Welcome, Zoe!

Zoe Alana Proctor, born this day at 6:05 a.m.
It's a hellofa messed up world you've found yourself in, little girl, but you're your mama's child. That, along with that crazy set of initials they gave you, means you're gonna do just fine.
May you live long and prosper!

Faces only a mother could love...?

Gettin' loose and having fun with the camera on my new iPhone...

The Love of My Life
My "Sistah"
One very cool Old Fart
Yoda... a thug among cats
Lucia (Chi-Chi) The most adorable cat on the planet

Meditation

Today, in an attempt to give Dmitri a break from the cage in which he's been confined since he experienced his "stroke" two weeks ago, I let him sit on a window sill in the sunlight for half an hour. At the same time, I pulled up a chair and sat next to him so I could keep an eye (and a restraining hand) on him. He quickly dozed off while I zoned in the sun. This industrious little guy was just outside the window, and I watched in pure delight while he chomped his way through a couple of inches of an enormous fennel plant. I was reminded of a song Frank Sinatra recorded back in 1959, called "High Hopes", with a verse about an ant bringing down a rubber tree plant. Even if this caterpillar can't bring down this fennel bush, he'll have the freshest breath in all caterpillar-dom, and that's gotta be worth something... right??

I'm happy to report Dmitri is doing pretty well... he's eating okay, though he insists on being "finger fed", he can walk a little, though his right hind leg doesn't work very well, and he's tolerating his daily regimen of four different meds and two doses of subcutaneous fluids very well. He's alert and responsive and definitely seems to enjoy all the attention he's getting, and, I have to admit, I'm enjoying showering him with said attention. I'm just so grateful I have the time to supply it. So what if I don't have time to do a whole lot else in my life? In the end, pampering a sick companion animal is, to me, more worthwhile than just about anything else I can do.

Tax Break

I'm trying so hard to get our taxes done before the extension runs out... and with my track record with taxes, the August 15 extension running out is a real possibility. I was making some decent progress, until I took a potty break and came back to find Nikolai had jumped in to help me out. Oh well, I needed a break anyway. I hate doing taxes as much as I hate doing housework. If Nikky wants to help, I'll back off and let him help! Tomorrow is always another day. Maybe tomorrow will be the day the taxes get done.
Maybe not.

More orchid-children

I recently added two new orchids to my Greenhouse in the Loo. Now that the warmer weather is finally here, I've noticed some of the older plants sprouting new leaves and shoots, so I hope to have more blooms before too long. As usual, I don't know the names of these beauties, but that never stops me from buying them!

Life and Time march on...

While we're waiting for Dmitri to choose his path of recovery, life goes on around us. Last week, our niece, Kristen, was feted with a baby shower by her grandmother in Diablo. We're definitely not baby shower enthusiasts, in fact we're not even baby enthusiasts, but we went to this shower because the family has all moved away, and we never see them any more. We had a good time - it was fun to see everyone, including some old family friends we hadn't seen in ages. Zoe, the newcomer, received a ton of goods - she's definitely going to be the best dressed baby in Carson City. It was a beautiful day, Grandma Betty's drop-dead gawgeous house (high on a hill overlooking the Diablo Valley golf course) was, as always, a delicious place to hang out, the yummy food and wine kept coming, and there was only one baby shower game, which actually turned out to be rather fun! Kristen says Zoe has to "marinate" for another 6-8 weeks before making her appearance, so we'll officially be grand-uncle and aunt pretty soon. Such an honour!


Kristen and Einstein admire one of Zoe's new outfits. That's Kristen's sister, Tracy, and her husband, Eric, in the wedding picture in the background. Maybe they're next in the baby game...???


Einstein, obviously bored with the whole baby shower thing, decides his pig foot is muuuuuch more interesting!

One M.F. of a week...

