Lu Na Cee (or Lu Na for short) is my little cat. She failed two homes before I brought her to my home. She nearly failed my home as well. My older cat, Mew Ling, had a very hard time adjusting to her. I gave it a year…things were much better after that year transpired, but now that I’ve had her for a year and a half, things are actually mostly good. Mew will even play with Lu Na…and Lu Na doesn’t ride her like a circus pony very often any more! :-)
She’s a Russian Blue mix of some sort, as best as I can figure. She’s too curious for her own good. She’s crazy playful. She is wholly devoted to me and follows me everywhere…she cannot stand to have a closed door between me and her and will whine and scratch if there is one. Despite liking unfettered access to me, she’s not a lap cat, and she’s not very snuggly. But she’s adorable. And she’s always in trouble.
Today was not a very good day for poor little Lu Na. My brother and his four kids spent the night last night and we had a marathon of watching “Dollhouse”. Super good, but not the subject of this post! Avie, his youngest, swore that she’d been hearing Lu Na crying and that she couldn’t find her. We looked all over the house, but I couldn’t find her either. Sometimes she hides pretty well, so I wasn’t worried. But about an hour later and Lu Na still hadn’t shown up, despite my calling for her. With all those people in the house, and the TV on, and a loud fan on, I barely heard a faint kitty cry. Yes, that WAS Lu Na that Avie had heard, and the search began. Where the HECK was the cat???? We narrowed the search to the kitchen area. It definitely sounded like she was in the garage. I opened the garage and called her, and every time I called her I heard her cry, but she didn’t come. Was she in the kitchen? Where??? I opened all the cabinets, but she didn’t appear. It sounded like she was in the cabinet over the fridge, but even though her cry got louder when I got up there and opened the door, she didn’t appear…
Seriously???? Was it possible?????? Was she BEHIND the fridge???? The built-in fridge???? It sure sounded like it. I will admit. I sort of panicked. There wasn’t a whole lot of space behind the fridge. Maybe 3 inches. I got my niece Alaska to help me and we pulled the fridge out from it’s cabinet…and sure enough, there was my poor dusty kitty…with her claw stuck in the screening on the back of the fridge. At least while stuck she was able to sit on the ground. Could have been a lot worse. Poor little thing. Just how long had she been stuck back there? :-(
She’d gotten up on to the top of the fridge before:
but I never imagined she could fall down that little crack in the back. She’s little, but that’s a very tight fit. I hope she has learned her lesson…at least on this front.
However, the ribbon from a helium balloon Avie brought over is missing…and just about 15 minutes ago I heard one of my cats barfing…it was Lu Na…and she barfed up a 2 inch length of green curling ribbon…I sure hope the other five feet of it aren’t still in her…that could make this THNGVBD stretch into tomorrow…
Got my Flickr mess worked out, sort of. I am still logging on using the e-mail address I was trying to get rid of, but at least I can access my account once again! Flickr never got back to me to help with the problem, so I decided in needed to be brave and try to fix it myself. I was nervous the entire time trying to fix the problem because I was fearful that I would do something that could never be undone, BUT, I didn’t, and for that I am soooo relieved! So, in that it is FRIDAY, it’s time to get back to Photo Friday!!
Today’s topic is “Facial Expressions”. I thought I’d try to get a picture of my new kitten, Lu Na Cee. In that she has the chemical properties of quicksilver, this is a more difficult proposition than you’d imagine. She’s slippery and fast and allllll over the place! My other cat, Mew Ling, is used to me putting the camera in her face. Lu Na? Not so much! Every time I’d get close to her, she thought I was wanting to play. And the camera cord was a delightful dangly for her to leap for. Even after I hid it in my hand, she still KNEW it was there. And then there’s the whole “why don’t cat expressions get picked up in pictures?” issue. I call this one “Huh?”.
Please leave your Linky link if you’re playing! If you’re not, why not?, and please go and visit the sites of the other players and check out what they’ve posted today! Drop ‘em a comment!
Don’t know if Mew Ling will decide if she can stay, or not.
And as if trying to safely integrate a new kitten into a well-established one cat home isn’t nutso enough…
1) I can’t get my wireless router to work so I am tethered to my internet provider by an ethernet cable
AND
2) I tried to change the e-mail address for my Flickr account, and now I can’t get into my Flickr account (hence no Photo Friday today) and I have NO idea how to fix that and so far tech support has only sent me canned responses which have helped naught
AND
3) Although I recently backed up my old computer onto an external hard drive before the old computer became unusable, when I transferred the files onto my new computer, a vast number of the files were not there! So, I need to now get the old computer fixed (including buying a new battery charger) in order to retrieve my files. Technology is sooooo not my friend right now!
Now, if Mew Ling decides the kitten can stay (and this kitten is lobbying hard for that to happen!) and if I can fix my Flickr issues, one of these days I’ll share a picture of Abby with you. (No, I didn’t name her that. She had the name already and she’s knows her name, and even though I don’t like the name I’m not sure renaming her at three months is a good idea…but then, I’m not sure bringing her home was a good idea either!)
Case in point, Abby just decided she had to pounce on Mew Ling and she got a big swat of huge Mew paw in response along with a hiss, spit, howl and growl of punishment.
I’d like to welcome you to my home! This was it this past summer in Malawi. Some nights I almost couldn’t wait to crawl inside it and curl up on my air mattress and soak in the night sounds. In Zambia two years it ago, it was soooo cold at night that I dreaded “lights out”. This year, despite being the neighbor to the east of Zambia, the Malawi nights were relatively warm. Perhaps this was due to the proximity to Lake Malawi?
