Charlotte

The wars concerning the second Mexican empire, with the result of "go away Emperors", were after the Mexican-American War and the large territory shift, so we can't claim that one up here.

California was part of Mexico when Mexico told the King of Spain to go away (fallout of Napoleon installing all his relatives on thrones, so bonus Go Away Emperor).

They then had their own emperor, as was a fashion at the time, and told him to go away.

It's-Its are ice cream sandwiches on oatmeal cookies, dipped in a thin coat of dark chocolate. The ice cream comes in a variety of flavors (mint is my personal favorite).

Cioppino also seems to be super regional still - not sure I'd trust it away from an ocean, but it's great.

I don't know if "ballpark" garlic fries, Vietnamese-American style garlic noodles, and It's-It ice cream treats have broken containment outside Northern California, but they're all awesome. From the place that brought you chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.

I once had a Brit ask me "why san/santa" and told him. He started arguing with me about it. "Dude, we were a colony, but NOT YOURS, okay? The King of Spain was the one we told to get lost."

Oh big time. I don't game, so I didn't fully get the "D6" part till this morning but it's clever and oh so true. I see someone has spelled it out downthread.

Oooh! We had a vegan Chinese place in Berkeley called Vegi Food that was AMAZING. They were Buddhists so they didn't serve onions or garlic either. You would think No Meat, No Dairy, No Onions, No Garlic would be No Fun but everything was amazing. BFF allergic to onions so we ate there lots.

Our Scandinavian deli in Berkeley (Nordic House) closed down at the beginning of '22 so was a little outside Claire's parameters, but damn they had the best roast beef sandwich in town as great candies/groceries.

Schroeder's was great!

Legendarily cheap drinks, and those specials!

Mac's Old House in Antioch had some of the Bertola's gang and the cheap food and drinks. They just shuttered in June but I am hearing rumors someone may be coming in to buy it.

It was my parents' favorite special occasion/date night place while it lasted. I got taken there the week I turned 18 and graduated high school. It was delicious and I still remember getting ever so slightly merry on the bourbon sauce on my delicious dessert. (Some variant of profiterole IIRC)

I also like telling the story of Wulff's in Sacramento. In true Sacramento fashion, a perennial candidate for "fanciest restaurant in town" was on a boring commercial strip tucked behind a dry cleaner. The food was absolutely classic French made with beautiful Californian meat/produce.

For those of us who enjoy watching sports they had multiple tvs so it was a good place to watch a game without being too squished or breaking the bank. They also had full A/C, a blessing on our rare hot days.

Brennan's in Berkeley was an old school hofbrau. Good beer and wine selection, full bar, and their Irish coffees were legendary. I'd usually get the roast beef dinner. The prices and the atmosphere were refreshingly unpretentious in a city known for sophisticated dining.

Baker, bread expert, and educator Peter Reinhart was a member of the order. "Sacramental Magic in a Small Town Cafe" is one of my prized cookbooks.

Brother Juniper's Cafe in San Francisco. It was run by a religious order. The food was simple but amazingly good. I liked the "Parson's Plate" - eggs scrambled with ham. They moved the community entirely to their property in Sonoma County but their place there closed down eventually.

Thanks for hanging out with me for the #12DaysOfCatmas and blessings on your houses and felines/canines.

An extremely beautiful calico cat is against a white background. She has green eyes, a mostly black face, and white whiskers. Meet Callie!

A calico cat with yellow green eyes is poking her head out of a box. She has a mostly black face above her nose and a mostly orange face below it. Meet Nutmeg, who's a big goof and looks surprised

And I wish I could have taken all the tricolors with me when the shelter shut down!

Victoria was barely alive when she was brought in and got FIP. But she survived and has her forever home. 😻

(no pic because I realized the director was in it, but have some other calicoes!)

Annabella was one of the cats from the rescue. She was brought into the rescue near death, rallied a bit, but her condition was pretty bad and she didn't make it.

