Another Season
Another Place
A Stolen Dialogue

T: There has just been SO much to celebrate this week.

Me: Oh? Like what?

T: Well, I got my cast off, my wiggly tooth finally came out, Evan did really well in Creating a Scene and the show was very good, I get to go to a sleepover, Jonathan and Renee Stevens are coming by on Saturday AND I get to buy some cards! (comic book cards)

Me: Smile....

And then, we were talking about how amazing it is that permanent teeth come in the way that they do and that for kids with Down Syndrome, they come in in a different order.

Theo: Oh? Why is it so?
Me: They don't know.

Theo: Fascinating, though. I didn't know! 
Then, with his hand on the door, he says, "So many 'o''s"

Me: OK, Theo!
We both laugh.

The problem with a blog is that one has to check back to see if one is repeating oneself...one might be...but whatever!!!

Years ago, my friend had an orange cat...a bit of a malevolent orange cat but then...one mustn't generalize. She loved him. She was also taking care of a fan-tailed dove...a beautiful creature. She went off on a holiday and when she returned much to her horror, the dove had escaped from its cage and was running around on the floor. The cat was...just...sitting...watching.

She screamed in horror and the startled dove ran to the cat for protection.

I can't tell the story that reminded me of this but...sometimes one is not as fragile as one would seem!

On another note...magic comes and goes. A friend phoned today to say that she had sold her cottage up north. I sit here smiling at some excellent weekends I spent there. But I have learned that there will be magic to replace it...

There's such a wind today and I realize that I am not willing to lose all the leaves on my tree. That will mean I will have to crawl through the living room room in the morning to make my coffee! I will have no "blind" for another 5 months!

The story crosses the threshold from my world into yours. We meet each other at the steps of the story. Jeanette Winterson

The trouble with a book is that you do not know what's in it until it is too late.
Jeanette Winterson

Plan Ahead!
That's my theme for today.
If I had planned ahead, I would have straightened this leaf before posting it...I know how to do that now and I have to admit that my friends would realize why there's a slight list to my photos...there's a slight list to me!

So the only child is suffering once more. She doesn't know how to confront her vet...
Actually she's trying to decide whether her Vet is:
A money gouger...which she can't accept. The Vet is too decent.
A what-ifer...that might be it but the only child is the ultimate what-ifer...
All of which is to say that after three months of experimenting, and one session of the only child explaining to said Vet that if the bills continued, she would have to stop buying her blood pressure medication, said young and earnest Vet that she would send out the culture for testing by a Lab. This was after it was confirmed in July with a culture that the cat had a skin infection not dandruff as a result of his being over weight. This was after two months and four rounds of antibiotics and one round of parasite treatment and an intermittent round of intestinal treatment for the effects of the antibiotic which did not work...That instead of our moving on to allergenic food, we would send a culture of said infection to the lab for analysis. And...yes...the cat had a skin infection which was resistant to all of the antibiotics so far proscribed...so now he is on the antibiotic which will address the issue...And I can't help but shake my head...Even an only child and Aries would have sent the culture to the Lab in July but alas and only child and an Aries complies with the powers that be. They are supposed to know what is happening.

There is nothing that peanut butter and a spoon cannot fix...

Why do I have an avocado slicer? I have never sliced an avocado...ever...I wouldn't know how to use it.

And then someone sent me a picture of this beautiful little rescue dog and I am ashamed of myself. No dog should die ever.

It's pretty pathetic when the only two insults one can think of when facing an opponent are:

Your mother wears army boots.
And...
Is your dog dead yet?

Neither of which would I say but I would think them and giggle.

I've always been fond of Grannie's Royal Dolton Bull Dog!

A very damming review of a book studying the writing process. "If you had to boil down Pinker's advice into two main points, they would be: Keep it snappy and keep it simple. Unfortunately he proves wholly incapable of abiding by his own rules. Rather; he's a colossal windbag, never using three words when 35 can be rammed into the breach and frequently writing sentences so tortuous that they seem to be eating themselves.

 Mind you the reviewer's odd use of the semicolon is rather unsettling!

I am a year ahead of myself...I have been for 70 plus years. I keep waiting to grow up. The reason for this is that my mother and the grade one teacher were best friends. They assumed that their daughters would be best friends. And so, the grade one teacher facilitated my starting grade one a year earlier because her daughter started that year.

