Lachrymalis
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aquavirago.bsky.social
Lachrymalis
@aquavirago.bsky.social
1.6K followers 930 following 13K posts
Cat lover. Dem. Collector of 30s-40s American dinnerware. Warped sense of humor. Atheist married to REAL Christian. No DMs w/o invite. No fundraisers. OK to be on someone's vindictive shitlist, but if shitlists are all you're on... well!
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aquavirago.bsky.social
"I'll take a side order of duuuuuurrrp, please..."

My beautiful, undignified Kat in her signature pose mid-bathe. Green is her color, aye?
Large orange and black tortie cat on the bed covered with a plaid green wool blanket, sitting on her big fat floofy butt. Her rear legs are splayed out in front of her, tail between, and her front paws at at her sides. She was interrupted mid-bathe, and her expression says "do you MIND?"
November 15, 2025 at 6:09 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Remember when "Hamburger Helper" meant low income thriftiness? Now, chicken and rice is far cheaper & even healthier! 80/20 Hamburger on sale for $3.47/lb. Chicken thighs on sale 99c lb. Rice, 10 lbs for $20 (50c/lb). Add a pound of carrots and you can still feed your family cheaper on chicken.
November 12, 2025 at 4:27 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Aaaaannnnddd... how long did it take YOU to figure out which end is which!? Some cats do the loaf, mine is doing... what? A scone?
A tightly curled tortie cat on a bed, snoozing, with all paws and head right about in the same place... a tangle of feets and ears! She's snuggled between my fuzzy blue bathrobe on one end, and a pink-covered pillow on the other. One must look closely to determine which end is which; there is an ear giving it away...
November 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
So we live in a corner (yes really, IN, not ON), and I always back into the driveway. Yesterday, someone was behind me so I hurried & hit a damned stump to the left and totally decimated my bumper. Pic on the right isn't a "before" damage, it's AFTER hubs spent 2 hours fixing it. Isn't he AMAZING?
The totally mangled driver's side rear bumper on our Toyota after I backed into the drive too fast trying to get out of the way of the car behind me... it's TOTALLY bent and crumpled, ripped off the side, and hanging down dragging on the driveway... ... and the SAME bumper. Nope, not a before the wreckage, AFTER hubs spent 2 hours with a hammer and heatgun fixing it. Isn't he frickin' AMAZING!? The casual observer would never know anything had been wrong with it.
November 8, 2025 at 6:02 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
The convoluted fun of thrifting... find and buy a dresser for $20. Notice it has the wrong handles. Eventually find a bag of the RIGHT Hepplewhite style handles for $6 at the same thrift a couple months later. Sell the Colonial style handles for $39.50. Voila. A free dresser.
Thrift store curved front low four-drawer dresser with flat top and dark wood found at the thrift for about $20. It has Colonial style handles, but I could see faint ovals behind them which indicated it once had Hepplewhite handles instead. Same dresser, after finding a bag of vintage Hepplewhite style handles at same thrift store a few months later, which fit perfectly! Restored to its original look.
November 7, 2025 at 2:15 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
We had a busy little summer. In addition to the new electrical system I posted at the beginning of the season, we did numerous other small things around the island house. Also spent 3 Saturdays after closing up for the season helping to put in a new water main system. More in Alt Text...
View down the path of the new water main system being put in on our island retreat. Our old pipes were very close to the surface, actually showing in spots, and were being driven over by the golf carts we all use for transportation. The community decided to do the work themselves to save money, as an estimate was somewhere in the vicinity of 750K. The new pipes are a couple feet down and well-protected now, even from freezing! But that requires a lot of work. A couple islanders have equipment to do the heavy work, but rely on volunteers to do things like helping to clear brush from the path, removing large rocks out of the dirt from the dug trenches, spreading sand, laying pipe, smoothing out more sand over them, raking over the dirt returned to the trenches, etc. On one hand it felt like being on a chain gang, but that couldn't erase the sense of community we got by helping. We're about 35 houses on this side of the island, and the work is going in three phases. The last phase will be next year and we will probably help then, too. We all have new meters, there are connections and shutoffs so if there is a problem, they can shut down only what's needed instead of the whole south end of the island! Our house is the pink one in the distance, upper left. The grass will eventually grow back, but our "road" is also in the middle of that dirt! No paved roads here, no electric grid, no municipal services, no stores, no bridge, no ferry. It's our little slice of Paradise, despite all the work to just "be" there.
November 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
We finally got another "new to us" car, and I got my freedom back after six months of sharing the van with hubs. Shopping after work hours sucks! I like to go early, 'cause sometimes I find bargains like this. "Catch" was they expired in 2 days, but that's nothin'. Got 2 for us, 2 for his cousins.
