Mai Oui!

The house-sitter is lined up. The tickets are purchased. Rent-a-car reserved. Hotel rooms booked. 

Why do terrorists have to mess with my vacation chi? I hate to quote Rodney King, but really? Why can't we all just get along? What will it take? Is it even possible? Are we as elevated as we think we are? If so, why can't we figure it out and learn to accept each other? That goes for everyone - the "East" and  the "West". Does anyone think God (Allah, The Creator, The Source) could possibly be the domain of a single religion? Humans prove everyday that we are far too limited to grasp even turn signals and proper lane changes. How arrogant would we have to be to think we could comprehend an eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent being? 

I am still looking forward to this vacation more than I even thought possible, I only wish I felt better about humans as a whole. 

Taking to the Air

We flew up to Victoria, BC yesterday to see Cirque du Soleil Alegria. If there is a good day to stake a claim to the skies a person could do worse than the anniversary of the day that grounded us both literally and figuratively.


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Oops!

I was only trying to remove the back splash, not the dry wall behind it. Looks like "someone" will have to come up with a proper patch because there isn't enough skim coat in the world to fill in what I just removed. It seemed like such a simple project...


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Wild Woodland Snail

The big brown snail in the bottom pic was out on the trail recently and made me wonder why he looks so different than the snails in my yard? My yard snails are always yellow and a few might have a black stripe but none of them match his rustic glory.

Yard snails venturing out onto the sidewalk on a rainy day.




Wild and untamed forest beastie.



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Goodbye to Fausto

Named for the controversial World Champion and Tour de France winner Fausto Coppi, Fausto and his brother Bugno, of course named for another bicyclist Johnny Bugno, were adopted by Jim as kittens 19 years ago. Bugno got something that none of the vets ever really could diagnose and died 11 years ago. Fausto, missing his brother, bonded to Jim like no cat I have ever seen bond to a human... except for maybe  my boy Rudy. 

He was a special boy who loved watching squirrels, rolling in catnip, licking Jim's nose and when Jim travelled for work he would even stoop to give my schnoz a good going over. The last couple years he started having some physical problems... a stroke from high blood pressure (apparently it's very stressful having two humans wait on you hand and foot), and then what the vets figured was a tumor in his head. It made him unable to make a right turn so we jokingly called him Nascar Kitty since all he could to was turn left. We gave him a steroid and a half a heart pill everyday for the last two years. 

He never did fully come back from the stroke but he did improve and was able to walk in a (mostly) straight like without circumnavigating the globe to get to the kitchen. We eventually moved his food dish to the bedroom so he didn't have to make even that trip. The day came when he stopped eating and even though he'd had down cycles in his eating before this time was different. He had been continually losing weight since his first event even though he ate voraciously. At this point he had nothing left in reserve and we both knew it. The day after he stopped eating he had a seizure and we knew it was time. 

Our regular vet was already gone for the weekend and Cats Exclusive would be closed by the time we could get there. Thankfully the kind people at VCA Vet Center in Lynnwood were able to take us in immediately and mercifully euthanize (such a sterile, unemotional word for what actually happens) Fausto and end his suffering. We miss him but know his pain is gone and he's chasing his brother somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge.

Don't Call it a Come Back

I think I just needed something important enough to post. Consider this an end to the long hiatus. 

I popped back in here to post a badge at the top left here advertising a facebook group called Millions Against Monsanto. I have learned so much regarding what it is that Monsanto is doing and just how deep their tentacles reach. Truly scary stuff. We need to be paying attention folks, our health and the health of our children and our planet depend on it. 

That is all... for now.

Three- Eleven, Three, Three-Eleven

I will skip the great meal we had at Cyclops and go straight to the venue. While The Moore is not the polished gem that The Paramount is, it does have a faded charm and they have made some recent upgrades to her, most notably (at least for me) are the upstairs bathrooms. A great big "Thank You!" to whoever's idea that was. 

The Wailers opened for 311, I'm still not sure how many, if any, of the original Wailer's are still on board  but they were good. I especially loved the amazing and beautiful back-up singers who looked like they were enjoying a laugh through the whole performance.  But a close second to them was the bassist who - I kid you not - wore a full suit of this. You can't see it very well in the picture but take my word for it, it was an attention-getter.

Next up, 311. Here they are doing the drum line just before Never Ending Summer. They played all the standards: All Mixed Up, Beautiful Disaster, Down - (all of which are on my iPod trail-running playlist) but my favorite by far... India Ink! They also played some of their early stuff including the classic "F*** the Bull****".  Don't let the title scare you. :)

And just in case one might think we were the only ones there with our phones out, snapping away taking pictures - BEHOLD! A virtual constellation of phones (I think this was taken during Amber) being held by the people on the floor directly beneath us.

Another amazing concert. These guys have a totally unique sound and even though the place was far from sold out, I think everyone there really felt what they were putting out. Their message is unmistakable: Stay Positive & Love Your Life!

ZUMBA!

Last night was the first time my Zumba buddy Donna and I attended one of the Zumba parties that our instructors host at a local club. The theme was "Age of Aquarius" and there was everything from 60's hippies right though the Disco Age. My alter-ego was The Blonde Amy Winehouse or Bonnie Beehive. I kind of like the latter. No, there was no "Bump-It" in that pile of hair either, it was all back-combing and DANG! that stuff is hard to comb out after dancing and sweating for a couple hours, not to mention the couple times I was swinging my hands over my head and got them caught in my hair.  

It was a great time, far less structured than a regular Zumba class with several instructors/special guests. The party next month is a fund raiser for a "Bite Suit" for K-9 training for one of the local PD's. We will definitely be there and thankfully sans beehive.  

Downtown Where All The Lights Are Bright

Looking like a diamond city floating on the clouds, this was the only upside of a horribly slow commute this morning. Not sure it was worth sitting in the parking lot known as I-5 but it was lovely.

It's Time Again...

Need I say more? Well, actually yes I do. The iPhone camera is crap and there is no way to tell who is coming on stage in this picture. Take my word for it, it's 311. They are coming back to Seattle, playing The Moore on March 2nd. I know I swore I would be down on the floor the next time I saw them but our seats are up in the balcony which will not in any way prevent me from rocking out.

Actually, Finally!

After years of hemming and hawing (is that really a word? Spellcheck doesn't seem to object to it) it looks like my spousal unit and I are going to Remulak. We're starting the process of selecting flights and itineraries now...

7 Pounds

No, not the Will Smith movie. Sadly. No, this 7 pounds is an annual visitor that shows up uninvited by way of this...

Dec 24th

Dec 25th

New Year's Eve

Every day for the last week...

Looks like it's time for some of this.