7/7/07

On July 7th, 2007, we adopted Beau.  Seven is my favourite number, so it seemed fitting that we found him at the animal shelter on a date full of sevens.  It doesn't seem believable that nine years have passed since that huge, four-month-old puppy joined our family, and it is even more difficult to accept that we will have to say goodbye to him soon.

Beau was diagnosed with cancer in April.  He'd been showing some symptoms for several months -- heavy, laboured breathing even when lying down after not having done anything energetic; coughing and choking a little when drinking water, even though the water bowl is raised; exhibiting a little less energy and playfulness -- but until I found a hard lump near his left armpit, I thought he was just behaving that way because of the hotter weather and old age.  Then I found the lump and knew it was something serious.

We took him to our vet, whom Beau adores, but X-rays weren't clear enough, so she recommended a specialist.  We were given a morning appointment on Thursday, April 21st.  Beau spent several hours there, being examined and tested.  In the afternoon, the specialist, who was very kind and gentle, delivered the diagnosis: Beau has cancer, and the mass is much bigger than the lump near his armpit suggested.  Further tests and imaging would have to be done if we wanted to know exactly what kind of cancer, but it's either bone or soft tissue cancer and the mass is pushing against his esophagus, which is why he was coughing and choking when drinking water.  The specialist told us that surgery was not an option because of the size of the mass, but he recommended radiation to shrink it.  And then probably chemo.  Unfortunately, that wouldn't be a cure, only a measure to give Beau another nine to 12 months of life.  He would have had to go for radiation every weekday for several weeks.  That seemed like a lot to put him through for just another few months of life, and the radiation would probably affect his quality of life.

Ever since Mummy told us about Grandma being in a coma for three months after a stroke, being kept alive by machines, and after all I have read since childhood about the subject, I have been a strong proponent of euthanasia over "extraordinary measures" if treatment yields no improvement, and of quality of life over quantity.  If radiation and chemo would have banished the tumour, giving Beau several more healthy, happy years of life, I would have said yes immediately.  But that wasn't the case here.

The specialist said Beau would probably only live another one to two months without treatment.  That was eleven weeks ago, so he doesn't have very much time left.  He is coughing and choking more often now, and sometimes it gets so bad that he throws up what he had just eaten.  That means I'm giving him less and less of the treats he loves so much, because those are what he chokes over.  Something that is fine for him to eat one day becomes a hazard the next day.  But still he begs, with those sweet brown eyes looking beseechingly at me, like he is starving.  At least he is able to keep his meals down.  But now I worry that soon, he will begin choking when eating his meals, as well.  That is the worst part of this -- fearing that he will die from choking over food and there will be nothing I can do.

He is still such a sweet, happy dog.  The painkillers are probably helping to keep him happy.  Every now and then, for a few seconds, he will play tug-of-war with Rusty or will chase after a dog toy or ball.  He acts like a puppy when he does that, bounding down the hallway.  The only time he growls is when Rusty jumps on him or gets too rough, trying to play.  He has had a very good life, going on camping trips, hikes and vacations with us, swimming in rivers and lakes, playing in the dog park and has been around people and dogs who love him.  I draw comfort from that.  He adored Belle and is adored by Rusty.  Even though it is so painful to have this long, slow goodbye with him, I smile when remembering all the good times he has had.  Even the times when, in his puppyhood, he ate part of the dining room wall, tore up the linoleum floor and put a big hole in the sofa ...  And I'm glad we still have time to love and cuddle him.  Belle died so suddenly, and I think that was worse.  With Beau, we know it's coming soon but for now, he still behaves as if all is well.  He still tries to hump Emma, Jonathan & Claire's dog, whenever she comes over.  He still loves eating, still smiles and is delighted when we return, whether from work or a short trip to the store, still spreads joy and laughter.  He has been and is a blessing.

Augustus Addendum

How could I have forgotten the tree-falling drama we had last week that I was going to write about yesterday?!  I'm going to blame it on the pain medication I had to take last night for the tooth pain - you know the pain is bad if I have to take something for it!

Last year, we paid to have a chain-link fence put up on either side of the back yard.  We have a wooden fence at the back and front of the yard, but there was a wire fence on either side that was getting more flimsy by the year, especially in one section where Beau had been jumping on the fence for years, barking at cats in the yard next door.  He would push it down a bit more each time, and when we got Rusty, the bratty pup took great joy in jumping over the fence at that section and romping around beyond our yard.

About three weeks after the fence was erected, a tree fell on one section of it.  It was like the tree had been waiting until there was a new, shiny fence nearby before taking its swan dive.  The people I called to remove the fallen tree and check the other trees in case more were about to fall pushed the chain link fence back up but the rod at the top was bent and has been an eyesore for the last year.

Last Tuesday afternoon, the doggies and I heard a Very Loud Noise. We went out to the back yard to investigate and found that a tree from the back yard next door had come crashing down, yes, again on part of the chain link fence.  It was such a big, heavy tree that the portion of the fence it crashed on went right down to the ground.  Rusty could have jumped on the tree trunk and trotted off into the yard next door but surprisingly, he didn't!  The pup is growing up.

I called "our tree guy" and he came over that evening itself to look at the damage and give me a quote for removing the tree.  I asked him if his guys could fix the fence and he said yes!  He said they'd come to do the work the very next morning (I was working in the office that day so I left the gate to the back yard unlocked).  When I got home that afternoon, the fallen tree was gone and the fence had been repaired!  Both the newly damaged section and the portion that had been damaged last year were restored.  I'm so glad we've found someone who can do removal repair work like that, but I hope that's the last of the tree-falling for a while.

Augustus Dramatis

OK, logically and linguistically that subject line makes no sense, but it's only the 15th of August and so much has been going on that I wanted something dramatic and befitting of Augustus to start off this post.  Besides, a language is kept alive by the creation of words, usually hijacked from other languages or by combining existing words, so I'm doing my part.

Last night was fun.  It was Jonathan's birthday on Thursday and we usually take the kids out for a special dinner on their birthday, but I asked Jonathan if he'd prefer a home-cooked meal or going out to a restaurant and he chose home-cooked, because that's easier with Evelyn, who just turned one a couple of weeks ago.  We're all too busy and tired to get together on weekdays so we planned dinner here on Saturday night.  I invited Jason and Crystal to join us because it's nice when the whole family is together and I thought it would be good for Evelyn and Kaia to see each other.  We're all hoping they grow up to be close-knit cousins and want them to spend time together whenever possible.  Kaia turned nine months old on Saturday and is starting to crawl.  Evelyn has just started standing on her own and taking a few steps without assistance.  I love watching them grow!

They exchanged some hugs and kisses and I enjoyed watching them crawl around.  Evelyn got a little jealous when she saw me holding Kaia, so at one point I ended up holding one of them in each arm, like that photo I have of me carrying Meera and Jehanita (although Evelyn and Kaia are much smaller).  That was the highlight of the evening for me.  I love having two babies in our lives.  I just wish they would stop growing so quickly.

I also invited John Jackson, who Bruce has known since they were teenagers and who has known Jason and Jonathan since they were born. John's wife recently decided she no longer wants to be married to him (after over 30 years together!), so John has had to move into his own house.  I worry about him not eating properly and being lonely, so we include him in family get-togethers whenever possible.

There were seven adults and two babies altogether and we had a lovely night.  I made crab dip for an appetizer and shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta for the entrée.  Apart from a simple salad (I had meant to include apple slices and strawberries but got too busy with other things) and the pasta, we had a yummy casserole that Crystal cooked.  For dessert, I tried a new recipe that turned out well - no-bake mango cheesecake.  (The house gets too hot if I use the oven in the summer, so I'm boycotting it until Autumn.)  I bought mango puree for the cheesecake from an Indian grocery store and now have enough to make mango lassi - I'm looking forward to that.

After dinner, John had to leave but the kids stayed for a while.  Jason and Jonathan played their guitars while the rest of us played with the babies and listened.  Bruce had to work yesterday and was tired, but one of these days the three of them are going to play together.  Perhaps in October, when we have our next birthday dinner, this time for Bruce and Jason.

