Scribblings

Feline Friday: Boy or Girl?

After her dad died in 2001, Heidi wanted a kitty of her own so we went to the animal shelter on Long Island to adopt an adult kitty. Heidi and Mouse hit it off right away and it seemed meant to be because Mouse had just been dropped off by a widower too grief stricken to care for his late spouse's kitty anymore. The paperwork said she was a neutered female, about 1-2 years old. We've always thought of Mouse as a "she" and a "her".

The other day, TB and I saw Mouse grooming herself and what caught our attention was a very unfeminine looking part of the anatomy. We were both totally stunned. The girls were hysterical with laughter. "This is so messed up," Heidi says.

Our Mouse is ... a boy?

We need verification from a vet...wait a minute! Shouldn't a vet have said something to us about this already, like: hmmm, this is not a girl kitty, this is a boy kitty. Or do they just assume (like cats do) that all humans are stupid?

More Cat Friday stuff? Try these:

Carnival of the Cats

Friday Ark

The next Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at Furry Paws

Good News!

I wasn't here to get all this directly but I am happy today because Tomas's ear is better, the laceration is healed! He will have another visit with the doctor soon. We're praying that his hearing will be fine!

And...we might--hopefully yes!-- will have 3 of our grandchildren for a week or two this summer!

Feel Better, Little T

We were so happy to see Tomas, as always, on Saturday but were sad to hear that he suffered a lacerated ear drum--otitis media with perforation is the technical term, I guess. Has his hearing been affected? I wondered because he doesn't talk much and doesn't always respond to sound. Linda is taking him to the doctor next week and we'll surely find out some more then. Here is a rare picture of TB and Tomas together--usually TB is holding the camera!!!

Everyone Wants To Be In The Dog House

Our Buddy says it's not just the cat who wants to take over his modest little crate. This has been an on going issue since puppyhood.

They say that two is company...

...but this is ridiculous!

Hey! Three is definitely a crowd!

Buddy sez, I don't think my crate was made for teenagers, was it?

It's not for toddlers either, come on!

Ack! The ultimate indignity!

Feline Friday: Squatters' Rights

Check out my cool new luxury king sized nap nest! Yes, I realize that I have sleeping places claimed all over the house but, after all, no one deserves a nice soft sleep spot more than me!

Hello, what is this? What are you doing in here, you oaf?

What do you mean, this is your bunk? Out, churlish knave!

And don't come back! Honestly, the nerve of some creatures!

Yes, it's true that I couldn't be bothered with the crate before the giant pillow took up residence but why does that matter? I am, after all, a noble cat and cats rule...dogs drool!

More Cat Friday stuff? Try these:

Carnival of the Cats

Friday Ark

The next Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at My Animal Family

Portfolio Presentation

I'm sure Heidi is so relieved to have her portfolio presentation out of the way! We were up early this morning to drop Kristin off at a friend's and then drive on into Philadelphia to the University of the Arts. That was a real exercise in confusion! It turns out that TB doesn't like Philly very much and is totally uncomfortable driving around there. After going in a couple of circles and in the wrong direction for about a half hour, we finally got ourselves righted and arrived in time for the tours.

U-Arts is located in Center City, very close to City Hall and on the Avenue of the Arts. There's a lot to see and do right in those few blocks around the school. The school itself is made up of older buildings but I have to say I was very impressed when I toured the residence halls. The rooms are either very large studios or small 1 bedroom apartments and they all come with kitchenettes and private baths! The windows are huge and make the rooms bright and airy. I didn't go on the tour of the classrooms because I wouldn't be able to manage all the flights of stairs with my foot. Heidi enjoyed looking at all the different studios.

Her presentation was at noon and she'd brought along a dozen or so pieces to show. I thought she might be facing a whole committee but it was just one single person, a woman, and I thought that would make things a lot easier for Heidi. After about a half hour, TB and I were called back to answer any questions we had about the school and then that was it. TB was so relieved to be getting out of Philly! He and I both agreed that if Heidi wants to pursue art, this would be the best place for her to do it.

Heidi just seemed a little stunned by it. She liked the school and said she'd have to get used to the idea. I know that she's told me she doesn't like change. If this is what she wants, though, we'll do whatever it takes to help her make the transition if she is accepted and if she decides she wants to go there.

