They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot

Last week I was in Manhattan, a city I used to live in and continue to love.  Normally when I go there, I avoid the Columbus Circle area, my old neighborhood.  But this time, I decided to take a look.  Gone, everything was gone.  The Chinese Green Grocer was gone, the Flower seller was gone, the shop that sold the best home made pasta in the world was gone, my neighborhood bar was gone, and so, sadly, was the studio where I studied dance.  Gone, gone, gone.  And what was standing in their place? A sterile, upscale shopping mall that would be perfectly at home in some trendy area of Los Angeles or Dallas. Nothing about it said New York.  There was also a brand new shiny glass condominium, where I'm sure the studio apartments start at a million dollars.

The whole place had changed and I guess it was meant to be very welcoming to the Real Housewives of New York City and not so friendly to the late twenties want to be dancer that I was. As the hubster pointed out, the type of things that I loved have just moved uptown, closer to Columbia and nothing stays the same, change is inevitable, and wasn't this better than the whole place deteriorating into some slum?  I suppose so, but in hindsight, I should have kept my memories and stayed away.

Gratitude

By now we've all seen the horrifying videos out of Japan.  My heart goes out to those poor people. And while watching the videos, I began to realize how truly lucky each and everyone of us is. I know we all, myself right up there, spend a lot of time whining and complaining and feeling ill used and put upon. But comparatively speaking our lives are blessed. If you have a home to come home to, be grateful.  If you know the exact location of each and every one of your friends and family, be grateful. If you don't have to worry whether or not your children have been exposed to damaging levels of radiation, or watch a 30 foot wall of water take away everything you've worked your entire life for, be grateful.

We are all profoundly lucky to live where we do, and enjoy the lives that we live.  It's all too easy to forget this, when we're having a bad day, or life isn't matching our expectations, or we're feeling let down or dissapointed.  But we are lucky and we should remember to take time to thank God, or the universe, or whoever or whatever you believe in, for the blessings we've been given.

That Miserable Coyote Struck Again

That explative deleted coyote got Squigg again and this time my poor little cat was really torn up. His whole left front leg has puncture wounds.  Poor Squiggy is currently at the vets, he spent the night there and is having surgery this morning. I was supposed to leave with the hubster to go vacation on Sunday, but now I won't be able to leave until midweek. 

When I told my mother about it, she said, "Your a Texan. Your grandmother taught you how to shoot.  Go buy a rifle and shoot that damned animal."  And guys, at times like this, I think I just might.

Guest Bloggers - Heaven Help Us -It's Dweezil and Squig

 "Hi, I'm Dweezil"

"And I'm Squigg.  Actually my name is Squigman Igmeouwkowski.  I was named for a character in a classic work of art."

Dweeze here, "I would hardly call Laverne and Shirley a "quote classic work of art."

S.  "Well at least people don't think I'm some kind of weasel. Didn't that lady last week say, Weasel's a weird name for a cat.  He doesn't look like a weasel and so on."

D. "Would you just get on with it."

S. " OK, Cindy Sue, we're so glad you're feeling better and we can really commiserate, well sort of commiserate with what you went through.  Dweezil and I were both attacked by a coyote.  But being that we're cats, we could climb trees, so all he could do was bite us on the butt. "

D. " She, the coyote was a girl."

S. "How do you know that."

D. "What kind of a perverted boy coyote would bite a boy cat on the butt."

S. "A hungry one and Dweezil, would you watch your mouth.  This is a family blog.  As I was saying the coyote bit us on the butt, not at the same time, but separately, and we had to go to the vet and get shots and stitches and wear collars. It was awful."

D. "We hate the vet."

S.  "You don't.  That's where you go get your hairdos."

D." I do not get hairdos."

S.  "Do too.  What do you think happens to someone when he goes in looking one way and comes out looking different.  And I'm not talking about "the procedure."  What he gets is a hairdo, and Dweeze even gets a hairdo down  there."

D. "That does it,  come here you little twerp and I'll hairdo you."

Maia:  "Boys that's it!  What's all this talk about perverted boy coyotes and hairdos down there.  Stop smacking each other this instant.  You promised you'd be nice. I thought you wanted to tell Cindy Sue how glad you were, that she's recovered.  And just like last time I let you blog, you turn it into, well you turn it into something ridiculous.  Now apologize to Cindy Sue this minute."

"We're sorry Cindy Sue and we were keeping our paws crossed for your complete recovery from the minute we found out."

Let the Games Begin

Earlier in the week, I got my Burpee catalog so with visions of tomatoes and peppers and some wonderful flowers dancing in my head, I began to plan this year's garden.  And then I remembered the nemesis on my premises, the weeds.  For over fifteen years, I've been battling the weeds and here's where we stand, now.  Weeds - 2 million and ten.  Me - Zero. They're horrible and all I have to do is go away for a week and when I return, they've taken over and are  almost a foot tall.  I've tried weed mats, organic weed sprays, yanking them out the minute they poke their nasty little heads up, and looking at them with evil intentions in mind; and still they win. But this year, I'm going to try something called a weed film, guaranteed to last a lifetime.  Now mind you, the weed mat was supposed to last six years.  Puleeese, it only took the weeds six weeks to overpower it. But maybe something guaranteed to last a lifetime, might hold up all summer.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I let you know how it goes.