This week has been a bitch. I mean, a total, fucking bust. Dmitri, one of our beautiful boys, suffered the kitty equivalent of a stroke a few days ago, and we've spent hours at one veterinarian or cat emergency clinic or another, and hours more worrying about him and wondering if he's going to get through this. About a decade ago, Josef suffered a similar problem, and the only advice we got at that time was euthanasia. Times have changed and medical technology has progressed, and this time around we've been cautiously advised to "wait and see", as all of the vets we've seen claim they've known a cat or two who survived this kind of crisis. We're waiting, and going bonkers in the process. One day he looks like he's better, the next day things look totally bleak. His hind legs were paralyzed the first day or two, but now he can maneuver them enough to move about a little. The biggest problem is that he isn't eating, and cats know best about that kind of stuff. I think he knows he's going to die, so he's allowing himself to shut down. The entire episode revolves around a quality of life issue, and he's definitely not experiencing any huge amount of quality in his life as it is right now. Martin and I are totally committed to caring for him, no matter what his condition, but we're trusting him to write the script. In the meantime, were discovering waiting is one of the most difficult things to do in life.

Carmina Burana

The Vallejo Symphony scored again last night with a blockbuster production of one of my favorite symphonic choral works - Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. This incredible work came into my life during my first year of college. It totally blew me away at that time, and it totally blew me away last night. The work is scored for an enormous orchestra with percussion instruments up the wazoo, and features a large chorus and three soloists. Wildly syncopated rhythms, almost frantic tempos, and near-manic percussion passages, interspersed with soft, gently lyrical sections, make this work one of the most sensual and visceral in the entire concert repertoire. The lyrics... which originate in a manuscript of 12th century poetry, and written primarily in medieval Latin, with a smattering of medieval French and German, present a distinct challenge to an amateur chorus, but the combined members of the Solano and Vallejo Choral Societies, the Solano College Chamber Choir, and the St. Vincent's Children's choir covered themselves with glory, executing the strange, tongue-tying text with obviously well-trained dexterity. I'm sure some of the audience got more than they'd bargained for as Maestro Ramadannof explained the text of the poems; which were written by an itinerate, but well-educated, band of former clerics and rowdy students whose minds were clearly occupied by more worldly and carnal pleasures than the church had to offer. Many of the songs concern drinking, love, gambling, and sexual exploits, expressed in some pretty explicit language, all tied together by an unsentimental acceptance of the vagaries of fortune and the inevitability of man’s submission to his fate. Heady stuff! Overall, it was a stupendous experience - the only unfortunate aspect being that a shitload of work was involved in its preparation for only one performance. It deserved to be heard by more than just one audience.

Extraction excitement

One of my teeth had been looking like this for quite a while - wasn't hurting, so, with my usual procrastinating self, I chose to ignore it. However, I still have another $999K of dental work to be done, and my dentist said he couldn't continue until the holey tooth came out. Not that I'm dying to go into further debt to the good DDS, but he made the right side of my mouth look so good after the first $999K job last year, I decided I might as well give in, so out came the bad guy. I now have a bathtub -sided hole in the upper left quadrant of my mouth, and a shitload of pain to go with it. I am, however, beginning to feel less and less pain as the day wears on...when I got home from the oral surgeon's factory this afternoon, I slept until the anesthetic wore off, then had to make an executive decision between the Rx for pain meds and brandy. I'm happy to say the brandy won. I'll probably exchange tooth pain for a hangover tomorrow, but at this point I don't give a shit.

Love Your Mother - Earth Day 2009

April 22 marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Those were the "bad old days". At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans; industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press; air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity, and environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. Earth Day 1970 turned all that around. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.
Much has been achieved since that first Earth Day, but so much more needs to be done. Go here to find out what you can do... whether it's a lot or a little, every effort helps.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Internet sources say it's 94 right here, right now. UGH! It's bloody awful! Those same sources say it's going to be 61 by Friday. How in hell does that work???

Well, it's better than being in Michigan with Michele, where it's currently 36 with snow flurries. Not my cup of bourbon either.

Worse yet, I could be with Rekha in Kanpur, India, where they're headed for 105 later today (probably coupled with 105% humidity, to sweeten the deal.)

I guess I'll just shut up.

Bitch, bitch, bitch... never happy... that's me, as my January 29 post will attest. Did I REALLY want it to be April? What was I thinking...????

One down, four to go...