Despite its relatively small size, I was still able to often lose fairly important articles inside of it. I lost my toothbrush once for almost a week. You can’t just run down to the store to buy a new one, ya know? I finally had the time to tear everything apart and find it, but by then the brush and interior of the case had mildewed. Pretty gross. So, what do you do? You pop it into a pot of boiling hot water! Good as new…almost. (ew)
Even though I was very comfortable at night I often did not sleep much. If I got five hours of sleep I felt pretty lucky (this from a 9 or 10 hour a night sleeper). Since I didn’t have much time to myself during the days, I decided to embrace my sleeplessness and enjoy the nighttime “solitude” in my little home. I would spend the hours thinking, remembering, planning, and praying. It’s funny where one’s brain goes when one is lying awake on top of an air mattress and sleeping bag listening to the distant waves of a lake on the shore with the bright African moon illumunating brightly when one is in the uttermost part of the earth…I’d get flight of ideas and wonder…
…how well would I be sleeping if my cat was here with me…(and then I’d miss her)…
…will anyone puke tonight?…(and I’d pray not)…
…are the dogs in my “kitchen” again?…(and if they are, did I prepare well enough so they couldn’t rob me?)…
…are those REALLY waves I’m hearing?…
…if he has Aspberger’s…(or what?)…
…when the propane tank is going to run out, again…
…why the dusk malaria mosquitos are so small and the dawn dengue mosquitos SO HUGE…
…how much more food can I buy with the money I have left “in the food account”… and will there be anything more than sugar, tomatos, yams, oil, and eggs to be bought next time?…
…how it is possible that it’s going to be three years already since Connie died…(and then I’d miss her, too)
I would pray for whatever and whoever showed up in my mind and eventually I would drift off to sleep. Occasionally I would dream. But every morning, when I unzipped my tent and crawled out, I was met with the most brilliant skies reflecting off the lake and I’d forget how tired I was and I’d wrap myself in the beauty and wildness of it all. And I’d wonder what I ever did to deserve this amazing life God had given to me…
Today (or maybe tomorrow, I’m not exactly sure!) my sister Whitney and her son Mitchell have packed up her truck and a U-Haul and will be heading out for Colorado to start their new life.
And my brother Phil has packed up his Suburban with his four kids and my sister Liz’ two kids and has hitched that U-Haul up and is heading out to take Whitney and Mitchell to Colorado.
There’s a little part of me that feels bad that I miss so much of my family’s “happenings” because of my involvement with Teen Missions over the years. Like I have missed nine of my mother’s birthdays, for example. And I’ll miss having nearly all my family together in Colorado this summer while I’m gone. BUT, sometime very late this evening my team will be leaving Boot Camp for Malawi, and what a blessing God has given me to be able to spend the summer with a group of teenagers who have given their summers up in order to minister to African children. I’m glad that my family understands that I miss things not because I want to, but because the Lord has called me to do something else.
Whitney and her son are going to take over taking care of Mew Ling from my Dad when they get to Colorado. I’m sure my Dad will be glad about that!
Please pray for my team as we “pack-out”, and embark on our 8,200 mile journey from Orlando to Lilongwe (Malawi), and beyond. Please pray that all of us, and all of our luggage, arrive safely.
You can’t even imagine how excited we all are to get to Malawi and get to work…
Did the short four miles of the Waldo Canyon hike with Vickie this morning…it was too icy to do the top 3 1/2 mile loop though. When we started this hiking thing I could barely make it up the three “flights” of steps at the trailhead and had to stop multiple times during the hike. Today there was no stopping. We do that part of the hike in just about an hour. We could have run and done it faster today, but the air was bitingly cold and it hurt too much for that. Anyhow, it’s amazing how much better my stamina is after just a couple of months of hiking once a week.
When I got home I tried to go on the internet but couldn’t make a connection. I rebooted. Reset the modem. Reset the wireless router, etc. I did note that the icon for my router which generally resides in the bottom bar of my screen was absent. Odd. So I fiddled with this and that, tried to fix it while I was on hold with Comcast to find out if there was a provider issue involved. While I waited I found a link on my computer which, when I opened it, showed that my wireless system was turned off on my computer. I clicked it to turn it on right when I got a live person and my internet was restored. I’m pretty sure the Comcast person who got my call thought I was a nutbar.
How do you suppose it got turned off in the first place? I have NO idea other than maybe my cat Mew Ling walked on my computer during the night and turned it off somehow. She’s a sneaky snake that one! She always does the most creative things when she takes a stroll on my keyboard! I learn such interesting things when I am fixing her computer work.
Mew Ling has ‘em. I like it when she gets the winter snuggles. In warmer weather she sleeps on her rug at the foot of my bed. When it gets colder, she curls up really close to me under my right arm.
She also finds her way onto my lap when the house is chilly. She’s not really a lap cat. She likes to be somewhere close to me, but not generally on me. She’s much more lappy in the winter.
And she has her chair by the fireplace that she snuggles into when I have a fire lit. There’s something so comforting and homey about a cat by the fire. When the fire is burning down for the night, she moves in very close on the hearth and sits right up next to the screen with her eyes closed looking so contented. I wonder what she’s thinking when she’s sitting there just soaking up the last bit of heat. I bet she’s wondering what she did to deserve such a great life.
