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.

Biker chic(k)

I am apparently now a biker chick, married to a biker dude.  The title of this post is a play on that and the chic-ness of the jacket and helmet I now own in order to ride on Bruce's motorcycle.

Bruce is the proud owner of a Honda VTX1300T.  I'd post a photo of his but shockingly, he's been too busy riding the thing to have taken any photos of it yet.  So here's a link that will take you to a photo of one, if you want to see what it looks like: http://powersports.honda.com/2009/vtx1300t.aspx

He got a black one, which he likes.  I'd have preferred the red shown on that site (I voted for pink or purple, but happily for him, they have neither), but there was only one bike left at the dealership - the black one.

He is very, very happy.  He's been wanting a bike for years, and the wait is finally over.  He rode several in his 20s, but his ex made him give up his last bike when their kids were little, so he's been dreaming of owning another one since then.  And now, it's no longer just a dream.  He got the bike last Friday and has ridden it every single day since then, sometimes several times a day, despite the heat.  He even loves the commute to work now, just because he gets to do it on his motorcycle.  He's thrilled, and I love seeing him this excited.

I also love the cool jacket I now own because of the bike.  It's for protection, with elbow and back pads, but I had to make sure it looked good as well, of course - I am a girl, after all.  It's got pretty flowers down the sleeves, and the very nice girl at the store managed to find a (somewhat) matching helmet that also has flowers on it.  I'll try to get a photo of me in the chic biker chick outfit soon - so far, it's been so hot that I take the jacket and helmet off as soon as I'm not on the bike, so getting me to pose for a photo would be expecting too much.

Bruce and I rode on his bike to the Jacksons house on Saturday to show it to them.  I've only been on a bike once before, and that was 10 years ago (when I first came to visit Bruce in 2000, a friend of ours gave me a ride on his).  Getting on Bruce's new motorcycle on Saturday was a little scary at first, and I was somewhat nervous as we rode away from the house, but after a while, I began to enjoy it.  It's a lot of fun, except when we stop moving and the blanket of heat begins pushing down on us - I think Autumn is a much better time of year to buy a bike, rather than the beginning of Summer.  But when we're moving, it feels much cooler.  I'll never be crazy about bikes the way Bruce is, but I can understand why he is such a fan.  Once you get past the fact that there are no doors creating a safe cocoon for you, you begin to enjoy the air and scenery rushing past you.  There is a lovely sense of freedom that comes from being on a motorbike - I think the closest I got to that in the past was zooming down Jalan Ara on a bicycle when I was a kid.  I used to love that feeling, and would keep riding up that steep hill just for the pleasure of racing down it with the wind tearing at my hair and blowing away all the heat of the day. Perhaps this is why dogs love riding in cars with their heads sticking out of the windows.

Bruce, Amy and John used to go riding a lot when they were in college.  Bruce is now trying to convice John he needs to get a bike so that we can all ride around in the mountains on weekends.  I'm trying to convince Bruce I don't want to spend every single weekend on the bike.

Perhaps I'll change my mind when we can afford a trailer for the dogs that can be hitched to the bike, so that they can ride with us ...

Two sides

Does the fact that I can see two sides (at least) to situations and arguments make me indecisive and unable to take a stand?  Sometimes, I think so.  I, like a lot of people, used to see the world as black and white.  There's wrong and there's right.  No two ways about it.  As I grow older and (at least in my viewpoint) wiser, I am becoming more and more convinced that it really is about shades of gray, and that very few things are black and white or written in stone.  I guess that's what makes me less and less able to understand conservatives and religious extremists.

Right now, some people are in an uproar over the recently passed law in Arizona that allows police to essentially stop and question anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.  The governor of Arizona insists this is not about racial profiling.  She says she has no idea what an illegal immigrant looks like (hint: they are from a neighbouring country).  So I suppose police will, for instance, be stopping people who are standing on street corners waiting to be picked up for day labour, regardless of their race, because that's one of the places illegal immigrants hang out.

Now, coming from Malaysia, where identity cards are the norm and we learn from our teenage years to carry them around with us, I can't really relate to those who find that offensive.  In fact, when I first got my green card, I used to carry it everywhere with me because the idea of carrying some form of identification with me at all times was ingrained.  I didn't even think twice about it.  After I got my driver's licence, I carried both that and the green card around for a while.  Slowly, I got used to the idea of carrying around just the driver's licence.  But if I lived in Arizona, I'd have to go back to carrying both forms of identification, to prove that I'm there legally.  Since I went through a lot of red tape (and money) to get that card, I wouldn't find that a big deal.  But, I can understand why some people find that outrageous.

For one thing, if Bruce and I were walking down on opposite sides of a street in Arizona (so that people wouldn't think we were a couple), and there were cops ahead of us on the lookout for illegal immigrants, I suspect that the police would stop me to ask for proof I'm a citizen or legal resident.  I also suspect they would let Bruce keep walking without a second glance, simple because of his skin colour (or rather, the lack of colour).  I think that way largely because, despite protests by some, my impression is that people still tend to think of Americans as Caucasians, for the most part.  Perhaps that is prejudice on my part, caused by the fact that despite having been born in Malaysia, despite the fact that both my parents were born in Malaysia, despite the fact that I think of myself as Malaysian first and Indian second, I know that there are some people who think of Malays (not the orang asli) as the "real" Malaysians and the rest of us as outsiders.  In the same way, I think some people think of those who came over on the Mayflower, etc. (not the native Americans) as the "real" Americans.  And I think some Americans are as prejudiced against Mexicans as some Malaysians are against Indonesians.  You know, those who cross the Straits of Melaka in boats and enter Malaysia illegally to take the jobs that Malaysians would do (if they were paid more).  The Indonesians are blamed for the bulk of crimes in Malaysia, just as illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are blamed for crimes in states like Arizona.