The Devil in the White City

I had no idea there was a serial killer in Chicago during the World's Fair in 1893. They weren't called serial killers then, but that's exactly what "Dr. H.H. Holmes" was. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson was very interesting in that the author alternated his chapters between a good man (architect Daniel Burnham) and a bad one (Holmes). I have to admit, though, that if it wasn't for the lure of the serial killer's story, I probably would have passed the book over. I wonder if that's why Larson twined the two men's stories together? I picked up some interesting trivia about the fair that I either forgot or never knew. Among them: the ferris wheel (a gigantic version!) was introduced at the fair. It was called "The White City" because all the buildings were painted white--and what an effect the sun had on them! Cracker Jack and shredded wheat and Juicy Fruit gum made their debut at the fair! But the book wasn't about trivia. It was about the dream and determination of a man (Burnham) to build the greatest world's fair ever and to "out Eiffel" the Eiffel Tower. It was about the frustrations and set backs and tragedies he endured along the way. Every other chapter (almost) was devoted to the outwardly charming but inwardly soul-dead man impersonating a doctor/pharmacist. He was an architect of sorts too--a castle chamber of horrors he built and to which he lured, tortured and killed at least 9 people. Some say he may have killed up to 200! I found this to be an interesting but slow read.

Busy Day/Tuesday 10

I am so glad we are getting to enjoy a real spring this year! I was on the run most of the day: we went shopping for a nice outfit for Heidi to wear to her portfolio presentation at U-Arts and had her trying on clothes for almost 2 hours! We went to a couple of other stores and grabbed lunch out, a girls' day together for us! I had a PT appointment and then dropped Heidi off at work.

Ten on Tuesday

10 Favorite Singers/Bands

In no particular order:

Billy Joel
Elton John
The Eagles
Neil Diamond
U-2
Phil Collins
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
The Rolling Stones
The Moody Blues

Spring Has Sprung

The weather has been so gorgeous around here lately! I can remember years where we just seemed to turn from winter to summer with no indication of spring inbetween. This year has been a blessing. We've had the windows open and put up with the very high pollen counts because it's been so beautiful, nice gentle breezes and sunny days. TB ordered some azaleas and some flowers and bushes so that we could begin making our front yard look pretty. We waited and waited for the plants to grow enough to be shipped and, finally, they arrived in the mail.

Neither one of us has a particularly green thumb but the company we ordered the flowers from sent a layout to help us. The plants were labelled with letters of the alphabet (as well as their real names) and we had a "map" of sorts to show us where to plant the flowers and bushes for the best effect.

Kristin was our volunteer heavy duty laborer. Even though TB had already rototilled the ground, there were so many rocks and roots under the earth! TB's main job was to jump on the shovel. Kristin would then use her little shovel to dig the dirt out and plant the flower, root or bush.

Sometimes she had to do her own chopping. The tree we had taken down had some long deep roots! We were very surprised that there didn't seem to be any worms!

She did find one that seemed to be encased in a block of dirt and roots. She's not particularly squeamish and wanted to set it free. Then Heidi came out and wanted to see.

Here is another daughter not afraid to handle slimy things.

I think I hear TB outside with the mulch. I had a job too--taking pictures. So I'm going out again with my camera!

Happy Easter

We hope everyone had a lovely, blessed Easter. We all kind of dressed up a little and went to eat at our new favorite, Anapa's. When we got back, TB took some pictures of the girls and me because they so rarely wear dresses. Well...you can't tell that they are anyway!

Oops, Heidi's hair got in the way!

That's better! Click below for more pictures--the girls couldn't keep a straight face!

Kristin's tendency to funny faces is genetic. I have to admit I used to confound and frustrate photographers all the time doing the same thing. Heh...not so much anymore.

We had a wonderful day but we sure did miss: Billy away at RPI, Michele, David, Brandon, Ryan, Taylor, Nikolas, little Tomas (whom we were hoping to see this weekend and so sad that we didn't) and Linda.

Happy Easter everyone.

Feline Friday On Saturday: Beautiful Dreamers

More Cat Friday stuff? Try these:

Carnival of the Cats

Friday Ark

The next Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at My Animal Family

Rite of Passage

If I'd known then what I know now ...