Home again. Home again! I have spent much time away from home since moving to Colorado. This latest trip took me to Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Wyoming. And Mexico! Almost forgot Mexico. I was gone for three weeks. This trip was a driving trip. It ended up being MUCH more driving than I had planned at the beginning. The final tally? Four thousand four hundred and fifty eight miles driven! Yikes. I haven’t even bothered to add up all the tanks of gas I bought. I am only hoping that the trip falls into two different credit card billing cycles, and doesn’t all show up on one bill! I am going to have to do some serious carbon footprint penance for this little vacay of mine!
Highlights? Driving Utah’s Highway 128 (post on that to follow) on the way to Arches National Park. Spending 9/17 with Phil sharing memories, stories, Dom Perigon and Creme Broulee. My family’s meeting about and decision to start our own ministry to work alongside “Connie’s Heart” in Africa. (Much more on this as things develop). Seeing Janet, Shawn, Susie, Abner, and Koni. Sharing a stateroom with my sister Liz on her birthday cruise to Mexico (and winning the onboard “Pictionary” competition with all three of my sisters). Taking my four nieces and nephews (Phil’s kids) for haircuts. Having lunch with Liz and her son Louis. Shopping for Donna’s jewelry store in L.A.’s jewelry district. There were others, too. But I need to post my “I am home” post before I leave again!
(Lowlights? Sure. Had some of those, too. But we won’t talk about those here and now!)
Watched a couple of movies. I forced myself to watch “An Inconvenient Truth”. It was my latest Netflix offering. I dragged it to Cali specifically to watch with my friend, Shawn. I had started to watch it a number of times prior to watching it with her, but failed as it was sooooo bad. So we watched it together and lamented that a movie so poorly made and sophomoric was awarded an Oscar. I have lost whatever shred of respect I had for the academy. I’ve seen better films made by junior highers on YouTube. I also tried to watch “Spiderman 3″ while on the cruise to Mexico, but fell asleep each time. I have added it to my Netflix queue so that I can see the ending. I need to find out if Peter lost Aunt Mae’s wedding ring!
I ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant, La Capilla. I also dined at some of my fave joints that don’t have franchises here in Colorado. Like “Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf” (a Starbuck’s competitor which is far superior), Togo’s (a Subway competitor which is FAR superior), El Pollo Loco (a char chicken joint), and In ‘N’ Out (by far best burger in the known universe AND a mean pink lemonade to boot!).
I got home yesterday afternoon after spending most of the three day time span before getting home in the front seat of my car either driving or sleeping. I worked today. I’m wiped out. I’m glad to be home, but could have spent weeks longer seeing friends. I really wanted to try to see Yosemite and Yellowstone, but that will have to be another trip. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to wrangle a trip to Washington for a wedding the first week of November and then a Chicago trip for Thanksgiving later that month.
Thanks to Mike and Brandy for taking such good care of my Mew! She was spoiled rotten, but I think she’s glad I’m home. Not a lap cat, she has spent much time there since I got home.
Thanks Whitney and Mitchell for sharing their space with me and for putting up with all my junk in their room.
Thanks to Phil for his friendship and love. Phil…I’m prenvious of you!
(Why do you suppose some of my emoticons are turned into animated faces, and some are left as punctuation?)
I know, I know, I’m overly attached to my cat. Be that as it may, the fact is, she’s awesome. My Mom is in town this weekend for Mother’s Day. So that I could spend more time with her, I spent the weekend at my sister’s house where my mom was staying. So that the time there could be maximized without my having to keep running back to my house to take care of Mew Ling, Mew Ling was also invited to stay the weekend! So, on Friday we packed up and drove out (about 35 minutes) to my sister’s house.
Traveling with a cat is like traveling with a kid when it comes to all the accouterments (that actually is a correct alternative spelling to accoutrements) that have to go. Cat bed…check. Litter box…check. Cat food and treats…check. Bowls for food and water…check. Scratching post..check. Grazing grass…check. Cat in carrier…check. I got her all set up and settled in and by the evening she was ready to come out of “our” room to join the festivities. She had already had dinner and used the cat box! She was a great house guest, if I do say so myself. She slept on the bed with me. She used her box all weekend. She followed me around like a dog, came when I called, and stayed off the counters and tables once she learned that they were a “no no” just like at our house! And even though she refuses to drink water from a bowl at home (preferring to drink from the toilet as she was taught by Fritz) she drank from the bowl I set out for her! Good kitty! I guess I’ll be much more ready to travel with her and take her to other people’s houses (if she’s welcomed) without worrying that she won’t behave herself (or that she’ll get dehydrated!)!
Sooooo, feel free to invite the two of us to visit! We’d love to see you!
And I hope all the mothers who read my blog had a very happy mother’s day. My Mom doesn’t know how to use a computer, so I know she’s not reading…It’s a good thing I was able to wish her a happy one in person! We had a very nice weekend, including a really lovely luncheon that Diane put on for lots of mothers and daughters in her circle of friends (and a couple in mine) on Saturday. AND a another great church service. (Check out the 5/13/07 sermon using the WVC Online link on my blogroll…)
It pretty much started Tuesday morning with a phone call from Joanne. Scott had his first appointment with his new oncologist in Denver and I planned on attending with them. I’d been watching a morning show and there was a news crawler at the bottom warning against severe thunderstorms in the eastern plains. “Cool”, I thought. Diane should be getting a great show out where she lives today. Joanne was calling to find out if I still wanted to go with them even though the weather was bad. I peeked out the window and it was overcast but that was about it. Thinking, “I can handle a severe thunderstorm or two” I said “sure, of COURSE I still want to go!”.
