Currently Reading: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki MurakamiA quick note here. You may have noticed that I'm reading Sheep Chase again. This would be the third time I've read it since discovering Murakami's books. There are very few authors that I'll read this often let alone re-read their works so many times. Most of the stories deal with a search of some sort. In many cases the search is real, characters go off on a quest, and along the way at least one character experiences a parallel quest for their own identity. I guess you'd say that someone is always trying to "find themself." I find Murakami's work very comforting. Apart from the obvious plot threads (characters seeking identity) I also like the WAY the books are written. Most are written in the first person so you're being told the story by the main character and you come to learn everything he's thinking but not always what everyone ELSE is thinking (let's face it, that's how life really works). I also like the tone he uses and the constant injections of pop culture and jazz. I've read everything he's written that's been translated into English and I have loved every story. I'm going back to the Dolphin Hotel for a while; starting the summer reading off early with a wild sheep chase.
That said, on with the blog :-)
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This is our first spring in this part of the Memphis area and I have noticed there's a HUGE difference in the number and type of birds you see. Over where my parents live, there are a few little ponds and creeks around so they tend to see birds associated with swampy water. Throw in some sparrows, a few blackbirds and that's about it for them. Nothing really unusual about that of course. They live in a typical, suburban housing area.
Over here in Germantown, things work a little different. The city has very strict rules about which trees you can cut down. As a result, we've got some REALLY tall ones around. We've also got a river across the street and a "natural area" just up the road a little bit. They've gone out of their way to provide little pockets of green mixed in with the city.
You already know about the sparrow that's made a nest in one of our hanging baskets on the patio. CC has posted pictures. But there are SO many birds around here, and so many DIFFERENT kinds of birds, that this weekend I actually bought a book on identifying them. I picked up the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. And so far, here's what I've found:
We have both field sparrows and chipping sparrows in abundance here. They're simply all over the place. Flying around, with dramatic streaks across the sky are scarlet tangers. These I just identified today. Really pretty red birds with black wings. There were some cardinals out there in the park but they've moved on. Probably found this area over-crowded. Oh yes, we've got quite a few robins but what really throws you off is that there's an orchard oriole mixed in there. They have similar colors but are shaped a bit different. Over by the entrance to the complex we've got some REALLY lovely red-winged blackbirds. Picture a small raven but with a bright patch of red at each shoulder. The rest of our blackbirds are brown-headed cowbirds. We've also got a very large population of northern mocking birds. You see them zipping from building to building all the time. And finally, very cool, the house finch and possibly purple finch. The house finch has a read head and chest, very cool, and the purple finch, I THINK that's what it was, is a wash of rose. That's what was checking out our OTHER hanging pot for a possible nest.
And, of course, since it's breeding season, we get to see all the fancy colors the males put on so it's all a LOT more dramatic.
Oh, almost forgot, we've got a few doves around here too. Mourning doves, which kinda funny seeing that we actually SELL those at the shop. There are other birds out there too but they're hard for me to pin down. Their colors aren't so bold, their shape more basic. I'll have to keep an eye on them or maybe get some pictures to compare with the book.
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Sunday night was our first dancing lesson. Foxtrot and tango. CC's already blogged about it but that's not going to stop me from giving MY version too :-)
Actually her version was just fine but she left out some of the little details that I liked. For example, I was rather shocked that we WEREN'T the only young couple in the group. In fact, there was one couple even younger than WE were, which is saying quite a bit. Ballroom dance tends to attract a MUCH older crowd.
And I'm very happy to report that I wasn't a complete clutz. A long time ago, in what seems another life really, I used to dance quite a bit. I knew the steps to most of the party dances and most of the formal ones too. In Texas you go to a lot of debuts and things like that so you've got to learn how to waltz.
CC wasn't the only filipina there either. We met another couple, the woman was a filipina, the guy was . . . I'm not sure really, some sort of mixed Asian though. They were both very nice and invited us to join in all the Philippine cultural things. We'll have to look into that.
We did have a few rough moments though. I stepped on CC's foot more than once but, as the instructor said, it wasn't my fault :-) In fact, he said it's not the guy's fault when that happens. The woman should be moving her feet at the same time and getting out of the way :-) Mostly though, the problem was that CC likes to lead. She does NOT want to give up control when she dances which made things a little awkward at first. She's trying to move and dodge other couples that she thinks she's going to run into when all she really needs to do is trust me not to hit them. That would lead to her stepping one way, me stepping another way and her toes would get squished. At one point they had us change partners and I danced with a rather nervous, somewhat sweaty Chinese woman. She had never really danced at ALL before so she just went wherever I led her. Never stepped on HER feet :-) That actualy worked out well because it gave us a chance to get the steps down and practice a little more without the power struggle. When CC and I teamed back up for tango, we were much better together.
And I would like it noted for the record that I was part of a pretty damn funny moment with the instructor. We were working on the promanade and I was singled out to go demonstrate with the instructor. He sort of picked people at random, girls actually, but in this case, he wanted to demonstrate how the woman was supposed to do her steps. SO, there I am, right in the middle of the dance floor being the man with the instructor (Judy, you can picture this better. The guy looks like David Bowen in Follies). So he's explaining what's going on and I'm doing my best to follow then he tells me to start. Well I was pretty sure I knew what to do so I turned and took my step. "Excellent!" he tells me :-) Then he jokes that now whenever we need to remember how to do that step, we're going to have that image of he and I in the middle of the dance floor :-)
The hour went by pretty quick and we learned a bit. It was fun, I've got to admit it. Now if I can just keep CC from trying to lead all the time, it'll go MUCH smoother ;-)
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My mother said something that stuck with me the other day. We were talking about my work day and she'd remarked that my job seemed fun. Well, yeah, it is pretty fun sometimes. Sometimes it's just a royal pain in the ass though. For every moment we get to spend playing with or petting really nice dogs, there's also a moment when the little buggers won't stand still for the blow dryer or try to gnaw off your finger while you try to trim their nails. And then there's what happened with Gabby.
Gabby is a male, yellow lab. Very nice dog. Big, but nice. Gabby did pretty well in the bath. Did pretty well in the drying and brushing. But Gabby ate something he shouldn't have and, well, he let loose while he was in our care. I'll spare you the details but in the end I had to clean out TWO cages and clean up his fuzzy butt at least 3 times. And believe it or not, that's not even the WORST that's happened. A few weeks ago I had a dog actually walk up to me and pee on my foot. You have to laugh at that sort of thing though. You just wish they'd happen to OTHER people :-)
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My sister was in the hospital again this weekend. Of course, most of the people reading this already KNEW that but for those of you NOT in the area, she was in for more tests. This thing she's got is pretty persistant and just doesn't want to go away. They had her on a liquid diet all weekend and ran the throat scope on her this morning. The good news is that there's no damage to her esophagus. They've changed her medication and she'll be going home again on Tuesday. I'm hoping she starts to get better soon. This thing has been dragging on for a while now and she hasn't been able to do much for almost a month. Bad enough you have to be sick with something weird like that, even worse that it decides to stick around for a while. So let's all hope she gets better real soon and doesn't need any more hospital stays.
Get better sis!
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