Thursday Thirteen

Things I do when I can’t get to sleep

1. bounce my legs
2. Move from recliner to couch
3. Move from couch to recliner
4. watch boring TV
5. watch interesting TV
6. read
7. sigh a lot
8. eat
9. play solitaire on the computer
10. check Facebook
11. scratch my head
12. let my brain wander
13. make up Thursday thirteen lists

No More Love-Ins

I used to love it in the mornings, especially after the nights that I slept on the couch. I slept with dogs around me. Lizzie often lay on the table behind the couch, Sheila always lay down on the floor next to me, and usually whatever foster dog we had would be sleeping on my feet (or, in the case of the chihuahuas, somewhere on my body).

When morning came and the dogs realized I was awake, Sheila would lick my nose and I would sit up. Both Sheila and Lizzie would get on the couch with me and take turns rubbing me with their heads or rolling over on their backs for tummy rubs. The fosters would get into the act too and it was the one time of the day when all three (or more) of the dogs were really friends. They licked each other, shared my lap or whatever part of my body they could get to and I almost didn't want to get up because it was just all so very sweet. Never was able to get it on film because that would mean getting up to get a camera. But I loved those morning love-ins.

And then Polly arrived.

Polly is the most loving little dog, as I've said before. But she is also the Napoleon of the house, the tiny tyrant.

At night I get into the recliner and she curls in my armpit, her head across my chest. She gives a big sigh, then lifts her head, looks at me, licks me on the nose, gives another sigh and goes to sleep. Sometimes she gets up in the middle of the night, but always comes back to curl up under the blanket with me.

She will sleep as long as I do, but the second she knows I'm awake, she wants breakfast NOW.

I reach down to lower the footrest of the recliner and the other dogs come in from the living room (because they sleep on the couch now) for the morning love-in. Polly flies off the recliner in full attack mode. I'm not sure if it's an actual attack mode or if she's just happy to see them, but it looks more like "that's MY person and don't you touch her." She leaps and jumps up on them, barking constantly, and then gets into the OTHER recliner and barks at them from there. In the meantime, Sheila and Lizzie are ignoring her and putting their heads against my legs and I'm trying to give them a lot of body stroking and wish them a good morning.

Once I actually put my feet on the ground, there is to be NO time for the bathroom, or checking e-mail or brewing coffee, I have to be in breakfast mode NOW. Polly barks and barks and barks, and now Sheila has realized that Polly has trained me well, so she is in breakfast mode too and she begins to bark. Lizzie doesn't bark, but she begins leaping at my legs (as does Polly) and leaps and leaps and leaps over and over again until I have actually touched a food dish and put it on the counter.

Sheila sits at her spot over by the back door, waiting, often leaving big gollops of drool on the floor as she imagines the delictable food morcels that will come (if you enjoy kibble mixed with cottage cheese).

It all finally calms down when I get the food bowls on the floor and everybody is eating for those 15 seconds that it takes them to devour the food. Then peace reigns again until dinner time, when she comes to let me know, in no uncertain terms, that it is time for dinner and she wants her dinner NOW.

I was cooking dinner tonight -- stuffed pork chops -- and Polly was standing at my feet hoping I would drop something edible (she loves living with a klutz)

I watched her tail going a mile a minute and I thought about that little girl who came to us back in January of last year, a skinny thing ("feed her whatever you can get her to eat," was Ashley's first order to me). I remember how she was so afraid she would hide if anybody with 2 or 4 legs was near her.

I tried to imagine what it must have been like for her being alone on the streets. We have no idea how long. She was obviously starving, because she was so skinny, and she obviously had her share of encounters, probably both with 2- and 4-legged creatures. I know that some of her quirks are because of her breed, but she obviously has been affected by her time on the street, and who knows what before that.

I'm glad she has found a forever home. I'm glad it's us, because I would always have worried that she might be mistreated again.

But I do miss the morning love-ins.

Whip Up Something New

I think it was Brianna's birthday a year ago (can you believe she's about to be 3?) when Tom served pull pork sandwiches (among other things). I had never had pulled pork and absolutely loved what he had fixed.

When I talked with him about it later, he couldn't remember what he had done, but said he thought he had just cooked the pork and then used some sort of bottled sauce.

Naturally, since then I've been on a quest to recreate Tom's pulled pork--or to find a recipe that I like.

I tried one a month or so ago, which I didn't like much and I haven't thought about it since, but the other day I read a blog entry for A Year of Slow Cooking. Someone had sent her a pulled pork recipe that she raved about. It was strange enough (calling for 2 cups of root beer) that I decided to try it--especially when Stephanie O'Dea (who writes the blog) said that she had just tossed a frozen pork roast in the crock pot and it cooked fine.

We were headed off to San Francisco for the day, so I decided this would be my "whip up something new" recipe to try.

