Cats in my life

Stories about Rusty and other cat-related content

Farewell to Rusty
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Farewell to Rusty

Rusty is no longer with us.

I hoped he would be one of those long-living cats living beyond 20 years. He was mostly healthy for the first 14+ years of his life, but then suddenly it was as if his body had exhausted its resources, and multiple issues started appearing within a couple of months.

Last November, he was diagnosed with heart failure. His condition wasn’t encouraging. In December 2023, when I started on IG my traditional “count up to Rusty’s 15th birthday on Christmas Eve,” we weren’t sure he’d survive that long. But I hoped that maybe sending something positive into the Universe would return in the form of some luck for Rusty.

We fought for him, and he gifted us with an extra 8 months together.

It hurts. For 15 years, Rusty was a member of our family and one of the most joyful parts of our lives. Two weeks after we had to let him go, I’m still coming to terms with the realization that he isn’t here. He was such a wonderful, social, well-natured, curious, slightly mischievous, funny, cuddly cat!

 

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June 19, 2024

 

I am an adult. And I know that it doesn’t work like that. But just in case I don’t know something about the Universe, and whoever is reading this has such a power: I WANT MY RUSTY BACK!

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Saturday Questions… for Undina on the Blog’s 13th Anniversary

Since earlier this week Undina’s Looking Glass turned 13, I decided to do something different for this Saturday Question post.

Below is a 13-question self-interview, after which I invite you to answer in comments any of the questions that you feel are relevant to you (some of them are just for me, but others could be valid for my readers), ask me any questions if you happen to have them, or just join me in celebrating my blog’s 13th Anniversary.

Saturday Question 13th Anniversary Edition

1. When you started this blog, did you expect to be writing this post?

I don’t remember specifically thinking about my plans, but I know that back then I wouldn’t have been surprised had anybody told me I’d keep this space alive for the next 15 years and beyond.

2. Do you have any regrets about the current state of the blog?

I do. I don’t have the time and energy to publish stories regularly. The “Saturday Question” series is the only commitment I’m trying not to break. I realize that my readers are doing just fine without additional posts. But I wish my life would return to the state where I could do it at least once a month – especially since I have what to write about.

3. How did your “no-buy” go last year?

Surprisingly, it went well. For the first 6 months of 2023, I spent on perfume $5: I bought a sample of Parfumes Quartana’s Ierofante. In the second half of the year, I bought one full bottle and several samples from my visit to the ZGO Perfumery and Le Labo boutique in September – that’s it.

Perfume Samples

4. What was the last perfume you bought?

Tauerville’s When We Cuddle And I Can Smell Your Perfume On My Clothes. After it came up as “My Answer” in two different Saturday Question posts (Do You Like Skin Scents? and What Is Your Most Calming Perfume?), and I complained in both how I missed getting it when it was available, I just had to pounce once it was re-released as another limited edition (even though it was almost twice more expensive than the first release).

Rusty And Tauerville When We Cuddle And I Can Smell Your Perfume On My Clothes

5. Why are there fewer photos of Rusty on the blog?

While I publish fewer new perfume-related posts in general, which creates fewer opportunities for me to showcase Rusty, sadly, it’s not the only reason. Recently, Rusty was not feeling well. I will not go into details (it’s too depressing for a celebratory post) but just say that we are actively fighting for each extra month we can have him around. With his age and illness, Rusty has become much less energetic or curious, so it is much harder to interest him in what I am doing with a bottle of perfume or prompt him to jump to the sideboard or table where I am doing that. But he still has good days, and I try to snatch as many pictures of him as possible. And since most of them do not feature perfumes, I post them daily on my Instagram.

Rusty On My Lap

6. How large is your perfume collection?

For years, I didn’t feel right divulging the number of bottles I had. I’m not sure why: I don’t think it’s excessive for my hobby, it’s not the largest collection I know of, and I like most of the perfumes that I bought myself. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know the exact number of full bottles in my collection: counting full bottles didn’t make much sense since I have probably twice as many travel bottles and decants that I bought or swapped to wear.

But for this post, I decided to dig up some data from my database. So, not even touching other sizes, I have 123 full-sized (30ml +) bottles of perfumes that I still like and wear and 14 bottles that I liked and bought at some point but am not sure now if I still want to wear them. I still might. Another 14 are almost empty bottles from my pre-perfumista times that I do not use but keep tucked away for sentimental value. The last 13 bottles were gifted to me or came as a part of the set I bought for just one of the items. I wouldn’t have bought them myself (or for themselves, in case of sets), but some of them are lovely, and I use them because they were a gift. So, not counting “old flames,” my collection holds 150 full [at some point in the past] bottles.