I understand that mindset.  I understand the fear and anger.  Any large group of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, in any country, experiences the same reaction from groups of citizens in any country.  But that doesn't mean the Arizona law isn't wrong.  Although, as I said, I don't think it's a big deal to carry proof of legal residence with you (especially after having worked so hard for it), I've lived here long enough now to understand the outrage by some, who see it as yet another encroachment on rights, yet another stranglehold on freedom.  Arizona's biggest illegal immigrant problem is from South America, largely Mexico.  Anyone with a fair amount of brain cells would be able to deduce that police on the lookout for illegal immigrants will be looking first at those of Hispanic descent.  That means even if you are an American of Mexican/Hispanic descent -- someone born here, like your parents and maybe even grandparents -- you could be stopped and asked for proof of citizenship.  That is what people are outraged about, because that hasn't happened since people of African descent were asked to show proof that they weren't slaves who had run away, that they were emancipated.

But when reading comments in response to an article in today's Los Angeles Times about how some people were proposing boycotts of Arizona (tourism, products, etc.), I was a little startled by the anger coming from people living in that state.  Outrage at their fellow Americans for daring to protest the law; outrage that their socialist President was denouncing the law; outrage that the illegals, who are committing crimes and taking away jobs, are being defended; outrage that people are describing this as racial profiling ...  I'm all for entering the country legally, and for stopping illegal immigrants if they indeed are coming here only to commit crimes.  But to not be able to grasp that this law will definitely make people of certain races (i.e. non-Caucasians) feel like non-citizens, even if they were born here and legally have the right to be here -- I think that is disingenuous.  Why can't the outraged people see that side of the argument?

Yellow (and other thoughts)

If you saw my little island/giant flowerbed, which is currently filled with an abundance of yellow flowers (yellow Asiatic lillies and marigolds, soon to be joined by yellow day lillies), you'd think that I like the colour yellow.  Ordinarily, you'd be right - it's such a sunny, cheerful colour.  But right now, not so much.  For the past few weeks, this part of the world has been blanketed in cough- and sneeze-inducing pollen.  There has been yellow pollen everywhere, getting into my eyes and dust whenever I'm outside (making walking and working in the garden rather unpleasant, instead of enjoyable).  The abundance is apparently thanks to the many days of rain we had in the winter months.  It's lovely to see so many trees flowering and covered with green leaves, but enough with the pollen, already!  We had quite a bit of rain yesterday - hopefully that has washed away the bulk of the powder.

The flowers are looking pretty and very colourful, but weeds are also flourishing because of the recent rain we've had, so I'm going to have to launch a counter-attack.  Some neighbourhood cats seem to think my flowerbed is a huge litterbox just for them, which is extremely aggravating (not to mention disgustingly smelly), so I'm also trying to outsmart them.  I read something a few weeks ago about using pine cones to keep cats out of gardens, because the thorns hurt their paws, so Jonathan has been collecting pine cones from our backyard to put in the island.

Bruce and I bought "Seeds in a Blanket" two weeks ago and are now waiting to see if it works.  The "blanket" is a roll of flower seeds that you unroll and lay on a bed of earth and then water twice a day until the seeds start sprouting.  The assortment of flowers are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  We put it in the sideyard in order to add some colour to that bare spot, but that area is not very sunny because of two big trees, so I'm not sure if the seeds will get enough sun to flourish.  Since this is an experiment, I might find another growing spot next year if this one isn't a success.  But I enjoy the experience of planting something and waiting to see what happens, so even if this doesn't work, at least I'll have learned something.

We went to the Dogwood Festival with the Jacksons last Sunday morning.  The Dogwood Festival (http://www.dogwood.org/About_Us.php), an arts and crafts exhibition/sale at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, is one of the biggest of its kind in this part of the country, according to Bruce.  There were some really incredible pieces on display/sale - made me wish we had oodles of money.  There were beautiful paintings, photographs, glass lamps and wall hangings, woven aluminium, pottery, jewellery ... among my favourites: paintings of African wildlife by a woman who draws large portraits of different animals (giraffe, zebra, elephant) and then fills them with tiny drawings of everything relevant to that animal.  For example, in a close-up of a giraffe's face, which in itself was beautifully done, she drew a small giraffe in one of the eyes, symbolising the mother's connection to her baby, who was reflected in that eye.  She drew the trees that the giraffe pulls leaves from for food, aboriginal drawings found in caves near where the giraffes live, a drawing of a lion, which is the main predator of the giraffe ... the details were amazing and beautifully rendered.  If I remember correctly, she even made the parchment, on which the animals were drawn, herself.

Another woman painted lovely depictions of people on hammocks, and then took that a step further by attaching the ends of real hammocks to the edges of the painting, so that they looked like they were joined to the painted hammock in her artwork.  That's the same sort of theme in another of my favourites, that I've seen before - a husband and wife team combining painting and photography: the husband takes photos (nature shots) and frames them, and then the wife carries the photo outwards onto the frame by painting the same rocks, trees, etc. on the frame.  Such a good idea and very well rendered.

The weather made it a perfect day to be wandering around outside - clear blue sky, warm (but not hot) sunshine and a cool breeze to keep temperatures enjoyable.  I'm glad we were there in the morning, before it got too crowded.  I don't particularly enjoy having to push my way through throngs of people in order to be able to look at art.

I had more thoughts, but I'll save that for another post - this one is already a week late and Beau is nagging me because it's already almost 10:00 in the morning here and we haven't got walking yet.