Did you miss anything?

It snowed a lot and I did more physical labor than a soft 64-year-old ought to do.

But all I'm doing now is putting in writing (before I forget, again) that just before the big snowfall, BB and I went to the Giant to get her some lemonade.  I walked across the parking lot, went inside, and saw the checkout area was jammed.  Then I realized I'd left my mask in the car.  Nobody said anything, and I don't recall even getting any funny looks.  But I got out as fast as I could and drove home. 

I was listening to Atul Gawande's story from this week's New Yorker when my good girl Schwirley climbed onto the chair arm, and from there, made herself comfortable on my lap.  There she stayed for the next 45 minutes.  She was happy, and I was happy to have a lap cat again.

I have been writing lately, just not here.  Tabby's Place asked me to pinch-hit for Adam's correspondent, so I knocked off the rust, followed my template, and produced around 500 words.  

Template:

1.  Hi  ("(month) greetings to you, and to all (cat's) friends")

2.  Cat's health (After all, that's why they're Special Needs.  Was it a good month?)

3.  Anecdote (Stafford got up, got a drink from the fountain, watched through the baby gate of JR's office and saw someone playing with another cat.  Then back to his bed.  Put a bow of capital-W Writing on it, but make it real to the reader.  Like the Zen/Motorcycle exercise of describing a dime.) 

I always wonder whether anything will happen, but something almost always does, and there's my hook, there's what I'm going to write about.  A UPS deliveryman sits in the lobby and passes time with humans and cats.  A blind woman comes into the Community Room, but describe the scene without saying that she's blind.  White cane, guided to the table by companion, comments on a cat's soft fur, then later, that she's purring now.  Make it clear, but not obvious.

4.  Kicker or Filler, in case the cat was perfectly fine and didn't do anything noteworthy, so there isn't much else to write about.  A reference to some cat-related story in the news.  (Example:  someone who embezzles to support homeless cats.  No, I don't recommend it to TP's donors.)

5.  KTHXBAI (sum up, wrap up, sign off) "Wishing you all good things,"

That's the structure, but feel free to mix it up.  Maybe a pop culture reference in the first paragraph instead of at the end.  Perhaps a plug for some TP's merch.  I play just what I feel.