7. Do you plan to downsize?

As of now, I’m not sure I have anything I’m ready to part with. But, in general, I think I should. Setting aside the issue of not having enough shelf space to hold any more perfumes, I really didn’t like the feeling of choice paralysis I experienced last year. Using a self-made perfume Advent Calendar helped in December, so I reused that approach again in January. It works! Now I plan to keep doing it this year, and in the end, I will know better which perfumes I don’t choose to wear even when I have time to think about the set for the whole month ahead.

8. What were the first perfumes in your perfume database?

Without looking into the underlying data, I would have never remembered or guessed what perfume I started it with. I can’t even remember when it happened. My best guess would be at least 15 years ago, but it might be earlier. So, this is the list of the first 13 perfumes in my database (chronologically in the order they were added):

Givenchy Amarige
I had a mini bottle. I didn’t love it, but it was fine for variety. I think I finished it (at least, I don’t have it any longer).

Lancome Miracle
I had a bottle. I almost finished it, and I have a mini of this perfume, but I haven’t worn it in 14 years since I started recording my daily use.

Estee Lauder Dazzling Gold
I had several samples that I used up, but I never went for a bottle of it.

Givenchy Extravagance d’Amarige
I had a mini bottle. I think I finished it.

Annick Goutal Petite Cherie
I went through at least 2 bottles of this perfume. I still have a bottle and still like it.

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue
I had a sample. I don’t think I’ve ever finished it.

DKNY DKNY Woman
I still have the remaining 10% in my second bottle. After a 12+ year hiatus, I wore it again a couple of years ago and still found it pleasant.

Hugo Boss Deep Red
I finished a couple of bottles, have a bottle gifted to me by Vanessa (Bonkers About Perfume) and still like and wear it periodically.

YSL Baby Doll
I loved this perfume and went through almost two bottles. Unfortunately, the second one turned on me before I could finish it, and the reformulated version available at the time wasn’t as wonderful as I thought the original one was.

Guerlain Champs Elysees
That was my first bottle, pre-”bug spray” comment from my co-worker. Since then I acquired another bottle, but I haven’t worn it in almost 8 years. Probably I should check if my bottle is still good.

Estee Lauder Pleasures Intense
I think I had a sample… It says a lot about how I felt/feel about it.

Calvin Klein Eternity Rose Blush
I somehow got this sample, tried and didn’t like it.

Issey Miyake Le Feu Light
I liked it and went through a small bottle. By the time my bottle was almost done (I think I still have it somewhere with a couple of drops in it), this perfume was discontinued.

9. Can you estimate how many perfumes you tried over the years?

It’s hard to think of a realistic number: between 1993 (when perfumes became more easily available where I lived then) and 2010 (when I started my database), I was sniffing and testing one way or the other all mass-market perfumes I could get to in department stores, Duty-Free shops and catalogs (mostly, Yves Rocher, but probably some Avon as well). My estimate would be 350-400 perfumes. As of today, I have 2,113 perfumes in my database. These are perfumes that touched my skin at least once. Additionally, over the years I think I tried on the skin (at stores) but didn’t record another 100 and gave a nozzle sniff or a paper strip test to another 1,000 perfumes.

This brings me to the total estimate of approximately 3,200 perfumes that I at least smelled during my life.

10. What are your Top 13 Perfumes?

As for most of us, this type of list changes often, but as of today, these are my favorites (in alphabetical order to avoid ranking):

Amouage Dia
Amouage Ubar
Chanel №19 EDT
Giorgio Armani La Femme Bleue
Guerlain Cruel Gardénia
Jo Malone Sweet Milk
J-Scent Yuzu
Krigler Lieber Gustav 14
Lancome Climat
Les Parfums de Rosine Rose d’Amour
Ormonde Jayne Ta’if
Teo Cabanel Alahine
Tom Ford Fleur de Chine

11. Does your vSO (very significant other) read your posts?

Nope. He subscribed to updates, but I don’t think he makes it to any of the posts more often than once a year. But he’s very supportive of my hobby: he never once complained about the size of my collection; he patiently tolerates my sniffing rounds both domestically and when we travel (and even provides his skin for testing more masculine offerings); and he listens to all the stories about perfumes, perfumers, bloggers and anything else I throw at him. And he allows me to spray him with perfume of my choice (from his collection) 9 out of 10 times I ask.

