Small things amuse all minds... especially old ones
Happy rave about curly cat litter
A small thing gave me great delight this morning: cat litter.
My cat litter system is a masterpiece of efficiency, recycling of newspapers and secure shredding of confidential documents. (Not original, of course.) Newspaper to absorb the pee, shredded paper to give Ursula something to scratch and toss around.
There’s always pleasure in physically shredding old bank statements, transcripts and manuscript drafts. My old hands can do this very satisfactorily. I like the whoofy sound of ripping paper. The vicious satisfaction of destroying. The righteous satisfaction of recycling. The housewifely satisfaction of a small daily task ticked off an imaginary list.
In summer, the strips themselves are stiff and broad. They tend to fall off in long irregular quadrilaterals rather than strips. They work, they do their thing, but are vaguely frustrating. I suppress this feeling because it’s quite unfair to the paper.
But now it’s autumn and everything changes. Damp air has permeated Ursula’s ensuite bathroom and ripping paper is a whole new thing. The paper is slightly damp so it curls! The curls tremble and dance like living things. The paper even separates in layers, shredding in three dimensions. My cat litter becomes a thing of beauty, a truth, a joy not forever but at least for this moment.
“Small things amuse small minds” was one of those sayings in the 1940s-50s, i.e. the olden days when I was a child and teenager. It might be said as a joke but essentially this is a snarky sarky put-down.
Curly cat litter is indeed a small and transitory thing. But it’s funny and pretty and strange and wonderful. Let’s not belittle our pleasure in little things: that is cruel and crazy. Let’s roll the joy around and make a meal of it. If you’ve got it, flaunt it!
Small things amuse my mind. Proud of it.
I like that idea. It saves the cost of commercial litter, too.