Winter Thaw

A warm-up moved in last week after several weeks of below freezing temps, some into the teens.  With the warm-up, I was able to walk a circuit of the nearby park track.  It was interesting, and a wee bit frustrating, to note that the stamina I'd gained before the holidays, before the cold, was gone. But I returned the following day, and over the next four days managed to improve my time.

Ponds are prolific in the area, there's one at the park in fact, and there are even a few small lakes in the county.  All have flocks of resident Canada geese.  Geese are grazers.  Last fall as I walked my mile at the park, I watched local youth playing soccer in an area that had hosted feeding (and pooping) geese in the days before.  Poop on the ball, poop on the shoes, even poop on the kids' clothes.  Disgruntled parents, I'm sure.  And always, there's poop on the track.  As I walked after the thaw had begun, I noted areas along the path where snow had been plowed from grassy areas so the geese would have a food source.  The geese are protected by law, so they can't be destroyed.  But I hope there's a plan to confine and cart them off to the "wilds" when they molt later this year. 

Here at home, the kittens are testing my patience.  (What, you're not surprised?)  Toilet bowl water now intrigues Simon, so the lid on both commodes needs to be kept down.  But I'm tempted to just let him fall in, just once.  That experience might have a long-term impact.  When I shower, they bat at the stall's glass walls, trying to catch the rivulets of streaming water.  At one time they played in the second bathroom, jumping into and out of the tub, until one day Lilli climbed the shower curtain.  (The curtain is now flipped up over the curtain rod.)  I can't water indoor plants without both kittens getting in the pots.  The day I water, I chase them away from or out of the containers by either shaking the squirt bottle of water or actually spraying them.  And they're close to being full grown.  Simon now weighs what Ginger did when she died.  On Monday he jumped up on the bar stool, stepped up on the counter and proceeded to investigate items there such as the poinsettia which had been placed high to keep him, them, away from it.  Now I've moved it to another, more inaccessible, spot.

The thaw of last week is being erased by a cold front moving in.  I won't be walking for a few days, perhaps a week.  But I'll get my exercise here in the condo as I chase the cats out of the flower pots and repeatedly return their toys to the cats' basket.

Simon, the Hunter

On my desk sitting beside the computer are a number of mementos sent by friends.  Slap up against the desk is the kitten's "tree".

Shortly after the kittens mastered climbing the tree, I would find some of those items lying on the floor beside the desk.  The first thing to get Lilli's attention was fluorescent pink feathered flamingo pen that sat in the pencil cup.  Lilli set about defeathering it.  That task has now been accomplished.  I've purchased more feathers and will be attaching them soon so her play can continue.  Now, though, those items that were once merely on the floor beside the desk are being moved into other rooms.

The other day I heard the cats playing on the floor.  I'd assumed Simon and Lilli were wrestling.  I was wrong.  When I looked, I saw that it was just Simon.  He had taken the little koala bear gift, and Simon was either loving it or killing it. Sometimes it's hard to tell, but Simon had successfully removed the koala's hat.

On a visit to see an e-list friend, she gave each of her guests a small pink elephant meant to hang on the lip of a beverage glass.  Mine usually is hanging from the flamingo pot hanger I received from the same person who gave me the flamingo pen.  The hanger/elephant pair also sit on my desk.  Now I frequently find the pot hanger on the floor beside the desk.  The elephant will be found as far from the desk as Simon carries it.  Earlier this morning, only seconds after I put the elephant and flamingo back on the desk, the elephant was back on the living room floor.

If you have a cat, have you discovered the joy they get in playing with the plastic ring to which plastic jug caps are attached?  If not, pry one off and toss it in the cat's direction.  Simon and Lilli entertain themselves and me  as they bat them around or carry them from place to place.  Eventually I'll have to pull the stove out and remove the accumulating collection.

All is quiet right now.  Evidently they're both taking naps, so I can gather these toys they borrow from me and put them back where they can find them.

At Last!