It was a nice ending to what had been a somewhat stressful day and week. On Thursday night, Bruce was coming to bed when he heard a sound at our back door.  He found a kitten mewing on the patio.  We have some feral cats in the neighbourhood but this kitten did not behave like them.  It seemed to be a kitten that was used to being fed and living in a house.  It was very thin and I of course felt sorry for it, so I put a saucer of milk on the patio for it.  It was very skittish at first but hunger and thirst won out and it started lapping up the milk.  It kept running under the table and chairs on our patio when we tried to pet it but then would go back to the milk.  I was a little concerned about it being out there because Beau and Rusty were longing to go after it (and Beau has killed and injured cats before), but it seemed to be a sensible kitten and was no longer in the back yard when I let Beau and Rusty out a few hours later.  The next morning, however, it was back, mewing pitifully again for food.  I poured more milk in the saucer and this time it let me pet it while it was drinking the milk, so I lifted it and the saucer and took it to the front door.  I put it outside and put the saucer down near the front door.  The kitten proved to be smart - when it came back in the evening for its next meal on Friday, it showed up at the front door.  That was a relief, because it meant it was safe from Beau and Rusty (who stared at it intently through the window in our living room and whined often because they could not get to it).  The kitten kept trying to follow us into the house, though, and that made me suspect someone had abandoned it.

I didn't have a vehicle on Friday because the minivan had to be taken in for repair on Thursday (a problem with one of the tyres), so I couldn't do anything about the kitten until Saturday.  On Saturday morning, Bruce drove the kitten and me to our vet - I was hoping they'd be able to take it and find it a home.  Unfortunately, they said they couldn't because they had hospitalized animals there and couldn't risk taking in the kitten in case it had a disease.  They suggested we take it to PetSmart, a pet store near our house that holds adoption days every once in a while for people looking for cats or dogs.  Luckily, that very Saturday was cat adoption day and the person we spoke with at PetSmart told us to come back at 1:30, when the cat adoption people would be there.  Bruce had to be on a conference call for work so I drove back that afternoon without him.  I left the cat in the van while I went to talk to one of the people in charge of the cat adoptions.  She was very nice but said she couldn't take the kitten unless she knew it didn't have a disease.  There is a vet at each PetSmart and she asked if I'd be willing to pay for the test, which she said the vet could do right there and then.  It would only cost $35, which I was glad to pay if it meant the kitten would find a home.  It's a very sweet kitten.  When I was putting it in a box to take it to the vet and then PetSmart, it wasn't happy but it never once tried to scratch or bite me.

I went back to the van to get the kitten and found it had got out of the box and all the way to the front of the van.  I put it back in the box and went to the side of the store where the animal clinic is located.  The woman at the counter said the vet was out at lunch but would be back in ten minutes, so I decided to wait.  The kitten kept trying to jump out of the box but would calm down and start purring when I scratched it.  Finally, the woman at the counter called me over to get details about the kitten.  She then lifted him out of the box and put him on the weighing scale.  She let go of him for one second and the kitten raced away!  He rushed to a row of shelves and dived under.  He wouldn't come back out and when someone tried to reach for him, he raced to a different row of shelves and then managed to completely disappear.  I searched and searched for him with the help of a couple of other PetSmart staff and no one could find it.  After about 20 minutes, I had to give up and leave because I had to get things ready for Jonathan's birthday dinner.  I heard one of the PetSmart employees who had been helping with the search say to the woman at the animal clinic that she needed to get my name and address because it was illegal to dump an animal there.  That made me angry because if I had intended to dump the kitten, I wouldn't have bothered speaking with the woman from the adoption group and wouldn't have waited to have the kitten tested.  I told the woman from the adoption group that the kitten had disappeared somewhere in the store.  She said at least he was indoors and would eventually be found.  I left my name and phone number with the woman at the animal clinic and drove home.

This afternoon, the woman from the animal clinic called to tell me the kitten had been found (I figured he would eventually come out when he got hungry and sure enough, that's what happened).  She took my credit card details to pay for the test and told me that the kitten was fine and would be put up for adoption, so that drama had a good ending.  I hope he finds a good home soon - he really is a sweet cat.

While I was at home getting things ready for our little dinner party, Rusty was looking out the living room window and suddenly started whining.  I went over to see what he was making noise about and saw a deer two houses down!  At 4:00 in the afternoon!  That was unexpected!  I haven't seen one in our neighbourhood since the one that suddenly appeared in our back yard a couple of years ago. I didn't see any more of that deer after that one glimpse, and Rusty seemed disappointed.  What with trying to get to the kitten all morning and then seeing a deer in the afternoon, it was quite an exciting Saturday for Rusty and Beau, and the icing on the cake for them was having the kids and grandkids here.  They love the babies as much as we do!

For the last couple of nights, I've been in a lot of pain when I go to sleep.  I have an infected tooth and the pain comes and goes but has been really bad the last two nights.  I went to see an endodontist on July 29th to have an RCT (root canal treatment) - the pain had started several weeks before that but that was the earliest appointment I could get. However, the endodontist looked at X-rays of my infected tooth and told me that he didn't think an RCT would fix the problem, because I had already had one on that tooth some years ago.  Apparently the root for that particular tooth is difficult to completely clean out and there is therefore prone to reinfection.  The endodontist recommended surgery to get at the root a different way.  Unfortunately, the earliest opening they had is September 1st, so I have to put up with this another couple of weeks.  I'm hoping the pain goes away again soon as it did last week - I had a whole week with very little pain.

So happy Meerabelle is on this continent!  We are looking forward to seeing her some time in the next ten months, even if it means driving to Pennsylvania!

Atlanta makes national headlines

... and not for a good reason.

Tuesday, January 28th, was a somewhat dramatic day here.  Weather forecasters had been predicting snow for a few days, but until Monday evening, the predictions had been that most of the snow and ice would be south and east of Atlanta.  Early Tuesday morning (3:39 a.m.), the "winter storm advisory" changed to "winter storm warning" and Atlanta was said to be directly in the path of the snow storm.  Temperatures were not expected to get above freezing at all that day (or the next) and therein lay the problem - that would cause ice to form on the roads, and people in the South, rarely experiencing snow or ice, do not have vehicles equipped to deal with icy roads.

I have to go into the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I was on the road by about 4:15 that morning, completely unaware of the change in the weather prediction as I hadn't switched on the TV or checked the weather report online.  A few miles from my office, traffic slowed down suddenly.  Only one of the four lanes was open - the rest were blocked off by polices cars, all with their lights flashing.  It hadn't even started snowing and there was already a bad accident on the road.  That would turn out to be a sign of things to come later in the day.  Because it was so early in the morning, the lorries and cars on the road got past the accident quite quickly.  Everyone was very nice, letting others in ahead of them as we all got into the one open lane to drive past the blockade.  I got to the office without incident and started working.

Snow began falling at about 11:00 a.m.  It was light at first - bits of fluff floating in the air and not settling on the ground.  When I looked out the window about fifty minutes later, I was surprised by how much snow had fallen and settled on the ground in that short time.  While I had been in my cubicle working, the snowfall had gotten heavier.  Ally (the other person in my department) and I both finished working at 12:30 p.m. since we had started working early, so I decided to leave then and told her she should, as well.  One of our friends in the office had been checking weather and traffic conditions for the previous hour and saw traffic congestion already on the highways he used to get home.  It wasn't looking good and we all wanted to get home before conditions worsened, so we left even though the office hadn't officially closed yet.  (I had been in the office long enough to have worked a full day already, so that didn't really concern me.  An e-mail was sent about 25 minutes later, saying our office was closing at 1:00 p.m.)  Bruce's office closed at noon but he was in a meeting with his boss at that time, so he also left at 12:30 p.m.

As soon as I left our office parking lot, I was stuck in traffic.  The entrance ramp to the highway that I needed to get on in order to get home was about 3 k.m. away, so I'm usually on the highway in less than five minutes.  Not that day.  I needed to travel east on the highway but traffic in the opposite direction was already so bad that the road from my office, which feeds to both the east and west lanes, was filled with cars trying to get to the west lanes and thus blocking the exit to the east lanes, as well.  We later learned that everyone had tried leaving offices and schools at about the same time, hence the awful crush on the roads.  It took me over two hours to drive just a few kilometres.  Before I made it onto the highway, I thought several times about turning around and trying to get home a different way (there are a couple of other options), but as I sat unmoving in the traffic jam, I saw several cars slipping and sliding in the icy lanes going in the opposite direction.  So far, there was no ice on my side of the road, which made me think it would be safer to stay where I was.  Once I finally made it onto the highway, traffic conditions improved.  Most of the time, we were moving slowly but at least we kept moving.  I got home about an hour later.  The trip took about three hours in total, very different from the usual 25- to 30-minute commute I have in ordinary driving conditions.

