Hard to believe that it is already November. Most definitely H will be working on Thanksgiving so yesterday when A and I were out picking up fixings for dinner she asked me what our plans were going to be for Thanksgiving. I told her that since H was working, we could cook. Her response was, “Seriously, what are we going to do?”
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Thursday Night
I took A. to a concert Thursday night. I got quite bored and spent most of the evening in my car across the street reading the new Keith Richards autobiography which is brilliant so far.
I took this picture of the venue. It looks so western, so Last Picture Show to me.
The Boys
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| At the food bowl together |
When the decision to move back to the States came up this year and we decided it was time, one of the first things I said to H was “And when we get back we’re getting a cat”. I’ve been missing having one so much. But after we arrived back in the States and rented this furnished house with a large leather couch, the idea of a cat clawing it up and paying the damages seemed less appealing. A. however, did not give up on her quest for a pet. For her birthday in August she kept saying a cat was all she wanted and all she would accept. When H would say he didn’t want a pet because then if you go somewhere you have to worry about what to do with them her rather vocal response was always the same, “WE DON’T GO ANYWHERE!” In this economy, she’s on to something…
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| Cats do make naps look like a good idea |
Finally H starts thinking that getting a pet might be a good idea so we waited until A had a sleepover and went over to the Humane Society thinking we’d adopt a kitten. H decides, not one but two! There were lots of kittens and many cute but none of them really jumped out at either of us. While H was looking at one of the kittens, in the cage above there were two full grown longhaired cats, exactly what we didn’t want. They were brothers, Michael and Josh and they were marked down pricewise which scared me for them. Michael was standing close to the door of the cage and being very playful. I noticed they were neutered, micro-chipped and completely declawed and had been brought in because the owner was allergic. I took Michael out of the cage and he was so friendly and sweet immediately. As we got to know him I looked over at one of the cages that had four kittens in it and at that moment one of them was hanging off the door while another was pouncing on another kitten’s head. It reminded me what a handful kittens could be. H said, “Well I guess he’s coming home with us, what about the other one”. In the end we brought them both home. When we went to the counter to say we wanted to adopt them, the woman behind the counter excitedly exclaimed, “You’re adopting the big boys!” One of the volunteers also said that we’d made her night. It’s easy to place the kittens but the full grown cats are a bit harder.
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| Looking at himself in the mirror |
A. was none the wiser that we now had cats. So Saturday morning I go and pick her up from her friend’s and we walk in the house. I had accidentally left a bag of cat treats on the table so when A walked in she asked what those were for. Just then Michael walked in the room and A burst into tears. She hugged me so tight and just kept saying thank you so much. We had to go downstairs and peek under the bed to see Josh. She was still crying and couldn’t believe it. She is such an animal lover that I fear when she’s older we will come to visit her and she will have fifteen cats and nine dogs. The potential is there!
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| Pulling his Salinger pose |
Next task, naming them. A. decided on Sebastian and Clive, which I love. They are much too fabulous for ordinary names! They’ve been with us for two weeks and their personalities have certainly emerged. Sebastian is a bit mischievous and Clive is a little nervous and less social. I had suggested to A that she name Clive Salinger after JD Salinger because of his reclusive nature. She didn’t get it. For the first week they barely associated with each other which I thought was quite odd since our two cats used to love on each other and sleep together. I joked with A that maybe for the past two years Clive has been wanting to get away from his brother and was relieved when this strange man came and took him out of their shared cage at the shelter. Then here comes that strange man to get him.
They are definitely her cats. H often says, “I thought we had cats” because they are never with us, but always hanging out with her. This morning I walked into her room to wake her up because we had to take them to the vet for their boosters and they were both at her feet looking very happy to be there.
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| Clive, he is a beauty |
Sunday, October 31, 2010
The Jiffy Lube
In September some of my colleagues from the UK came over for a series of meetings so we spent a great Sunday together. We went on a beautiful hike, did some sightseeing around Salt Lake City, and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant.
As we sat outside waiting for our table, the Jiffy Lube across the street caught their attention and they asked with a knitted brow what that was. Now keep in mind, of the four visitors only one of them has a driver’s license. The rest rely solely on public transport. I explained to them that the Jiffy Lube was exactly what the UK needed, a place to get a quick oil change which was non-existent and a point of stress for me when we lived there. My friend N responded with, “Oh J, I hope you didn’t go around England asking for a Jiffy Lube. That sounds so sexual”. Hahahaha, no I thought better of that.
As we sat outside waiting for our table, the Jiffy Lube across the street caught their attention and they asked with a knitted brow what that was. Now keep in mind, of the four visitors only one of them has a driver’s license. The rest rely solely on public transport. I explained to them that the Jiffy Lube was exactly what the UK needed, a place to get a quick oil change which was non-existent and a point of stress for me when we lived there. My friend N responded with, “Oh J, I hope you didn’t go around England asking for a Jiffy Lube. That sounds so sexual”. Hahahaha, no I thought better of that.