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast (I used pork tenderloin)
1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings (I made the slices large, so it was easier for Walt--who hates onions--to pull out)
1-2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (I probably should have used 2, but I was afraid it would be too spicy)
1 cup chili sauce
2 cups root beer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 hamburger buns or soft rolls

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. A 6-quart is fine, but your meat will cook faster.
Put the meat into your pot, and add sliced onion. Mix Tabasco sauce, chili sauce, root beer, and vanilla and pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or until pork shreds easily with a fork. (Since my tenderloin was frozen, I set the timer for 9-1/2 hours)

Serve over rice, or on toasted buns.

My rating: Well, it didn't live up to whatever it was that Tom made, but it was tasty and served us for two meals. My search for the perfect pulled pork continues--but this was definitely a good one.

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Needless to say, I have been concerned about our two Japanese "daughters." Chieko was one of our first exchange students and she was here for Christmas that first year, and then returned for the next three Christmases. She became like a sister to Ndangi from Zaire. One year I taught her how to make tempura because I had decided that everyone living with us that year should make something for Christmas dinner from their own country--and she didn't know how to cook.

Her friend Hitomi came the next year and stayed 3 weeks. I've kept in closer contact with Hitomi than Chieko because Chieko is now married and has children. Hitomi, when I last heard from her was still single.

I found the last addresses I had for both of them. Hitomi was living in Osaka and Chieko in Yokahama, neither city in danger, though there were some photos I found of some tiles that had fallen and a street that had cracked in Osaka. But no massive damage. I hope both were in their homes when the quake hit.

That Which Endures

We all want to feel that when we die we will leave behind something of ourselves, something that will outlast our own short lives on this earth. Something that says "I was here!"

Imagine how Sophocles would feel to visit 21st century America and see high school students working on Antigone, or how Shakespeare would feel seeing how many different ways there are to interpret Romeo and Juliet.

What would the founding fathers think of the endless debates over the meaning of the Constitution and what those same founding fathers meant by their words...but still debating them 200+ years after they all shuffled off this mortal coil.

The Big 3 in music--Bach, Beethoven and Brahms--are still being played world-wide.

Arthur S. Sullivan wanted to be remembered for his serious music. He looked on his work with William S. Gilbert and frivolous and something to pay the bills while he worked on what he felt would be his masterpieces, like his only serious opera, Ivanhoe. But other than Onward Christian Soldiers, his serious work has pretty much faded into obscurity. (And not many people know that Onward Christian Soldiers was written by Sullivan.)

William S. Gilbert was a successful dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator long before he was thrown together with Arthur Sullivan in a collaboration that neither wanted. Some people are familiar with his self-illustrated Bab Ballads, but by and large, there is little outside of the comic operas that he wrote with Sullivan that has survived with any sort of popularity today.

Yet despite the contentious nature of their collaboration, their fifteen operettas are the works which have moved into the "beloved" category and are as well known in some circles today as they were when they were written in the late 1800s.

Today we went back to Presentation Theatre, my old stomping grounds for so many years. The Lamplighters was doing a double bill, G&S's one actTrial by Jury paired with Engaged, a play by W.S. Gilbert.

Engaged had been cut from a 3 act play down to about 90 minutes and was presented as a one-act with two brief time-outs where intermissions would have been in the full production. It was funny, and it certainly foreshadowed a lot of things that would appear in future operettas, but I sure wouldn't want to see it more than once.

When I think of how many times I've seen HMS Pinafore! And yet it still is enjoyable on the 20th or 30th viewing. Engaged is one of those plays where you think "OK--I've seen it now. Let's move on."

There were a few problems that made it seem tedious, despite the excellent performances. For one thing, some idiot had turned on the HEAT in the theater and it was absolutely stifling (I suspect that it was set to come on automatically and whoever had the power and the keys to turn it off was not even there). We were seated upstairs, where the heat goes when it rises. At one point I looked around me and saw easily 6 people who were snoozing. (This was after I had jerked awake myself).

Not only was the heat on, but the furnace made banging sounds as it sent that unwanted heat into the theater.

And then I don't know if it was noticeable downstairs, but upstairs there was a high-pitched whine/hum sort of sound as if somebody's hearing aid was turned up too high, only it went on and on and on throughout the entire first act.

What a change when Trial by Jury began, the pace picked up and the orchestra was there. It was like "family day" in the Lamplighters, with The Judge being played by Jonathan Spencer, while his wife and stepdaughter were in the chorus. Jim & Judy were also in the chorus (I've known them since before they started dating), along with daughter Brenna and her husband, Brenna wearing Judy's old costume from many years ago and her husband wearing Jim's old costume.