12. What are your favorite stories over the years?

I thought it would be quite appropriate to name 13 stories from the previous years. Some of them saw a lot of attention from my readers at the time. Others went under the radar. But each of them was special for me for one reason or another.

First, a bunch of posts with the strongest emotional connection between my past and perfumes:

First Love: Perfume
The very first post on this blog about my all-time perfume love.

First Love: Love
Perfume connected to my first childhood romantic relationship.

“Here’s a photo I’ve been looking for…”: Sweet Milk by Jo Malone
Childhood memories – sweet and bitter-sweet – that preconditioned my love to this perfume.

Angel of Jealousy
I’ve never felt like that about any other perfume.

A Fairy Tale Ending, Perfumista-style
A heartwarming story of perfumistas kindness and support at one of the hardest times in my life.

A couple of lighter posts:

“Oh, TOES!! (for some people)” or Where to Apply Perfumes
I still smile every time I see that title (or remember the scene it referenced).

Tu-ti-tu-rum-tu-tu or Musical Perfume
A concoction of anecdotal stories, music, jokes and a cute cat picture.

lebaB fo rewoT or Found in Translation
Joys of multilingual experiences and strange perfume names (actual or perceived).

In the Search for the Perfect Lavender
Lavender and Terminator-2: in this post, I managed to build a connection between these two.

Déjà vu, Episode 3: powdery fruit vs. peony oriental vs. sandalwood jasmine
For a while, I was obsessed with several well-known perfumes smelling very similar.

Posts with “literary whiff”:

My First Perfume Review: Puredistance Antonia
My scheherazade-esque frame story about this perfume.

Everything Is Relative
I think it’s my only fiction story on this blog.

The Royal Nonesuch of Perfume
One of my most negative posts about perfume.

I’m also somewhat proud of movie-posters’-based illustrations I made for my posts (though, I wasn’t sure at the time whether anybody else had made that connection):

In a separate category, not counted towards perfume-related favorite posts, are all the stories about Rusty and everything that led to him appearing in my life.

13. What are your plans for this blog?

I plan to keep going as long as it brings me joy, I can find what to write about and have at least a few people to communicate with in comments.

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Undina’s Advent CaTendar 2022 – Week 3

The third week of my daily Instagram‘ posts for the Advent CaTendar – a count up to Rusty’s 14th birthday on Christmas Eve. Plus some “extras.”

These days it’s much easier to take pictures of sleeping Rusty. But I still manage to catch other aspects of his life.

Even though Rusty is a … mature cat, he still plays with sunlight reflections.

 

Come back this weekend for Rusty’s Birthday celebration, new Saturday Question and other festivities.

 

Images: my own

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Undina’s Advent CaTendar 2022

Since Rusty is our Christmas cat, we celebrate his birthday on December 24th. This is the third year in a row that I do an Advent CaTendar in my Instagram as a count to that day.

I’m not sure if all of my readers have an Instagram account or follow me there, so I decided that this year on my blog I’ll be posting once a week a round-up of all the photos from IG (and probably a couple more – just to make it more interesting).

once a weekRusty checked my Advent Calendars (tea, marmalade and beauty) and was slightly disappointed… until I started opening them. (A photo proof is coming – watch this space.)

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Saturday Question, Rusty’s 13th Birthday And Merry Christmas to All!

If any of you are allergic to cats… stories, feel free to jump to the end, to the Saturday Question part.

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We all have witnessed that scenario in real life, on TV or maybe even participated in it from one of the two sides: a loving mother would tell “a funny story” from the past about her grown-up child, and the said child would be wincing with embarrassment or displaying his/her discomfort one way or the other.

Luckily for me (and him?), Rusty does not read my blog (as far as I know), so I can get off telling his kittenhood stories scot-free.

Hiding and Jumping

The apartment where Rusty spent his first year didn’t have too many places a kitten could hide. Rusty had discovered one great spot: in the corner behind the sectional sofa (on the photo below, it’s where the floor lamp stands). The spot was perfect in all respects but one: Rusty could easily get down there from the sofa, but since the bottom was too close to the floor, he couldn’t get out that way, and since the backrest was too high, Rusty couldn’t jump back up. So, once he would get bored hiding there, he would start crying, and one of us would lay on that backrest and fish him out from that corner. It wasn’t easy: that backrest was high. And one day my vSO managed to hurt himself trying to free Rusty. At this point, we gave up and moved the side of the sofa that was under the clock away from the wall – so that Rusty could get out on his own. I think that spot lost its appeal soon after that.