The holidays are officially finished.  As the crystal ball was falling in Times Square, so were the local temperatures.  As I write this on Sunday, the 3rd, the thermometer reads 6 with the wind chill a negative 14.  I will be going nowhere today!

New Year's Day I took the  family's picture  for next year's calendar.  I'm sharing it with you now, but don't tell Dawn or Matt.  (I want it to be a surprise along with the other selections that are added for each month.)  With all the football games televised on New Years, the traditional meal is casual.  Those who have seats in front of the TV fill their plates during commercials.  Matt and the kids abhor the smell of sauerkraut and those bites the kids must take are immediatlely followed by grimaces and a napkin to the mouth.  The other dishes -- pork, black-eyed peas, cornbread, mashed potatoes and our special greens substitute, molded pear salad, receive marks from more thumbs down to high praise.

Rather than battle the kittens to keep them from knocking holiday knick knacks off table tops, I restrained myself and put up only the tree and a couple Christmas night lights.  All those were packed away quickly on Monday.  Now the storage bins are sitting in the garage, and as soon as the temperature gets above freezing again, everything will be returned to the garage attic.

Saturday hours at the hospital gift shop have been changed.  With Christmas (and the associated  merchandise) behind us, sales will decline significantly and the need to be open for extended hours on weekends is no longer necessary.  My hours were noon to 4:00.  Now they're 2:00 to 5:00.  It's great to have my mornings free, but those three hours seemed sooooooooooo long yesterday!  It's all a matter of mental adjustment.  Give me time.  I'll get there!

So now we move into 2010.  Tomorrow the kids will be back in school, but I'm already getting back to my routine.  I'm looking forward to walking the track every other day.  But not until it's unnecessary to dress like the Michelin Man!  

BRANDON AND SOPHIA - 2009

January

Sophia was 6 last November and Brandon is now 9.

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I'm Ready!

The gifts are wrapped, a handful compared to past years.  The grocery shopping is done.  It'll be a simple meal -- ham, roasted vegetables for those who will eat them and corn for those who won't.  Buttercrust rolls.  Peppermint ice cream in an oreo chocolate crust. 

Brett has entertained family and friends with e-mail from China.  When I woke up on the 11th, several notes from him were in my in-box:

(1)

Rule 1

Always stop at the hotel counter and have them write down your destination in Chinese

Or;

Print the address (in Chinese) from the internet.  Give that to the cabbie.

Easy as pie.

s/Brett-somewhere in Shanghai.

(2)

Rule #2

Never look out of the taxi driver's front windshield.  Always concentrate your eyes out the side windows as to avoid the hysteric reactions you may have.

(3)

And now I'm lost

(4)   

Uh oh

(5)

Rule #3

Always double check the address your hotel translates into Chinese for the taxi driver. Otherwise you may find yourself at a border crossing with no papers.

(6)

Rule #4

Don't misplace anything.  You will not be able to explain the simplest item for them to understand what it is you're describing.  Not even remotely!!!

A green hotfoot?  No, my green notebook!  Not cooked?  NOTEBOOK!!!  Dammit!

And then:

(7)

Rule #4-mystery solved!!!  Green notebook retrieved.

Fortunately Brett doesn't get upset when these mishaps occur.  And he did embellish his telling of his adventures.  There was no border problem.  The cabbie was unsure of Brett's destination, so Brett called the client's office and a person there instructed the cab driver where he should take Brett.  The notebook was left in the back seat of the real estate agent's car and after a phone call to him, the notebook was returned to Brett at his hotel the next day.

In his search for suitable office space and an apartment, Brett went first to Shanghai and then Beijing.  The cost to rent an apartment in Beijing is about one-third what it is in Shanghai.  He likes both cities for different reasons, so I'm confident he and Michelle will be happy wherever they live.

Michelle flew over last Friday.  She sent e-mail saying, "Brett met me at the airport and was kind enough to show up with a bag of crispy fried duck feet."  What a guy!  Obviously he put a lot of thought into presenting Michelle with something that would make her week's visit memorable.  They'll spend the days leading up to Christmas in Hong Kong and then fly home on the 26th.