It was fun abeing back at Presentation again (the building that houses the theatre has been significantly redesigned, making it impossible to do big shows there any more, because the backstage area and the dressing room area is completely gone now)

But as we left the theatre, I wondered with Sir Arthur and Sir William would think knowing that more than 100 years after they first wrote Trial By Jury, people were still flocking to see it...and I had to look up the name of Sullivan's magnum opus (Ivanhoe) because it has faded into obscurity, and people in the theatre dozed through Engaged.

Too WHAT?

One thing I really hate is arriving at a theatre 10 minutes before show time and being made to stand around in the lobby until they open the doors. I can understand if I were half an hour early, but at 10 minutes before the show starts, you should be able to go in and sit down. If your set isn't finished by 10 minutes before show time, it's too bad! And if I am not arriving on opening night there is even less reason for making the audience stand and wait until right before curtain time to enter the theater (I get my best reading done in theaters before the show and at intermission!)

I recently attended an opening at a theatre with a teeny lobby, a concrete floor and doors that didn't open until just about the time the play was supposed to be starting. There was nowhere to sit and we were all crammed into this tiny space, like prisoners in a holding cell.

But as I looked around at my fellow soon-to-be audience members, I realized that we have been places where Walt and I are the oldest couple in the audience (that would have been Puppetry of the Penis where Walt looked around and declared "Well, someone has to be the oldest one here, and I guess it's me.").

We have been places where we are, if not THE youngest in the audience, then pretty darn near close to the youngest.

I have been at plays where I am the fattest person there. In fact, that is pretty much every play I have ever attended in the last 20 or so years.

However, this particular performance was the first time I ever felt that Walt and I were too SHORT to be part of the audience. It was like we had stumbled into an audition for the Harlem Globetrotters. Even the women were much taller than I was. What was there about this play that brought out the giants? I don't know. But I was relieved when a woman who pretty much bordered on being a "little person" walked in. At least we were taller than somebody!

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I was finally able to get out of the house today.

I mean that literally.

Yesterday I tried to leave the house and the door would not open. It was unlocked. The door knob turned, but the door just wouldn't budge.

I sent a text message to Walt at work that the door was unlocked but wouldn't open and to be forewarned that he was probably going to need to use some shoulder action to get it to open when he got home.

Only it didn't open for him either. It turns out that the mechanism in the doorknob assembly (or whatever you call it) was broken. If you fiddled with it long enough you could get it to open from the inside, but not from the outside. I didn't even try. I just stayed in the house.

He went out this afternoon and bought a whole new doorknob assembly and got it all put together, but for some reason it didn't work. The only way he could keep the door closed now was by putting the vacuum cleaner up against it and then going out the back gate to the car and back to the hardware store.

But by the time we went out this evening, we had a working door again and new keys (it's nice to be married to a handyman!). Then we went and got into our rental car, which I had not ridden in before, and left. I've decided I don't like the ride in this Nisssan. It needs better shocks or something. I couldn't read comfortably in the car because my iTouch kept jerking around. So I think we can cross Nissan off the list as a possible brand of car.

No final verdict on the car, but we are pretty certain that they are going to give us money and tell us that the car isn't worth fixing. Then we get to go car shopping. The thing I hate most of all because of all the games you have to play with the car dealers!

That Deserted Island

The 24/7 news reporting on the tragedy in Japan makes the possibility of being stranded on a deserted island more of either a possibility or a desirable thing! That said, I thought I would do a meme about things to bring to my isolation on a deserted island, just in case. Here's the challenge:

You have to spend a year in quarantine -- alone -- "they" will provide the following items for you: Food, Water, Toiletries and a Bible. Plus you have the Basics of Couch, Table/Chair, Bed/Bedding & Electricity for: Lights, Heat, Air, Cooking, Cleaning, Listening to Music and Watching Videos ONLY.

You have to pack your survival bag. You can bring...

2 CD's
3 Books
3 videos
1 project
1 article of luxury
1 item of comfort

And can request a years supply of your favorite "junk" food.

OK--so what do I bring. A year without a computer??? Oh my...already I’m going into withdrawal. But let’s get practical here.

2 CDs...

Well, obviously it would be a Steve Schalchlin CD and a John Denver CD. Those are constants in the car and I probably have listened to them over and over again for a year anyway, so why should my period of quarantine be any different. The trick would be choosing which of their CDs to bring, but probably one of the "Best of John Denver" CDs, since those are longer than others, and Steve's recording of himself singing the songs from The Last Session.

3 Books would be a bit trickier. At least "they" (whoever "they" are) would be providing me a Bible, which is a nice long book and will fill in the times when I am bored with the three books I’ve brought. I wouldn’t want to bring a real page-turner because I’d finish it too quickly.