Bruce got home a few minutes before I did, with traffic conditions also improving for him after a very slow start.  We later found out that we had been extremely fortunate compared to a lot of other people.  Some spent between 12 and 14 hours on roads before making it to their homes; others didn't make it home at all that night, choosing instead to abandon their cars and walking to the closest shelter they could find (stores, restaurants, petrol stations); still others spent almost 24 hours in their cars before finally getting to move.  Several motels and hotels had to turn people away because they were filled with people needing a roof over their heads when they were unable to make it home.  Lorry drivers, who are only allowed to be on the road a certain number of hours each day, had to pull off to the side of the road and stop driving.  Some school buses were unable to get kids back to their houses and had to return to schools, where the children spent the night.  I read about one father of a kindergartner who walked six miles to get to his daughter so that he could spend the night with her at her kindergarten.  And several Atlantans started taking water and food to people stuck on roads in case they wanted to stay in their cars but had nothing to eat or drink with them.

With conditions so bad, you'd think that we must have had several feet of snow fall that day.  No, it was about five to seven millimetres in total.  That was enough to cripple the city and parts of the state.  This was shocking to states further north, used to dealing with actual snow storms that can bury whole cars, but it was the ice that caused such havoc.  Cars here don't have snow tyres or chains, so when the roads were slick with snow, people began sliding and crashing into each other.  Apparently, there were over 1,500 accidents that day.

The mayor of Atlanta and the governor of Georgia were heavily criticized for not handling things better (there weren't enough snow plows and sand/salt trucks on the road to remove the ice; the closing of schools and offices should have been staggered so that not everyone was on the roads at the same time; schools should have been closed that day when it became clear early that morning Atlanta was in the path of the snow storm ...).  All the major newspapers and national news broadcasts discussed how the city had come to a standstill.  Even our favourite comedy news show made fun of Atlanta.

Thankfully, schools and offices closed on Wednesday so people stayed off the roads.  Temperatures were below freezing most of Wednesday but the sun and a couple of hours of above-freezing temperatures started the melting of some of the snow and ice.  On Thursday, some offices (including mine) opened late but I telecommute on Thursdays and Bruce's office was closed again, so we both worked from home that day.  (We worked on Wednesday, too, even though our offices were closed - we are such hardworking, dedicated employees!)  A lot of the ice melted on Thursday, which meant those who had abandoned their cars on Tuesday could go collect them.  The police and national guard were on hand to give people rides to their cars and to help them jumpstart engines that had died or fill empty tanks with some petrol so the drivers could get going.  By Friday, things were almost back to normal.

Today, there is very little snow to be seen and the drama seems like something that was on TV, not something we experienced in real life.  But I think if there is another "snow event" heading this way anytime soon, most people are going to stay home and will refuse to go to school/work.  It was a traumatic event for many people.

After a couple of sunny days, today is a foggy one.  It reminds me of early mornings in Cameron Highlands, when everything was misty and cool, and is bringing back many happy memories.

Oh, deer!

Today began on a somewhat surreal note.  I woke up at about 2:45 a.m. and noticed that the spotlight in the backyard, which is activated by a motion sensor, was on.  That usually means we've had a nocturnal visitor, like a raccoon, or that a cat is skulking around, in which case I would have to be sure it was gone before letting Beau out.

I looked out the window to see if I could spot a critter and was startled to see a deer in the backyard!  A deer!  That was a first!  It wasn't very big and looked a little ghostly as it daintily walked around the undergrowth.  That was such an unexpected sight that I had to wake Bruce up, even though it was so early in the morning, so that he could see the deer, as well.  Also, if I hadn't, he would have spent the rest of the day, and probably the week, telling me I had imagined it.

I went into the backyard to see if there was any chance the deer would stay where it was, but it saw me and immediately jumped into the bushes.  I had a shower, fed the dogs and then went into the backyard again.  The deer was no longer in the rough area in which I had last seen it, so I thought it had disappeared and I let the dogs out.  I soon heard the deer crashing through bushes at the opposite end of the backyard, far in the right corner.  I called the dogs and Belle came to me immediately, but Beau must have smelled the deer and was hot on its trail.  Next thing I knew, the deer was sprinting past me, just a couple of feet away (boy, was it fast!), with Beau not far behind (and not nearly as fast) and Belle standing near me, looking bemused.  Beau stopped as soon as I called to him while the deer dashed away and jumped over the fence to safety.  The dogs were very excited and spent a lot of time sniffing various spots around the backyard, but unfortunately for Beau the deer was nowhere in sight.

Such an adventure!

Squirrel Tales

There must be some new, young squirrels roaming our backyard and scampering over the roof these days, because a couple of them have had misadventures in the last few months.  It could be just one really silly squirrel, but I prefer to think they were two different ones.  One couldn't possibly get into the same sort of trouble twice.

Some time in January, on one of the days when I was working from home, I heard quite a racket coming from outside.  It was such a clatter bang that I opened the door to investigate.  I couldn't identify the source of the noise at first but then figured it out when I heard some scratching - a squirrel had been on the roof, perhaps running in or near the gutter, and somehow fell into the drainpipe at one edge of the patio.  There is a black, flexible piece of plastic tubing that connects the drainpipe to the ground, so that water drains underground instead of splashing on the patio and creating a pool.  Unfortunately, the bottom half of that tubing is now under cement, courtesy of the patio.  Therefore, the squirrel could not just slide out at the bottom end of the drainpipe.  Also, because the sides of the drainpipe are so smooth, the squirrel was unable to clamber up and get back to the opening through which it had fallen.

I was hoping the squirrel would be able to follow the tubing out to wherever the water empties into the yard or street, but a day later, I went to check and could still hear the squirrel scratching inside the drainpipe.  I occasionally look out the at the backyard through the glass in the French doors to give my eyes a break from the computer screen, and during one of those breaks, as I watched a squirrel swinging from branch to branch in the trees, scrambling up and down the trunks as another squirrel chased it, I noticed a long piece of a tree branch, that had fallen some months ago, leaning against the back fence.  It suddenly occurred to me that if it was thin enough to fit into the drainpipe, the squirrel could use it to climb up and get out that way.  After I'd finished work, I got the branch, propped up the ladder, climbed onto the roof and then began pushing the wood into the drainpipe.  It wasn't a straight branch, of course, but surprisingly it fit into the drainpipe.  I got back on the ladder and climbed down to the patio, and almost immediately heard the squirrel racing up the drainpipe by using the wood.  I thought it was quite smart of it to have figured out the plan so quickly.  Since it had been trapped for at least a couple of days, it was very hungry and just sat near the bird feeder looking at me.  I put out a few nuts for it and those were quickly gobbled up.

A few weeks later, Beau and Belle were out in the backyard one evening and I went outside to check on them, as I occasionally do to be sure they haven't found some way to get through the fence and run off to have an adventure.  Beau was standing next to the drainpipe at the other end of the house, looking at it in a puzzled way and sniffing.  I thought to myself, "Another squirrel can't possibly have fallen in a drainpipe!"  I was wrong.

I have no idea how long that squirrel had been in there but it must have been at least a couple of days if not longer, because there were several tiny puncture holes near the bottom of the drainpipe. The poor creature had apparently been using its sharp nails (or perhaps even teeth) to make holes in the drainpipe to try and get out. This one has the same black plastic pipe at the bottom, buried in the earth, so there was no easy exit. When I tapped on the drainpipe, the trapped squirrel made the usual squirrel-type sounds but also began mewing like a cat, which made me think it was young.  I sighed, then went to get the ladder and the long piece of stick (which I had kept propped up against the drainpipe from the first mishap just in case the same thing happened again).  I got onto the roof and began pushing the stick down the drainpipe.  I left it in and climbed back down the ladder, waiting expectantly for the squirrel to clamber up the stick, like the other one had done.  Nothing happened.  I shook the drainpipe a little and the squirrel made the same sort of noises as before but stayed at the bottom of the drainpipe.  That's what made me think it couldn't be the same squirrel as before, because that one figured out really quickly how to use the stick to climb out.

I got back on the roof and pushed the stick further down, in case it wasn't close enough to the squirrel, but that still didn't work.  As there didn't seem to be any other option, I began cutting the top of the black plastic pipe to try and get it away from the drainpipe, in order to let the squirrel get out that way.  After some cutting, I finally managed to slip it off the bottom of the drainpipe.  The plastic pipe was now next to the drainpipe rather than around it, and there was an opening at the end of the drainpipe.  You'd think the squirrel would just slide out, wouldn't you?  Of course not.  That would have been too easy.  Every time that silly creature got tired and its bottom began sliding out, it would get terrified because it thought it was about to fall through a hole into nothing (the bottom end of the drainpipe was about six to eight inches / 15 to 20 centimetres off the ground) and would push itself back into the drainpipe.  Unbelievable!