Corner Sofa and Wall Clock

Speaking of the clock. It’s hard to think of what was happening in Rusty’s head: the clock didn’t have a secondhand, so there wasn’t any noticeable movement. But he kept watching it for days. Then once, he stepped far away from the sofa (probably to somewhere close to the point of view for the photo above), then ran-ran-ran, jumped on the sofa, then on the back, uuuuup to the clock… What happened next looked exactly like the Glass Smack and Slide move from a cartoon: Rusty smacked into the wall under the clock and then slid down, behind that side of the sofa that we moved away from the wall. Silently. We thought that if he didn’t kill himself then definitely injured. But several long seconds later, Rusty walked out from behind the sofa, demonstrating with his demeanor that nothing had happened, and it wasn’t even him who just fell… He ignored that clock from that day on.

Sudden Attack of a Shopping Bag

In the same apartment, under the entryway console table, we kept a paper shopping bag that we used for recycled paper. Magazines, papers and store ads went into it as is, and for mail that one wasn’t supposed to just throw away my vSO worked as a human shredder. Rusty loved hunting in those bags. He would dive into it, find the most interesting piece of paper and play with it for a while, until either it went under the sofa, or we put it back into the bag. It went on for months, until one day Rusty managed to get his head through the bag’s handle, got spooked and started running with the half-empty bag “chasing” him. It took us some time to catch up with him and free him from that paper monster. My vSO called it “a sudden attack of a shopping bag.” It took Rusty a long time to forget about that incident. But in a while, he got over it and now considers those bags as a type of a box and either gets inside or sits on them.

Rusty in the Bag

Unexpected Effect of the Drought

With umbrellas, it was the opposite. For the first couple of years of his life, Rusty was fascinated with umbrellas, so whenever we would bring one into the house and open it to dry, Rusty would sniff it, sit under it or play with it. And then because of the 5-year drought we had in our area, umbrellas disappeared from Rusty’s life. And the next time he saw it, he unexpectedly got scared. Since then, as soon as he sees me carrying an umbrella, a closed one (!), he runs away. So, the only proof it hasn’t been always like that is those rare photos I managed to take when Rusty was much younger.

 

I have many other stories about Rusty – both from years ago and from yesterday, even though he got much smarter with age, learned a lot and taught us many things. But I’ll leave those stories for another time. Today, for his 13th birthday, Rusty got to spend quality time on our bed, enjoyed Ricotta cheese for breakfast and turkey breast for dinner (in addition to his regular meals), and was rewarded with plenty of treats for compliments he got from my readers and Instagram followers. I hope he stays healthy for many more years, keeps his kittenish mien and brings joy to us, our friends and everyone else who knows him in RL or online. And to all of you, from Rusty, my vSO and me (that photo was a collective effort):

Rusty Merry XMas 2021 and Happy NY

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Saturday Question #96:

Do You Have a Pet (and Does You Pet Like Your Perfumes)?

I know about pets companions of many of my loyal readers. Some of them virtually visited Rusty on his 10th Birthday. But I don’t know everyone’s pets, and I’m sure that many of you do not know each others’ cats, dogs, rabbits or rats (If you named your fish, I would consider those as pets as well) – so, please share your pets’ names, links to photos (if you have them publicly online) and, if you’re sure they don’t read my blog, any stories that they would have been embarrassed to hear.

What do your pets think about your perfumes (if anything)?

Saturday Question on Undina's Looking Glass

My Answer

As a kitten, Rusty didn’t mind any of my perfumes. Then later he started cleaning my wrists when I tested some perfumes. As he grew older, he started avoiding stronger scents if I apply them to my wrists: he might come to sit on my lap, but then he smells perfume from my wrist and runs away. So, when I know that he would be spending some time with me, I try not to scent my wrists (neck is OK).

 

Do You Have a Pet (and Does You Pet Like Your Perfumes)?

 

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Rusty the Cat: On Creams

I mentioned it before, Rusty loves if not all but most of the food. And among that food, there are some types or categories that he particularly favors. One of such categories is dairy products.

I can’t remember how it started, but at some point we came to the realization that he loves everything milk-related: milk, yogurt, cream, sour cream, ice cream, etc.

When I use sour cream in our meals or eat yogurt, Rusty always gets to leak the spoon afterwards – and does a great job while at it.

