cabinet. We decided to leave him there to come out when he was good and ready, which of course he did.
Huey lived at several other locations in Austin until we moved to Brykerwoods in 2003. Here is he helping me with some work on Deer Hollow:
Susan and her husband Pablo were Hugh's mose recent caretakers, in addition to my awesome Mom, Carolyn. Susan has sat for Hugh for many years, but this summer when I was in Asia she and Pablo got to have him in all his glory. Somehow, he was always getting fleas even though he was declawed and an indoor cat! Also, in 2003, we found out he was going blind. He still got around great using his memory and whiskers, and he taught us a ton about how much you can see, even when you can't.
Most of all, Hugh was the most loving cat I ever met. He was 15 and a half years old today, and his time had just come. I plan to remember him as a cat who loved life as much as I do, and always had affection for others. As he started to become ill, this was no longer possible and I wanted him to have a peaceful end.
Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers. Houston Austin Texas was a truly great cat, friend and companion, and he will be missed.
-Gretchen
Libby Anne Austin, daughter of my cousins Amy and Stewart, was born in March, pictured here with her Auntie Carolyn
Then it was off to Asia....me in Khao Lak, Thailand wearing the flag of Gretchen 2.0
We loved the flowers, fruits and veggies in Thailand...
The Mandarin Oriental Chiang Mai, Winner of the Gretchen 2.0 International Big Kahuna of Spas for 2007. Who will win in 2008?
Our hotel in Cambodia was also the bomb, here's the first thing you see when you walk in...
First biking day in Vietnam - after our overnight train ride to Hue. The Imperial Palace is in the background...
My Aussie friends from the bike trip are totally cool, Heather is here being silly with me...
Joylene and I rode in this basket boat type thing which we never completely figured out...
I was worried I had lost muscle mass in my arms while biking, but Sharon assured me that was not true
Neil and AB at Fado in July
We worked a lot on golf over the summer, Mom's swing is looking great!
My Uncle Loye in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
Me at the Maroon 5 Concert in Vegas in November
Mu sister Laurel taking up residence in her new house in Portland, OR
At our holiday cocktail party we celebrated Michelle and Lisa's promotions
New Year's Eve at the Four Seasons was wicked - no idea why I decided to pull a Madonna and strike a pose in this photo. Let's hope for better sense in 2008.
