Nightcap

It's cold and rainy in Boston tonight so I took a bath. Then I thought "why not go nuts and see if we have any vanilla vodka for a tasty nightcap?" We don't have vanilla vodka but we do have half-and-half, some cheap-o brandy from the 1990s and some creme de cacao. It's Brandy Alexander time!

It tastes like lighter-fluid ice cream but it'll do.

Bonsoir IBloPoMo! Adieu!
*Smooch*

Do I Know You?

I've been running into good people in the world lately.

Today on the T two alterna-teenagers got on at the Hynes stop. Watching them through the window I could tell that they didn't know each other but I thought they'd make a good couple. One was a tall, very slim girl with stick-straight white blonde hair and cool purple velcro high tops (much like a pair I had in the '80s) The other was a tall guy with dyed red hair. The girl got on first and headed past one open seat for the seat next to me. When she got there she noticed that someone had spilled a diet Coke on the seat (they left the can there too) In the mean time the boy got on and started to go for the seat the girl had passed by. She backed up, not seeing him, to take the first seat. He noticed her backing up and with a sincerely gallant hand gesture, offered her the seat. It took two seconds but it was really sweet. They didn't ever speak to each other.

Lately I've been thinking about the really great people that I know there are in the world who I haven't met yet. I have great friends, old and new, but due to all of our travels I don't see them as much as I'd like to. My life is really fun and interesting. Sometimes I get to do really cool things. Sometimes though I wish I had an active social circle. I don't think I'm in one place long enough or at regular enough intervals to make that happen right now. Who knows what the future will bring?

With all the ugliness and with all of the horrible things that are going on in the world right now it's nice to feel optimistic about something. I am optimistic that I will be able to interact with interesting people who I like more frequently soon.

Wild Clouds

An amazing Florida sky. Yes, I took that photo myself.

I should mention that I made fish cakes on arugula beds last night for dinner. I didn't want you to think I haven't been making things lately. In fact I'm knitting a gift for someone right now. They probably don't read this blog but just in case...

Why, if I'm a vegetarian, did I eat fish? Because Marc caught it months ago and I didn't want it to have died in vain. Marc, you ichthycidal maniac!

Now I'm going to go make some vegetarian spaghetti and tomato sauce.

After Thanksgiving

Here we have a photo of Pete with some very nonchalant wild turkeys that he and Marc discovered wandering around the grounds of Brookline High School on Thanksgiving day. You heard me. Well, read me. Brookline has a fair number of trees and small parks for a rather urban area but I wouldn't have thought it could sustain a flock of wild turkeys. There they are though.

When Pete and Marc returned from their walk they made Thanksgiving dinner.

We had striped bass that Marc (or our friend Ben) caught, spinach, green beans and baked potatoes. I shouldn't say this but my favorite thing was the potato. It almost like a little ball of glue. I LOVE gluey food. What a freak.

We also had a store bought pumpkin pie.

Three More Days

I'm sorry. I probably won't even win a prize. I don't really care about that though. I just apologize for the poor content of the last few posts, including this one.

Heck, everybody's probably too busy today to even read blogs. I know I am!

So hug your families (especially if you're having a fight) and pet your pets (although I consider pets family) for me.

Now I'm going to clean off the dining room table so we can sit down at it and have a meal.

No Luck Today

So you know how I said I hoped I'd be able to post better content today? Well no dice. Sorry. My fret list is way too long.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone and safe travels if you're making any.

Happy Pie!

Return

Okay, we're back in Brookline, we've got beers and there's a formerly frozen pizza in the oven.

Fay had a great time at Ruff Life. She's full of business and not in the least bit P.O.'d that we left her there.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be in a position to write better content.

Off to glug 'n' chew...

Six Days To Go

Is IBloPoMo over yet? No? Okay, here goes:

Today Pete and I went looking for vultures to photograph. I have an "artistic vision."

Unfortunately the vultures were uncooperative today. But while we were looking for them we came across a few Great Blue Herons and one otter. I've never seen an otter before.

