Speaking of Fireworks...

No matter what we try to do, nature beats us at our best...



Photo by Carlos Gutierrez

November, 2008
Chile—The fury of Chaitén volcano seems to set the sky on fire. Highly charged particles of pumice roar upward in spreading clouds of gas and smoke, generating crackling tangles of lightning.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ... Fireworks??

Manhattan Beach saves it's fireworks for Christmas.

I videotaped these, but it didn't turn out worthy of inclusion. I can see the fireworks from my front window and deck, which gives me an edge on the bazillion people who drove down here to watch.

I'm about ... oh... 8 blocks? from the event and it's really pretty in the cold winter night.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

Baby Kitty is psycho... at least when it comes to moving. Perhaps the word hyperactive is a more accurate one. She loves nothing more than throwing herself up against the wall as high as she can go and thumping down to the floor. If there is one of those laser pointers to guide her, fine... if not, she will just do it to keep in practice.

She chases and scatters and runs and plays and has a wonderful time with or without her sister.

So I wasn't even curious at first when I saw her pouncing in and out of her little sleeping donut and then attacking SOMETHING underneath...

You guessed it..

a mouse.

A very tiny almost alive mouse.

It was pretty worn out, so I took it outside and put it in a fairly warm place with some water and Cheerios (no cookie). I didn't think there was much chance for it, but at least it wasn't being squished by a hyperactive kitty..

A MOUSE IN MY HOUSE..

I was, needless to say, NOT PLEASED.

I figured out how it got in, and have tried to rectify the situation. I will not be happy if there are more.

But at least I've got my kitties to save me...

When Market Shopping Bags Go Bad...

and other kitty stories...



This is clearly not a paper shopping bag. We'll get to that in a minute...

This is a carefully crafted food cover up. I don't know why Big Kitty does this. I can only think she fears there will be no food if she doesn't. Or she hats the food (however, if you look closely, you will see she's eaten much of it)... notice also that she has not only pulled over all of my MAIL, but has unraveled the adding machine paper to add to the image. She stops when she feels it's perfect, which might make it a work of art.

or something...

It is rather organized for a quick cover up, even to the fluffy paper towel on top. Maybe she's trying to tell me she wants some paper and paints and finger (well, PAW) paints or some collage materials..

sigh..

I wonder if the gas company cares about kitty food on their envelopes.. .

On to the paper bag incident.

My kitties, like most kitties, are prone to play constantly... not with the REAL toys that are given to them, but with the 'other' toys that they find.



Witness, if you will, the new toilet seat cover box... This was claimed the first day, and has been chewed on and squished and slept on and fought over for almost a year now. You can see the wear and tear. I'm loathe to lose it, as they have so much fun.

The other good toy was a paper bag. You know, the market kind. It was totally flat, but not until it had been explored, inside and out for months. Then there was the new bag... all fresh and crisp and not destroyed.

And Big Kitty running into the computer room in reasonable terror with the strap around her neck.

awww...

At least she was smart enough to come to me, and she sat in fear and shaking while I remove it and held her until she purred.

Needles to say, all paper bags will be 'de handled' from now on..

Although she might never get close to another.

There are, of course, other examples of kitty involvement with non kitty items...

These should suffice for now...

and While We're on the Subject...

My sister reminded me of our most memorable family holiday meal (and oddly one of our favorites), albeit not aThanksgiving.

It goes something like this.

My father died In November,1983, less than 1 week before Thanksgiving. We had a simple Thanksgiving that year,if at all, and had planned on a simple, Family Christmas . My brother, in his wisdom, decided not to bring his family out, then my brother in law, who was not on the top of the list of pilots for his airline, was directed to fly on Christmas...

Not to be put off, we decided to just put off the entire holiday until my brother in law got back. My niece was three and not quite as tuned in to the entire holiday traditions., and none of us were exactly in a celebratory mood. No problem.

except...

We woke up on Christmas and looked around and realized that, between the two of us ( that meant my sister and I), we had NOTHING to eat of substance. Some cereal... probably some canned stuff... but everything important was frozen or waiting for Bob to return. To add to this revelation, we realized that all the markets were closed. I mean NOTHING TO EAT...

Now, coincidentally, my local pub was owned by a wonderful man who was originally from the midwest. I say this because this bar (and restaurant) had a very large population of people he knew and their friends and ... well... a lot of 'Holiday Orphans", so to speak.

So every year he had an Orphan's Thanksgiving and Christmas. LOADS of food (after all, he had a kitchen right there). Turkey, Ham, stuffing, veggies.. all the fixin's and more. People who had no family out here would come in droves.

So we took Mom to the Shellback Tavern for Christmas dinner.

It was magic.

The food was great. The company even better. Everyone knew why we were there, and they all kept her talking and laughing and involved and cheerful. It wasn't "our" Christmas, which kept it from reminding us at every turn that Dad wasn't there. It was warm and pretty darned terrific.

and we got one of Mom's all time endearing lines..

as she stood there, picking up her plate of food, she quipped "My husband has been dead less than a month, and here I am in a bread line for Christmas!".


The ocean, reflected in the Shellback window..

Stacy From Seattle...

BIG FISH GAMES! click to get there!

I tried to move some of my favorite games to my new computer, but somehow had lost (yeah right, at my age it's called "IT'S HERE SOMEWHERE!!!) the codes to transfer the games. I wrote to Big Fish, which is one of the few good game places for Macintosh, and got a reply from Stacy.. in Seattle...

sigh...

I want to be in Seattle ..

well, close, anyway.

So... Stacy tried to help me , with the limited information I had at hand, but we couldn't find my account. I purchased the games at another site and my card had changed and my e mail had changed and I had some codes for them, but they didn't match any of their stuff and... well.. I figured .. What the hell, I'll just get them again.

But Stacy wouldn't hear of it...

And sent coupons for the three games I thought I'd lost forever.

Now THAT'S customer service..

and she was cheerful and conversant and, well, just fun to talk to..

Of course she can be...

SHE DOESN'T LIVE HERE!

sigh...

Skating in Sunshine...

There is this place in Redondo Beach (one of my neighbor beaches) called the Plunge. It's a small, salt water place that's safe to take children. Fenced and clean 'beaches' and shallow water combine to make it enjoyable and good for kidlets. Years ago, it used to be the outfall for the power plant, so the water was also heated...

But, of course, we can't have THAT, can we.

It's been taking flack for the warm water, and not enough water flow (in spite of several fountains) and it MAY NOT BE SAFE kind of thinking...

This means it's soon to be over, of course, in a state where people are rising up against the Thanksgiving feasts of small children in school for demeaning Indians.

Sigh..

But this year they've done something different..

They froze it.. I don't know how...

and you can skate in the sun... right at the ocean's edge...

until they find something wrong with that...