Memory Lane

Today I went to the York County Library on my lunch break to return some overdue books and pay my penalty :-( Every time I enter the library it takes me down memory lane, to the days of little twin girls running eagerly to the children’s area. Maybe one day I’ll be back there again with some grandchildren. It looks about the same as it did 25 years ago… take a look.

This nice little shaded area with swings is new.

The room where the older elementary school-age kids go.
You felt so grown-up once you graduated to this room.

Children's helpdesk.
(Ironically the women at this desk were never very friendly...
that hasn't changed either!)

That same old aquarium!

And finally, the children's room, where you spent many an hour
reading at those tables or listening to a storyhour.

I Wanna Be A Cat

I want to be a cat...........not just any cat but one of our cats. As Saeed and I plod along in our daily tasks we admire the way they work so hard at finding the right spot to settle down, the right position for sleeping, the right morsel in the bowl of many morsels, the right mousie to chase and so on. It’s a charmed life if you can get it.

Lupe yawns after one of her closet naps.
Back in the corner of our closet is her favorite place to sleep.

Teddie eatin' while the eatin's good.

Chappu worms her way into Obi's bed. He lets her stay... for a while.

Layli is the queen of our bed. We ask permission every night if
she wouldn't mind scooting over so we can get in.

Obi, blissful before Chappu discovers him and crawls in.

Frosty washing up for the night.

Calvin rubbing his face all over that catnip bootie.

"The Feline Lounge" with Chappu on the stand, Tippy on the back
of the couch, and Calvin who's managed to squeeze his plump self down
between the couch and the big black plant pot.

Banu getting fresh water from the sink. None of that stale bowl stuff for her.

Who Says I Don't Love People?

Someone (who shall remain nameless) once told me that I didn’t love people because I’m a “tree hugger,” as if I couldn't love both. There’s no doubt that I love nature and animals, and it’s true that sometimes I like them better than people. I'm not as bad as Amy Sedaris (whose brother David Sedaris on "This American Life" tells the story ....) who when having seen a traffic accident with injuries said, "Oh God, I hope there wasn't a dog in that car!" Actually I'm probably a lot like Amy Sedaris, but let’s face it, when you look at what people do to each other in this world it just makes you want to…. want to… go hug a tree! But I would have to argue with this someone, that despite man’s inhumanity to man, I really like almost everyone and love humanity in general. Do I think the earth would be a better place without humans? Truthfully, yes. But, one on one, most people are great.

Who wouldn't want to wrap their arms around one of those?

This leads to the subject of donating blood - a loving act towards humans, not trees (interesting segue.) I have tried for YEARS to encourage my coworkers to donate blood at our local Red Cross Chapter House across the street from my office. July in particular is a low donation month because so many people are on vacation and not in their normal routine. In getting coworkers to give to their fellow man I have been partially successful. Several have gone and said they’d never do it again. Some have gone more than once. Some have gone and the Red Cross has asked them never to return (it's true!)

Well, yesterday I was successful in getting two new people to go. I’m not sure they’ll go again, but they did in fact successfully donate a pint a piece! Who says I don’t love people?

The chapter house across the street from work.

Bob, the volunteer, who is so funny it's worth going just to see him.
He can barely walk, but he's always there when I go.

My two victims, straight from the office. Stephanie (L) forcing a grin through the sense of impending doom, and Angel (R) trying to look like she's OK about the whole thing.

The pre-panic attack grimace.

Tropical Downpours

One of the things I like about living in South Carolina is the weather. What I really love are those near daily summer afternoon thunderstorms, as if we’re living in a tropical rainforest in Viet Nam or Brazil. Sunday, after I recovered from the snakeskin incident, we had one of those downpours. Fortunately we have the rain gauge Anahita and Prathap gave us to closely monitor our progress!

Down it comes.

Gardenboy enjoying the rain from a dry spot

Hibiscus closing up... where do bees go when it rains?

Rainbow's bunnies always enjoy a good rain.

Obi wondering why we're out in that mess.

Our trusty rain gauge showing 3.25" of rain (not all from Sunday)

EEEK!

Saeed wonders why I don’t like to go in the crawl space under our house. Yesterday as he was working in the yard he hinted that he needed a pair of gardening gloves (which were in the crawl space) but told me not to get them. Yeah right. So I slowly, carefully, open the door and what do I see? THE REASON I DON’T LIKE TO GO IN THE CRAWL SPACE!

Saeed before he tells his wife not to get the gloves.

Snakeskin means only one thing: there's a snake somewhere
in the crawl space wearing some fancy new duds!

I got the gloves of course, but not a picture of my face as I tiptoed around the skin (I guess I didn't want to wake it up.)

Time Flies On Sundays

There's something about Sundays that are at once so delicious (didn't work yesterday and have the whole day in front of you) and so painful (as each minute passes the weekend comes closer to the end) knowing that the alarm will go off early tomorrow morning to push you out of bed for a whole week of work. I find myself glancing at the clock with trepidation before catching myself, feeling ungrateful for not "being in the moment" and appreciating this gift of a day.

I'm trying to master my digital camera and the way my computer saves the pictures. I'm going to experiment with posting a photograph I took this morning. Saeed has planted so many beautiful hibiscus and they're finally bursting into bloom. The bees are loaded down with their pollen and I found several just sitting near the inside base of each flower. I thought the bees were dead, but maybe they were just resting or perhaps pollen-drunk. Here goes:

A lovely burst of color in our backyard.

The top bee is just drunkenly sitting there, the other is working hard.

Life As I See It

Why have I decided to begin a blog? I have no clear idea. Perhaps to force myself to keep up with computechnology? Perhaps to have an outlet for personal expression? We'll see what happens. Tomorrow I'll begin in earnest. Tonight... I'll just see if I can push the right buttons to even post this paragraph.