Here's Virginia's round robin block with my border added. Thank goodness for cheater cloth, and for that small "emergency" stash of fabrics I'll never use - they were a perfect match! I'll exchange Virginia's piece for someone else's at tomorrow's meeting and start all over again. Not stressing so far...

New Round Robin

My quilt guild, Vallejo Piecemakers, started another Round Robin last month.

This is my center block, and, after visiting five other quilters, I'll get it back in July or August with five fabulous, exciting, creative, inspired and, hopefully, flamboyant, new borders. I got so uptight the last time I participated in a round robin (my first), I could hardly enjoy the process, but this time I'm very laid back about it. So laid back, in fact, that I haven't even started working on Virginia's center block yet, and it's due back in her hands on Saturday. Guess I'd better get busy. First, though, I need to fix myself a Jack 'n Coke and stare at it a bit longer.

Here's Virginia's block:


Adorable, eh? About as far away from my style as it's possible to get, but then... that's part of the challenge, isn't it?!

The Joy of Rescuing

As most of my friends know, I'm an inveterate rescuer... I'm a schlump for anyone or anything in need. When I was a kid, I drove my parents wacko by bringing home injured birds, lizards, cats, half-dead flowers, broken toys, battered books, etc. As a teenager and young adult, I marched and protested for or against every just cause or unjust social issue out there. I adopted houseplants my friends had all but killed and nursed them back to health; the same with sick fish from their aquariums. Later, my rescue efforts even extended to a couple of good-for-nothing-low-down-dirty-rotten-scumbag men, with the completely predictable, disastrous results. Fortunately, I gave up that vein quickly, but the desire to rescue still burns hot in my soul! I adopt damaged cats, rescue dying plants from supermarket nurseries, save spiders in the bath tub, and throw a few bucks at every animal rights cause that hits my mailbox.

Recently, World Vision found me and now, Goddess help me, I'm even rescuing kids. The number of kids in need of food, health care, clean water, clothes, shoes, love, attention, and other kinds of help, both in our own country and abroad, is staggering and heartbreaking beyond measure. Thanks to World Vision, I'm now making a difference in the lives of two children. Two out of approximately 236 gazillion kids in need ain't much, but it's a start.

AMY lives in Senegal, and is twelve years old.


REKHA lives in India, and is eight years old.


For a small monthly sponsorship fee (auto-deducted from my checking account so I don't even miss it), I, along with other sponsors, can help children with things like health care, education, clothing, better food and clean water, and, in the process, help their entire community become more self-sufficient. It's almost impossible to believe a mere $30 can go so far. I get the pleasure of writing to them and sending them silly little gifts like colored pencils, drawing paper, hair ribbons, balloons and stickers. They write back to me and keep me apprised of how they're doing in school and life in general. All of this I do from the comfort of my own way-too-comfortable lifestyle. Oy... it makes me feel like such a mentsh.

I can't recommend this happy, painless process enough, and urge everyone to adopt a kid and start gathering your own very rewarding warm fuzzies!

Viva, Bach!

Johann Sebastian Bach
b: 21 March 1685 - Eisenach
d: 28 July 1750 - Leipzig

Bach is the absolute hero of my life. His music feeds my soul, and if I were unable to hear another note of music by any other composer for the rest of my life, I wouldn't feel I was missing a thing. His compositional output was staggering, the quality of his music is unparalleled, and the variety of styles is unbelievable. His music is as mathematically complex as it is beautiful, and is the most enjoyable to play of any I've studied (and that's a lot of music, folks!) I was blessed with a piano teacher who started me out on the music of Bach, instead of scales and other boring crap that drives most kids away from piano lessons before they even get a chance to appreciate what music is all about. Sincere thanks, Mrs. Durham - you worked my four-year-old ass off that first year, and for the next twenty years, but it was worth every keystroke! You and Herr Bach gave me a musical foundation upon which I built a wonderful career as a pianist, harpsichordist, organist and singer, and I'm very grateful to both of you.

Elvis revisited

Elvis was really torqued when he saw the picture I posted of him on January 28, so here's one that's a little more "refined". With him is his inseparable companion, Dmitri, who was featured on December 4.

