Saturday, April 28, 2007

Smoking Fences

The other morning, while strolling through the house towards the fridge, as it was breakfast time, I decided to open the blinds. It was going to be a sunshiny day and since I was going to work from home it was also going to be outside time for the meows. I looked out the sliding glass door to see smoke rising from my fence. Subconsciously I knew not to be alarmed. I took a closer look to confirm that there was no fire and then proceeded to get my camera. I think I didn't freak out because at some point I had seen it before. It looked pretty cool. It had rained the night before and it was a very hard rain. My fence rails were soaked and the hot sun was was essentially cooking the water out of them. Hence the smoke.




A battle of wills is currently happening in the Funk house, particularly the kitchen area. Maevis has a UTI and the only way I seem to get her medicated is by putting the meds in tuna. Well, if the ratio isn't right she can smell/taste the meds and won't eat the tuna. I have been taking the same plate of medicated tuna in and out of the fridge all evening and her other food has been removed from reach. She will eat a little and then complain but she is gonna eat that before I put out her food. Poor meow, I know she is miserable.

I have been very restless today. I have fought the urge to go to the movies. There is nothing wrong with wanting to go but I have to rentals at home that I haven't watched yet. I think it has to do with the a few things. The first being my house is in disarray. I am in the process of installing a new kitchen faucet and of course, this will involve multiple trips to a hardware store. I am in the middle of the installation and need to go back to Home Depot. I hope I can finish this project on my own.

Another contributor to my state is the cranky cat that is annoying me and the pee that goes with her problem. I spent last night trying to collect enough of her pee to give the Vet a sample, which I delivered today. Let's just say that when she did use the box with the special litter she eventually ended up flipping it, which sent the black plastic pellets everywhere.

I am also in a bit of a funk - no pun intended - and down time allows for thinking, although that is what I need it isn't always something easy to do. As of late, by the time I have down time I am fried and not up for introspection. Well, I am trying to reduce my running around as I know I need that time and it is important not to ignore self maintenance. So, I forced myself to stay home and I did some work on the sink. In regards to self maintenance I have a book to read.

Earlier in the week I had the chance to see Ravi and Anoushka Shankar at the Paramount Theatre. (The picture to the left is from her website). It was an awesome experience. Anoushka played first and she had four musicians accompanying her. There were two drones, one flute and a tabla player. It sounded great. The flute has a haunting sound to it and the tabla is actually my favorite instrument. They played a set and then Ravi played, with everyone except the flute player. When Ravi came out he explained why he had a bench to sit on. He has been very sick with double pneumonia. Also, he had injured his shoulder. So they had him sit on a bench and he used a Sitar that he had especially made so he can still play. At first he seemed a bit weak and timid and then he must have warmed up or found comfort because soon his eyes were shut and I was privileged to watch the Master of the Sitar's (87 years old) fingers fly up and down the sitar and it was amazing.

Admittedly, I enjoyed Anoushka's set more but I knew that I was very lucky to see her father perform and both sets were great. Part of it had to do with her set including the flute and tabla. I found myself smiling the whole time. If you have a chance, visit their sites so you can hear some of their music.
http://www.anoushkashankar.com/ http://www.ravishankar.org/index.html. A side note, Ravi is also the father of Nora Jones, another talented artist.


Here is a photo I recently took when crossing over I35, headed West on 620.

~E

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the smokin' fence is cool :)