Ratsy's and Catsys

Need clothes? In Oberlin? Only one place for it. (Literally.) Ratsy's! Vintage lovers come from far and wide to sample the beautiful ugly jumpers lurking inside. It rhymes! You know, Ratsy's really needs a song.

Want to put a sting in your winter wardrobe? Look no further!

It's OK, but I'm sensing the need for something more extravagant. How about a bit of sparkle and wingy-ness?

So chic!

A slick purple coat to go with that? And, I wonder...maybe...yes, a sombrero!

Oh, Annie, stroke of style genius there, that Medusa hat really brings out your eyes. And the tutu - just the right amount of je ne sais quoi. Let's bring back rainbow handkerchiefs, people!

I love how this is all we can buy here! Let's face it, ordering stuff online is for the wimps. You've just got to totally abandon yourself to the capable, wooly hands of the Rat. (OK, I may be a wimp.) The 'free store', where students leave unwanted items of all sorts, can also be good, and there's not always an apparent reason why a certain clothing device was unwanted in the first place. I think fleas hibernate sometimes.

Time for an antidote to that parallel universe. Kittens!!! More cute animals coming up!

This is at the Ginko Gallery, 20 metres up the street from Ratsy's. We're all slightly allergic but weren't going to let a snuffle stop us. At the back of the gallery is a small rescue facility looking after abandoned cats and finding them new homes. They get so many kittens in that each litter is named from one letter of the alphabet - so A would be Aberforth, Absalon, Abby-Lee, Andromache, Agamemnon, Athena, Alanrickman, Arrypotter, Annie, Apollo, Astyanax (OK, enough of the Iliad for now), ACHILLES! How did I forget that one?! TVN would not be impressed. Alligator, Arpeggio, Altocrumhorn, Almglocken...all excellent names. But this litter had all Y names, so here we go again: Yoda, Yellow, Yufu, Yodel, Yoga, Yubadooble, Yipadeedoodaa and Yoghurt (of the Chobani variety). I forget the exact names but that is close enough. So, let the kitten cuddle abuse begin.

Annie teaching Yoghurt how to walk.

This is what happens when you interrupt a kitten on a mission. No photo compliance.

Soooo cute!! This guy had a bad eye but I went back to check and he's better now, phew!

Staring contests. Jane's face survived the pounce.

If queen Vic was a kitten...

Aww!! What a cute and artistic backwards-glancing pirouette! After about 20 minutes, the sniffling was getting extreme and we had to get out of there pronto and reach for the wet wipes. But bundles of fluff with under-developed claws are worth it any day.