I saw a couple of thick stones nearby and propped them up below the opening at the end of the drainpipe so that if the squirrel's bottom began falling out of the drainpipe again, it would feel some sort of a surface and would realise it wasn't going to fall.  I then went back to cooking dinner.  At some point while I was cooking, the squirrel finally managed to get itself out.  When I went to check on it about ten minutes later, I could no longer see its tail at the end of the drainpipe or its claws through the holes it had made, and when I tapped on the drainpipe, there was no response like there had been earlier.  The drama was finally at an end.

I eased the black plastic pipe back around the drainpipe (otherwise we'd have a lake at that end of the yard every time it rains) and went back to cooking.  Haven't had any more trapped squirrels since then (that I know of, at least), so I'm hoping that means they both learned their lessons.  It's a good thing for them they are so cute ...

Spring planting

The weather last Sunday was perfect for gardening - sunny but cool and breezy - so after a lot of raking and digging up we planted flowers (annuals) to add to the existing perennials in our little flower garden.  We bought marigolds (yellow and orange), petunias (red and purple) and lantana (the tiny red and yellow flowers towards the back of the photo below).  It's going to take a few weeks for them to fill in so that we see more plants and less soil, but the colour and sheer prettiness of the flowers have already made such a difference to the front yard.  The bright green leaves in the middle (left) of the photo belong to a hydrangea bush that Bruce and I were given as a gift for our 10th anniversary last year.  It has flower buds sprouting, as do the three hydrangeas Bruce planted in the side yard a couple of years ago.  However, there is a lot of work to do in the side yard before it looks as good as it did last year - a bunch of weeds and ivy have sprung up there, so I need to start digging.  Unfortunately, we haven't had many April showers so I've had to do a lot of watering to ensure we have May flowers.  We also bought a couple of bags of potting soil that I'll be adding to the existing soil in the garden in the hopes that will keep the flowers blooming for several months.

Moonlight Sonanade

That would be an odd title/subject line for anyone who was not at the American Classics concert Bruce and I went to last night, but I chose it because that was the highlight for me.

We had a lovely but busy day yesterday.  A few days ago, Bruce read about an upcoming performance by a Chamber Music group in a town called Calhoun, which is about 1 hour and 40 minutes north of where we live.  Since that seemed to be a little far to drive just for a concert, we decided to add a hike to the day's program and take the dogs with us.  Bruce found information online for a hike to a waterfall that was about a half-hour drive from Calhoun, so we drove there after first going to Calhoun to find the Gem Theatre, where the performance would be that night.

Leaving Atlanta was a bit of an adventure in itself because of bad traffic conditions caused by roadwork and road closures, but we finally made it out of the city and were soon in the mountains and then at the park where the waterfall hike would take place.  I was rather ill a couple of weeks ago (I think it was the 'flu) and am only just beginning to feel a little more energetic and less lifeless, and am finally having less difficulty breathing, so that hike was far more challenging for me than it would have normally been (a couple of steep sections and uphill all the way), but it was so nice to be outdoors in cool air again (we have had a very mild winter with far too many warm days for this time of year).  There were thunderstorms and tornado warnings here on Friday night, so seeing the sun and feeling the cool air was refreshing.  This was quite a deserted spot (we only saw four other people), so the dogs got to run off-leash, which they love.  There was a stream running alongside the trail for much of the hike, which delighted Beau, so all in all it was a good hike.  And the fact that it was downhill all the way back to the car made the second half of the hike much easier on my lungs.  It was a good day to see the waterfall, because all the rain from the night before made it more powerful than it might have otherwise been.  Apparently it can sometimes completely dry up in the summer if there is no rain, so our timing was good.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant (the food was really good) and then found a place to park a couple of blocks from the theatre.  The dogs were fed and tired out from their run, so they settled down to sleep while we walked to the theatre.  It's a small theatre (not surprising, since Calhoun isn't a very big town), and there weren't very many people there for the concert, which was a shame because the music was so good.  The conductor, Dr. Sam Baltzer, who is also a composer and arranger, chose music by Aaron Copland and George Gershwin because he says they best embody American music.  The first piece was Hoedown from 'Rodeo' by Copland, and then the musicians performed Appalachian Spring Suit, also by Copland, which is one of Bruce's favourite pieces of music.  We learnt a couple of interesting facts - that the music was commissioned by Martha Graham for a ballet, and that she chose the name Appalachian Spring (except that she meant the source of water rather than the season).

Before intermission, the musicians played my favourite piece from that night - Moonlight Sonanade, which was an amazing, brilliant blending of two pieces of music - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade.  Dr. Baltzer did an excellent arrangement of the two pieces and I now want to find out if there is a recording of it available.  I love it when people do unexpected things like that with music.  As much as I enjoy listening to performances of well-known, well-loved music, a concert becomes far more interesting when something unexpected, like Moonlight Sonanade, takes place.

After the intermission, they performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (which the pianist jazzed up a little too much) and then performed the second surprising piece of the evening for their encore - a delightful blending of parts of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Irving Berlin's Putting on the Ritz.  It was so good and a wonderful way to end the performance and what had been a fun day.

A couple of weeks ago, Ranee and Roshan came to visit us.  Unfortunately, it was when I was feeling very ill so I wasn't a very good host and didn't feel up to doing very much, but at least we were able to entertain Roshan a little.  Bruce took Roshan for a ride around the neighbourhood on his motorcycle, and Roshan enjoyed it a great deal (after a little trepidation at the beginning).  On Saturday night (they got here on Friday evening), we went to the circus and I think Roshan enjoyed that as well.  It certainly made it more fun for us to see it with him - children make a lot of things more exciting and interesting.  The circus was in Atlanta and traffic as well as parking would have been chaotic, so we took the train and I think that ride added to the overall fun of the evening for Roshan.

Those are the highlights of the year so far.  Bruce's younger son, Jonathan, is getting married to Claire in June, so there is that to look forward to, among other things. My company finally gave us the go-ahead to hire Allyson, my department's intern for the last two-and-a-half-years, as a full-time employee, which will hopefully make it easier for me to take time off from work in the future.  I would say I hope that will lighten my workload a little, but that's doubtful - our department seems to be taking on more projects (to justify hiring a second person, which is rather ironic because there used to be three people in the department doing the same amount of work we currently do, but that seems to be the way things are in this economy).  One very nice thing that happened recently was a complete surprise to me - the president of my company writes what he calls the President's Post every once in a while, and in his most recent edition, there was an entry about me.  It was a little embarrasing but also very nice to read, especially because work has been so crazy recently.

This is what he wrote:

Prema Jesuthasan, Kellen’s Unsung Hero

Everyone knows that we live in a 24-hour news cycle. From broadcast television to newspapers to millions of websites, blogs and social media outlets, there can be a hurricane of news and information activity around any topic. But, when a topic reaches crisis level the outpouring of news coverage and analysis can be nothing short of monumental.

Kellen’s IRC Department, led by Prema Jesuthasan, tackles that every day. Specifically, Prema has developed expert skills in combing through incredible amounts of information to keep Kellen’s clients informed, often times in real time as news is breaking. For those who may not work with Prema, her efforts seem to occur at all times of the day, often long before the sun comes up, as she anticipates coverage from around the world. Given the technical and scientific specifics of many Kellen clients, her breadth of keyword understanding and identifying truly relevant information benefits the staff teams, client leadership and the entire industries they represent. It is a truly remarkable effort.

From food safety to building and construction, there is a lot written, broadcast and posted on the Internet. We appreciate all the efforts of Prema and the IRC Department to keep us informed and up to speed in these times of intense activity and throughout the year.


I liked it mostly because it explains a lot of what I do and reminds me that there are people who know how hard I work.

Alamak, Malaysia

Why is it that Malaysia is only able to make the front page or main pages of top newspapers like the The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and be featured on NPR (National Public Radio) in the US for negative, shameful reasons?  Both newspapers as well as the Associated Press and Reuters have run reports about the rally for election reform and the arrest of over a thousand people on Saturday. NPR interviewed a Malaysian cartoonist who is being harrassed by the government because of his critical cartoons.

I don't see how we can be anything except a third world nation when our leaders are so thin-skinned that they cannot alow freedom of speech and rallies or protests without sending the police and federal reservists in full force, armed with water cannons and tear gas, to scare protestors away.  If, as the prime minister claims, the majority of Malaysians support him, then where is the harm in letting what he describes as a minority say what they think?  Why say you can gather and then change your mind?  If you are secure in your power, you shouldn't be afraid.  If you are not corrupt, you have nothing to hide. And if elections are corrupt, as is claimed, then you have nothing to worry about because the corruption is still yours to use as you please.  Why do you need to use the Sedition Act to arrest and control people?

