Esprit de L'Escalier

Puppies and music

This photo makes me think of this one This American Life episode about a man who tries to start a cable network of all puppies.  It even had a theme song that I would sing to you if you were here (friends Natasha and Shana have heard me sing this, much to their chagrin, as after it aired I sang it a lot).  In reality it's my friend Julie's new pug puppy, Gus Gus.  He is adorably sweet and I plan on stealing him (or at least pug-sitting) when he's housebroken.

Today I calmed my nerves with some Bon Iver.  His album, For Emma, Forever Ago, helped me get through a stressful spring quarter.  His music is very mellow, and, well, I love it (here are some songs).  He's coming to the Wexner Center Sunday night and I'm thinking of going.  I'm going to see She & Him Monday night (I've got an extra ticket, if anyone is interested), and I don't know if I'm up to doubling up or not.  Although I'd very much like to see both.

Frank in the catnip

I started writing about something and realized that I shouldn't.  Today wasn't the greatest day I've had.  It wasn't the worst, just frustrating.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.  I hope to shake off these sticky, uncomfortable feelings of inadequacy and irritation and to sleep well for the first time in a long while.

Here are some photos from a roll of medium format film I exposed incorrectly.  I forgot to change the film type.  Oops.  Rookie mistake.  These two are nice, though.  Above you see Frank in a favorite hangout, beneath the catnip.  The one below is Frank and a friend, which is really way too dark and grainy, but still quite sweet.

Update: The day was an emotional rollercoaster and I've just said some tearful farewells to some dear people I've become very fond of. I hate goodbyes.

The case of the monkey's mysterious paw

(And by "monkey," I mean "Frank.")

Currently there is a doozy of a summer storm rolling in.  The wind has kicked up, it's dark and the rain has just begun.  (That's one way to get out of watering my mother's plants while she's away.)  The power has already flickered out once, which it does with regularity on our hill.  I'm hunkered down with a beer to watch the rain in the trees.  My crazy cat is yowling to go out.  This is the second time in a week that he has insisted on going out into storm.  He gets a big no from me.  (Ooh, the thunder has begun.)

The title refers to Frank's current mysterious limp.  Sunday night el gato was a no-show at bedtime, which happens from time to time, but he's usually at the door the next morning, ready for breakfast.  Six am came, no cat.  Around 7:30 he showed up in the kitchen window.  I opened the front door, expecting a darting grey streak between my legs.  Nada.  I looked out and saw him limping towards me!  No signs of a struggle, so I'm going to guess he fell off of something.  He's still limping, but I think it's only a sprain.

Actually, I ended up letting the cat out in the rain (I'm a pushover, what can I say?), and then watched him scurry around the side of the house.  There are deep eaves on the house, so he can skirt much of the house without getting wet.  It turns out Frank just wanted to sit on a bench and watch the rain.  He really did end up in the right family.

Sorry for my slowness on posting about my trip.  More soon.

Cute overload

Oh holy hell. I am completely overwhelmed by cute. My sister has reached that stage of early adulthood where you want a pet of your own. I can understand, and was curious about all of the frantic emails and calls to my parents the past week, as she has been anxious and excited about the prospect of being a dog owner. As of yesterday afternoon, my sister is the proud new mama of a 5 month old Maltese that she's named Tana (short for Montana). As some of you know, we had a Maltese for just shy of 18 years. Ivy was such a wonderful dog and she is missed deeply. I am so excited for my sister's new dog. I'm excited for her to experience the wonder and craziness of pet ownership.

I just wish she lived closer so I could play with Miss Tana.

Seeing these pictures gives me a bittersweet feeling, as they make me miss Ivy. But that didn't stop me from mooning over these photos all day. Or stop me from making all of my co-workers look at the photos (sometimes twice). Alix! I'm so excited for you!!

Hello, my name is Simon

On my drive home I was brainstorming a post about my day, but it was getting a little too navel-gazey and it amounted to the phrase, "It's all in your head." The incident from this morning that spurned it all was not in my head, but I dealt with it head on and (I think) got it resolved. By the time I got home I was tired of the subject. Instead I'm listening to a mix I'm currently crafting (please let me know if you want a copy - I'll drop you one in the mail soon) and enjoying some photos I just got processed.

