eggnotes - may 2000
saturday, 20 mayAmy went to Habitat for Humanity to do some community service, I took that impetus to spend a few hours with my family, my neice is graduating from kindergarden so I'll go into San Francisco to socialize with parents and briefly stimulate children.
The graduation was a play - about a dozen five year olds wandering around a stage chattering with hand-designed props - there was a plot, about a king in a bathtub ("King Bidgood's in the Bathtub and he won't come out! Who knows what to do?"). It was extremely advanced, surreal. There was an unforgettable scene with Ride of the Valkyries playing as the kids chased bubbles and catapulted cotton balls into the audience with plastic spoons. Chris was laughing so hard she was crying. I was thinking Amy really should have been there - we don't see enough theatre. Besides that, this school specialized in having the kids build stuff out of found objects - there were fantastic strange art pieces on the walls, clearly built by children, and evidencing a higher intelligence at the same time.
After the show, there was refreshments for the parents and kids (mararoni and cheese and tomatoes and mozarella). Three muscians played Monk tunes and it was all very evolved. I felt like, wow, these people are very cultured. Not a terribly diverse group, ethnically or class-wise; but they knew how to educate kids to be highbrow thinkers.
Then I was driving home, the sun was out, it was so nice. Hours away from picking up Amy and only the house to clean so I was taking my time, KMELlow. I didn't notice I was going that slow, but a light green Lexus sport coupe roared around my left side on a quiet two lane street. Just as the car raced ahead of me, the light changed to red, so it was stuck there, having just barely won first place. There was room on the right side, so I pulled up next to the guy. A thirty something man with thin gold framed glasses was driving, and a frosted-haired gal with larger gold framed glasses, sat in their sunny blond leather interior. I waved at them, he blinked and then nodded and went back trying to concentrate on what his passenger was saying. I sat there smiling at them for a little while, and then I waited for the light to change. He inched out ahead of me and then drove quickly to stay ahead (I wasn't challenging him); as soon as we were in line in our lane, he slowed down until the people behind me honked. I was able to notice his license plate frame - "Life is a Cabernet." And I felt sad about San Francisco.
Then Amy comes back. She's looking at LadyFest and calling some of her female artist friends, encouraging them to submit their works. Meanwhile, I'm looking at "enter my world dot com because somehow looking at what kind of car I might buy to replace my tiny beloved Honda, I come to wonder about the history of DeLoreans.
tuesday, may 9
Fernando is being attacked by neighborhood kitties. From my toilet-side seat, looking out the bathroom window after hearing some perilous youwrls I saw a big old ornery looking grey cat with patches of fur missing, attacking my Fernando. Stalking him, pinning him down, swiping at him. Fernando backed himself into a corner and the other cat took some time to scratch his chin against our deck table. Playing with us!
And poor Fernando, declawed before we got him, he was defenseless. Though he was raising quite a fuss! I wiped my arse and ran into the kitchen. I emerged naked on the back porch, clutching a few walnuts to hurl at the enemy kitty, when they both escaped around a corner engaged in their cat chase, oblivious to my threatening. So I crossed the house to the front grabbing a robe on the way. As I opened the door, Fernando lept inside, and they gray cat stalked away. Fernando stood behind me, peering outside from between my legs, as I clutched my walnuts waiting for a target.
This happened last night too - as I was putting out the recycling, a puffy black cat stalked Fernando in our driveway. I was right there so I took aim with an empty can of chicken stock. The other cat dodged the can and Fernando ran to the front door. My scaredy cat, defenseless, should I be letting him defend himself? I'm not always going to be there to take aim at bully cats.
Previously, I've struggled to trick Fernando into staying outside. Usually after he eats he wants to leave to relieve himself. Then he asks to come back in, as I'm putting on my tie and getting ready to go to work. I can see him from my homeoffice window, meowling to come back in. And I look just past him, at the sun on the trees, and I think, man I want to leave this cat outdoors. So someone in my family can enjoy the weather while I'm inside working! And so Fernando can get some exercise, maybe lose a little bit of that gut he's got!
But now that I know what kind of neighborhood menace awaits him, I don't think I'll make him stay outside any more.