I got in my car and started to drive to Scott and Joanne’s. Not far from my house it started to graupel. About halfway there (hmmm, less than five miles from my house) the snow started to come down. It was coming down heavy as I neared their house and there was already many inches of accumulation of very soggy snow. It was wet and sticky and clung to everything – signs, poles, whatever it came up against. What a mess. But now I knew what Joanne was talking about! Less than ten miles away and they were in the middle of a very wintery storm. But this was a very important “time is of the essence” sort of appointment, and we couldn’t be deterred by a little weather, now could we?
We started the climb up I-25 into Monument Pass. It was really dumping snow by then. I feared that many of these trees would lose branches, or come down completely under the sheer weight of all this soggy snow!
At times almost zero-visibility. On the other side of the freeway traffic had stopped. Miles and miles of south-bound traffic going absolutely nowhere. Hope nobody needs a restroom.
We were able to proceed with caution. We made it through the pass, albeit slowly, speeding up when the visibility occasionally improved. Once we got through the pass, the snow abated and turned mostly into rain and sleet. And we arrived at the appointment with time to spare. Such adventure! It tends to find you when you least expect it!
The oncologist’s office shares a waiting room with the surgeon’s office. We walked in and immediately headed for the same spot we’d sat in before. Why is that? Is there some measure of comfort in having a “usual seat”? Dunno! As we sat, Joanne started the daunting process of filling out the 217 pages of required forms and releases. Way across the room one of the staff called “John….John…John…” and looked about the room. For some reason she then headed all the way across the room towards us. “I’m not John”, Scott said. And then he said his name. “Mr. Cuddles?” the staff member queried? We all laughed. While it’s similar in part to his name, and while I’m sure he IS cuddly, it just sounded so funny! Mr. Cuddles. And Mrs. Cuddles, apparently(!), filling out forms!
Rewind. In his last appointment with his surgeon Scott was given some options in regards to follow-up treatment. The option which seemed to offer Scott the best chances was also the one which is very rigorous and difficult to complete. And it was a clinical trial. A clinical trial in Houston. And it was months (6-8) long. The thought of temporarily relocating to Houston wasn’t a good one, but if that was where the best treatment was, that seemed to be the way to go. Houston.
But then the oncologist started to delinate options. The first option, do nothing, wasn’t where Scott and Joanne felt that God was leading. On to the second. As she started talking, we all started to look at each other. This option sounded EXACTLY like the Houston clinical trial! Scott pulled out the paper on the trial and showed it to the doctor to confirm that we were hearing correctly. Yes. It’s the same thing. Only it’s not a clinical trial where she practices. And not very many people are offered this option. Dr. Kane wants anyone who goes on this regimen to be young, and other than having pancreatic cancer, to be healthy! She was offering him the identical treatment that he would have gotten in Houston, only he could stay at home. What a blessing. He will be able to stay in his own house, in the middle of his support system, and near his beloved trees and front-range. “Why,” Scott wondered out loud to the oncologist “did the surgeon not know you have the same regimen available here?”. Her answer was that it was probably because she offered it to so few people.
And so, there is a plan now. Scott will hopefully start his chemo and radiation regimen in two weeks. He has to have a PET scan and have a long-term vascular access device (port) placed through which he will received his chemo, and he has to see the radiation oncologist so that she can create a treatment plan. And then he can start. Selfish note: I am glad that I will be able to be here for the first few weeks of his treatment.
Appointment completed and spirits much lifted we head out to the car. It’s raining fairly heavily so we dash into the car hoping to get back home before the I-25 is closed due to icing in the colder temperatures later in the day. Turn the key. Click click click. Yup. Dead battery. I run back into the medical center to see if there’s anyone who can jump us. As it turns out, it happens often enough that it is a service that security offers! I dash back to the car to let S&J know that security will be coming shortly and I find that Joanne has been on the phone listening to road closures. And every possible route back home is closed. Snowed in! Or I guess it would be “snowed out”!
Time to find a hotel room before every other stranded passenger snap them all up! The first hotel we stopped at was full already. The staff at that hotel graciously called three other hotels before finding an available room for us. Excellent. We at least didn’t have to sleep in the car. Time for a coffee or a latte. Barnes and Noble has Starbucks inside. Hot Chai Latte in hand, I decided to buy a book to read that night. Abner had recommended two books by the same author to me. “Velvet Elvis” and “Sex God” by Rob Bell. I picked up a copy of “Sex God”. Abner says “I don’t read Mama Lou, and I read these books almost without stopping!”. We had both greatly enjoyed “Blue Like Jazz” and Abner said if I like that, I surely like these. Rob Bell is a Christian, an author, a speaker, a film-maker, and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan. This book is a frank look at sexuality and Christianity and how we are sexual creatures and how that sexuality plays into all aspects of our lives. I am sure I will posting on this book in the near future.
With the acquisition of comfort beverages taken care of, it was off to shop at CostCo. Do you shop at CostCo? Does it give you palpitations? It sure does give them to me. I go in there and feel a sudden need to purchase a 500 pound bag of rice and a case of 8 gallon bottles of extra virgin olive oil. And it’s sort of hard to just walk past the bag of a hundred shiny red Baby Bel cheese wheels in a net bag. Well, it is for me. Pallet of Splenda anyone???