Bruce was listening to an interview on NPR just now and told me to tune in.  A Malaysian cartoonist, Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque (Zunar), was being interviewed about an award he was given last week - the “2011 Award in Editorial Cartooning”.  All I can say, after reading his acceptance speech, is that I am more grateful every day for the Internet and all the modern technology we have, because this allows people have their say despite the best attempts of draconian governments and power-hungry politicians to silence them.

I've pasted his acceptance speech below, and am also including the link to the web page it is on.  The site is http://www.theworld.org/:

http://www.theworld.org/2011/07/malaysian-cartoonist-planning-to-sue-government-for-banning-his-books/

WHY PINCH WHEN YOU CAN PUNCH
In Malaysia, all newspapers, TV stations and radios are controlled by the government using a law - ThePrinting and Presses Act. This law requires every media owner to apply for annual license. The govern-ment has absolute power to grant or deny the application without any grounds. And the decision of the government cannot be challenged in a court of law.

This shuts the door for any alternative or dissident view including editorial cartoons. Independent editorialcartoonists have to find alternative medias such as the internet.

I contribute for a website called Malaysiakini.com. I also produce my own books. So far I have producedCartoons on Tun, 1 Funny Malaysia, Cartoon-O-Phobia, Even My Pen Has a Stand, Gedung Kartun, PerakDarul Kartun and three volumes of Isu Dalam Kartun.

My aim is to use cartoons as a weapon to fight corruption and abuse of power by the Malaysian government. Through my cartoons, I highlight very important issues, which have not been reported in the government-controlled medias.They include the corrupt practice by the Prime Minister and his cabinet members, the murder of the Mongolian model by the name of Altantuya, the conspiracy against Anwar Ibrahim, the domination Prime Minister’s wife, the Scorpene submarine scandal, waste of public funds, among others.

My philosophy is clear: in order to make an impact, we must do it to the fullest. My method is to criticize themost powerful leaders in the hardest ways. Why pinch when you can punch!

In my career, I constantly face harassment, intimidation and oppression from the government. Thegovernment bans all my cartoon books. My office is constantly raided. Several factories that printed mybooks were also raided, and they were warned not to print my books in the future or their license will berevoked.
 
Through-out the country, vendors are often warned not to sell my books or face court charges.On September 2010, ten police officers raided my office four hours before the launching of my cartooncollection, Cartoon-O-Phobia. They confiscated 66 copies of the books as well as one original cartoon.
 
I was arrested, brought to seven police stations around the city. And then they detained and jailed meunder the draconian Sedition Act, which carries the maximum jail of three years. I was handcuffed for eight continuous hours.
 
I was put in the same cell with other criminals like robbers and drug addicts. The government wanted toremand me longer and interrogate me, but I was released the next day under the court's instruction.
 
This is a very difficult period for me. The banning costs me a financial loss at about RM80,000.00 (aboutUSD35,000.00). The Sedition Act, which carries the maximum jail of three years, is still hanging like a sword of Damocles on my head. The government would charge me anytime.That's how hard it is. My movement is being monitored, my phone is being tapped.
 
Drawing political cartoons in Malaysia is a crime. Fighting corruption in Malaysia is a crime. This is totally contradicting with Islamic principles. One of the greatest Islamic leaders, Caliph Ali had said: "The highest level of patriotism is to tell the truth in front of unjust rulers."
 
As an editorial cartoonist, it is our duty to fight injustice. In Malaysia as well as in the third world coun-tries and the Middle East, cartoonists face bigger challenge. It is a thin line between the comic strips and the prison strips.
 
But we must be ready to face the consequences. We have to keep fighting. We have to continue drawing until the last drop of our ink! If we back down, it means that we compromise our principles to fight tyrannies.
 
I filed a suit against the government to challenge the banning of my books. For this case, the court will deliver its judgment on the 14th of July 2011. On June 2011, I filed another suit to challenge the Malaysian government for the "unlawful detention" against me on September 2010. This court has yet to set a trial date.
 
The tough challenges are not only faced by cartoonists in Asia and the Middle East, but also in other parts of the world. Mr. Clay Bennet told me that many American cartoonists are in the risk of losing their jobs because of the economic downturn and the emergence of internet. My sympathy is with them.
 
I think it is the right time for us the cartoonists around the world to unite, closing the rank by having more dialogues to foster better understanding.
 
Once again, thank you CRNI for this award. "Courage in Editorial Cartooning" award gives me a new strength, "like giving spinach to Popeye."
 
Thank you.
 
 
 
This is a video of him working on a cartoon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ev1fKHGdrZ8
 

Pisang goreng and other bits

A couple of Tuesdays ago, we had a couple of almost over-ripe bananas sitting on the dining table (we had meant to make banana pancakes over the weekend but got too busy).  As I looked at the bananas and wondered what to do with them (I don't like eating them when they are too ripe), I had a sudden craving for pisang goreng.  This could have had something to do with the fact that Bruce and I had lunch at Penang, my favourite (Malaysian) restaurant in Atlanta on Saturday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and food from home was still on my mind.  Therefore, after work, I looked online for recipes for pisang goreng.  I have Amy Beh's cookbook, but the Chinese version of pisang goreng is a little too crunchy for my liking, so I looked for something without rice flour amongst the ingredients.  I found a recipe for the batter that sounded good and tried it that afternoon - it was scrumptious!  Very easy to make, as well, so I will probably be making that again in the future.  Not too often, because it's so greasy, but it is a nice treat to have every once in a while.  The recipe is at the end of this post, in case anyone gets a craving ...

Now that we're finally ready to sell this house and look for a bigger one so that we have room for guests (and Bruce's father, if he decides to live with us), I've started working more enthusiastically on the outside of the house.  About a month ago, we bought a bunch of stone blocks to build a short wall around the little island of plants and flowers in our front yard.  This replaced the plastic border Bruce had put up years ago that was falling apart.  There is now a two-layer wall around the island and it looks so much better.  The weeds and I are in constant battle to see who will give up control of the island first.  They (and the wild grass) won last year but this year I'm showing them who's boss.  They are sprouting back almost as fast as I can pull them out, and the heat makes it difficult for me to stay outside for too long, but I'm trying to weed at least a small section each day.  At least now we have what is termed "curb appeal", i.e. the house looks nice when you look at it from the curb/road.

However, the other day I realized that the vinyl siding, which was replaced less than two years ago, is beginning to look dirty and even had mould growing on it in the back, where the sun doesn't hit the house. Therefore, I am now having to literally wash the house.  We found a mould & mildew remover at the store that works really well with just a few sprays and some scrubbing with a brush, so I did one section of the house a couple of hours ago.  It is amazing what a difference the cleaning makes!  That one wall now looks new again.  I'm going to do a section at a time so that I don't tire myself out, but once the entire outside has been scrubbed, any new dirt should be easy to rinse off with the hose.  (Which is apparently what I should have been doing all along, but since our house in Bangsar doesn't have to be washed on the outside, it didn't occur to me to do that here.  I thought the rain would take care of the rinsing/cleaning, but all it does is splash on the ground and send dirt/mud up to the walls.)

We had a couple of short trips recently - one in April and the other in May.  I'll write about that next.


http://www.kimbaskitchen.com/2010/05/banana-fritters-recipe-pisang-goreng.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup corn flour

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

180ml (cold) water (or until the batter reaches the right consistency)

1 tbsp oil for the batter mix

4 ripe / browning bananas

Enough oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil because that's all I had in the house at the time)

Method:

In a bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add water slowly and mix to form a batter. Add the tablespoon of oil for smoothness.
Slice the bananas diagonally so it forms longish approx. 1.5cm thick strips.
Heat oil until it gets very hot. Dip and coat each banana strip with the batter. Deep fry until it turns brown.

Photographs versus mirrors

I'm going to have to write another long "catch-up" post, because I have been absent from this blog for far too long.  In the meantime, here's a much shorter post.  I've been thinking a lot lately about the different "pictures" of myself that I look at.  What I see reflected in a mirror is often very different from what I see in a photograph.  And even with mirrors, the me I see in one bathroom mirror looks different from the me in another bathroom mirror.

Then I began thinking about the comments people post in response to articles online, and the way they conduct themselves in public - in cars on highways, in any kind of stressful situation.  Some are angry, some are rude, while others are polite and even-tempered.  Do these people see themselves reflected in their words and actions?  If so, do they see themselves as they would in a photograph or in a mirror?  Do they know how hurtful or pleasurable their words are, and do they care?

