Salam Cafe

I stumbled upon an Australian comedy show by and for Muslims. They won "Best Program of the Year" in 2006. I'm not sure if it's still on the air. The first video is a snippet from their show that made me laugh. The second is a blurb about how Salam Cafe is trying to help reduce tensions in Australia through humor.

Baby Cherry Park

During their last visit Cyrus and Kai took us to the park while their mom was visiting Lisa. We always talk about going to Cherry Park and sometimes do, but when we go to this cute little park just a couple of blocks down on Cherry Road we always have it to ourselves. Baba called it "Baby Cherry Park." Cyrus seemed to really like that.

Here Baba is directing the race. Kai is riding the toucan and Cyrus is trying to beat him on the pelican.

Ishmael and Starbuck get their sailing orders from Captain Ahab.

Baba is teaching Cyrus how to slide down the long pole.

Video shorts:

At first I had Kai facing me but the sun was in his eyes so I turned him around. This is not important but you hear me say something about it.


I've done this myself. In one's non-swinging adult life you forget how important your center of gravity is.


Kai is now a very competent slider.


After seeing Kai slide down and accidentally landing on his rear end Cyrus "accidentally" lands on his... over and over and over again.


I'm sorry I cut off his cute little dance at the end!


Sir Cyrus struggles to bring King Kai the royal ball.

Unexpected Little Bonus

After a hard rain our lone daffodil looked a bit top heavy and this gave me permission to cut it and bring it indoors. (I hate to cut them when they are decorating the yard so nicely.) As I approached the flower with my scissors I saw a little...

... beautiful snail. (please click on photo to enlarge)

An Archimedean spiral right there in my back yard!

My little snail has a face only a mother could love.

It's a lousy picture but this daffodil looks beautiful in our kitchen now.

I'm $4 Ahead

After the previous games I'm $4 ahead of Saeed. We are betting a whole $5 on the Super Bowl so that could mean $9 for me if I win... well, if the New England Patriots win. That's the price of a lunch buffet at the Bombay Grille. If I lose then I pay Saeed $1. That's not even a cup of coffee so...

GO PATRIOTS!

Too Warm

As others in the country are buried under a mountain of snow we have had temps consistently spring-like. Yesterday it was near 70. On January 29th this daffodil sprang up near our back door. I'm not complaining about the mild temps; in my old age I enjoy warmer temperatures, but this can't be good for the ecosystem that relies on cold temperatures to advance the normal life cycles. I have a feeling we will still get frigid temps (many of our snows have been in February and March) but by then many already budding trees and flowers that normally bud in late March and early April may die. I also think of the farmers. The Matthews Farmer's Market newsletter said this does not bode well for many of their produce. The blueberry bushes, for example, would die with a hard cold spell. So I don't know what to wish for... not that it matters. Mother Nature does what she wants.

The Whole Obi Frosty Thing

A few weeks ago you may remember me saying that we had finally decided to separate Obi and Frosty for good. We keep Frosty in the computer room which is sort of his favorite room anyway and decided to let him out whenever we could either confine Obi (he likes to sleep in a laundry basket in the utility room) or when Obi was asleep on the kitchen table (Frosty never jumps up on the table.) It seemed to work out OK but the moments when Frosty wanted out didn't always match the moments Obi was willing to take a nap in the laundry basket. Still, it worked most of the time.

As time passed we noticed Frosty meowing unhappily and banging against the door like a confined tiger in the zoo. He seemed so unhappy. We tried to make him happy by letting him out more, which meant confining Obi to the laundry room even when he didn't feel like it, but the more Frosty was out of his room the more he wanted to stay out of his room! He's no different than the average person. Give someone one potato chip and they'll want the whole bag.

So we decided to keep Frosty in his room all the time, with lots of visits and love sessions and periods of time with the sun room doors open as well as the door to Saeed's office. It's been a couple of weeks now and he seems so much happier. When he meows at the door he often just wants me to come in there and have a good long schmoozle session with him ending up on my lap for a nap. If I do that he doesn't holler or bang on the door at all. I try to do it both in the morning and in the evening. And if he's happier, we're happier too.

Frosty napping while Chappu meows at me. She's very bossy.

What a luscious, luscious boy. His fur smells so good.