When I moved back to NY in 1980, I developed a friendship with Toni. Toni took care of my grandmother when her health was failing. At the time we became friends, Toni was 50--the same age as my mom. Toni was totally different, though, vivacious and fun and a total nut. It was so much fun to be around her. Well, there was one thing Toni would bring up and that was whether she was pregnant or in menopause. I thought she was a little obsessive about it. She'd say she hadn't gotten her period in a couple of months, she didn't know what was going on with her period and so on. I thought, geez, it'd be such a wonderful thing, why complain about it when you are period free for months at a time?

Heh. Now I know.

It's like when I first started my period--I was irregular and never knew when I would get it. In a way, it was a little nerve wracking because back in the day of the dinosaur, there was no tampons (at least, not that I was aware of at my young age) and when I first began getting it, I was a tomboy. I didn't carry a purse. My mom would say, always carry a pad with you "In case". So I had to start carting a purse around which was very annoying to me.

Soon after Rich died, I began skipping periods. I was 46 and figured it was all the stress and grief. My doctor thought it was possible but that I might also be "peri-menopausal". That's no picnic, believe me. In the last year or two, I've gone from skipping a period every other month to going up to 6 months without one. Meanwhile, I still have PMS-type symptoms, especially the emotional mood swings. All that was missing is the mess. I had a blood test that showed that yes, I'm in that lovely transitional phase of menopause.

I totally sympathize with what Archie said to Edith in the classic All in the Family series. Okay, Edith, he said (or something like it), you've got 5 minutes...now change!

One thing--once I have gone a full year without a period, that's it. I think.

I just haven't gotten there yet. The last time I'd gotten a period was when we were in Tennessee. That was a lot of fun--I wasn't expecting it (I think I'd gone 6 months at that point) and had to get to a store. Yeesh.

And now it's back.

My counselor says, don't worry, in 2 years you'll be feeling much better.

Dang, I'd rather change in 5 minutes!

Our Otter

Heidi's class went on a field trip to the aquarium today. They had a pretty good time--and now I want to go! Heidi came back with a painted face, which sparked some interest from Amber and Mouse.

What! Another pet for the humans! Not fair!

Wait a minute...that's no otter, that's our Heidi!

Feline Friday: Foiling Foto Ops

Uh-oh, here they come again with the camera! The human pets love to take our pictures--no surprise, after all! The trouble is we see imaginary birdies for some time afterwards and it's quite annoying. So we have devised a strategy when we see the camera pointed in our direction!

Are they gone yet?

Nope...shut your eyes again, quick!!

More Cat Friday stuff? Try these:

Carnival of the Cats

Friday Ark

The next Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at The Scratching Post.

Prey

I got into reading Prey by Michael Crichton because of my favorite TV series, Lost. After a particularly riveting episode, a lot of people commented that the character was threatened by a nano swarm like that written about in Prey. I had to read the book and learn more about nano swarms. I can't say that I understood the technology behind it all although Crichton tried very hard to explain it in a way that readers would understand what was happening. What I got was: man messing around with stuff he oughtn't to be messing with creating more monsters and trouble than he's bargained for--much like Jurassic Park. Ah--and that was also a book by the same writer. Even though I didn't understand all the technology behind it, I still thought it was an excellent book. Michael Crichton knows his stuff--and he also knows the sometimes irresponsible behavior of corporations. When you make a mistake, cover it up. Keep the bad stuff a secret. Do things without thinking them through or researching them thoroughly just because you want to make a lot of money and gain a reputation. How many times has that happened before? It's scary to think that something like this could happen...but it sure could. Read it if you like thrillers!

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday

10 Things That People Do That Annoy You

1. Drop in unannounced and stay and stay and stay--even after I say I'm busy
2. Talk on cell phones while driving
3. Talk on cell phones loudly at a restaurant or movie
4. Talk constantly during a movie
5. Leave stuff lying around the room--it looks cluttered
6. Interrupt when I'm talking
7. Complain all the time
8. Come over and start talking to me when I'm trying to read or relax -- I mean strangers, people I don't know
9. Ask "how are you doing" and then proceed to convince you how much worse/better off they are than you
10. Play obnoxious music rrrrrealllly loud

Guitars

My guitar is about 35 years old. You wouldn't be able to tell it was that old if you looked at it. I've been very careful with it over the years. I used to rub it down with lemon oil to keep the wood shiny. I bought it with my own money (saved from babysitting and allowances) and I used to play it every day for hours and hours. As I got older, I played it a little less. When the kids came along, I stopped...there just wasn't time in the day. I wouldn't ever give it up or give it away even when my fingers and wrists began to ache with injuries and arthritis. I didn't care if I never played again, I love that guitar.