I prefer photographs.  If I had been looking in myself regularly in photos, and letting Bruce photograph me more often, I don't think I'd have let myself put on quite so much weight.  The me I see in photos is far more overweight than the me I see in mirrors, and because of that, it's  horrifying to see how slim I was ten and even five years ago compared to my weight now.  I understand now why people stick photos of themselves on mirrors and the 'fridge when they want to lose weight, and that's why I'm going to be staring hard at photos of myself from now on, while I work on losing weight and getting my muscles back in shape.  The mirror doesn't provide an honest reflection.

I think people are both photographs and mirrors.  Those who tell us, directly or otherwise, what they really think about us (both the good and the bad) are photographs that show us as we are, not as we may think we are.  But in turn, they are mirrors when it comes to seeing their own characters.  That's why some people are arrogant, thinking they are much better than they actually are, while others are much harder on themselves than they need to be.  Neither is looking at an accurate portrayal.

Dear America ...

... Every once in a while, I like watching a television programme called Extreme Makeover: The Home Edition.  It's the only "reality show" I watch.  Unlike other reality shows that seem determined to highlight what is the worst and most shallow in this country, Extreme Makeover: The Home Edition is a programme that I think celebrates the best of America.  It brings together hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers in what would be termed the "gotong royong" spirit in Malaysia, working together to build beautiful new homes for people in need.  If you haven't watched it and get a chance to, you should, because it shows America at its most helpful, most supportive, most heart-warming.

Every time I watch it, this programme makes the sappy part of me cry some happy tears because there is so much love and positive spirit in it.  I wish more people could see this side of America, instead of the hate that seems to fill so much of your exchanges in person, online and in the print & electronic media.  There is such hate and anger in the country these days, and I think it's threatening to take over everything else, presenting the ugly side of this country to the rest of the world.  I find that sad, because I'd much rather see see the positive, innovative, loving, great side of this country.  The side that used to make people dream of coming here because it seemed like paradise to them.  You used to celebrate freedom and independence.  Now ...

I realize you've been through a lot in the last nine years.  First, the horror of 9/11.  Then the economic depression and loss of jobs and homes.  I understand the fear.  I know it's driving a lot of the anger and hate.  But are you really going to allow fear and despair get the better of you?  Perhaps it's wrong of me, but I expected better from the country that is supposed to be the "leader of the free world".  That seems to be just a tag line now, not a motto that you live by.  How can you be driven by noble aspirations like freedom and love when you show fear and hate?  How can you inspire others when you show the world intolerance?

How can you call yourself the United States of America when you seem so divided by beliefs and politics?  Where is the unity?  It's bad enough that a number of you hate or fear all Muslims because of acts committed by a small, extremist group of them.  I think it's even worse that you seem to hate your fellow Americans.  Political ads by the people you elect to lead you are hateful and unbelievably negative, but you seem to lap them up.  Supposedly, you approve of these nasty ads and allow the negativity to guide your vote - polls show you are more swayed by negative than positive ads.  I find that shocking.

Bullying in this country is at an all-time high, leading to an increasing number of suicides by young people, and you seem surprised by that.  But why would you be when I see bullying all around me, in the things adult Americans say and write.  You are leading by example, bullying and hurting people who don't agree with your views or politics.  There is such venom in the things some Americans say and write.  Is it any wonder children and teenagers are doing the same thing, saying hurtful things to each other via text messages and online?  They are learning from from the adults.

The sad thing is that most Americans aren't like that, but as with everything else, it is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, and the worst of you are getting the most attention, even though they are the minority.  The America that others see is not an America to be proud of, and I think that is sad.  The anti-Muslim sentiment in this country, even if it isn't widespread, is getting a lot of attention and is making those of us who have grown up in Muslim countries and have Muslim friends, even if we aren't Muslim ourselves, wonder about this country and where it really stands on important issues like tolerance and freedom of religion.  The rudeness and intolerance exhibited by some Americans, including some of your politicians, makes some of us wonder if you really do deserve to be in a leadership position internationally.  If you believe that Christianity is the only true religion, then shouldn't you as a nation behave in a way that inspires others and attracts them to your way of life and your religion rather than repelling then because of your hatred?

You elected a president based on the premise of change and then, in typical human behaviour, fought that change every step of the way.  Or, you expected him to deliver everything you wanted  on day one and then became disillusioned when change wasn't instantaneous.  I wonder sometimes if you realize just how big your country is, how long it takes for change to actually be implemented and how many demands are made on a government that you expect to fix everything but you then insist is too big.

The most watched news channel on television is the least balanced and fair, despite what their tag line might proclaim, and seems to be filled with opinionated people determined to incite an uprising with calls to "take back America" while idealizing the way things used to be even though they weren't really ideal in the past.  The top-selling newspaper in the country has as a weekly columnist the man who helped take America to war in 2002 for reasons that anyone not driven by fear and blind emotion knew was wrong.  Are these the most watched station and most read newspaper for the same reason negative political ads hold more sway?  Do the majority of people really thrive more on the negative than the positive?  That doesn't sound like the land of hope to me.

Thankfully there are also rational, intelligent, fair people with a voice to try to bring reasonable, balanced, calm debate to the table.  They are not noisemakers or alarmists, so they are not heard by as many of the masses, but they are heard by enough and that gives me hope.  Hope that you aren't so angry you lose sight of what a blessed country this is and how much you have going for you here, despite some setbacks.  Hope that you will take a deep breath, especially at this time of year when the autumn colours are so beautiful and the air so crisp and fresh it makes you happy to be alive, and remember what America is supposed to stand for ... not hate, anger and raised voices but freedom, human rights and the courage to change, to move towards a brighter future instead of clinging to an idealistic past.  Hope that the friendships all around this nation between people of different races, religions and political ideologies will triumph over fear, hate and ignorance.

Instead of "taking back America", what you should aspire to do is rebuild America as Extreme Makeover: The Home Edition rebuilds homes.  Use your innovativeness, talent and creativity to build bridges between people and communities, focusing on what you have in common instead of what pulls you apart.  Where you have differences, find common ground (like pride in your country) to bring you together.  Be the America the rest of the world can look up to as the best there is, instead of one that makes people view you as prejudiced and narrow-minded.  You are better than the pettiness and hate that fills the air.  Be compassionate and filled with the desire to uplift others.  Be Extreme Makeover: The National Edition.  Be inspirational, and remind the rest of the world why it wanted to be like you.

Be the America that drew so many to your shores, filled with hopes and dreams.  Be the land brave enough to allow true freedom of speech - the kind of freedom that lets you say what you want if you so desire but gives you pause so that you say things that will build up instead of tear down your fellow Americans, or makes you choose not to speak when it hurts or denigrates, because that is also a form of freedom.

10/10/10

Such a cool date.  I entered my friend Jackie for a competition today, so the non-rational part of me hopes that submitting the entry on this date brings her luck.  It's a gift-wrapping competition, one that she really should win because she does such an amazing job of wrapping presents.  Jackie didn't have any photos of gifts she had wrapped in the past, and since Bruce's birthday is coming up, I volunteered his presents.  Jackie gift-wrapped them, Bruce took photos of the finished products and I wrote a 100-word essay on why I am nominating Jackie.  If she's selected as a finalist, she gets to fly to New York in early December for the finals (the competition organizers pay for the airfare and hotel).  I hope she wins!

The weather apparently doesn't think it is Autumn yet, because although it's cool early in the morning and late at night (about 10 Celsius), temperatures are still going up into the mid-eighties (about 29 Celsius) during the day.  In October!

I am now allowed to work from home two days a week!  As of the coming work week, I'll be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  That means less noise and distraction at work during the day (the people in the cubicles near mine can be really noisy sometimes) and less days on the road ...  And psychologically, even though not mathematically, it makes the weekend seem longer and the week less stressful.  The dogs will certainly be happy to once again be alone only three days a week.

Camping, take two

Some years ago (too many, in Bruce's opinion), Bruce, Buster and I went camping.  It was the Labour Day weekend (Labour Day is always the first Monday in September here) and we went to the north Georgia mountains.  It was hot, the tent was tiny & therefore claustrophobic and Buster woke me up several times with his heavy panting and restlessness.  It wasn't exactly the best introduction to camping, so I told Bruce I'd do it again only if we got a bigger tent.  We bought one a couple of years ago that I really like because it's big, tall, wide and spacious enough for the two of us and the dogs (including their two beds).  It supposedly can sleep 7-8 people but that would bring the claustrophobia right back as far as I'm concerned, so I'm quite happy to think of the 7-8 people description as being for 7-8 toddlers or two adults and two dogs.