Poor Mew Ling. I had fed her breakfast. And she wasn’t going to eat again until I got home, whenever that would be. A quick call to my sister and I find that she is in the middle of a blizzard! White out. (I didn’t even ask if going to my house to feed my precious was EVEN a possibility…I knew it was not.) She wouldn’t starve. But she would be lonely (or I would be, for her, anyway).
We slogged back to the car with our CostCo purchases. Among other items, Scott and Joanne bought a twin-pack of memory foam pillows. Scott had tried a couple of styles of the pillow while in CostCo by laying down on pallets first and then on a cushioned deck chair. He wasn’t sure if he liked them or not. Heck! We have to spend the night nearby. Why not buy them, try them at the hotel, and return them if they didn’t like them! Such a plan! So, we slogged through the increasing slushy precipitation back to the car with the pillows and our other purchases and headed off for a nice dinner.
Which we had at J. Alexanders. Yum. It continued to snow. An hour from home and we are stuck. Go figure! We checked into the hotel, got toothbrushes and toothpaste from the front desk, and fell into bed, in our clothes. Haven’t slept in my clothes since Africa! We got a free movie. “Rocky Balboa”. Sly looked weird in it, but I enjoyed all the harkenings back to the original ”Rocky”. I watched some, fell asleep, woke up, watched some, fell asleep woke up, watched some, and fell asleep. I guess I missed more than half the movie. But I don’t think I’ll rent it. I hear it ends in a tie.
When we woke up yesterday morning, the sun was shining and the roads were clear. I-25 was open. Other than some accumulated snow, it was as though yesterday never even happened! We were good to go. When I woke up Scott had already brought breakfast up from downstairs. Thanks Mr. Cuddles! So we ate. And rested some more. And then headed out. Back to CostCo! The pillows didn’t end up exciting them! So those were returned and a few more items were purchased. One more stop at Starbuck’s for comfort beverages and we were on the road. The pass was still very snowy, but the road was clear. And most of snow which had burdened the trees to what looked like their breaking point had already melted.
Almost the same trees, not quite a day later. What a difference a day makes!
There was quite a bit of snow at Scott and Joanne’s still, but as I neared my own home, it appeared that it hadn’t even snowed! So odd. So very odd. I spoke with my sister last night, and she still had 3-4 foot drifts up against her house. I talked with a neighbor today who told me “we had a few flakes of snow here, but that’s it”.
And Mew? Let’s just say she told me all about it when I got home…
All this snow on Tuesday. More maybe tomorrow. And come Sunday? It’s supposed to be in the 80′s. Weird place for weather this Colorado place. Weird weird weird. It’ll probably snow in May, too!
Doncha just love how adventure finds you when you least expect it?
This was my plan … go on a three or four week road trip this summer with my cat, Mew Ling. I really am loathe to leave her and I wanted to see some of the sights that America has to offer (Yellowstone, Glacier Park, the Badlands) and maybe some of what Canada has to offer (Lake Louise). I still have three states on the lower 48 that I haven’t been to, and wanted to tick them off the list. They are Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota. The places I wanted to see this summer, just happen to be in those states! Imagine that! I figured Mew could just come with me. She does fine in the car. She does fine in hotels. She can be on a leash. It was going to be great! And she was VERY much looking forward to it!
But this morning my phone rang. It was Betty from Teen Missions. She was calling to ask me to lead another Teen Missions team this summer. All of the sudden my world and future again look completely different. That seems to be happening to me a lot in the past few years. And that’s fine with me. Keeps me on my toes, really.
Yeah, I’m going to go. Now all I have to do is decide where the “right” place is.
Sicily? Trinidad? Jamaica? Or back to Zambia?
She wants to know tomorrow! Yikes! If you remember, last year my team assignment was changed a number of times. I imagine that regardless of whatever team I choose, I could very well end up somewhere else again! Which would be just fine with me. Worked out great last summer!
Wow. I can’t believe I had to pull out the old “Gettin’ Ready for TMI” category! I mean, I CAN, but you know what I mean! I haven’t even finished processing and writing about all of my amazing and miraculous experiences from last summer and here I am thinking about all the things I need to do to get ready to go again!
Oh, and I asked if they had a single guy that they were putting on as the head leader with me, and Betty said “No. We don’t. Do you know anyone that would be a good leader and would want to go?”.
Maybe I can talk one of my brothers into going with me…
Just nicely home from my latest trip. Some weeks ago my dad asked if I’d come to Oregon to help celebrate my Great Aunt Enyd’s 90th birthday. I’d never met this great aunt and thought it was a good time to do so! I figured I’d fly out there for that and then spend a week down in the Los Angeles area to see family and friends. I flew out of Denver and into Portland last Friday. My dad drove up from Los Angeles for the party and met me at the airport. And the whirlwind of activity ensued!
We headed out to Vancouver, Washington to pick up my niece, Natalie, who was to spend the rest of the day and evening with us. I took my Dad and Natalie over to friends’ house in West Linn, Oregon. I was to meet up with all of them later for dinner. I headed out to another Portland suburb. A friend of mine where I live has a sister who lives in Tigard. Their mother was visiting from California and they invited me to come over since I was in town. Lovely folks! The time was too short before I was off to West Linn again to meet everyone for dinner. I drove my niece home after dinner and she cajoled me into stopping at a dive bar near her home for a drink and some pool. Since Natalie is smart, funny, articulate, and well-read, I was delighted to do so! Besides…how often does a 22 year old niece beg her old lady aunt to hang out with her? You gotta grab those chances, don’t ya?!!