When we got back to the house Marnee told us the story of a friend of hers who'd had a run-in with an otter. Aparrently this woman was walking her small dog when an otter started to chase them. She scooped up her dog and started running. The otter chased her and bit her eight times while she tried to run away. Finally she wedged herself between the screen door and front door of somebody's house. For some reason at that point the otter backed off.

Otters always look so cute and playful on T.V. The one we saw today was cute and not the least bit interested in us. It was chomping loudly on a cruchy fish and lolling around on the grass. Who would think they'd go all homicidal all of a sudden?

As for my "artistic vision," I have one more day to execute it. We're going back north tomorrow afternoon. Then we'll see how Fay enjoyed her stay at Ruff Life.

One Of My Best Purchases

This is me and Marnee, my mother-in-law, in their kitchen. The pajamas I'm wearing are one of the best things I've ever bought.

I got them two summers ago when Fay was first becoming incontinent. I'd have to take her out in Brookline at three or four o'clock in the morning and I didn't want to have to put on real clothes. I didn't want to go out in obvious pajamas either - Brookline's pretty urban after all and the neighbors already think I'm odd. I think these almost look like clothes.

I also really like the colors and pattern of the top. It's goldfish and waterlilies.

Unexpected

Well, I'm in Florida. It was very sudden.

Fay started to feel better yesterday. Dr. Reuhlmann saw her at 1:00, exammined her, tested her kidneys and gave her a clean bill of health. Fay had developed a U.T.I. and Dr. R thought that maybe the antibiotics hadn't kicked in yet and Fay was feeling bad from that. So by 2:30 I had an O.K. to go to FL.

I called my mother-in-law to let her know and she said "get in the car. I'm booking you on the 6:15 flight out of Providence."

So that's what happened. I tossed everything in the car and went down to Ruff Life where I dropped Fay off. Before I knew it I was on a plane. Definitely not what I had expected to happen. It's a good thing I'd packed the day before yesterday.

The report from Ruff Life is that Fay's doing great, making doggie friends and having a really fun time. Phew!

And now all of a sudden I'm on vacation.

Bizarre.

So Far Today

I put him up there again because people seem to like having him there. He has nothing to do with this post though.

So, so far today hasn't gone all that well. it stared at 4:30 this morning when Fay scrambled off the end of the bed. We sleep on a futon so the fall wasn't far but she was definitely not feeling herself. By 6:00 we were at the vet for an emergency visit. We're back home now and I don't think it's life threatening but we still don't really know what's bothering her. It might have something to do with her bladder/kidneys.

The complication is that Pete and I were supposed to go visit his parents for early Thanksgiving today. We were going to leave here at 8 AM, drop her at Ruff Life for the weekend and catch a noon flight from Providence. Now I'm still home and Pete's gone to the airport. I should probably call and cancel my ticket come to think of it.

The fun stuff continues...

10:30 AM

Okay, the flight's cancelled. On with the story.

So I was sitting in the dog emergency waiting area at the vet where they had the news on T.V. A story came on about a fourteen year old girl who survived for four months on an artificial heart while waiting for a second heart transplant. They showed footage of her walking in a hospital hallway while attached to a panoply of medical devices and using the artificial heart. She also had a number of staff helping her and her equipment move down the hall. I almost burst into tears. God, the agony for her and her family. I didn't cry though because I didn't want to have to explain to the emergency vet that I wasn't crying about my dog. I would have been crying about my dog too, and about some other things as well but that's too long an explanation to give a stranger at six AM.

The girl is doing well now, she's received her latest heart transplant which seems to be working fine. Hopefully that will pretty much be the end of that chapter for her.

I don't know about T.V.s in hospital waiting rooms. It's hard to find programming that doesn't make the wait worse. Yesterday it was the economic wrap up in the waiting room (yes, Fay and I were at the vet yesterday too) The Dow's in the toilet, everybody's getting laid off and what's going to happen with the Automobile industry? Yesterday it made me laugh but not in a good way - and it didn't make the wait any better.

Short 'n' Cranky

Ah, the fun that was today!

Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Probably not though. It wasn't interesting, just stressful.

There you go IBloPoMo.