The Dominant Culture
I get a lot of questions about the dominant religion out here from friends and family. One of them is about drinking coffee. Is it really true that the Church of Latter Day Saints bans coffee and is it because of the caffeine? If that’s the case, why do they drink Coke, etc.? Well, I actually did talk to someone of the faith recently about this and they read to me from the Word of Wisdom which is foundation text. It mentions not to drink hot drinks. They went on to explain that leaders have interpreted this as coffee and tea, but what about hot chocolate? Some say that’s bad too, others partake. Some do interpret this as a problem with caffeine and think anything with caffeine is bad. So did I walk out of the conversation with a clear understanding? My understanding was that someone has taken a phrase and applied their own definitions.
I recently went to see a nurse practitioner and when she came into the room after the first two sentences she used the word “bullshit”. I remember thinking to myself that okay, she’s not a member of the LDS church. Later I thought to myself, why am I always looking for that confirmation or denial of religion here? I’ve never done that anywhere else I’ve lived. First, the Mormon religion is also an all-encompassing culture. I think it’s because with that culture comes views on the world that I don’t necessarily agree with so I’m always thinking then about what I’m going to say, not that I look to offend. As far as I know I don’t offend people automatically with crude behavior. But also I think I also brace myself for them offending me believe it or not and how I’m going to react to that.
She did tell me having raised two daughters in this part of the world and not being members of the church that her daughters really started feeling like outsiders when they hit 11th and 12th grades because all of the girls they knew started talking about marriage. A hasn’t mentioned anything about feeling different and seems oblivious to whether she is in the minority at school. She did go to study at a friend’s house where there were eight children and she came home saying she’d never been in a house that big and asked me how would you keep up with everyone in a family that size. A’s best friend here is not Mormon and also an only child and grew up here. I asked her if she has ever felt like the odd man out and she said that the church kids have such scheduled lives throughout the week that many times they aren’t free to go places or do things which has been difficult.
It brought to mind the one family we knew growing up that had ten kids. Yes, Catholics can also breed like mad too! I remember going to spend the night at their house once and at age 8 a few things stuck out in my mind. Number one was the absolute chaos of it all. When the front door opened and I was greeted by my friend, number seven in the family, in the background her youngest sibling went riding past on one of their two great danes. I have to admit it scared me a little. I’d never seen so much laundry, I’d never walked into bedrooms with walls with drawings on them, or seen kids have so much freedom. There had been a mutiny and the kids had won. The other thing that struck me was how tired their mother looked. Of course when I look at the family pictures at work of the big families no sign of chaos is visible. Perfection seems to be the only image allowed. Of course being a pessimist my mind goes to the strange trying to figure out what perversions lie behind the perfection.
I recently went to see a nurse practitioner and when she came into the room after the first two sentences she used the word “bullshit”. I remember thinking to myself that okay, she’s not a member of the LDS church. Later I thought to myself, why am I always looking for that confirmation or denial of religion here? I’ve never done that anywhere else I’ve lived. First, the Mormon religion is also an all-encompassing culture. I think it’s because with that culture comes views on the world that I don’t necessarily agree with so I’m always thinking then about what I’m going to say, not that I look to offend. As far as I know I don’t offend people automatically with crude behavior. But also I think I also brace myself for them offending me believe it or not and how I’m going to react to that.
She did tell me having raised two daughters in this part of the world and not being members of the church that her daughters really started feeling like outsiders when they hit 11th and 12th grades because all of the girls they knew started talking about marriage. A hasn’t mentioned anything about feeling different and seems oblivious to whether she is in the minority at school. She did go to study at a friend’s house where there were eight children and she came home saying she’d never been in a house that big and asked me how would you keep up with everyone in a family that size. A’s best friend here is not Mormon and also an only child and grew up here. I asked her if she has ever felt like the odd man out and she said that the church kids have such scheduled lives throughout the week that many times they aren’t free to go places or do things which has been difficult.
It brought to mind the one family we knew growing up that had ten kids. Yes, Catholics can also breed like mad too! I remember going to spend the night at their house once and at age 8 a few things stuck out in my mind. Number one was the absolute chaos of it all. When the front door opened and I was greeted by my friend, number seven in the family, in the background her youngest sibling went riding past on one of their two great danes. I have to admit it scared me a little. I’d never seen so much laundry, I’d never walked into bedrooms with walls with drawings on them, or seen kids have so much freedom. There had been a mutiny and the kids had won. The other thing that struck me was how tired their mother looked. Of course when I look at the family pictures at work of the big families no sign of chaos is visible. Perfection seems to be the only image allowed. Of course being a pessimist my mind goes to the strange trying to figure out what perversions lie behind the perfection.
Oktoberfest
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| Let's polka! |
One of the local ski resorts has a month long Oktoberfest and I met up with some friends and a visitor to our office from Australia last month to check it out. It really is a beautiful setting and the alpine slide and music was fun but the food…ugh overpriced and not very good. I’ve never met a spaetzle I didn’t like and when A and I are looking at each other going “Are you going to finish it? No, go ahead, you finish it”, there’s a problem.
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| A view of the slide from the ski lift |
Going to the alpine slide it was the first time A and I sat on a ski lift and I can’t believe there aren’t more people falling off of those things. Seriously, not feeling very safe!
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| The view of the mountains as we walked to our car |
A P.S. on Halloween
Yes, no trick or treating on the sabbath here! It took place last night and A had a friend over to hand out candy. The friend informed us that where we live they had passed a law that no one could trick or treat past 12. Funny, I counted that we had 12 individuals come to our doorstep last night. Of course we had candy for 300.
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