Early the next morning my dad and I were off for Grant’s Pass for the party. My aunt Enyd is 90, but sheesh, is she ever spry and mentally sharp! She is an artist and has a large studio filled with her various works. She tells me that being an artist is a disease and tells me to stay away from it! I stopped doing my art back in the late 80′s and have been considering taking it up again. I’m having second thoughts after her admonishment! We went to a wonderful riverside restaurant for dinner meeting up with many of my aunt’s friends and a number of relatives that I also had never met. AND my favorite cousin on that side of my family (everyone knows he is my fave, so I can tell you that) and his very fun wife were there from out of town as well. I hadn’t expected to see them, so that was a wonderful surprise. That was Saturday. My dad and I spent the night at Enyd’s adorable little cottage in the woods.
We were up at six the next day (not counting the time change) and on the road headed for California not too long after that. We drove past Mount Shasta as the sun was rising. Quite an impressive and beautiful sight. We stopped at a Lumberjack themed restaurant (“where the big boys eat”) for breakfast where I had one of the best omelettes I’ve ever had in my whole life. About halfway home we stopped at “Casa de Fruta” off the five freeway where we picked up some dried apricots, cashews, artichokes, and avocados. The rest of the drive down to my brother’s was filled with flowering trees of all varieties and with spring bursting forth all along the freeway. What an amzaing valley of plenty! We made it to my brother’s house just after dark on Sunday. I missed Amazing Race. As it turns out, it was an important episode to have missed!
Monday came early! Phil (my brother) doesn’t work on Mondays. We decided to incorporate geocaching into his kids’ school curriculum and have a field trip for school. We went out (with Mitchell, too!) to find a number of caches placed by a friend of mine and his four children. By reading what people wrote who had found these caches in the past, I could tell that they were clever ones. They didn’t disappoint! We did find all three of them. Each of them was very different! To celebrate our geocaching success we went out to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, La Capilla. After lunch I went out and ran a few errands to buy things I can’t get where I live (like Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee extract, and Paul Mitchell’s Heat Seal). Well, I was pooped and went to bed early. I put in “The Man From Snowy River” and was asleep before Jim Craig got to gentle either Old Regret’s last foal or the rancher’s daughter. This was Monday
And was up early the next day. I had brought all my tax stuff with me from home and spent many hours organizing receipts and paperwork and filling out the form from my tax man. I was off in the early afternoon to drop all the tax stuff off to have my taxes done and then on to Pasadena to visit friends of mine. Mike was one of “my kids” from my 1985 Teen Missions team. He’s married and has six kids now. And he recently moved to Pasadena from Oregon to work at the US Center For World Missions. They are doing amazing things worldwide through that center, by the way. Had a GREAT visit with him and his wife and didn’t get home until well after midnight. This was Tuesday.
And I was up early the next day. I packed a backpack and headed out to Ridgecrest to visit my friend Donna. Got to her house around noon. Delivered a package for a lady who lives where I do. (Her daughter lives in Ridgecrest just a couple of miles from Donna!) Donna recently followed her dream and started a jewelry business. So we went to check out her new space! The store should be opening in the next month or so! Very exciting! In the evening we went over to her sister’s house and spent some time visiting with her parents who are out visiting from Michigan! Good timing! I hadn’t seen them in years and it was a good time of catching up. We all went out for some pretty awesome Chinese food. This was Wednesday. Got to watch LOST and was asleep the moment it ended (a great episode!!! Who knew Claire would turn out to be Jack’s sister????!!!!).
And I was up early the next day. Spent a few more hours with Donna (it’s never long enough no matter how much time I have) and was back on the road by noon. I had to be back at Phil’s by 4:00 as ABNER was coming up to visit! Woo Hoo! Had about an hour to kill once I got to Phil’s so I went to the “greenbelt” to play Frisbee with Jon, Avalon, and Mitchell. It was a very long hour waiting to see Abner. Mitchell begged to go with Abner and I and we headed out to the Redondo Beach Pier. We walked along the pier and chatted, getting caught up from the months that have passed since we said good-bye at the Lusaka International Airport last August. Mitchell had fun. He talked a fisherman into letting him hold his fish and the fisherman let him throw a sanddab back in the ocean. Mitchell didn’t hesitate to touch those fish! I had to stop him when I saw him heading for the fish the fisherman planned on keeping! He would have thrown them ALL back in the ocean if he could have! While at the pier, Mitchell talked us into going down to the “fun place”, an old fashioned arcade. We bought tickets to the “Tilt-O-Whirl”. I have NEVER had any problems with rollercoasters and the like, but this little arcade ride nearly brought me to my knees! I didn’t barf, but could have! Back to Phil’s for dinner with the family and then off to Irvine to meet up with brother Low at his church, Mariner’s, for his singles group meeting. Low was the emcee (M.C.) and it was fun to see him in action. Abner headed back to San Diego from there (sad day) and Low drove me back up to Phil’s. We sat around yakking until late. Then off to bed to fall asleep three minutes into “Pirate’s of the Carribbean II”. That was Thursday. Thought I missed “Survivor”. Was glad to realize that it’s March Madness and I missed NOTHING!