We hadn't actually gotten around to using it, but when Bruce and his sons went camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway in August, it reminded Bruce why he loved camping so much.  He came back determined to take me camping somewhere, and once again the Labour Day weekend became our destined camping time (because the next long weekend we get is for Thanksgiving at the end of November, and that might not be the best time to reintroduce me to camping).  As with the previous attempt, it was a little too hot to be really enjoyable, plus the insects buzzing around us at the campsite were irritating, to say the least.  However, the larger tent did make the experience far more enjoyable and I'm going to be more apt to say yes if the subject of camping comes up again in the future.  Just not when it's hot (which makes things a little difficult for the time being, since I can only go on vacation if my department's intern can cover for me, and that is only when she's on vacation from college).  Perhaps we'll go camping in Florida for Thanksgiving ...

Back to the camping adventure.  We went to South Carolina, to a campsite called Tuck in the Woods (I think that's how it was spelled, or perhaps Tuc, and you'll have to call Bruce if you want to know how to pronounce that properly, i.e. in true South Carolina fashion.  I apparently failed miserably in my attempt at that accent.)  The campsite was about six hours from our house and both Bruce & I had to work the Friday before the weekend, so the decision was made to leave Friday evening, after Bruce got home from work.  I, happily, get to work from home on Fridays, so I woke up early, started work at about 4:00 a.m. that day and was finished by 2:00 p.m., giving me plenty of time to get some packing and loading of the car done while Bruce was at his office.

We left at about 5:30 p.m. on September 3rd, stopping briefly so Bruce could buy a couple of CDs he'd been wanting and to get some dinner.  Then the journey proper began.  As usual, that bratty husband of mine begins the trip by insisting on doing the driving, and then gets tired when there are about two hours left in the trip and deigns to let me take over the driving at that time (this is usually when I'd be sound asleep if we were at home).  Luckily for him, I get wide awake when I'm driving at night, because there is so much to look out for that I'm very alert.)  The journey takes about six hours in large part because the last leg of it goes through many small towns, which are quite picturesque in the daytime but rather boring to drive through at night, when you can't see much and have to keep slowing down to 35 mph and then 25 mph before being allowed to speed up to as much as 55 mph at times (says the person who'd much rather be going at 110 km per hour because that sound so much faster).

Anyway ... we finally got to the campsite at about midnight, at which time we had the fun of putting up the tent in semi-darkness, surrounded by biting insects that weren't intimidated by insect repellent.  Bruce, the camping expert, had us practising putting up the tent the weekend before we left for the trip, so that we'd know how it's supposed to be assembled.  That was an excellent idea, because it meant we familiarised ourselves with the different rods and what went where, making it much easier to put the tent in the dark when we were tired.  It wasn't really that dark, because Bruce had bought several battery-powered lamps (which unfortunately brought out the insects in full force but did give us enough light to function by).  I let the dogs wander around a little when we first arrived at the campsite, but then made them sit in the car while the tent was being put up, so that we wouldn't have to worry about them disappearing in unfamiliar territory.  They were very well-behaved, considering there was much to explore and smell.  It took about an hour to get everything, including ourselves, ready for bed, and another half-an-hour to get the dogs settled.  They both decided our sleeping bags looked more interesting than their beds. Unfortunately, all the work to get things ready made us get rather hot, and the humid weather didn't help, so that first night wasn't very comfortable.  It took Beau a long time to stop panting, and we're seriously thinking about getting a portable fan for future trips if we're crazy enough to go camping in the summer again.

Happily, we managed to keep the bulk of the insects out of the tent.  We left the windows and the door unzipped to try and catch any night breeze that might decide to visit, so Belle had a fine time looking outside from her bed (there was a porch-like section of the tent that was just netting, beyond the sleeping area, so that gave us some extra space while keeping the front opening securely zipped in order to keep the dogs in the tent with us.  Not that they ever tried to escape - they were thrilled to have us sleeping on the ground with them!  And thankfully, the second night was a little cooler, which made it more comfortable.  Belle and Beau actually slept in their own beds all night.  In the early hours of the second morning, it actually got cold enough for Bruce and me to want to be in, rather than on, our sleeping bags.

On Saturday, our first full day there, we drove into Charleston, which was about two hours away.  (I'm unable to pronounce that in the proper Southern way, either.)  On the way to Charleston, we saw a sign for a nature trail, so we stopped there for a while.  There was only one other car there (we later found out it belonged to fishermen), so we felt comfortable about letting Belle and Beau run around without their leashes.  They were thrilled!  That really is such a joy for them, being able to race around freely.  They had a marvelous time.  We didn't see all that much in terms of wildlife, but it was still a fun stop.  Then we got back on the road to Charleston.  We stopped at the visitor's center to get some information, and the very helpful man on duty there told us where to go to park (always useful information to have when you're new to a city).  Since it was almost lunch-time, we left the dogs in the car at the parking deck and went to get some food.  There was a cafe-type restaurant across the road from the parking deck that I'm glad we went to, because the food was scrumptious.  We both ordered seafood, because that's what you do when you're in Charleston, home to some of the best seafood around.  I had crabcake and Bruce had a shrimp salad sandwich, which was so good that I actually preferred it over my crabcake (which is nothing like real cake, in case you are wondering).

After lunch, we went on a carriage ride around Charleston WITH THE DOGS.  That is in bold, in capital letters, because that's what the ride was like!  First of all, we had to get the dogs used to the idea of being near horses, because they tend to bark at them (I'm quite sure Beau thinks horses are really big dogs).  Then we had to get the dogs on the carriage, which was a big adventure in itself.  The carriage seats 16 people, four per row.  Or, in our case, two adults and two dogs.  People climb onto the carriage using a stepladder.  Dogs don't climb stepladders.  They are fine walking or even running up regular stairs, but a ladder?  I know they think we humans are crazy.  I climbed into the carriage first, then Beau got very excited and tried to follow me, but couldn't figure out how to do it.  After several attempts, I got back down on the ground, Bruce got into the carriage, and then somehow we managed to get Beau up.  Belle was much easier because she's smaller and lighter, so the guy who runs the show just lifted her in.  Finally, we were all in (with the rest of the passengers waiting patiently - thank goodness they were all dog lovers) and ready to set off.  The dogs were excited and nervous but behaved tolerably well for the first few minutes.  Then they started getting too hot and became really restless.  Belle finally crawled under the our seat and all the way over to the seat behind ours, where she sat in the shade under that seat. getting lots of attention from the people in that row.  Beau tried to follow but was too big, so he was stuck in the front row with us and the driver, getting much hotter and more restless.  Giving him water didn't help much.  I had to keep holding on to him and trying to calm him down, so I missed about half of what our guide was saying, but it was still an interesting tour.

I had no idea Charleston gets hit by earthquakes as often as it does.  That, combined with flooding, makes it quite a challenging place to live in, I think.  But it is a beautiful city and I can understand why people love it.  It's a lot like Savannah, which is my favourite city in Georgia.  They both have gorgeous oak trees draped with Spanish moss, elegant architecture and very walkable streets, artistry everywhere you look ...  Bruce and I definitely want to go back to Charleston so that we can see more of the city, but next time I think we'll stay in or near Charleston itself, so that we don't spend so much time on the road getting to all the sights.

After the hot adventure, we put the dogs back in the car with water to drink and the engine running so that the air-conditioner would cool them down, and we trotted over to the market to look at some souvenirs.  Then we drove back to the campsite, where Bruce cooked dinner while the dogs and I explored the area a little.  When we arrived on Friday night, there were no tents near us (which is how I like it!), but when we got back to the campsite on Saturday evening, there were tents everywhere!  And several more RVs.  It was a lot noisier.

On Sunday, Bruce took us to the beach.  We'd been wanting to see what Beau would think of the ocean, since he's such a water dog.  He was startled at first by the moving water, backing away quickly when waves came towards him, but he soon realized it was his beloved water and went trotting in.  He loved it!  (And for some reason drinking it didn't seem to bother him, silly dog.)  Unfortunately, the dogs had to remain on their leashes and Belle wasn't at all impressed by the ocean, so I spent most of our time there being pulled in opposite directions - Beau wanting to go into the water, Belle wanting to be as far away from it as possible.  Where was Bruce?  Taking photos of me getting my arms pulled off, naturally.  Highlight of that excursion, apart from the fun of seeing Beau's reaction?  We saw dolphins!!!  They dove in and out of the water, moving out so rapidly that Bruce couldn't get photos, but it was such a thrill to see them.

It was very hot so we didn't stay at the beach very long.  I love the sea, but I like being on the beach only early in the morning or late in the evening, not when it's baking hot.  So we left the beach for some marshland, where a platform has been built so that people can walk out into the marsh and look at the crabs and birds.  There's an area just like that near Savannah, adding to the similarities between the two cities.