Faith was another special medical needs cat that the rescue took on. She received treatment but it unfortunately wasn't enough. Between all the deaths and the lease loss, it was a rough year especially for the director, who really took it all personally.

LUCKY! He was such a sweet boy. FIP is treatable but unfortunately he had an acute case and didn't survive.

Moochie was one of the director's "OG" rescue cats and like his buddy Pete, he was good at taking care of the other cats and being a social director. He died pretty suddenly after a seizure and we all mourned him. RIP buddy, I'll see you on the other side.

I'm grateful for the house full of love I have now. As most of you know, neonatal/special needs animal rescue has a lot of losses and I have asked Lucy and Maggie to care for both the little ones who didn't make it and the other ones who went OTRB. I have their pictures and remember their names.

Luna/Leetus, an old calico cat, is in a cat tree that has been strung with leaves and colorful Christmas lights. She is looking lovingly at the lights. She was seventeen here and got to enjoy her Christmas lights all year round for over a year.

Since Maggie was my Christmas girl, I wanted to remember Luna the cat who loved Christmas. Her people strung her cat tree with Christmas lights (all year) for her seventeenth Christmas. The story was inspiring in that grim midwinter of 20-21.

Hallie (Halloween Kitty) is a beautiful tortie cat who is very friendly. She is approaching her visitor.

Maggie was a social star of the neighborhood so I always love meeting other neighborhood cats. One who lives near a friend is miss Hallie (whose people put an "I am indoor outdoor" tag on her)

I look for Hallie, and remember my friends' beloved Tara and Chuy (the 🐶who thought he was a 🐱).

Peanut, a mostly white cat with brown tabby spots, is sitting alertly in a yard by a fence. He is behind a tree. (He is alert because Maggie is out on patrol and even at seventeen she could kick his butt. He went under the fence shortly afterwards. )

Peanut, a mostly white cat with brown tabby spots, is sleeping in the shade near a fence. His rest is about to be disturbed by Maggie out in her yard.

Maggie had a more contentious relationship with a previous neighbor. I always got a kick that a cat with a cute name like Peanut was the baddest bruiser on the block. Although even in her advanced years Maggie could hold her own when she was out there.

(I did have to do perimeter checks for 🥜)

a lilac point Siamese cat is standing on a driveway. He is looking at the camera a little cross-eyed. Meet Angel, he is a big sweetie pie

But! Let us now praise other cats. I wanted to especially give props to the next door cat, who moved in after Maggie was gone and has become my yard buddy. He's a meezer too so he talks to me. I tell him about my blue eyed girl. His name is Angel and he really is 👼

Maggie, a light tortie point Siamese cat, is resting her head on a white human hand on a blue towel. The cat and the human are wearing remarkably similar blingy rhinestone bracelets/collars - Maggie's is all blue and the human's has blue, green, and orange on black leather.

I cuddled with my girl one last time before letting her go. (Peep our matching hardware from Paco Collars. I am wearing her collar as a bracelet now. )

But the rain let up enough so she could go out and sniff/eat grass in the yard, and we had WALKIES around the house as we had so often since March 2020.

(She was weak, so I carried her with her heart next to mine.) She was tired but content.

Maggie, a tortie point siamese cat, is sitting on a bed with a pink blanket. Her face is in shadow and she looks tired. (It was the morning of her last day. She was 18 1/2.)

On the twelfth day of Christmas ... #12DaysOfCatmas

again, it's bittersweet because it was the day that Maggie slipped away gently, after a night where a thunderbolt woke us up and the rain sluiced down.

It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas, everbuddy!

Afterwards I petted and cuddled her ... until Miss Mary came to do the flowers and she went off for more sink time. She knew what she wanted and I was glad we could give it to her 😻💧

Indeed, the last time I saw Julian shortly before she died (she had been ill for a while), I had been at the church to drop something off and used the restroom. When I got out she was sitting in the hallway waiting for me. So I opened the sacristry and ran the tap for her.

He was the sweetest boy, though 🧡