My old friend from college, Merry, came to visit us for a few days and just went home this evening. It was wonderful to have her meet Perrin and see my daughter with my old friend--just really heart warming for some reason. We all went out to dinner at Watercourse Foods for Tara's birthday. It is a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Denver with really amusing rabbit art on the walls. They have seitan wings, that are made of mysterious non-meat meatiness, and are pretty tasty, but the best thing about them is that we decided to call them Satan wings, which gave us a chuckle every time. We are a simple people.
Merry decided to make tutus for Perrin, so off to the fabric store we went to look through all colors of tulle. She made the cutest little things--they look like a mix between magic, dessert, and an explosion.
On Thursday we went to play disc golf on this amazing mountain course in Conifer. At the first hole you throw straight up the mountain side...or off to the side into a bunch of snow...however you want to do it... We carried Perrin in the backpack, and just took her off when ever we threw. She enjoyed herself I think, chewing on a stick and watching us play. She is a pretty good sport, where ever we drag her.
Merry told us about internet sensation Grumpy Cat, so I just looked him up--damn, that cat is grumpy. If you are looking for an easy laugh, check it out. This cat looks how I imagine our Simon cat feels. We love to give him really cranky internal dialog, as I'm pretty sure he wouldn't deign to speak even if he could. Mr. Dignified Cat. You can address him as Sir.
Puck cat however...
We will end with a little sprinkle of Perrin tutu magical fluffy goodness.
And...
Today Patricia, who I work with, and I went to the regional Indiana Birkham yoga competition to see another friend from work compete. It was held at a monastery in Floyd Knobs. The top two men and women get to go to L.A. for the national competition...and our friend Steve, who is in his 40's won second place! Really there weren't very many men competing, just 3, but we were proud of him.
I was so impressed with these people. Not everyone was great, and there were all body types. Which is really what impresses me the most. That some of these people have the gumption to get up in front of all of these people and do the best poses that their body can do, knowing that they are not really competing to win.
The woman who won is actually my friend Steve's teacher. She can back bend until her head is between her feet and hold all of her body weight, parallel to the ground on her fingers. I am thinking back to my one college yoga class that Tara and I took together...fun but it didn't last long enough to make any kind of progress. Maybe I will try to get into it at home on my own since classes are so expensive. It would be good for my back- it still gives me trouble; it aches most days, and I never even did anything to it that I know of. I have just been touched by the bad back fairy.
Yesterday Joseph and I drove up to Bloomington for our last visit with Kirk and Megan before we move. We had a nice little slumber party. First some dinner and black and tans at the Irish Lion and then today we had breakfast at Uptown Cafe (cottage cheese pancakes Tara!) and played miniature golf.
Joseph and I took a walk down town before we all met up. I love walking in Bloomington. There are always interesting people to look at, flowers growing- just good walking atmosphere. We saw a guy playing the recorder on a corner of Kirkwood and some hippy types on the courthouse lawn with mixing bowls and boxes with a sign hanging- "free meal." I took a picture of some graffiti in an alley that Joseph knew about. They are utility meters that look so real that I didn't even see the graffiti. We walked by Howard's Bookstore on the square and all three of their cats were sitting by the front glass doors watching the people go by on the side walk. These cats just roam the store. It somehow seems really appropriate for a cat to be rubbing up on your legs while you shop for books. I don't know why.
Kirk loaned me the book, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. However this book has to wait in line for me to finish my Atwood book, The Robber Bride I got from my Aunt Tammy and then I must read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We got this book shipped to us on the big day and now it seems like everyone is reading it- Megan during pauses in the conversation last night, Joseph on the couch next to me right now, the girl in the cooking supply store today, my 60 year old co-worker...
It is great to see people going bananas for a book. Really, for a book to be making any kind of news at all is a good thing- refreshing. They have some much to compete with these days, but a well written story is so absorbing and you just keep thinking about it. Personally, having read all but one of the Harry Potter books up till this final one, I think that Dumbledore is not really dead. Did anyone catch those little Lord of the Rings movies? Wizards have a tendency to be hard to get rid of- plus, Dumbledore kept saying to trust Snape and so I do.
I think Snape hasn't really killed him. They were possibly in some agreement to make it look like Snape killed him so that the Dark Lord would not be watching for him to be there for Harry. (I just got to write a post with the words "Dark Lord" in it.) If Snape turns out to actually be fighting for the Dark Lord I am going to be disappointed in the story. It seems really important that he has a further layer to his character that is neither all good nor all bad, and isn't simply a person who was treated badly in his life and thus became bad. Please, anyone who is reading the Harry Potter books feel free to leave a comment with your theory about the the plot of the last book- it is fun to hear. Just no give aways if you already know what happens!
So back at home this evening we made bltaps- bacon lettuce tomato avacado pickle sandwiches and are now hanging out at our posts. Joseph with Harry Potter and I with the computer- doing our duties to our selves that desire entertaining and don't want to think about going to work tomorrow. After this...reading in bed with a cat curled up beside me.
