Megan’s visiting her family in Berkeley this weekend, so for the first time the cats and I are home alone together in the new house. One thing we’re all spending a lot of time doing is watching the front gate for Megan’s return …
This evening at one point, I noticed Fish really perk up, but it wasn’t Megan, it was some neighbor cat who had hopped over the front gate and was walking around in the yard …
Then I heard this cat-generated modulating noise coming from the basement. You know the noise, Megan: that noise we sometimes hear in the middle of the night and we lay there in the darkness saying “is that one of our cats?” and then decide we’re all safely locked inside and there’s nothing to worry about, so we don’t have to get up.
Anyway, it was that noise. When I got downstairs, Murg was on her perch at the window and the neighbor cat was outside, a couple of feet away …
They were speaking to one another, in a style that many homo sapiens pay good money to have a fellow member of the same species do for them on the phone. Loud. Passionate. Unrepeatable. (Somebody made an MTV video in the 80s where the person providing that service was an obese overworked housewife who was ironing at the time — who was that?)
I snapped pictures until the neighbor cat wandered around the other side of the house and out the back gate …
Megan’s been gone for 24 hours, and we’re all still alive. So far so good.
I took a bike ride this evening and wound up at Kubota Garden, on the hill between Rainier Beach and Renton. This place needs further photographic exploration.
I posted some info about Kubota two years ago, the first time I went there.
The photo above is in my office at home, and has been for years through multiple homes. I’ve always assumed that it was taken at Royal Nepal Golf Course in Kathmandu, but recently I decided to do a search to see if I could figure out for sure where it’s from.
So I did an image search for “elephant caddy” on Google and Live. The results are shown here:
The search results are remarkably different, but the first hit in Google showed me what I wanted to know: this photo was taken in 1922 at a golf course in Miami. That search result is a different photo that’s in the Library of Congress, but it’s obviously the same elephant and the same golfer.
With the glasses and all, I’m thinking of going back to a more hair-based look. If it works for so well for Keira Knightley, I figure it oughta work for me too. (Thanks to Gray for the tip.)
And on an unrelated note, Google Street View is sure fun. Is it really like that in Oakland? Does this affect Uncle Louis’s property value?
Oh, what the heck, one more random link. I feel so cheated. It wasn’t like that at all when I rode the train there.
Wherein Mom continues to not act her age …
We are at KAS tonight –a stop over on our six day cruise on a “gulet” ( a type of Turkish boat) from Fethiye to Antalya.
After our first few days in Istanbul at the beginning of our trip, we flew to Izmir, then took a bus to Kusadasi. From Kusadasi we took short trips to Ephesus, the Basilica of St. John, and the House of Mary ( the house where Jesus`´ Mother supposedly lived out the last years of her life on earth).
We also toured the ruins of Didyma, and Miletus and Priene. Then we drove inland to Pamukkale by following the Meander River. We visited the ancient city of Aphrodisias which has many sculptures from the Roman Era. One thing that amazes me is that these old ruins are so unprotected. You walk through them and can climb over stuff, or pose in or around them (for example, you can climb into a sargophasus and have your picture taken laying in it).
After Aphrodasia, we stopped at the travertine pools–and we waded in them. You can no longer swim in them, but there is a large commercial complex of mineral pools,cabins,shops, and resturants on this site for tourists who want to experience the healing effects of these mineral waters.
The drive from Pannukkale to Fethiye was a beautiful drive through the Turkish countryside—dropping from 4,000 feet to sea-level.
At Fethiye we boarded our gulet. There are two boats for our group of 21–one boat has 7 passengers and a crew of three; the other boat is bigger and has 14 passengers and a crew of five. Janet and I are on the smaller boat.
Instead of having dinner aboard that first night , we walked in to Fethiye and had dinner at a fish resturant. we has good fish (amber jack) , good vegetables, good bread, good fruits, good desserts, good weather, and good fellowship. Who could ask for more?
Tonight we are moored at a marina; but the last two nights we have anchored in small secluded coves The meals on the gulets are excellent. Twice I have put my swimsuit and a life vest on and gone into the sea. I don´t stay in long because the water is cold (68 or 69 degrees F.) Each day there were hikes (we would be taken ashore by the Zodiac)–I only went on one that was short (one hour). The trail was a real challenge–loose rocks almost all the way.