Please meet Simon. Simon is my aunt's gray standard poodle. We dog sat him a couple of weeks ago. I love this dog. I started calling him, "Pony," because he prances around in a spectacular way, akin to a pony. My mother had a white standard poodle in the '70s named Mushroom. Mushroom died when I was a baby, and we've always been a pro-poodle sort of family. It's hard not to be, because they are so smart and sweet. Yes, they can have slightly silly hair-dos, but don't we all at some point?

Silvery cat

We have been having some supreme weather and I'm almost afraid to discuss it in case I jinx myself and wake up in the middle of another blizzard. We've been flirting with 70 degrees, although the weekend is dipping back down again.

I wanted some immediate gratification this afternoon, so I thought I'd snap some polas of Monsieur Frank. Since the fountain thawed, Frank has suddenly noticed the two goldfish that reside in the bottom basin. He sits and watches and tries to figure out how he can get down there and bat them about a bit. For some reason - perhaps it was the extra contrasty sunlight or a bad pack of spectra film - but Frank was not coming out well in any of the shots. He appears like a silvery figment of my imagination.

I hope you're all having nice weather - and are able to enjoy it!

Cat confessional

I have an embarrassing story I feel the need to tell. It involves Frank. Before I taint your thoughts on our your favorite internet playboy kitty, let's look at a cute picture of him.

He's cute, right? A little impish, but perfectly respectable impish cat behavior. Well, all has not been well with Monsieur Frank lately. He had a flea problem that got really bad. It agitated him so badly that he started spraying my bedroom and the basement. I had to move out of my room. The fleas have been taken care of, and he's back to his happy, mellow self. But the weather has been too cold to get the carpet cleaned, so we've been living with the smell of cat piss for way to long. We reached a breaking point this weekend, and the carpets were cleaned today.

My mother sent me an email today with an update on the carpet clean-up, because the cleaners were bringing black lights to pinpoint any specific cat piss locations. I kind of wish I could have seen it. The walls in my room still need to be cleaned with a special enzyme killing cleanser. Anyhow, Frank was not amused with the events of the day. Here's what Mom had to say:

At the moment Frank is pissed and sleeping under one of the twin beds. He gave me a baleful look when I attempted to get him out. He spent most of the time they were here really, really pissed off and outside. Including the high porch off the Florida room. He did not like it that their truck made noises; he did not like it that they invaded all of his favorite sleeping spots; he did not like them around at all. He wants everything returned to its normal place ASAP.

He seems to have calmed down, as he's been able to reclaim some of his beds and he's no longer outside in the snow. Hopefully we can all get through this smelly patch.

Day after

We returned home to some unadulterated sunlight this evening. It's also in the 50s here, which is nice, but seems like nature's way of telling us that the end is nigh. Frank was excited for us to be home. He wanted out and some scratching behind the ears. See below for him climbing down the wall to meet me.

The next couple of days will be full of more travel and more friends. I may post, but I may not. Either way, I hope the year wraps up nicely for you all!

Early Friday cat blogging

Last night I went to hear Bruce Mau speak at the Wexner Center with my parents. I saw his Massive Change exhibit in Chicago last Christmas and was so excited and energized by it. I am working on a post about it, but don't have time to get it up at the moment.

I'm off to Chicago this weekend, and I'm very excited, though I have group projects and a take home midterm on which to be working. Before I go, I will leave you with some cat photos. In case you didn't realize Frank's multifaceted personality - he's friends with dogs, catches snakes and climbs trees.

No animals were harmed

Natasha visited this weekend. At first Frank didn't give her much attention. I knew he remembered her when he and I walked Natasha around the house. He popped a squat in front of us and peed. I haven't seen my cat go to the bathroom since I moved. I know that sounds weird, but the old apartment was small and he used to be quite the exhibitionist. In fact, the world is now his toilet and I rather have to clean up after him.

The second thing he did was try to bring a chipmunk in the house.

Just in case any of you just freaked out, I promise no chipmunks were harmed (much) in the taking of this photo. I got the cat to drop the critter, which quickly skittered off. Frank doesn't hurt them, he just scares the bejesus out of them.

Natasha and I had a great weekend. Her photos are here. It's Tuesday and I'm exhausted. I'm off to study for a stats midterm. Hopefully I can unravel the muddle in my head.