T'was the week before "Christmas in Strafford" and my husband reached into the cupboard for a bowl. Not a creature was stirring until my favorite Crazy Cat Clock was bumped to the floor. His eyes, not so merry, his tail no longer wagging. My spirits were dragging.
The clock was bought specificallly to add dimension, color, humor and, oh yes, the time to my kitchen. This clock was the focal point of the theme expressed by my fuzzy dice hanging by the refrigerator enhanced by the Rt. 66 magnet and, recently, the addition of a Texaco sign. You get the picture I'm sure. The battery still kept time but what would my "Christmas in Strafford" guests think? Sure all my art work was organized. Everything was in place, but what if my guests came into the kitchen for a friendly cup of coffee. Even though my coffee pot was shiny and new, the eyes and tail of my clock were frozen in time. No longer whimsical - my decorating theme ruined.

But I knew of a store up in Maine... So my sister-in-law and I enjoyed a beautiful blue sky day on our way to Kennebunkport, Maine. We let the dog run, collected a stone or two and continued to the clock store. THEY DIDN'T HAVE A BLACK CAT! Sure green was available but not in my kitchen. The only option was white. Well it was sort of cute. A little necklace of pearls and lovely eyelashes on a pretty little GIRL cat. Well not so bad, so I bought it. After all, I had saved the decorating day!
Have you ever done something you knew wasn't right and spent time convincing yourself of the merits regardless? I gave the clock a trial hang on the wall. You could barely see it. The white was insipid. Perhaps I could paint the cupboard the color of my wall. No time, paint smells and that still wouldn't solve my dilemma.

In the mean time my original clock had lost an eye. Have you ever looked into the interior of those clocks? It was complicated. Perhaps I could just glue the eye in place - too big for the socket and it kept falling out. Oh dear. After looking a little closer I discovered that tiny prongs held the eye in place. I could fix it.

Success - sort of. My black clock is back in its special place. I've moved the bowls to prevent any reocurrences. But the clock is a little different now. Evidently life isn't as jolly as before because the tail now wags in a shortened burst with an abbreviated sense of humor. Worse yet my wonderful decorative element moves only one eye in a nervous twitch. Clearly the experience has been traumatic.

The white clock will be returned and I've located a black cat on line but the "Rush to Judgment" has been a lesson learned. I'll let you know how "Christmas in Strafford" works out!