Friday. I had awakened Thursday morning with a bad case of bronchitis. I coughed most of the night. And I had a lot on my mind. The combination of the two made for a nearly sleepless night. My brother had also come down with a respiratory thing and so we loaded up on NyQuil. I hope it helped, because I don’t think I could’ve coughed more than I did! I can’t imagine coughing any more than I did that night. I had plans with my friend Darren and his kids (the ones who placed the really cool geocaches) for Friday afternoon. We had talked of going geocaching and I had invited Jon to come with us. What we ended up doing though, was going out to Disneyland! I don’t know where those kids got the energy, but we closed the place down. And then we tried to break into a car that looked just like Darren’s! We eventually found his car and Jon and I were home by 1:30. That was Friday.
AND I was up early on Saturday. Mitchell had a tee-ball game! HOW STINKING CUTE WAS THAT???? VERRRRRY! He’s on the Dodgers. He seems to really enjoy himself and he sure is enjoyable to watch! After the game, Whitney and I went shopping for a BBQ. My friend Mike from Pasadena and his wife and their six kids were joining us for lunch/dinner. Mike’s six kids, Phil’s four, Whitney’s one, and a friend of Alaska’s….that’s 12 kids under sixteen. Holy moley. They all really enjoyed meeting each other and playing this game and that game. At dusk they headed out to the back yard to play Mafia (we used to call it Murder, or Killer, but it’s that game where you wink to “kill” people). We didn’t hear from them for hours. We started a fire in the firepit and made S’Mores to close out the evening. I think they’ll all be getting together again soon. And that was Saturday.
AND I was up early on Sunday. I headed out for Orange County. I was on the road at 7:30 to meet up with my Dad to go to church with him. He goes to Rick Warren’s Church (Saddleback). Rick Warren is the guy who wrote “Purpose Driven Life“. I got lucky. Rick doesn’t preach there but once or maybe twice a month, but he was preaching that day. It was a really good message on Pride and Humility. After church we headed over to my sister Liz’ family’s house. She made us a light breakfast. It was nice to get all caught up with Liz. I was surprised by her daughter Jesse’s interest in just hanging out with us. She is growing up to be quite a lovely young lady and I very much enjoyed her company and what she brought to the conversation. Smart AND funny AND beautiful! (But of course she is!) Later in the day we ate another one of Liz’ stellar meals. She’s an awesome cook. The roast that she and Toby rotisseried was, well, one of the most delectable bits of meat I’ve ever eaten. Ever. Dad and I stayed there until early evening (Low had joined us but had to leave for a wedding a couple of hours earlier) enjoying the time with Liz and her family and with one of Liz’ best friends and her two sons. We headed back to Dad’s where I hopped in my Mom’s car and headed an hour back up north.
I was back at Phil’s on Sunday night in time to watch Amazing Race. A few minutes into it and I realized that my favorite team was nowhere to be seen. The episode I missed last week? Wellll, it turns out that Rob and Amber were the ones to be eliminated. I was sad!!!! I wanted them to win. Now I need to find that episode and see just how they were taken out!
AND I WAS UP EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING. I don’t really like getting up early. Can you tell? Well, that big new AirBus plane was flying in to LAX yesterday morning. And my flight was scheduled to leave at 10:50. I had to get to the airport early just in case there was alot of extra traffic and media and such. There wasn’t. And I ALMOST got to see the plane land. Word was it was to come in at about 9:30 and would land visible from the windows in the terminal I was in! Cool. Soooo, I am going through security. Lines aren’t too long, things are moving fast. I figure I’ll be in the terminal and by a window with plenty of time. Til the guy in front of me has to have his bag rescreened. I wait. The bag is rescreened. Took them pretty long to do it. I go through the metal detector and wait for my bags. They have to rescreen one of mine. Takes them a long time to do it. Then they bring the back over to me and tell me they need to look in it. No problem. But the plane lands while they do so. The thing that they were concerned about? A bunch of coins in my wallet. Didn’t get to see the plane land. Didn’t get to see the plane at all.
That was yesterday. And now I’m home. And boy is Mew Ling glad about that. You should have heard her when I opened the front door. You’d have thought I’d been gone for a year. I’m glad to be home too.
(I was up early again this morning. But that is not MY story to tell! Tomorrow? I sleep until I wake up.)
Another Feline Friday entry. Some cats are photogenic. I swear my cat doesn’t particularly like having her picture taken, but that might be me putting my own dislike of having MY picture taken onto her! Wow. Transference AND anthropomorphism, all at the same time!
The other day I decided to try to capture close ups of her eyes. I cannot believe she let me stick my camera close enough up to her face to take these macro shots! I love the glint in her left eye from the table lamp behind me. I think her eyes look more like those of a raptor, not a cat. The top picture is Mew’s left eye, the bottom is her right.
This is my first Feline Friday entry. Feline Fridays is the brainchild of Steven of http://sepintx.blogspot.com/.
I think this is how it works: Steven posts a Feline Friday blog entry (his cat is Pickle) and in the following week, the other players post an entry of their cat, and Steven does a follow-up entry linking to all the entries for the week.
If you know me, you know how stupid I am for my cats (not a cat lover as a general rule, though!). My first cat was Conrad Cornelius O’Donnell O’Dell Grieves Norris, Esq. His mom was Gentle Mary Grieves. Gentle was NOT gentle. She was a feral manx that my sister adopted. Once, when she got scared by a knock on the front door, she clawed her way up my body, leaving long tears in my leg, and ended up on the top of the living room curtains. But she was mean, even when she hadn’t been spooked. But Conrad (Connie for short), was a lover. More on him in another entry.