In the living room Obi happily hangs out with two mice and a bee...

... and Tippy of course...

... and Chappu of course who lives on both sides. Here you can see her doing the same thing Banu was doing in the video, except Chappu's tail is too short so she just goes 'round and 'round the post on her side. Next time I'll try to take video instead.

All riled up!

So here's Frosty (about a month ago) on the chair in the kitchen eating area near the deck...

... and Obi on the kitchen table. He was supposed to stay asleep in the bed on the kitchen table but got up to do something (important I'm sure) and I had to either confine him at that point or scoop Frosty up, bed and all, and move him to his room. Exhausting for me to be so vigilant all the time.

The new method: Frosty takes a nap on my legs after an initial period of schmoozling. As long as he gets to stay on my lap for a while he's happy. That's Chappu on my left of course.

Warm and content on his mommy's lap.

Chappu, finally not bossing me around. :-)

A Distant Relative of Teddie's?

As if I weren't taking care of enough cats...

This kitty has been showing up behind our office, meowing loudly. It does appear to be well fed and has been neutered (you can see that its left ear has been tipped) but since I've been putting out food he/she has clearly decided Piedmont GYN/OB is a great place to dine.

I've decided to call him Moggie, a "term used in Great Britain to describe a domestic non-pedigreed cat. Also used as an affectionate term for "stray" cats."  I've also decided to call him a him unless I find out otherwise. He's quite big for a stray and is black until you look closely. Some partially hidden stripes make me think that one of his parents was a Mackeral Tabby (like Tippy and Morrie.)

Since Moggie seems to be thriving I feel no need to intervene other than to keep his bowl full. I enjoy knowing he's around and his loud demands make me smile. The girl who works in the back office says he's loud enough that she can hear him through the window. She just yells, "Hey Ing, your cat's here" and he waits till I can dispense the turkey & giblets. When convenient I will probably come by on weekends but I will do my best not to get sucked in by this kitty. He was doing well before I started up with him and I know he'll manage if I'm not around. Plus, several of the girls in the office know where I keep the cat food...    :-)

Obis Obis Gets His Face Washed

This was during Sunday's football game:

Betting On the Football Games

*** second post of the day***

I really enjoy watching pro football. When the season starts and it's unclear who will be good my interest is lukewarm, but when it's late in the season I start paying attention. At this point all my favorite teams are out of the running: Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and Seattle Seahawks. All stinkos. Last weekend I lost a bet to Saeed but I've already made up for it today with New England's win over Baltimore. I'm not so sure I'll win the next game, San Francisco vs New York Giants. I wanted SF but Saeed exclaimed that I've never pulled for the California teams in the past and that's always been his territory, so I've got the Giants. I'll do it for Joe Namath and the giants (ya know, real giants as in big stupid hulky guys) from the Song of Fire and Ice books who always get the short end of it (ha ha, pun intended.)

Although I never just sit and watch football, I'm always simultaneously doing laundry, feeding cats, etc., we are making it festive with the rarely indulged in pizza and Diet Coke. Wow, look out, we're nearly out of control.

Obi: "C'mon, turn on the game!"

 

"Alright I'm ready. Is this Panthers vs Lions?"

Tippy: "zzzzzzz footballisboring zzzzzzz"

Someone's about to lose some money! Notice I'm wearing my Chicago Bears shirt.

To not feel too guilty (about both diet and dairy) we went with vegan pizza. It's really quite good. The 'cheese' melts and the 'sausage' is good.

Saeed made colorful salad to go along with it. Look at all those toppings!

Yum!

As I said, I'm also doing housework and laundry and Lupe decided the best place to keep a look out for me is at the top of the stairs. I must have gone up and down those stairs about 15 times today... so far.

OK, half-time must be over. It's Giants 10, 49ers 7, so I'll be going now, hopefully to win some more money. :-)

Confused

Let me just say that I find it interesting that a state that is characterized as conservative and Christian would overwhelmingly vote for a man who was asked to resign or be voted out (as Speaker of the House in '97) by the Republican leadership due to the mess he made when accused of ethical wrongdoing, and more importantly had affairs with each of his wives before moving on to the next one.  Really? I'm confused. How does he represent conservative Christian values?