Sly eye of a mouse snatcher

We should be the ones yawning after our 4 AM wake up to the characteristic cat announcement that a mouse had been snatched successfully. She has access via a cat flap to the area of the house that houses the loft stairs and connects to our barn. It's unfortunately an obvious mouse habitat, adjacent to the barn. At this time of year with winter coming the mice are settling in. Raspberry had a small mouse totally in her clamped jaws when T went downstairs, responding to the cries that telegraphed the announcement of her catch. Raz of course dropped it and T was able to scoop it up in a plastic container and set it free in the dark outside. So,  Raspberry has been totally exhausted all day, along with us.

I had a sad call this morning, my only aunt passed away peacefully with my cousin Craig holding her hand early this morning. She was my dad's older sister, his only sibling.(my mother was an only child) Eleanor was two years older, but out lived my dad by 21 years. She was 96 November 2nd,  was active, chipper, still listening to every Red Sox game on the radio, reading and birdwatching from her assisted living facility near her other son in Maine. She had a keen sense of humor about her luck in living so long with such amazing health. When I spoke to her on her birthday, we joked that she was trying to out-do her grandfather's longevity. He lived quite a life, dying at 101 and a half when his youngest son( second wife) was 30. So, the last of my dad's generation is gone, the greatest generation as we say in the States. I loved her.

For the Record,
This day came in dark and blustery. Winter is right around the corner by the feel of things today. 

All hands quiet, subdued and very frightened about the path of our nation.