Stephen Peithman, a friend of ours, once published "The Annotated Works of Edgar Allen Poe," and I think that would definitely be one of the chosen books. James Michner’s "The Source" would also be a good book. I’ve started it several times and never made it through to the end, though my mother loves it and has read it several times, so that seems to be a good recommendation (and during a year, I’m sure I could finally get it finished!). I think the last book would be Steinbeck’s "A Life in Letters," the collection of a lifetime of letters by John Steinbeck, which is a fascinating book. I could easily read that more than once (and have!). Or I might bring the impossibly long "Ladies of the Club," another recommendation of my mother's that I could never get into before.

As for Videos (or DVDs)...Well, "A Star is Born" would have to be there. Just because it’s a nice comforting movie to have with me. I think the other two would be "An Affair to Remember" and "Dave." Just because they’re all "comfortable" movies that I enjoy watching more than once and usually watch whenever they come along.

As for a project, since I obviously can’t have a computer, this gets a little tricky, but I think I’d pick scrapbooking. With no computer, no digital camera, and lots of time on my hands, perhaps I could finally finish putting all of the photos in scrapbooks. Of course "they" would have to pay for all the supplies, since one thing which is keeping me from finishing that project is the cost of supplies.

As for an article of luxury, I’m going to chose something weird--it would be a luxury for me to have some way to write. If I can have a computer, I choose that. If I can’t, I’ll choose a typewriter. If it has to be a manual typewriter, I’ll take that. If I can’t have a typewriter, I’ll have an endless supply of paper and pens. Writing is both work and a luxury for me.

Oh...and I get to choose a year's supply of my favorite junk food....Hmmm...what to choose... Well, donuts would get pretty stale after a few days, so I won't choose that. Same goes with any sort of drive-in junk food. I love chocolate, but I do get tired of it, believe it or not. So I guess I would choose either peanuts or peanut butter.

The Third Death

They say deaths come in 3s, don't they? First there was Alice's death and her beautiful memorial Mass. Then there was Brendan's death and the memorial party which will be held later this month. Today I got the word that another beloved member of our family appears to be terminal and the end will come very soon.

Our insurance agent has determined that our car is probably not fixable and we are going to have to go car shopping. My beloved Honda is dying before my very eyes and I am powerless (save paying more money than I want to pay) to repair it.

Some people would be thrilled at the idea of going car shopping with insurance blessing (though obviously what they will give us for the car will not nearly cover the cost of a new/used car). I am not a person who makes change easily. It takes me time to bond with new things...I wear shoes for years before they feel like...well...an old shoe. I only buy new shoes when the old ones have nearly fallen apart. I don't jump for joy at the excuse to go out and buy shoes.

And it's like that with cars. The Honda fits me. It's comfortable. I know its quirks. I have spent many, many hours in that car and traveled up and down the state many, many times. I was unhappy when we had to go shopping for a new car, but our Toyota Camry had been stolen and the insurance adjuster advised, when it was finally recovered, that we should take the money and get a new car because who knew what the joy-riding teens who stole the Camry had done to it.

So we went out looking for a new Camry and by accident happened to find the Honda. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I don't know how long it took for me to begin to love it, but it took awhile.

Now it appears to be dying. Pieces of its body are being stripped off the car even as I sit here writing this.

Walt unloaded everything from the trunk, glove compartment and car and came home with a new Nissan hatchback as our rental car. We are resigned to having to get a new car and Walt is now starting to think about what kind we want (he likes the idea of the hatchback for ease of carting large boxes around.

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I was interrupted in writing this entry by the news of the Japan earthquake. The largest earthquake I have felt was 5.6. I can't even imagine an 8.9. I sat here watching the tsunami in the north-east part of Japan, trying to remember where exactly our two Japanese "daughters" live. I have lost contact with them.

As of what we were reading at midnight there have been 17 aftershocks, ranging in size from 5.6 to 7.9 over the last two and a half hours.

Twitter is all a-twitter with tweets about the earthquake, and also with complaints about the CNN reporter who, apparently, made jokes about the earthquake. I had listened to CNN for a long time and didn't hear anything non-professional, so I'm not sure what they were talking about

My heart went out to those people living in the tsunami area, watching that moving water just ripping up homes and sending them crashing into each other, into bridges, into large warehouses. I watched boats being crushed under bridges and cars floating so fast they might have been motorboats. I shuddered to think of the people who might have been caught unawares. I watched the water rapidly approaching a road that was clogged with cars, apparently trying to get out of the way of the water.

Looking at the tsunami map it appears that most of the world is going to be feeling the effects of the water. The entire west coast of the United States is under tsunami watch (though by the time it gets here, the destructive forces will probably be lessened).

Char's husband Mike used to head the Tsunami Warning Station in Honolulu. He kept us safe from tsunamis all those years and we have now have had two destructive tsunamis since he retired.

Coincidence?