The original plan had been to leave for home on Monday morning but the heat was beginning to get to us, so we decided to pack up and head home on Sunday evening.  We got home at about 11:00 that night and had the whole of Monday (Labour Day) to recover, which I was glad about.  I also had to do some work, since there's always a lot of news to catch up on during a long weekend and I work alone on Tuesdays, which meant I'd have even more news to go through on Tuesday if I didn't get some work done on Monday.  So I did labour a little on Monday, but it was worth it as it made my Tuesday a little less stressful.  I think the best thing about the weekend was being away from computers and e-mail.  I didn't think about work at all, which was a very nice mental break.

The other big event in September was the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park (about eight miles from our house).  This is already a very long blog entry so I won't ramble on about the festival.  Suffice to say it showcases work by various craftspeople/artists and was a very successful shopping expedition.  Bruce has been wanting some plants for his new office and found two very pretty bonsai there.  I've been wanting some sort of small table on which to put a lamp I bought for our reading room, and I found the perfect one at Yellow Daisy.  It's a wooden table with small shelves at different levels and bigger top.  The lamp sits on top and I've filled the shelves with all my Christmas-themed snow globes.  It looks lovely!  I was going to put in a photo but I haven't taken one with Bruce's camera yet, and the photo I took using my cellphone doesn't look very clear.  Bruce and his camera are in Madison and Athens today, bike-riding with his brother-in-law, so I'll have to wait until they return before taking some photos.

We also found some pottery that I really like.  We bought a spoon holder, a serving platter that can also be used as a tray and a couple of candle holders.  The colours go quite well with the blue-green French pottery we bought last year, so I'm happy.  I'll try and get photos of that, as well.  Yesterday, we went to a monastery so that Bruce could find some things for his bonsai and I found candles at the monastery store that go perfectly with the candle holders.  I love the way that happens - finding things in different places that go together at home.  Shopping can be so much fun!

Where did August go?

We're already in the third week of September but it seems like August just began last week.  Once again, so much has been going on and I've been bad about writing updates here, so I'm going to do another summary.  To sum it up, August was a month of highs and lows.

Bruce and the boys had a fabulous time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and he's got some photos up on Facebook.  It was a good bonding session for them, plus Bruce got to spend a little time with his friend Chip, whom he's known since he was a teenager.  They had lunch with Chip and his wife Judy on the first day of their trip, and then Chip and his son Austin joined Bruce, Jason and Jonathan for one night of camping.

After three weeks of vacation, Bruce started his new job on August 16th.  The type of work is the same as at his last job but the new boss is much better.  However, his commute is even longer now, which is a major drawback in the summer heat.

Belle had to have surgery on August 11th.  Apparently, she decided she hadn't had her share of drama for the year.  She had two cancerous growths removed.  She has mast cell cancer, which is apparently common in some dogs, and hers is Grade 2 - not as great a result as it could have been but not as bad as it might have been, either.  We're supposed to keep an eye out for the appearance of more growths, which will have to be immediately removed.  The wounds from her surgery healed well, which is a good sign, because apparently in some cases, if the cancer cells are malignant, the wounds don't heal well.  She's been very lively and seems to be learning from Beau to be more light-hearted and less serious.

We had a ruby-throated hummingbird visit our feeder for about a week, probably on his way south.  That was a little thrilling, because they are beautiful birds and it made a nice change from seeing only the green hummingbird.  See how things evolve and how greedy I get?  At first, I was so excited just to have one type of hummingbird visit our feeder.  Now that isn't enough and I want lots of different kinds!  I tried growing flowers so they'd have a more natural source of nectar, but the drought and heat ended that dream for this year.

We had a flock of gackles driving me crazy a few weeks ago, because they were migrating and decided to make our feeder a long-term stop.  For several days, we had over 50 birds converging on our feeder. That was infuriating, because they were going through the food so quickly and leaving nothing for our "regulars".  I ended up leaving the feeders empty for over a week to convince them the food source was gone.  I haven't seen them since, so I hope that means they've continued their journey south and won't be back.

There was probably more to write about but I'm moving on to another post now, because September's events (thus far) deserve an entry of their own.  I'm going to take the dogs to the dog park this morning, but I'll try to write more later today.  Like with everything else, if I don't do something immediately or as soon as possible, I tend to put it off indefinitely.  I want to write the September post soon, because it involves a trip.  And camping.  Yes, Bruce got me to go camping again, only seven years after the first attempt!

Snippets

Quite a bit has happened in the last few weeks and I've been negligent in updating this blog, so here is a summary:

Bruce, Jason and Jonathan set off this morning on a motorcycle trip - they are planning to ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Here is an official description of what it is:  "469 miles connecting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia ... Outstanding scenery and recreational opportunities make the Blue Ridge Parkway one of the most visited sections of the National Park System. Split-rail fences, old farmsteads, mountain meadows and scenic overlooks with endless vistas make the Blue Ridge Parkway a popular attraction."  They'll be stopping at campsites along the way and are planning to be back here on Thursday or Friday.

Bruce has been looking forward to this trip for weeks, and this is going to be particularly memorable for the three of them as it's been a long time since they've done a father and sons trip.  They used to do quite a bit of camping when Jason and Jonathan were kids, and I know Bruce has missed it.  He's not thrilled about being out in the heat, but this turned out to be the best time to make the trip as he is starting a new job on August 16th and won't be able to have this sort of leisure time for a while, plus Jason and Jonathan will be back in college soon.  The dogs and I may do a weekend trip with him sometime, but only when it's cooler.  (Yes, I'm a fair weather, or should I say cool weather, traveller.)

Beau has been running around in a T-shirt for the last few days to protect a sore spot on his body.  On Monday, he was not himself.  He was very solemn and spent most of the time lying down.  I called the vet on Tuesday to make an appointment, but they couldn't see him until Wednesday.  He's such a funny dog.  He seems to know now that if something is wrong, we take him to the vet, so when I came home from work on Tuesday, he was standing expectantly at the van, waiting for me to let him in it so we could go to his doctor.  He did that several times on Tuesday, every time I opened the front door.  He was miserable by the time he finally got to see the vet on Wednesday.  It turned out he had some sort of heat sore that was so raw it was hurting him every time he moved.  He got a steroid shot and a medicated spray that has helped dry up the sore spot very quickly and he began feeling better within a few hours.  He's back to being his usual cheerful self now.  It's amazing how quickly he heals.  That's the second time in about a month that he has injured himself.  Previously he got a piece of a fallen tree branch stuck under his tongue, near the frenulum, and was in a lot of pain for a couple of days, but that healed quite quickly, as well.  I've told him we've had enough drama for a few years now, so I hope he was paying attention.  Belle needs to have a couple of growths removed, so that's going to be the next bit of drama in this household.  The vet is quite sure it's nothing serious - I hope she's right.

Bruce and I saw a double rainbow last week, and I swear it was almost to the day a year ago that we saw that same phenomenon in Brinon.  I love little reminders like this of all we saw and did in France last July.

I had a fun birthday this year, although I'm not sure any birthday from now on can top being in Paris with Bruce, Meerabelle and Jehanita last year (and briefly getting to see Isabelle).  Bruce and I had such fun with the girls, and that ice cream ...  But happily, my birthday was on a Saturday this year so I didn't have to be at work.  Bruce and I went bowling in the morning with Jason, Caroline, Jonathan and Claire, and that was so much fun!  The last time Bruce, the boys and I went bowling was nine years ago, when they were in KL for the wedding, and I've told Bruce that I don't want to wait another nine years before we do it again.  After bowling, we had a scrumptious lunch with Bruce's mother and stepfather, which was also fun, and then had a delicious dinner with the Jacksons the next night - they are always good company and all in all, I had a lovely birthday weekend.

Last major event for this update - Bruce and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera a few weeks ago.  It was a good production and I enjoyed it, although I wished we could have been a little closer to the stage.  Every time we go to see a theatre production or a concert, I realize how much I love the arts and how talented and creative human beings can be (when they aren't busy killing or hurting each other).

Speaking of the arts, I've been watching a recording of This Is IT, the movie of the rehearsals and prep work that went into the concert tour for which Michael Jackson was preparing when he died in June 2009.  I'm glad they put this footage together.  There was so much strangeness and controversy in his life in the last decade or so that it overshadowed his music and that amazing dancing & choreography.  He influenced so many dancers and music videos and was phenomenal on his feet - so light, almost like he was floating - and this footage serves as a good reminder of his talent.  There were some sections of this movie that would have been good to watch in 3D, especially the video they shot for the Thriller segment.