A few times in recent years, Heidi said she'd like to learn the guitar. I would say well, maybe I can teach you. She'd say yeah but that was about as far as it got. Not long ago, she spoke wistfully of having a guitar and I remembered how I felt when I had my guitar and was able to play it. Kristin began talking about wanting to play too. Originally, I thought I might give my guitar to Heidi but then I thought, hey, why not just get the beginning kit? You get an acoustic guitar and a few other basics. This way each girl could have her own.

It didn't quite work out that way. Those guitars aren't very big--I guess they are mostly meant for kids who want to learn. We went to the flea market not far from here and picked up two really nice acoustic guitars. My, how things have changed! There wasn't one guitar in the place with nylon strings. I hadn't seen any in the music store either. Doesn't anyone play with nylon strings anymore?

I used to tune my guitar with a pitch pipe. It's hard to describe it, a funny looking little thing with six little tubes, one to tune each string of the guitar. You blow into it and it makes a harmonica-like hmmmm sound. Then you tune the string as best you can to the sound you hear. I'd learned to tune the first string to a piano and then the others, by ear, to the 5th fret of the preceding string--except for the second one. You held down the 4th fret of the 3rd string to tune that one.

Okay, anyway, I asked the guy for a pitch pipe and he looked at me like I had six heads. I said, "You know, to tune it." Ohhh. He came up with a couple of battery operated digital (I guess) tuners. One has a suction cup that attaches to the guitar. The other one is much more sophisticated. It tunes any instrument once its calibrated. Well, I had a devil of a time trying to tune the girls' guitars with that thing. A mere fraction of a turn one way or the other and you'd have a sharp or a flat instead of a regular note. Argh! TB had to help out the first time around.

It sure brought back lots of memories. I played that guitar in all moods--whenever I felt lonely, sad or depressed and also whenever I was feeling really happy and everything in between. The songs I learned were mostly folk although there were some from the times--the early 1970s--like "Leavin On A Jet Plane" and "You've Got A Friend" and "Hey Jude".

I kept all my music over the years. Unlike the guitar, the pages of music show their age. The first song I learned to play was "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" and so that was the one I taught the girls. It had just 2 easy chords in it and I figured it was a good place to start. But I also remember how cool it felt to play music I listened to so I went online and looked for some popular songs with easier chords and found a few.

If there's a downside it's how much my hands have aged in 35 years. I have good fingers for playing the guitar, long and slim. I could play bar chords and stretch my fingers over several frets. I could pick and pluck the other strings and it sounded great to me although I know I'm no Eric Clapton. It was fun to play for myself and for my friends and family and feel the joy of making music. Now my fingers are stiff and thick and clumsy. I can't string my guitar right and it's so frustrating. I need to unstring and do it again and probably will need to have someone's help getting it started. Once I get it strung, though, I think I'll be able to play and play and the "how to" memories will all come back. I forgot how much I loved it. :)

The Bonesetter's Daughter

Amy Tan is a wonderful story teller, even when she's telling the same one. So far, each of the books I've read have been about mother-daughter conflicts and that's what drives The Bonesetter's Daughter too. Some similar themes in the books include traditional Chinese mother vs Americanized Chinese daughter and the daughter lives with or is married to a non-Chinese partner. The backstories are always different, though, and make for a fascinating read. I'm always pulled in. In this story, LuLing--the mother--recognizes that she's losing her memory and writes down everything she can remember about her life. Her daughter Ruth has been very busy with her career and her family--boyfriend and his two daughters--and has had some bumps and rough spots along the road with her mother so she hasn't been visiting often. This crisis of health brings them back together, though, and Ruth learns about her mother's life and why she behaved the way she did. I loved the story and would recommend it to anyone!

School Play

Last night, Kristin's school put on its performance of "The Music Man". TB and I were impressed with how good the production was. Everyone did a terrific job! I think he must have taken a couple hundred pictures. He was one of the few who listened and didn't use flash. It was ridiculous--after the principal said the flashes could distract the kids most of the parents ignored the request. Flashes went off all during the play.

Here are just a couple of the pictures TB took:

Kristin played one of the "Pick-a-little" ladies, the town gossips.

Pick a little, talk a little, cheep cheep cheep...

The dancing was awesome!

Everyone did a great job!