Garden Lights & a Holiday Kitten

A very busy week here. The two week run-up to the opening of Garden Lights Holiday Nights on November 16 is the second busiest stretch of the year in the Fuqua Orchid Center. Last week we unloaded a 52' truck packed with foliage plants; this Monday and next we receive the thousand Poinsettias I ordered last July, along with a few hundred orchids.

Inserting himself into this frenzy was an orphaned seven week-old kitten, coaxed from underneath a stack of wooden pallets on a frigid day by my co-worker, Valerie Van Sweden. The kitten had been living on his own in the Garden, subsisting mostly on his body fat. He was filthy, with runny eyes, a blood encrusted nose, a distended belly and an epic case of fleas. He weighed 1.7 lbs. He has become my foster feline.

Two weeks of medicine, good food and a warm place to sleep (my home office) have been transformative. Linus is now the two pound King of the World. He is fearless. And tireless. (We're up at 4 am every morning in order to wear him out before work). And cheeky. The command, 'No biting fingers!' prompts him to sink his tiny teeth into my chin. He is devastatingly handsome. I'll keep you posted about his progress and ours.