A sign in front of a grocery refrigerator case advertising a special buy on "Eggland's Best Free Range Eggs" for only 99c/dozen!! The catch was that they expired in two days, but that was no deterrent; I've eaten eggs more than a month past that date and they were fine. They had boxes and boxes full, and there was no limit! Got two for us and two for hubs' cousins. And this is why I like to do my shopping early in the day, sometimes you get lucky and find these little bargains.
November 6, 2025 at 1:32 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
My sweet luvvie tortie cat. Well. Kat is not demonstrative with her affection, but she doesn't fool me, I know she loves us. She is enjoying my newly recovered kitchen chairs! Only took me about 4-5 years to get around to doing it, hahaha.
A sneaky tortie cat lurking under the table on a comfy chair. She has a wide choice of nap locations on rotation! Lounging on her side, the orange in her fur is glowing in a bit of sunlight which managed to sneak under the tablecloth and set off her beautiful green eyes (which incidentally match one of the colors in the cushion fabric!).
November 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Mz. Kat has been fine. She missed us on weekends, even though she pretended she didn't.
A large, fluffy tortie cat, relaxing on pavement by the bottom of a rather ramshackle set of cement stairs on the lef. On the right is a tall, vinyl fence. There are some weeds (her fave snack) in the foreground and in the background, a combination of fluffy gray and bright yellow clouds. Evening is nigh.
October 27, 2025 at 2:06 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Bingo.
October 24, 2025 at 6:55 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Considering his initial feelings about cats, hubs has come a long way. This is in no small part due to Kat herself... she refuses to be ignored or disdained. She enjoys spending time with both of us, and likes to park herself right next to hubs, in this case... literally under his feet!
Our obnoxious tortie cat, insinuating herself in the most inconvenient locations... in this case, under my husband's feet as he browses the internet. She's all sprawled out on a nice soft rug of cobalt, light blue, tan and beige, legs stretched out, looking over her shoulder at me as if to ask "and your point is?"
June 24, 2025 at 10:31 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
The former "Mami, if you ever get a cat, I'm moving out" husband person now makes sure Kat gets her own tiny bowl of ice cream.
Front view of my tortoiseshell tortie cat lapping at her own tiny bowl of ice cream, courtesy of a man who once professed to hate cats.
June 21, 2025 at 1:38 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Putting up a couple of new solar panels on the cottage, along with a fresh new lithium iron phosphate battery for each! Also, a whole mess of new wiring, regulators, inverters, chargers, a new hot water heater, all kinds of stuff I now need to learn the mechanics of to use and maintain... gah.
Two burly dudes (my brother and his friend) installing solar panels on the back room bumpout of a pink cottage. We are surrounded by trees, and tick-laden grass. My brother is on the slightly slanted roof, messing with the panels, while hs friend stands below, supervising and advising. Our trash and recycling containers are on the left by the open door and stairs, and the back of our little golf cart is on the right. The cottage was built in the late 50s by my grandparents, and it has been pink its whole life. The corner of the back room of our island cottage, with some freshly installed shelving. We have two lithium iron phosphate batteries on the bottom shelf, connected to the solar panels, with regulators and other devices about which I do not yet have a clue.
June 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Today's pottery is from Taylor, Smith & Taylor. The shape is "Paramount" and it's a syrup jug! Very interesting shape, with a pierced handle. There is an English pot of very similar shape, also with a pierced handle, by Grindley. Lot of copying and borrowing going on back then!
Antique pink pottery syrup pitcher by Taylor, Smith & Taylor. The shape is called "Paramount". It is a tallish, four-sided pitcher with rounded corners. There is a small, rather ornately embossed pedestal foot. The spout is elevated like some exotic bird, and the saddle-shaped lid, also embossed around the edges, has a notched end to facilitate pouring. Handle emerges straight out at a right angle to the rim, then descends in a curve. Top of the handle is pierced. The finial of the lid is incorporated into the shape of the lid... these two details are shown in the next picture. Top view of the Paramount syrup pitcher, showing the pierced handle. Lid is squarish, with two longer sides. Finial is also a rounded square, with a sort of "pinwheel" type decoration. Around the edges of the lid are several little scrolled figures.
June 14, 2025 at 1:48 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Jabba the Glutt... Kat contemplating her toes. Before I got her, I swear I never saw a cat sit like this. This is a variation on the usual, normally there's a leg splayed out to each side. Not sure if the protuberance on the other side is tail or leg!
Silly tortie cat, sitting on the bed, contemplating her toes. One of her hind limbs is stretched out in front of her, and I can't really tell where the other legs are! She looks like Jabba the Hutt with a single leg. There is something sticking out the other side, but I don't know if it's leg or tail! She is facing forward and slightly downward, but definitely giving me a disgruntled look.
