“This is not the Door into Summer,” observes Miss Mia Sopaipilla.
One of Robert A. Heinlein’s lesser-known (and mildly creepy) novels, “The Door into Summer,” takes its name from the protagonist’s snow-phobic cat, who is forever looking for same.
“This will do nicely. You may go now.”
We have one of those, too. Miss Mia Sopaipilla has never been an outside cat — she tours the yard on a harness now and again — but she does love a nice sunny indoor spot on a cool April morning. And after she’s had a nibble, a nap, and another nibble, she insists that I escort her to one with all possible haste.
Thing is, Miss Mia is almost always a few steps ahead of the sun, which doesn’t really give us much love until around 9 a.m. this time of year. So we have to visit the living room, the spare bedroom, and the master bedroom to take sun samples until, like Goldilocks, she finds the spot that’s just right.
Mad Blog Media 
April 8, 2022 at 10:22 am |
Nice! We sign up to take good care of them when we adopt them. And, we do. They earn their keep and more.
April 8, 2022 at 10:33 am |
Mia’s a good ol’ kitty. Fifteen this month and still very kittenish. Periodically she rockets around the house for no good reason, doing four-wheel drifts around the corners on the brick pavers and clawing the bejaysus out of the little carpeted dinguses she has for playthings. Funny as hell.
April 8, 2022 at 10:41 am |
Doing her Mr. Boo impression! Let that back end drift out then counter-steer until you got a good slide going. Keep your paw on the accelerator to amuse the humans.
April 8, 2022 at 1:00 pm |
The Door into Summer is also a song performed by the Monkees and written by Bill Martin. It was on their fourth album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. The title come from the Book you do mention. Have a listen
April 9, 2022 at 9:04 am |
I saw that on the Wikipedia page about Heinlein’s book. Can’t say as I was ever a Monkees fan — I was mostly listening to Bob Dylan, the Beatles, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly, and what have you. My sis was into the Monkees, though, and so was Herself.
Science fiction/fantasy and rock ’n’ roll are kissin’ cousins, for sure. Michael Moorcock (he of the “Eternal Champion” sagas) may be one of the best examples. He’s had his own musical project, The Deep Fix, based on a character’s band, and has performed/collaborated with Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult, and others.
Interestingly, Stephen King has also worked with Blue Öyster Cult, and of course has played guitar with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band composed mostly of authors, among them Roy Blount Jr. whose profile of Jerry Jeff Walker for Texas Monthly was killa-dilla. Roy just launched a Substack newsletter, and pretty much anything he writes, on paper, the Internet, or bathroom walls, is worth reading.
April 8, 2022 at 7:29 pm |
PO’G: Your banner ( or whatever it’s called) “Always on The Sunny Side” more than compensates for today’s “hed” (see …. I’m learning). 🙂
April 9, 2022 at 9:52 am |
Thanks, JD. In the newspaper biz we used to call that nameplate up top the “flag.” WordPress calls it a “header.”
Whatever we call it, that’s one of my favorite ones. Miss Mia looks preposterously contented there in that splash of sunshine.
April 9, 2022 at 5:04 pm |
And why not? Huevos rancheros sunnyside up and (y) gatos tu lado soleado are always the best, eh? 🙂
April 8, 2022 at 9:43 pm |
If you had the same three days of chinook that we just had, then our inner Mia would be dictating the only stratagem that makes a lick of sense. Namely, hunkering down and grabbing our vitamin D the way Dog intended, thru the paned glass of a south-facing window.
April sun around here is a mug’s game. You get your hopes up, and then Mother Nature gut-punches you with a spring snow storm, if you’re lucky. The snow at least brings moisture, and moisture brings one more day without a fire.
No matter what seasonal mix is being served, it’s hard to argue with Miss Mia.
April 9, 2022 at 9:57 am |
Back in the Day® I never understood why Colorado race promoters would even consider picking a date before May. Insane. You could have anything from ice and snow to 45-mph winds to pissing-down rain.
Of course, sometimes you’d get a beautiful 70-degree day. Not often, mind you, but enough to keep the suckers at the table, betting the ranch.
This is one of the many reasons that Team Mad Dog Media-Dogs at Large Velo promoted cyclocross races. Didn’t matter what the weather was, and half the Boulder crowd wasn’t going to show up anyway because El Paso County had cooties.
April 9, 2022 at 5:56 pm |
Jeezus. NOW you tell us about the cooties. And to think I flew in/out of the Springs so often when my daughter was there.
April 9, 2022 at 8:25 pm |
Pretty sure Wallace Stegner was talking about Colorado when he wrote about the longhorns stuck in trees, when the hot winds cleared several feet of snow before the cattle could figure out what was hitting them.
April 10, 2022 at 8:39 am |
SAO: Stegner may also have been describing Wyoming. The “Roaring 40’s” applies to the Southern Hemisphere ocean sailing I believe; but Wyoming’s southern border is right about 40 North.
The perfect place for wind-tunnel testing au naturel! 🙂