We were never friends. In fact I fear that a character trait I have been harbouring ever since came out then. We had a rhythm band. My "best friend" couldn't keep the tempo. In frustration I..."tapped" her with the triangle thing-a-ma-jig.  The grade one teacher realized the error of her ways but it was too late. I couldn't be banished from grade one but I was banished from the rhythm band.

And today the temptation to "tap" someone raised its ugly head. I take bridge lessons. One of the women at our table doesn't keep the tempo. Fortunately, I didn't have a triangle thing-a-ma-jig

Once in love with Amy

Always in love with Amy

Ever and ever fascinated by her...

I accidentally erased this one...

And then life went on...

And I forgot her...

But she called again on Saturday...three times...

And a very charming voice called: Hello Patricia, how are you doing today?

Neither Amy nor charming voice get it! 

They think I will fall into their spell and take that cruise...

They think  I will rush to my computer and allow them in - it is failing after all...according charming voice. He needs to get in and fix it.

I HATE AMY.

I HATE CHARMING VOICE.

I OBJECT TO THEM THINKING THAT I AM A BLITHERING IDIOT.

And besides...nobody calls me Patricia.

Thank goodness for this beautiful flower called snow on the mountain!

How could I resist a close up...just to make sure he wasn't that Japanese beetle that everyone is fearful of!

In fact he's a sweat bee!

I am a careless photographer. I just...take the picture and sometimes I do not see the bug! I almost threw this picture out but who can resist a green something or other!

Believe it or not, these are mongoose...ring-tailed mongoose...I didn't expect them to look like this! So...the problem of fiction and fact.
Fact One: At school, the room beside me was a Home Economics room. It was run by a very British, very conscientious teacher who taught the children how to make English scones...and jam.
Fact Two: At home, two young women lived next door to me in my apartment building. They were students. Over a month it became obvious to me and to one of the women that the other went out every night with her little dog...not to walk her little dog. She was earning her way through college as a lady of the night.
Fact Three: One Monday, the British lady next door called me in. She had a new student teacher who lived near me and wondered if I could...give her a lift.
Needless to say, the young woman declined and in fact disappeared. Now some thirty years later I realize the poignancy of the situation. And for some reason or other, today I wondered what happened to her.
It was a surreal experience. 

I don't have the appropriate pictures for this entry...but...I've always loved this picture of a cat in a compound on the Serengeti...Alas I doubt that he ever went to a Veterinarian, but he held court and was probably very aware of the lions holding court just outside the door...
For the tourists he was a poignant reminder of home.
But the entry is a fragment:
My superintendent has a love bird. When you go to his door, he answers with the love bird on his shoulder. The love bird seems to understand the discussion and it is distracting. He is a beautiful and much beloved bird. I took my friend and her two children to see him.
The children were charmed. The bird...screeched...he too was excited. As I stood there, I felt a gentle tap...on my waist. I turned around and there stood the six-year-old Korean girl from the next apartment.
She said: "Would you please be quiet. My bunny is trying to sleep." And having delivered her message, she turned and closed her door. We all stood staring. I illogically wondered why the bunny was asleep at ten in the morning...but of course that was not the point.  We all smiled...and the bird...screeched!

I could get used to this talking to oneself once again. I was bemoaning the fact that I had to cancel my trip to Toronto...I am in the midst of a Veterinarian Vortex....
Teeth? Check...
Blood Tests? Check...
Kidney Failure? Not yet but...only Vet food will stay its return...
Dandruff? Wait...that's not dandruff...that's something we can look into...infection? Parasites? Allergies? Oh my goodness...we'll just play with this one!
Heart Murmur? We'll put that aside for a moment...
Weight? Naturally! There's an elephant in the room...something about the mistress?

So I cancelled my trip to Toronto where I was ironically going to visit a former student who is now...a Veterinarian!!!

But there's nothing like a fall nasturtian...
And I just heard of the death of bright young kid with a wicked smile who laughed at my asides...wait...that was long enough ago to make him 61. And that puts things into perspective. I'll get to Toronto...I know that.

When in doubt...choose echinecia!

I've often conjured up these Stephen Crane lines in times of disarray:


I even can imagine the accompanying stick figure!

I accidentally erased my Amy input so I have to do that one again...

A man said to the universe:

“Sir, I exist!”

“However,” replied the universe,

“The fact has not created in me

A sense of obligation.”