Porch Swing

Posted on May 16, 2016 by treshabarger

Story #16 for Story A Day Challenge May 2016

16 Porch Swing s

Porch Swing

Cats have nine lives, but each one may not be very long. Winnie lived a long time, but didn’t make it to forever. When she died, Alan swore never to put himself in that position again, open to such heartbreak.

But he missed her, missed their nights sitting on the front porch swing together. Missed the purring, the batting of her paws against his chin, the painful kneading of her claws on his thigh as he rubbed behind her ears.

Their favorite game was Soap Bubbles, where Alan would run up and down the porch, blowing bubbles, stringing them along, Winnie jumping up trying to catch them.

He missed her company so much that the hole in his heart grew bigger with time instead of smaller. He decided to get another cat. He could never replace Winnie, but that wasn’t his intent.

In the passenger seat, Margo was whimpering every so often, stressed. Alan stuck his fingers through the squares of the metal carrier door, wiggling them. Margo gently reached up with her paw, touching his fingers.

Alan had a new bottle of Soap Bubbles already waiting for her at the house. “You’ll like the front porch swing. I promise.”
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Last Lesson

Posted on February 25, 2016 by treshabarger

Lesson 6 of my online sketch and watercolor class is the last lesson. The subject: machine-made objects. This turned out to be difficult for me to choose an object, as I kept wandering around the house, rejecting most items “too hard to draw” (this included many glass objects).

aa Lesson 6 Mug with inside shadow s

The ceramic cat was a gift from a friend many years ago. Usually the objects I sketch and watercolor are larger than my sketch; not this time. The watercolor paper is 5×7 inches.