That sort of brings you up to date on what we have done and seen so far. I hope to get one more message sent before we start for home.
LaVonne
Those of you living in the border states, please be careful. Our freedom is at stake here.
We took a big truckload of yard waste to the dump this evening. Whee!
It included the top foot and a half of the hedge along the side of the driveway, and the oh-so-pretty bush that was hanging over the other side. This has made the driveway feel wider, allowed more sunlight to reach the garden, and made it possible to see one side of the yard from the other, which makes our little front yard feel a lot bigger.
So now it’s possible to see the house from the southeast, as shown here, in addition to the view from the southwest that I’ve photographed many times.
Hey, the tree in front of the house has sprouted these brilliant blue flowers, and we love it but we don’t know what it’s called. here’s a closeup below — anybody know what that’s called?
I mentioned in my last post that Mom is in Turkey. It’s a 3-week trip, and she’ll be sending emails back for me to forward to a bunch of people, as she’s done before. I’ll also post them here. Here’s the first one …
Hope all is well with all of you. It has been a good trip so far.
The first night in Istanbul, our guide walked us from our hotel to the Galata area, where the fish market is. The restaurant we ate in had us choose fish from a nearby market and then they cooked it for us. The food has really been
great, and our guide (who likes to cook) is very willing to help us make food choices and explain what we are eating.
If anyone watched the Today show on Thursday May 1st, Matt Lauer was in Istanbul. According to him the first inter-continental flight was made here –long before the airplane was invented. Some man strapped devices to his arms and jumped off the Galata Tower (which is in Europe) and soared across the Bosphorus River into Asia.
We have visited the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia (which has been a church and a mosque and I think a synagogue over the centuries — but is now a museum. We have been to the Grand Bazaar, the Spice market, and yesterday were at Ephesus and the last home of the Virgin Mary.
I brought my cane and am very glad that I did. It helps a lot on these rough terrains — also people tend to help you just because you carry a cane.
We are in Kusadasi now and in a very nice hotel. It is right on the water, and only a year old — so very clean and spacious.
Love,
Mom/LaVonne
Hard to believe, really. A bunch of my friends have turned 50, and now I have too. In the last hour, actually: I was born in the evening, if I remember the story right, during uncle Irv’s 25th birthday party. (I’d check with my Mom, but she’s galavanting about in Turkey right now, as I’ll explain in my next post.)
The “years that end in 0 are more important” concept has never really registered with me, but wow. Half a century. That’s a lot. for example, check out the knees above: those knees have lived a long time. Doctors who said I should take better care of them have died of old age by now, I think.
To celebrate my 50th, I came home to an unbelievable dinner Megan prepared for me. And since I’m one of those middle-aged white American homeowner types now, I mowed the lawn. It’s what we do, and besides I’ve let it go for several weeks. Which makes it a good workout. I mean, even with that massive 16-inch mower, the side yard still requires three passes across the full 40 feet of it. When you add up the time it takes to get all the clippings into the yard waste container, it’s easy to kill 15 or 20 minutes mowing this lawn!
I’m a child of the Space Age, and so I noticed a few weeks ago when Vanguard 1 turned 50 years old. Now me. Prince comes just a month after me as usual (June 7), then Madonna and Michael Jackson in August. The cool guys turn 50 in the spring, as Prince and I like to say. And Jeff — he said it first. Scott and Caroline Kennedy, on the other hand, they think December’s the month.
Thank God I’m not a virgin. Although I am in a screw-the-internet mood this evening, and not handling any email on principle. Must be the scotch. Cheers.
I’ve been in Phoenix the last two days, for the annual Datawatch user conference. It was a fun and interesting event at the Arizona Grand Resort. I didn’t avail myself of the water park, but I had opportunities to talk shop and get to know a bunch of interesting people and also attended two fun evening events, including a very nice dinner on Cinco de Mayo and a trip to a rodeo last night. Thanks, Gareth!
I just arrived home, and thought I’d post a few photos. Two things struck me when I saw the rodeo photos this morning that I hadn’t noticed last night. One, the bulls can really jump, which is pretty impressive when you consider they weigh as much as, say, me and all my brothers combined. And two, the riders nearly fall off more often than it appears in real time. The guy on the horse below gets nearly sideways but stays on and recovers a second later. Nicely done, dude.
