#crx – Amy's Axons

February 2024

February Snaps

February 26, 2024February 26, 2024by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Cardinal and House Finch

Tufted Titmouse

Eastern Bluebird

Male ⬆️ and female ⬇️ Red-bellied Woodpecker

Clemmy Clementine 🖤🤍

Wally Cornwall 🤍🖤

May God be with you. ❤️, Amy

September 2023

Cats ❤️ Cornish Rex ❤️

September 20, 2023September 20, 2023by amysaxons6 Comments

My cat story, told through pictures of our new, 16- week old Cornish Rex (CRX) kittens.

Wally Cornwall – in honor of county Cornwall, England where the CRX breed emerged from a genetic mutation in a barn cat in the 1950s.

Clemmy Clementine – because Winston Churchill was prime minister in the 1950s and his wife’s name was Clementine, which I’ve always liked.

Growing up, my family always had dogs. I had never been around cats until I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to an animal care class through 4-H.

The farm where the 4-H class was held had a barn cat who had just given birth to a litter of soft, fuzzy kittens. I was mesmerized by their purring and mewling sounds, I had never heard anything so lovely before. My future was set the moment I actually held one in my hands – my heart was gone and, though I didn’t know it at the time, I was already morphing into a crazy cat lady.

I started begging my Dad instantly for one of the kittens on the farm. His response was a firm, “No, we already have a dog at home.” My response was something along the lines of, “Yeah, but he isn’t a cat.” Why didn’t my Dad understand that?! As the 4-H class progressed over the next several weeks so did my begging. I had never wanted anything so badly in all my little 9-year old life. Somehow, someway my Dad came around and on the last day of the class I took my first kitten, Princess, home.

The first thing I did when I was 16 and got my driver’s license was go to the Humane Society, without Mom’s permission, and get another kitten. I named her Bumpy because she meowed sweetly when I drove over a pothole pulling out of the parking lot on the way home. I also thought I could persuade Mom more easily if I had already named her 🤓.

Mom let me keep Bumpy, though she wasn’t allowed to come in the house. It wasn’t until I had finished grad school and had my first job that I FINALLY got an indoor cat. I was still living at home to save money for a house, as was my sister who had just finished her nursing degree and was saving for the same reason.

With Mom’s permission, my sister got a little Shih Tzu puppy that stayed in the house. “Hmm,” I thought. So again, without permission, I drove to my first ever American Cat Fanciers Association show in Joplin, Missouri, a little over an hour from where we lived. I was really excited about seeing all the cat breeds, but my real intent was to get a CRX kitten, if anyone there had one available. As fate would have it, there was exactly…one.

The rest is history. I brought Rexy home and, to my relief, everyone, Mom included, fell in love with him immediately! Because CRX don’t have a lot of fur and can’t live outside, my dream of having an indoor cat became reality. Though I now admit I went about it by a bit of hook or crook 🫢.

Aside from my method of acquiring him, living with a CRX has been even more profoundly wonderful than even I dreamed it could be. I moved into my first home just a few months after getting Rexy. Chemy, my second CRX, came soon after to keep Rexy company while I was at work – at least that’s what I told myself 😉.

Once you’ve owned a CRX you will forever be owned by the breed. You cannot not have at least one in your life. Laudy, our current 13 year old blue tabby CRX joined the family when Chemy died. Lest you think I’m a cat snob, we (I’m married now) had a sweet rescue boy, Harry, who lived with us until he passed away a few years ago from old age. Pip, our sweet CRX who died recently, came when we lost Harry.

My life has become very small now since I don’t work anymore and I don’t get out of the house much because of my Multiple Sclerosis. However, my life feels very full because of three main reasons: God, my family, and our cats. They are my constant companions, always with me in my arms, or on my lap, beside me in bed, or at my feet playing. We have a routine together of snuggles, meal times, and interaction. We experience each day together, which reinforces and deepens our bond.

I don’t know how to describe or explain my love for cats except to say it’s something innate within me. Perhaps it’s a bit like people who feel compelled to climb mountains or are fascinated by cars or need to garden and feel dirt on their hands. I know there are people who love dogs or horses or birds or all manner of other animals with the same passion I have for cats. I look at cats and see God as our Creator. Only He could love us so much to make animals so perfectly. I know, in His omniscience, He had my enrichment and joy in mind when He made cats!

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

September 2023

A Mingling of Grief and Joy

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023by amysaxonsLeave a Comment

Hello, Friend!

Some of you know we lost our beloved Pip suddenly between the time of my last post and this. It was a crushing loss for us, we loved him so much. It’s still very difficult to talk about and the tears flow easily. We are so grateful to God for the 5 years we had with him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord!

In loving memory of our Pip. Rest in peace, sweet boy.

For those of you who know us it will come as no surprise that we knew we would open our hearts for another cat at some point. To our astonishment, God intervened and made an opportunity available more quickly than we ever expected. And, in the marvelous way only God can arrange, He took our sorrow and lovingly soothed us with not one but TWO kittens! We drove to Indianapolis Friday night and brought our Cornish Rex kittens home yesterday.