In Winter, one of my favorite desserts is hot chocolate. Rusty learned the process, and once I get milk out of the fridge, even before I open it (so, it’s not the case that he can smell it), he jumps on the counter (the part where he’s allowed to sit) and waits. After I bring milk to boil and pour it into cups with powdered chocolate, while my vSO stirs both cups, I’m busy: I feed Rusty milk film that is left on the bottom of the saucepan. Since it’s hot, I tear small pieces and give them to him. Rusty swallows each next piece in a nano-second and looks at my fingers greedily waiting for the next one. I’m strange, I know: from the childhood I like milk and, what is even stranger, hot milk and milk film. So, I would have eaten it myself. But Rusty loves it so much that I can’t deprive him of this little joy.

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After the pump of the 1 liter bottle of Kiehl’s Creme de Corps stopped producing any output, I opened the bottle and kept it upside down over an empty plastic container from ice cream waiting for what was left to transfer there following the gravity. I succeeded but partially: another physical force in action – surface tension – prevented at least some portion of the cream from flowing down. So, earlier today I decided to “surgically” extract the remaining cream. I took the bottle and the jar to the kitchen, cut the bottle in half with scissors and started scooping the content.

Rusty appeared with a characteristic “meow” – the exact excited sound he usually produces when he observes food that he hopes to get. He jumped to where I was trying to save last milliliters of the cream, hovered over the jar, sniffed… and was clearly puzzled and disappointed by what he smelled: I was in the kitchen; it was an ice cream jar; the content looked like one of those tasty dairy products… and it absolutely didn’t smell as such. Since my hands were in cream, I didn’t want to touch him. So, as I was finishing my exercise in frugality, he just sat there sniffing air and not believing the cruelty of the World.

Rusty and Kiehs Creme de Corps

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Rusty the Cat: “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”

While the color of my opposable digit is probably the closest to Pantone 448 C, I love flowers. And since I can’t grow them, I buy them.

As I discovered, I’m good at both picking fresh bouquets and keeping them alive. But here comes another complication: the only place in our house where flowers can survive is our bedroom. It’s not because the atmosphere there is somehow special. But it is the only living area to where Rusty has access only in our presence.

It is important because, being left alone with flowers, Rusty either plays with them, which results in knocked over vases, or eats them, which is even worse since many flowers might be poisonous for cats.

The positive side of Rusty’s obsession with flowers is that every time he does get access to them, I get a chance to take many pictures of him: he’s so occupied with sniffing, pawing and biting them while he can that he doesn’t immediately notice me with a camera to start turning away.

 

 

As I was looking through pictures to choose those that I haven’t published before, I realized that I didn’t find any of Rusty with carnations. I should probably pick up a bouquet of carnations next.

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Rusty the Cat: On Camouflaging

Of course, I’m not being serious: if anything, it’s not Rusty who has chosen his surroundings (or to live with us, for that matter). But I just want to share some of the pictures I collected for the topic. And I hope you’ll agree: he fits in perfectly, doesn’t he?

In other news, today I got my second vaccine shot. Now I can tell that most people who had their shots and to whom I complained about pain in my shoulder after the first one had no idea what I was talking about! I can feel something in my arm now, and I still might get side-effects in the upcoming days, but it doesn’t come even close to how much my first shot hurt! I’m glad that I’m done for at least 6 months (I really dislike needles).

I do not plan to change how I live even after I’m fully vaccinated: I’ll keep working from home, limit visits to stores and continue to wear masks. We might start seeing more friends, but other than that… Nah. Life has to prove to me that it’s safe on the outside.

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Rusty the Cat: On Favorite Note

When Rusty was younger, he used to like perfumes… or at least some of them. But as he got older, at some point he started avoiding close exposure to strong scents. He seems not to mind any of my perfumes when I apply them to my neck, especially after the initial application settles down. But he strongly objects to my testing on wrists, and whenever I put something on a wrist and try to hold him, he runs away indignantly shuddering.

But it looks like he still has some favorite scents. See what happened when our friend brought us a freshly cut piece of cedarwood.

Rusty and Cedarwood

I should probably try and see what he thinks about Dyptique‘s Tam Dao. Speaking of which… When did you try it last? Is it still any good? A bottle I have is of the EdT, and it’s about 11 years old. I used to like it, especially on my vSO, but I’m not sure if I tried any version of EdP. I’m sure it has been reformulated at least once since it has been launched because of IFRA regulations, but I don’t know how far the current iteration is from what I used to like.