Another dose of high impact entertainment...Cat watching

Our beautiful little ebony daughters, Patty, Maxene and LaVerne, enjoy a bug watching session from the music room window. Alessandro, Frederick, and an unknown cat under the blanket, watch from a respectful distance. Scheesh... it looks like a window washing session is waaaaay overdue! Or not. Maybe I'll just stay true to my "I hate housework" lifestyle and wait until it rains again.

Today's Hero: Beth

As Elizabeth Vandervennet - Principal cellist for the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra.

As Gingerbread Candy Monahan, in the fabulous Rosin Coven, the World's Premiere Pagan Lounge Ensemble.

I've loved the cello since infancy, when my father first introduced me to the instrument. For reasons known only to him, he stopped playing when I was very young, and his cello lived on the top shelf in his closet for many years until, one day, it disappeared. I was told it had "been sold", but was never told why. Alas, somewhat typical behavior for someone in my strange family. I've been a devoted cello "follower" for years, with Julian Lloyd Webber being at the top of the heap of my favorite artists of this wonderful instrument.
My far-and-away favorite work for the cello is Josef Haydn's fiendish First Cello Concerto, so I was delighted when the Vallejo Symphony programmed it this season. Last night, it was excellently executed by the orchestra's principal cellist, in a performance that had the audience spellbound, and then out of their seats and on their feet, roaring and screaming, at the conclusion. Kudos to Beth!!

A Zen sunset for a cold Winter's day...

So much fire in the sky for it to be so cold on the ground! Again, I have to qualify my use of the word "cold"... meaning, it's cold to ME, but not necessarily to my friend Michele, who's enduring life in the sub-zeroes in Michigan, or friend Heidi in Germany who's experiencing the same. "California cold" is a concept only a native Californian can grasp. Whatever... I'll be glad when it isn't so "cold", like as in April or so!

Things to celebrate today...

Want an excuse to party tonight? ... to pop open a bottle of 2000 Moulton-Rothschild Pauillac? ... or, perhaps, to finsh up that bottle of Southern Comfort, while you listen to Janis Joplin oldies?? Consider celebrating one of these Red Letter events...
Today, January 28, is:

*Bald Eagle Day
*National Kazoo Day
*National Blueberry Pancake Day (you probably should have taken care of this one at breakfast, unless, like my Mother, you think pancakes are a perfectly acceptable dinner...)
*National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
*Fantasy Island Day (Debuted this day in 1978)
*International Make Your Point Day
*National Serendipity Day
*Runic half-month of Elhaz begins (The rune Elhaz signifies power and sanctuary [Ooooooo])

What are you waiting for???
Get out there, boogie down, and...
Let . It . All . Hang . Out!!!

Happy Birthday, Wolfgang...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
27 January 1756 - 5 December 1791

Mozart is another of those fantastic composers who, alas, isn't on my "favorites" list, simply because I've long since passed my saturation point with his music. I wouldn't dare deny his greatness, and truly love his operas, masses, and late piano concerti. He was a child prodigy, composing at age 5, appearing before Emperors and such at age 6, and concertizing in France and England with his famous father, Leopold, and child prodigy sister, Nannerl, at age 7. In his short lifetime he wrote an absolutely staggering amount of music... 41 symphonies, 27 piano concerti, 7 violin concerti, 27 string quartets, 25 piano sonatas, 33 violin sonatas, 20 operas and musical plays, 16 masses, a requiem, and dozens of other works. If you haven't experienced his music, do give it a go - all of it is good, and much of it is excellent!

The day I've dreamed of for 8 years...!

Oh, I LOVE this picture! That helicopter contains "Lonesome George" and it's about to lift off and carry "'W" back to Texas and, hopefully, a life of total obscurity, from whence he will fade away into the sagebrush and cows and never be heard of again. We had to wait too long, and too many people, polar bears, wolves, whales, environments and endangered species had to suffer before this moment finally arrived. Now, I'm not a prayin' woman, but, let me tell you, I'm praying right now that this wonderful country I love so much, will NEVER, EVER have to endure another embarrassment like him again.
Let the healing begin!
Amen!!!

