Garfield Park Conservatory, a Header, and a scared Kitty Kat

Chicagoans:  Do you know what is a great place to visit early on a Sunday morning?  The Garfield Park Conservatory.  Free admission, easy parking, wide open paths to amble down.  Even with some of the houses being closed due to extensive damage suffered to the roofs a few months back in that giant hale storm, there is still plenty to see.  The only other people there this morning were other families with kids under 10 and a group of photographers with tripods and tricked out equipment.  It was beautiful.

 

Charlie got in on the photo action commandeering my camera.  All the photos below are hers.

So, a great time was had at the Conservatory, and we spilled out of its front doors in a great mood.  Juliet dashed out in front of us, got to the steps, and attempted to take them on her own.

Without success.

Luckily, it was just four low shallow steps.  Luckily, she was wearing a puffy coat with a hood that cushioned the back of her head so it didn't smack on the pavement.  Luckily, she rolled more than fell.

Unluckily, concrete is pretty tough stuff.  And abrasive.  She's tough stuff too, though.  And while the right half of her face looks like she's been in a bar fight, Juliet is taking it in stride.  The abrasion on her forehead seems to have a bruise under it, so I'm expecting some good colors.

We do have photos below of the damage.  But, we didn't get a chance to take them before we went to a Chili Cook-Off at Uncle Chris's house.  Chris's house, where his lovely cat Wabash is not as used to the affection that Juliet gives Dominic.  Wabash got scared with Juliet being so in her face, and we were lax in watching her because of how chill Dominic is.  Well, it's no great surprise that Wabash used her claws.  Juliet cried for a few minutes, but then was interested in going back for more Wabash loving.  The girl has no fear - god help us.

Our poor baby.

And, just for fun, here are two pictures of Charlie when she got into her first cat fight (Mama, Grandma and Papa's cat that time).  Funnily enough, Charlie is two weeks shy of 18 months in these photos.  Juliet turns 18 months in 6 days, so they're almost exactly the same age.