Fritz was my next cat. Just Fritz, no big long name. He was a tuxedo cat and half Maine Coone. He was a one person cat. Though I had him for ages, some of my friends never saw him except in photos. He took off and hid whenever people were over. I adored Fritz. He was nearly 20 pounds when he was in his prime, with long white and black fur. His face was all black except for a little white moustache, out of which sprouted the longest whiskers you’d ever seen. When he was about 15, I started to stress out about his dying, and my not having anyone to meet me when I came home. I thought that if I waited until he died to get another cat that I might not ever get another cat. But I was worried that if I brought a strange cat into the house, he might kill it. True!
But as fate, or luck, or divine intervention, might have it, a strange peach colored pregnant cat made friends with my brother (who doesn’t like cats). She moved in. And she gave birth to a small litter of dilute calico kittens under his and his wife’s bed. I decided to take one of these kittens home and see how Fritz would handle it. I didn’t particularly care for ‘who would become Mew Ling’ when I first met her. She was yowly and bratty. She did do something that endeared her to me though. I would kneel on the floor, and she would run and hide between my legs (something she does to this day, even though she’s ginormous now). I got third pick, and she was the one that was left, so I decided to take her home. Because she was constantly mewling and talking, and because I love China, I decided to call her Mew Ling.
And surprisingly, Fritz was okay with her. She fit right in. Only I didn’t care much for her at first. She was feisty and grabby and she had the sharpest little claws that she didn’t hestitate to try to bury in my hand. It took me awhile, but I grew to love her. And she and Fritz became very good friends. He even started to play with toys, which he hadn’t done in years. (Funny story….I would hear him in another room hitting balls around and chasing them, I’d try to watch him play, but if he caught sight of me, he’d immediately walk away, or sit down and lick a paw, as if to say “No way, I wasn’t playing!) Fritz lived for three more years. When he died, I was heartbroken. He’d been with me my entire adult life. Mew Ling missed him, too. She’d look for him in the places he’d normally be. She’d sit and look out the window and whine. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the hardest part of missing Fritz without her. And she has been such a comfort to me in subsequent times of loss as well. She’s not snuggly, and I like that about her. She’s always near me, but rarely wants to sit on my lap. And when I’m sad, she seems to know that, and stays even closer.
This is one of my favorite pictures of her. I took it when she was about 12 weeks old and still had her blue eyes. I took it with a 35mm camera. This is a digital camera photo of the original 35mm print…
This was nearly five years ago. Mew Ling will celebrate her sixth birthday in February! (But she’s still my baby….)
Well, you know it had to happen some time. The other night while I was reading some of my favorite blogs I came across one that sparked Mew Ling’s interest. This blogger’s cat also had a blog. Mew decided she just had to have her own blog as well. So she got one. She’s on my blogroll, but here’s a link for you for today!
I recently posted a photo of a lion I saw on safari. That picture brought this one to mind. Since I have very little to say today, I thought I’d shamelessly show you a picture of my “kid”! (Please notice how her nose pad is calico! Matches the rest of her!)
A year ago today, I pulled into the driveway of my new condo, in my new city, in my new state. It was a condo I bought over the phone. The city and state? I picked those out especially for me after seeing them in real life.
I pulled up very deep roots in Southern California and packed up all my belongings and drove out to Colorado. And I have never looked back. As I was driving up I-25 I saw a sign on the side of the freeway. I was less than 5 miles from my new life. It was about 5:00 and the sun was starting to set over the Front Range. It was beautiful. My cat, Mew Ling, was in her kennel in the passenger seat. The sign was for a building company, maybe Laing Homes, and it simply said “Welcome Home”. I looked at Mew and she looked at me and I told her, “Well, here we are. Home. The sign even said so.”
The move was made at the most difficult time of my life. The decision to move had been made before my life got so difficult and complicated. But I stuck with the plan, because it’s what I felt God wanted me to do. And He has blessed me and blessed me and blessed me a thousand times over since then.
It’s difficult for me to believe that it has been a whole year. It has been a great year. A full year. I almost can’t wait to see what year number two holds in its hands for me.
So, Dad, how's it going with the Mew? Is she being good for you? You have already probably won her heart and become the best of friends! She probably doesn't miss me in the least.
Thanks so much for taking the time to come out to watch over things at my place for so much of the time I am gone. You can't know how relieved it makes me to know that my girl will be spoiled plenty in my absence!
How many dads would do that? Probably just you.
Thanks! I love you. I hope you have a wonderful visit! Do lots of fun things!
The reference to which you won't understand unless you've read my post from yesterday, complete with its addendum from today. But anyway, whether you get the reference or not…
My Daddy…
is a really nice daddy. Not just because of what he does for us, for me, even though that is what I am going to write about in this post.
I am going away for over two months this summer. I leave in two weeks. I have been "stressing" about what I am going to do with my precious baby, my kitty, Mew Ling. Her full name? Princess Mew Ling Calico Star. In my next life I want to come back as one of my cats, because, boy, do they live the life! Anyhow, I examined the options available to me, and none of them made me smile very much.
Until my dad rode in on a white horse to save me and the Mew. My dad is coming in from California two spend 5 or 6 weeks of the time I am gone at my house, taking care of my cat. Sure. He's got other things to do while he's here; day trips, visiting friends, visiting other family who live here (my sister, my cousin and her kids, to name a few), but he's REALLY coming to be Grandpa to the Mew. He'll live in my place so that Mew can stay in her own home.
How SWEET is that?
She's just a cat, but he knows how special she is to me.
AND he bought me an awesome digital camera to take with me on my trip. So generous!