Waiting for Spring...

George, my landscaper, and his crew got my rose garden "up and running" last week. It doesn't look like much right now, but, come Spring, I'll have 18 beautiful hybrid teas and one florabunda struttin' their stuff. I got a wild mix of reds, yellows, purples and oranges, lots of oranges! Normally, I only grow hybrid teas, because they do best in this area, but I couldn't resist the one florabunda because every picture I saw of it knocked my socks off! It's called "Cinco de Mayo" and is a blend of lavender and orange - one of my favorite color combinations - and I can hardly wait to see it in action! Here's the nursery website's picture of it...


Here are a few others I got:

Leonadis

Black Bacarra

Perfect Moment


Is it Spring yet?????

Here's what was in the boxes...

The New Grove's Encyclopedia of Music & Musicians...
29 volumes
25,000 pages
29,000 articles
20,000 biographies
and yada, yada, yada...

This should keep us off the streets and out of trouble for the rest of our lives!

Happy Anniversary, Thanksgiving, Chanukkah, New Year's...

This present to ourselves cost us a bundle, but it's the gift of our dreams... something we've wanted for years, if not decades, and we finally decided to spring for it, since we're not getting any younger! Stay tuned while we get it unpacked...

YAY!! I sold a quilt!!

I just got a call from Pieced On Earth, a shop in downtown Vallejo where I have some of my quilts on display. Janet, the owner, told me she sold one of my quilts today. Very cool! I'm happy!! This piece is called "Vernal Awakening", and is part of a series of pieces depicting the seasons. It's made of hand dyed and batik fabrics.

Uh Oh...

My husband is always yelling at me about spending too much time on the Internet. I didn't realize he might be right until I got this message today...

How to scare the crap out of your human...

1. Find a nice patch of sunlight.
2. Roll over onto back.
3. Go into maximum "stretch" mode.
4. Don't move a muscle, even when human approaches.

Garden Doldrums

Such a discouraging time of year for gardeners this is... too cold to stay outside more than ten minutes, too wet to just stand around and water (my favorite gardening activity), although the wet ground makes it easy to yank weeds, it's too cold to do that for more than ten minutes, et cetera, et cetera...
This is what I have the most of these days...

I gotta hand it to my tomatoes, though; after the Christmas Eve storm I thought they were done for, but that's not the case. They may look like hell warmed over, but, thanks to the day or two of sunshine we get between storms, they keep on keepin' on. They actually taste good, too! There's enough for salads at dinner, and there's nothing that cheers up a winter salad like tomatoes from just outside the back door!

But wait... here's a hellebore that seems to be surviving... I guess there's hope.

Diana Triumphs!

In mid-December, we noticed one of our fur-babies was loosing weight. Then, about a week before Christmas, she stopped eating... bad news. We took her to the Vet where they did some blood work, and the results were exactly what we didn't want to hear... highly elevated Creatinine, BUN and Phosphorus... all signs pointing to kidney failure. She also had what they called a "massive" bladder infection. They immediately put her on IV fluids and antibiotics and tacitly indicated we should prepare for the worst. She was in hospital for six days, during which time repeated blood tests didn't show any improvement. The day after Christmas, after yet more discouraging blood work, we brought her home, and started administering the fluids and antibiotics ourselves. We're old hands at this, having had four previous "kidney cats". Almost immediately, she started eating again, and acting like she was feeling better. We were hugely heartened. Over the following days, she continued to eat well, returned to her usual social self with the other cats, and became seriously more affectionate and demonstrative towards us, in spite of the fact that we were poking her with needles and ramming pills and other objectionable stuff down her throat twice a day. The day after New Year's we took her back to the Vet for another round of blood tests, and the next day, received the astounding news that the Creatinine value was down by half, BUN was at "high normal" and Phosphorus was in the mid normal range.YAY!!!!! We're to continue with fluids and antibiotics for another month, and then return for another round of blood tests, and this time we expect a complete recovery. However, if you feel like sending healing thoughts and mojo in Diana's direction, they would be much appreciated!