Milo, my big orange fur ball, passed away on Tuesday night. He was sixteen. I remember when my brother sent me a video titled "Baby kitties at the kitty ranch" so I could choose two from the litter of four. I chose Venus and Milo and drove over to Illinois to pick them up in a couple of weeks. We got to enjoy sweet Venus until she was three years old. Then Milo got a new sister, Minnie Mouse, a spirited waif who had been dumped at the greenhouse where I was a volunteer. She was a good addition, and especially loved the winter we got to live in Key West.

Daddy Cat was a homeless outdoor cat who was our friend. He waited two years for an indoor space to be available. I wasn't sure he would like living indoors, but he gladly made the transition. And Milo got his first brother. The girl kitties had always been in charge. I think Milo liked being on equal footing with "the new guy." He always remembered the lessons the girls taught him. And he followed their rules long after they were gone.

Daddy and I miss Milo. But I'm glad he's free of his failing body. Here are some of my favorite kitty photos.














I had some trouble cropping my old scanned photos. The baby pictures are my favorite. Venus and Milo liked every window sill.













Here's Milo in the sink, Minnie and Milo in the Trailer from Hell (which I improved to be the Trailer from Purgatory) in Key West, and Milo imitating art.

It's been another busy week around here. The weather was dry enough for gardening a couple of days. I'm still waiting to finish the new beds. They need to be tilled again, but the rain just hasn't stopped. I have a dozen tomato plants in the ground. I'll put in a dozen more. It will probably be June before I finish the vegetable beds. This year marks my latest start, ever.

Some friends and I decided to enter a 48-hour film competition. The entire project will be started and finished in 48 hours in June. Those are the rules. We draw for our genre on a Friday night, and all the films are shown at a gala premiere the following Sunday. We had our first film meeting this week, and we viewed some past entries. We're excited about this new creative challenge. The "Best Film" goes on to national and international contests. We hope to be very clever.

So those are the reasons there are no new recipes (again) this week. I wish all of you great gluten free bloggers lived in my neighborhood. We could take turns cooking and help each other out. We could share our bountiful harvests.