Introducing…

Wally and Clemmy brought us great joy and comfort through the weeks of our sorrow as we grieved our Pip and anticipated holding them in our arms. Now they are here, we are soaking up every moment and feel that Pip would approve. He was the sweetest cat who delighted in nothing more than bringing love and happiness to our lives. He would be glad we are comforted by two kittens who remind us of him in nearly everything they do.

Though there will always be a Pip-size hole in our hearts that nothing and no other cat will ever fill, he taught us that love is always worth taking a chance on. We’re so grateful we took that chance!

May God be with you! ❤️, Amy

June 2023

Loving the Ozarks

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023by amysaxons2 Comments

Hi, Friend!

Hubby has been on break between semesters at the college where he teaches. It’s been so wonderful to have him home with me every day. We took a day trip to Bentonville, Arkansas Thursday and enjoyed the beauty of the Ozarks as well as our time together. If you didn’t know, Sam Walton opened his first Walmart on the square in Bentonville in 1962. The Walton family has greatly and richly (😉) invested in the town turning it into one of the coolest and most happening places in the Midwest.

Ice cream options abound. Hubby got me Milky Chocolate and Strawberry Buttermilk.

Hubby got himself a vanilla cone from this Walmart sponsored truck.

Hubby is a cycling enthusiast and has ridden a couple of the trails. They are building and adding mountain bike trails at the rate of a mile a week! Northwest Arkansas now draws hundreds of national and international cyclists every year.

You can walk all the way up and around the outside of this building on the zigzag walkways.

Compton Gardens had lovely trails for walking and cycling.

Hubby got his exercise pushing me up and down the walkway at Compton Gardens (as shown here) and around downtown Bentonville. It was a hot and sweaty job. It’s a lot easier to get my wheelchair in and out of the car than it is to take apart and reassemble my scooter. However, we agreed it would be worth the effort to take my scooter on all future trips – I’m a bit of a handful 😜.

I wore a new dress I made this week from this beautiful floral and strawberry print jersey 🍓.

It’s starting to get warm and I’ve not been able to sit outside on the patio as much the past couple of weeks.

Our River Birches have fully leafed out. Almost all of the fuzzy seeds have finally fallen, which is a good thing because they are pretty messy.

This Mama dove has been sitting on her nest in our guttering for a solid three weeks. I don’t know if her babies are ever going to hatch.

Sadly, the following bird photos are the last at our feeders that I’ll be able to get for a while. I’ve had so many squirrels and grackles eating the seed that I’ve decided to stop for a while, it’s just too expensive. 😢. I am researching some other options and hope to get something else in place soon. I’ve really missed my feathered friends.

House Finches (male and female pair) and Downy Woodpecker, male

Best snuggle buddies ever, Laudy and Pip

Until next time, may God be with you! ❤️, Amy

April 2023

It’s Blooming Spring!

April 13, 2023April 14, 2023by amysaxons2 Comments

I love how the colors came out in this photo of a Common Grackle.

19 of Hubby’s cycling friends stopped by halfway through one of their rides for a cookie and water break.

Our sweet blue “Laudy” Laudanum Cornish Rex 💙

It’s always a toss-up of who will be first in the sling to help me with my Bible study each morning. Pip won this day.

Behind the scenes when I’m birdwatching on the back patio.

Have a lovely day! God be with you. ❤️, Amy

March 2023

A Week In My Life

March 10, 2023March 10, 2023by amysaxons2 Comments

Hello! I bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon, did you? It’s been a while since I did a “week in my life” sort of blog, so…I did. Let’s see, when I last wrote I believe I told you I had finally tested negative for Covid 🎉. I was still sick, though. I started some antibiotics for a bacterial sinus infection 5 days ago and am happy to report that I am doing much better. I still have a cough, but I’m hoping it will continue to dissipate with time (and another 5 days of antibiotics 😉).

Surprisingly, my MS hasn’t been too bad this week and I was able to putter around the house with reasonable rest breaks between activities. This has been a HUGE blessing to me ☺️!

Anywho, I’ve been sewing up a storm and enjoying myself thoroughly this week! As a matter of fact, in the pictures you’re about to see I think I’m wearing four different things I either finished up or made this week. (There’s more sewing stuff a bit further down too 🙂.)

Covid wore me out and I hadn’t cooked for over two weeks, we survived on freezer meals I had squirrelled away. I finally found the energy to get in the kitchen again on Tuesday. I made a huge pot of beef barley soup, enough to last us several days. I also decided to get out my Mom’s high school Home Ec. cookbook and made a couple loaves of our favorite bread. Mom’s book has seen better days, but it is very special to me and has some great recipes.

Oh, and I made some chocolate chip bars on Thursday from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Cookbook. 😋. I love lots of chocolate chips but Hubby only wants a few, and the itty-bitty ones. So, I compromised and put half the normal amount of my chips and some of his tiny chips into the batter and they actually managed to please both of us.

I hadn’t cleaned my sewing room for several weeks, it was really bad. I cleared the decks on Monday and gave it a good going over. I don’t know how I didn’t end up at urgent care with 23 pins stuck in my feet! YIKES 😬! I also gave both my sewing machine and my serger a good service and cleaning.