I'm Back From Illinois

I just got back from a wonderful visit home. What follows are just some of the pictures from last week. The first picture is of all three Schumacher women at mom's apartment.

This is one of those "stretch your arm out and hope your faces are in the center of the picture" pictures. (Martha wasn't there that day.)


Mom's talking about the construction going on outside her window (actually she's just pretending to do an action shot!)

Here's a shot of Mom's apartment. It's very cozy and cute.

Around the back side of those stairs is the library where Mom likes to read the Chicago Tribune after lunch. The fireplace is real and puts out a nice fire (not in August of course.)

This is actually the back side of Mom's apartment building where she takes walks on the sidewalk in almost any weather.

And this is Mom's "back yard" to the left of the sidewalk.

I stayed with Martha, of course, who spoiled me rotten. If she's not careful I'll be back sooner rather than later for some more of her great treatment! Here she is fixing us a nutritious dinner of salad and lasagna.

My first day there Martha went to this farm stand for some fresh corn. At Halloween they must also have a "haunted house" and they also sell plants and trees.

This corn is the best I can remember eating. Dr. Revell thinks Silver Queen corn is the tastiest, but he's obviously never had this. I could have just eaten corn for dinner.

I took a picture of this because it was kind of an interesting way to put out a message. If you look at the top of the tower it says, "Protect The Unborn." I guess that's their bumpersticker.

Another interesting sign at the stand.

I hope our cats don't form a union - Saeed and I would be outnumbered.

After gorging on Martha's yummy dinners each night I would relax with a laptop and a cat (felt like home!)

My only problem keeping Cinnamon with me was this fellow. Cinnamon's favorite spot in front of the TV is right there next to Ken's left leg.

Check back in tomorrow for more!

Ooops

For some reason three of the wild cat photographs will show up only on my computer. I'm not sure how to fix that. Sorry. Each picture matched one of our cats. Since this blog is more about me learning how to do this than to actually produce a product, I'll try to go back and fix it when I have more time.

Cats Are Not Domesticated Animals

Alan Weisman has written a book titled, "The World Without Us." It is a theoretical exploration (based on what is already known about plant life, animal life, and the breakdown of man-made chemicals) of what the planet would be like if we humans just vanished one day. I listened to him being interviewed on the Diane Rehm show by Susan Page (of USA Today) and was totally fascinated by what he said. Link to the audio program.

When asked which animal species would benefit the most from our absence and which would do poorly, he said it was very complicated. Mosquitoes would, for example, do very well since we are not here to try to erradicate them and more wetlands would be available for them for breeding. Birds would do very well for several reasons. As domesticated species cattle would be killed off by predators, and dogs would have to compete with other similar species such as wolves and hyenas. Perhaps some dogs would breed with them but they'd be out-competed and they'd lose out in fights.

Cats, he said, have never been domesticated!!! (Boy have we experienced that in our house.) The "domesticated" cat is genetically the same as a species of wild cat that lives near the mediterranean on three different continents and came here during colonial times as a pet. All it has done is take advantage of the opportunities in its environment, specifically a two legged creature that brings it food and water on a daily basis. He said, if you put your cat outside it doesn't revert to its wild status, it's still in it. They immediately begin hunting even if you've just fed them a big meal. They do it for pleasure; it's their instinct.

Well I can't say that I'm happy about the reign of the mosquitoes or the decline of the dog, but I'm happy to hear that the superiority of cats is confirmed. Just take a look at the following pictures and it's easy to see that a cat, is a cat, is a cat.

A lion in the jungle.....
....our lion (Chappu) in the livingroom.

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The lion in the tree.....

......Banu in a tree.

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And so on:

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(Frosty)

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credits for the above photos of wild cats in order:

Copyright: Edwin Owo 2005-12-18
Copyright: Jeremy Ho 2006-06-05
Copyright: Jeremy Ho 2006-06-05
Copyright: All Images 2002 Mary Ferguson
Photographer: Mike Farrell From: Jo-burg

My Body, The Tavelogue To Places I've Never Been

On a previous post I showed T-shirts with a message (July 31: My Body, The Bumpersticker.) The shirts on today's post are all from Martha (and Ken) who travel more than anyone I know. What's interesting to me is that they have all these incredible memories from their trip; for me the memories begin when I receive the shirt. People often come up to me to talk about the place on my shirt. I politely say that my sister is the traveler and that I have never actually been there, and they politely don't show disappointment or pity at my Hobbitness. Here they are:

I've actually been here! Where the heck is it? It's the campground where they keep the R.V. during the winter. I "camped" with them there and have fond memories of making S'mores over the campfire.

A cruise I never went on.

Whales in Mexico I never got to see.

A ranch in Telluride I never stayed at.

A Caribbean island I've never been on.

I've been here! When Saeed and I lived in Seattle, WA the first year of our marriage we often went to Pike Place Market on weekends for our hot date. It was cheap, what can I say?

An ocean playground I've never been to.

Dolphins I never saw.

Well, I've never been to Hawaii but that big cat in the center looks like me in my living room on the couch surrounded by our puddies.

Never been to the first point either.

I've studied it, but never been there.

Ken accuses me of never wearing this shirt, because the braids are still in such good shape. He partially right, not because I don't like the shirt but because I'm trying to keep the braids new. (Saeed understands this way of life - keeping things "new" till they fall apart from old age.)

Well, I'm not real sure what is says below the Grand Canary Islands, but I'm pretty sure I haven't played with any canteras!

I'm not surprised Mexico has more colorful turtles than we do.

Never been to Old Brunswick either.

This shirt is obviously from a fantastic trip to Africa. My experience, however, is in keeping the golden fur off of it from all our orange cats. Perhaps someone could be fooled into thinking it's from the lion? Nah, I didn't think so.

Mmmmm… Tofurkey!

My vast readership consists primarily of vegetarians, so there’s no reason to preach to the choir on the scrumptiousness of Tofurkey. I wonder if the company that makes Tofurkey would be interested in these photos for commercial purposes? Maybe Obi can start making commercials and earn his room and board.

Obi sucks it up so fast there's only two pieces left by the time I bring the camera up to my face and snap the picture.

Reaching for the last morsel.
(Notice Chappu behind him coming to see what's so good.)

Satiated, finally, in "Tofurkey Coma."

Safe Arrival

A happy phone call last night from Anahita revealed that she, Mr. Nichols and Delilah all arrived safely in San Jose. When she called Mr. Nichols and Delilah were eating their food and sniffing everything in the apartment. Now I can relax. The days ahead won't necessarily be easy but at least everyone survived the trip. I hope Cha Cha travels as well next month.

See You Soon

Anyone reading this will have read Shirin's blog from today. From a mother's point of view it is truly bittersweet. When you have kids you know they're not yours for long. Soon you're trying to teach them how to survive in the world because you want them to be strong, independent, competent, and happy adults one day.

Well, that day has come. As Tita leaves I can't help but be tearful, but in my heart I am so happy for her and proud of her. She has certainly worked hard to become who she is and I believe there's not much she can't do. As Shirin says, the twin relationship can be crazy sometimes, but I have no doubt that these two crazy sisters will always be close. Good luck Tita. See ya in a month!

Doing handstands near Shirin & Gabriel's old apartment.

Helping the bride get dressed.

Chillin' before the big moment.

Anahita stands next to her married sister.

Really our favorite family times have been in the kitchen.

Poor Prathap, in the care of the crazy Modaresi twins.

Salsa lessons.