June 14, 2025 at 12:49 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Here's some interesting wares. Brayton Laguna... some of the very first solid color California dinnerware!! I have a vague recollection of seeing it described as "ram pressed", and I do think there looks to be a lot of hand-finishing going on. They look like studio ware to me. Circa mid-Thirties.
Vintage aqua pottery made by Brayton Laguna out of CA. Some of the very earliest solid colored wares. The clay is kind of reddish, visible on the flat wiped foot of the plate in the back. There are three cups, three saucers and a side plate. All have a rather rustic look, no doubt due to hand finishing. The handles on the cups are obviously hand applied, they're slightly different from cup to cup and some are thinner than others. Nice, drippy glaze!
June 13, 2025 at 2:27 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Things you didn't know about me #2503 - I used to have a pet tarantula, a Mexican Red Leg. Did you know that males can live 5-10 years, and females can live 25-30 years!? I had Fang for nine, she was full grown when I got her. Nothing better for keeping landlords out of your apartment...
June 13, 2025 at 1:43 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
My lovely, luminous kitteh! Yeah, I really do think just about all cats are beautiful but I can't help but be just a bit partial to my gorgeous queen. Or perhaps it's just that my phone cam flatters her. She's glowing!
Head shot of my beautiful tortie cat! The sun is hitting her side on, highlighting the split coloration going down the center of her snoot. The left side of her face is mostly black, but the right side has a triangle of orange with one side on the split, angling town to about the edge of her eye, then across. She's also got a bit of orange around her mouth, like she's been eating butterscotch pudding! At the top of the split, there's almost an arrow formation. A little black nose and two beautiful greenish gold eyes. Framing her lovely face is a ruff of longer fur on her neck, and two glowing pink black-bordered ears.
June 13, 2025 at 1:36 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
A lovely FaceBorg friend sent me this marvelous teapot from his company, China Specialties. In conjunction with Hall China, he produced some limited editions of their vintage wares. The color is a sort of dark teal, with platinum/silver accents.
A dark teal automobile shaped teapot from China Specialties. This is a reproduction of Hall China's Automobile teapot. I am not sure what kind of car it is supposed to represent, but it does look to be a 40s style. The handle is in the back, a wide band going from rim to "trunk". The spout is on top of the hood, over a grille accented with silver/platinum bands. The lid is square with rounded corners, and indented to form a bar handle in the middle.
June 12, 2025 at 12:44 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Upside-down Kat. She was airing the third day we had her! I didn't know then just how comfortable it meant she was with us, just that her silliness enchanted me.
Goofy tortie cat upside down, on her back, viewed head on! Her pupils are dilated and she's gazing at me trustingly. A ruff of pale orange circles her neck, darkening to black up toward her face.
June 12, 2025 at 12:35 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Gonna be MIA quite often over the next month or so... family coming in from outta town, back and forth to island cottage, and I'm fumbly and inept on my phone. It will all be good (I hope) and I'll be back on track with Daily Kat and pottery (except for most weekends over the summer) soon!
June 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Today's vintage teapot was made by Hall China. This is an individual sized pot, apparently part of a "breakfast set".
Small orange-red pottery teapot made by Hall China. This is a relatively small pot, part of a breakfast set. The body is a slightly flattened ball, with a round, C-shaped handle and a nicely proportioned traditional style spout. The lid is inset to a raised rim, and flares up to a wide cone, with a ball shaped finial. Just the right size for a cuppa or two!
June 11, 2025 at 1:55 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Madame Twinkletits posing for PlayCat. Boom-chicka-meow meow!!!
My tortie cat curled seductively on her side, forelimbs apart and rear limbs extended. Toe beans are barely visible amongst tufts o' fluff! Her belly is covered with wildly disheveled floof, except for a rather sparsely furred spot exposing a coupla perky pink kitty titties! Eyes slitted partially shut, she awaits a skritchin'. A trap? She loves chest rubbies, but go past the invisible line and SNAP!
June 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Another vintage pottery teapot from the "Unknown Maker" category. I really like this one... I've never seen another and there are no marks, but it feels like US made, likely an Ohio maker. Nice lines.
Vintage pale aqua pottery teapot from a mystery maker. The bottom 3/4 of this pot flares out with vertical, inverted lobes from a good, solid bottom, the top 1/4 curves inward and upward to form a wide rim, within rests a gently domed lid with rayed inverted ribs mirroriing the bottom, and a small, pointed finial, also with ribs. An ear-shaped handle and a long, narrow, graceful spout complete this pot. Likely from the 40s, feels US made.
June 10, 2025 at 2:17 AM
aquavirago.bsky.social
Enjoy this big fat Kat butt. Pre-hork grass munching session in progress.
Rear view of a big fat floofy tortoiseshell cat munching grass.
June 10, 2025 at 2:13 AM