tropicana 16 February 2011
Himself might not strike the world as exactly madcap, in general, but those who know him realise their is much mischief in him. Though he can leave the house with little or no fanfare, some mornings he can’t help but not. Witness yesterday when he played keepy-uppy (as a footballer might with a ball) with his underpants and socks while singing Club Tropicana…oh yes, my friends, it may be sharing too much but welcome to my world…
heart 14 February 2011
Apparently the first ever mention in writing in English of Valentine being used in a romantic way (as opposed to merely a name, I’m assuming) was in 1477 and was written, all the more unusually for a surviving letter from that time, by a woman. Her name was Marjorie and in the missive she declares her love for the man she is betrothed to and pleads with him to overlook the fact that her dowry is small and unlikely to be increased – she is clearly in love and it is not to be totally a marriage of convenience. Happily, the couple did marry, after her mother intervened in the matter, so a happy ending. AHHHH. Lurv, eh? what a mess it is!
In other news, on this Valentine’s Day, witches in Romania are to issue receipts for their predictions and pay tax, and can be sued if they give false information.
And fleas jump so high because they start on their little heels and not heels and knees as was once purported. They freak me out and I will be having a talk with the Hairy Ladies before they get outside (which they SO want now – quite bored of the house and wanting Big Adventure!) in the hope that they won’t start hanging around with other creatures who may have such types living in their fur…
One unexpected plus to the cats being here is that they are dealing with the enormous spiders appearing now (in hunt of mates in general, not just for Vally’s Day) – I have a bit of a freak out on about large spiders too…
zone 11 February 2011
Ah the joy of the long haul flight. As you know I popped over and back to New York overnight to a funeral – the wonderful Mike Bishop, father of friends of mine, had left us. It was great to be a part of his send off, a celebration of a gentleman and his good life, and my first taste of such things Queens-style. However, in the hours I was in the air I re-incubated a head cold from last week and that’s basically the shape of everything since, along with a bit of jet lag and the chasing of a writing deadline, that has left me falling asleep at odd times for equally odd times eg 12 hours last night and 3 hours just now (while simply ‘resting my eyes’). It all feels so ELDERLY and not at all the buzzy showbiz pzazz I thought I’d have. It leaves me with the awful notion that the rock ‘n roll lifestyle might not be for me after all…or at least it’s FOR me (in my head) but a little AGIN me in ‘real life’…SIGH
apple 8 February 2011
I’m in New York – OVERNIGHT ONLY – sort of nuts but a very good reason – a dear friend’s Dad has died and the funeral is in the morning. The wake was into its second night tonight when we arrived in from the airport – a proper community gathering and it had the makings of a good doo writ all over it. The man that we were honouring looked really wonderful. It’s great to be able to be here. Oh, and I’m in Queens if I’m honest and won’t even see the Manhatten skyline before heading back to The Old Country. Nuts, in a good way.
heedless? 6 February 2011
The older I get the more problems beset me – and were they with me longer than I think? for example, did I always have SUCH hairy eyebrows and did I always have some WIRES that grow once a month from various places on my face? AND have I always had scaley heels but never really noticed? NOT good…and that’s before I even get into the fact that I am going grey…Mortality…I don’t think I LOVE it…
obsessed 4 February 2011
I haven’t blogged in a day or two because I seem to be all about cats right now and I thought it would make me out to be a Mad Cat Lady and also be tedious for those of you who don’t ‘get’ the whole dat thing (if you fall into the latter category, may I offer my sympathies). However, there’s no getting round the fact that it’s all about felines in this house right now. They are a hoot. They’ll climb ANYTHING and have shown an amazing ability to be able to sharpen their claws on just about any surface…In the meantime I have been snuffling and wheezing on an International level and thought it was down to the furries’ arrival 6 days ago but now have given into the idea that it is actually a bad head cold, a thing I haven’t had in a while. It’ll mean the blagging of inhalers from the local pharmacist so I am reaching for my Persuading Hat and going out into the hurricane that’s raging today. In the meantime, Alice has pulled out a big, flat wicker basket and managed to squash herself in while Ariel is having terrible trouble with a jingly ball that she likes to carry around as if its stuck on her teeth and crying like she’s DYING as a result…it’s Furry Friday, my friends…
names 1 February 2011
Himself called me Pauline this evening – you might not have thought that odd as its my name, after all, BUT we seem to call one another a variety of other things (good, fear not – and even insults are designed to be funny) like Darlin or whatever (possibly even Whatever on occasion, now I come to think of it…). Anyhow it sounded nice. Its pertinent as we’re wondering if the cats know their names at all. Alice, the grey cat, is so busy sizing us up that its hard to know if she’s paying any attention to what we call her. And the black cat, Ariel, is too busy having fun and up to divilment to care – we had thought she might be called Josephine at first, then Brenda, but a smacking of the lips is about all she’ll turn around from a game for. Mind you, they seem to get ‘oy!’ or ‘no’ without too much translational problem…
pointy 31 January 2011
We’re about to have a general election in Ireland and there’s nothing but politics on the tv and radio and Himself has a pointy head on him because of that and has taken to talking to the tv, oh and the radio too. Between that and the sound of small cats complaining at having been delivered into a life of spoilage, where apparently there isn’t enough ‘fun’ to be had, the house is a noisy place.
Saw a mad movie called LAPLAND ODYSSEY tonight – good, Finnish fun…
Yup, it’s all out there right now and in many languages (including feline)
fox 30 January 2011
Russian is back in a big way in the house as Himself has resumed his studies with a vengence. The morning starts with a good old listen to Radio Business, or Radeeeoh Beezniss as its more properly pronounced. I catch the odd word, even a Russian one from time to time. The new cats (of which more during the week) would probably recognise a Russian presenter’s voice as quickly as mine right now. Its genuinely great to see and hear Richard battle with such a complex and beautiful language but some moments stand out for other reasons – for example, last night as he finished his studies in bed, he couldn’t find a word he was looking for in the smaller dictionary that lives upstairs and was so bothered he went for the large ‘house’ dictionary downstairs because the word was in a folk tale and he was ‘not going to be defeated by a kids book.’ It became apparent that the story involved a fox with a rolling pin (no, I didn’t ask any more than that) so its of great comfort to me to know that he will be equally comfortable in conversations about the state of the world’s economies or those of woodland animals bearing domestic utensils.
freak 28 January 2011
I’ve been slightly freaked by Manchester Airport – there are some new installations just before security which are life size, ‘real’ people (almost like holograms) meeting and greeting – flat ‘people’ but not human – eeek! A tad science fiction, really. I didn’t love em…