Simeon the Sprite

Sprite

Origin

Middle English: alteration of sprit, a contraction of spirit.

Mono Monday. The theme is Spirt. Had to make the stretch. Simeon is certainly a sprite and he has a wonderful spirit too... Thanks to JoanneinOZ for hosting this Monday's challenge.

I almost didn't have to make this photo mono. Except for his pale green eyes and a bit of pink around the nose, Simeon is mono himself. When I first met him he was a tiny kitten, originally from a litter of barn cats, who roamed the neighborhood. I was quite concerned as we have predators around here who would have enjoyed a little kitten morsel. But his owners, with some advice from neighbors like me, started to keep him in at night, and had "his pockets picked" as my daughter calls it.

He is still out and about all day long, chasing whatever he can, climbing trees, appearing out of nowhere under our deck, which is where he was when I took this photograph. He then came up and I carried him inside for a quick meet up with Duma and Mehitabel. Strangely they all have gotten along famously from the first time they met. This is not normal in the world of indoor and outdoor cats, especially during territorial invasions. But who can understand the feline world?

Anyhow, as I usually do, I let Simeon explore just a bit and then picked him up and put him out the front door. This usually gets him distracted and he forgets to go back up the deck looking for birds. This is my plan and it seems to work. Phew.

Addendum... weird moment of the day. Arvin complains that his teeth are hurting. I look in his mouth and there is a big empty spot where several of his back teeth used to be. No gaping hole in the gum. No evidence of redness. What the heck??? I'm thinking he had a bridge there or something. I'm wishing I had kept closer watch on his dental visits because this is a total surprise for me. Tomorrow first thing we will call the dentist and get Arvin in for an appointment. Arvin does not remember much about this except that something was loose some time in the last couple of days and today his mouth hurts. These are the moments that make me know he does have Alzheimer's. The dentist will know what used to be there. I haven't a clue what happened. And I don't know where the teeth went. Arvin doesn't either. Yikes.