A few days after Thanksgiving, Sophia was the recipient of the Elf on the Shelf she named Freddie. The first thing she does every morning when she wakes up is search the house to locate Freddie's perch for the day.  Brandon isn't ready to talk about the existence of Santa, probably because he realizes that the excitement of Christmas will be diminished if Santa really doesn't arrive with a sleigh filled with toys and come down the chimney but instead pulls into the garage and hurriedly stows packages where little eyes won't find them.  

Only a few days until Christmas.  I think I'm ready.

Where Does the Time Go?

Blogging was supposed to ease the task of journaling.  A few minutes a day, or at the longest, a week, to write about things happening around me.  But that's not been reality.  There's little that happens in a day that didn't also happen yesterday and will undoubtedly happen tomorrow.  Such is my life.  I'm not complaining, just noting why posts from Park Place are infrequent.  I simply have little to say!

But there have been some report-worthy activities.  In mid-November, Matt agreed to oversee Brandon and Sophia so Dawn and I could spend a few days with Brett and Michelle in California to celebrate Dawn's and Brett's November birthdays.   We spent some of our time together relaxing in their garden (although the picture was taken one afternoon when we went shopping).  Dawn and I relaxed as we thought about the chaos of the approaching winter holidays.  Brett and Michelle were preparing to spend some time overseas.

Brett left his previous employer in October and is now working for ValleyCrest, "an integrated landscape company that designs, builds and maintains ... places."  Brett's immediate challenge is to establish and maintain a corporate office in China.  He left yesterday to spend three weeks visiting several Chinese cities, searching for the best to satisfy corporate and client needs.  Once that is accomplished, he will find a nearby apartment in which to live for the next two years.  Michelle hopes that she will find employment there, too, perhaps as an English teacher.

Thanksgiving Day was perfect weather for Matt's grilling of the turkey outdoors.  This year Sophia and Brandon helped with meal preparation, too.  Sophia mixed the green bean casserole and Brandon prepared the whipped sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows. Finally they're both old enough to sit through a meal without fidgeting or fussing.  It was a very relaxing time!

In August 18-year-old cat Kitty died.  With her absent, I was able to stay in bed past 7:00 AM (when she made sleep impossible as she demanded breakfast) and demanded to be lifted to the bathroom counter where I had to turn on the water so she could drink.  ("Dogs have masters, cats have staff.")  But I came to miss having activity here, and just before Thanksgiving adopted littermates Simon and Lilli from the Humane Society.  They have been a joy.  They eat the food left out for them and drink from the water dish that sits beside it.  And they entertain me as well as each other.

And I Thought I'd be Bored

Back in September Brandon was about a month into his first season playing tackle football. His team, the Panthers, won their first game, and I missed it because I was working. I understand that the youngsters showed up that Saturday morning with their heads screwed on straight. They performed in inspired style.

Two weeks later eleven Panthers were on the field, and it seemed as though each had his own agenda. The result was that they did the equivalent of putting a red ribbon around the game they handed to their opponent.

Apparently the coach got their attention during the practices that followed. Being a nice guy hadn't worked, so he and the assistant coaches got tough. I wasn't there, but I understand the boys learned through the experience of several scrimmages what is required to play and win.

It was late September and a perfect day for football -- sunny with the temperature in the mid 60's. I got to the field early and watched the Panthers practice. Paired up, two boys laid on their backs, helmet to helmet, one holding the football. The coach stood over them, and when he yelled "Go!", they jumped up, turned around to face each other, and the ball carrier tried to evade the other fellow whose assignment was to tackle him. Pads were popping. No one was holding back. 

Their opponent on this Saturday had won their three previous games and had not been scored against. The Panthers had a big mountain to climb. And climb it they did. The Panthers recovered a fumble and in the next few plays, made a touchdown, the first scored against their opponent! The boys played so much better than earlier in the season and their practices paid off. They didn't win the game, but they didn't embarrass themselves. I am so proud of their effort and I hope they are proud of the way they played.  I am looking forward to next fall's football games.