Thoughts of Friends East and West

My most sincere thanks to "Walt" in Frederick, MD for sending a wonderful collection of Ryukyuan music to me after reading a comment I made somewhere on-line about wishing I could hear those sounds again. Much of the music is contemporary, utilizing electronic instruments, but is based soundly on the classics in style, rhythm and verse. It sounds less like "an injured animal" (according to one friend) than the music I used to listen to on the radio during the lunch hour when I lived on Okinawa.

It brings back such positive feelings of my love for the island, the people and the cosmopolitan and idyllic two years I spent living on Okinawa in the early 1970's.

To my friend now vacationing in Hawaii: Your cat is alive and well, eating and pooping like a good girl. I hope my text message didn't alarm you. I know you warned me that Spooky goes kind of nuts when you're petting her and I'd get clawed if I didn't take it easy. How am I supposed to keep my hands off of her? She's so sweet and she purrs and talks to me. She lets me pet her and rub her chin and massage her back when she's on the floor. I thought she was going to let me pet her and brush her. Well, I soon found out that she's more likely to attack when her four legs aren't in use holding up her body, like when she's on the floor. Before I knew what had gone wrong she had all 98 claws in her four paws as well as her teeth sunk deeply into my right hand. The grooming session abruptly ended as I went in search of alcohol and bandages.

Tonight I looked over at my right hand and saw a few spots of blood which surprised the heck out of me because I didn't think she "got me" the one time she swatted at me. At least it was only a small wound. In fact I'm wondering if it wasn't just a spontaneous leak of some kind as a result of my subconscious apprehension of being attacked again.

I've joked that by the end of the two weeks all I'll have the courage to do is crack the door slightly and throw in a piece of raw meat.

My cat seems to be doing well. I haven't yet figured out an effective way of getting a pill down his throat every day, let alone TWICE a day. So his asthma is still a problem. However I'm very happy that I've found a brand and blend of food that he will eat that doesn't make him puke. At first I balked at Dick VanPatten having his name on a brand of cat food but I tried it anyway. The bagged dry version of Venison and Green Pea was labeled "Allergy Formula" so I tried it anyway, wishing that it was something Betty White had endorsed. Not that I have anything against Dick VanPatten, it's just that I'm more familiar with Betty White's involvement in animal issues. The brand name is "Natural Balance."

I wonder why someone hasn't thought to make a cat food out of mice, bugs and long blades of grass.

I'm still in shock after learning that our "docent goddess" at the Oakland Zoo resigned recently without notice. I missed the meeting where she made the announcement but a fellow docent sent me an email with the news. It's devastating news for the docents and the keepers. She is NOT replaceable. Something unpleasant has been going on but I don't know what. It isn't like her to give up on anything so it must have been a very, very difficult and painful decision to make.

It makes me angry at who/whatever caused her to leave. My first reaction was to never return to the zoo again. But she taught us well both in the classroom and on the job. Our first priority is the animals and their welfare. We signed an allegiance to them and promised to be there for them. The visitors are important too, of course. I have nothing bad to say about anybody at the Oakland Zoo. I haven't met a bad apple in the bunch. In fact, until working at the zoo, I thought that the best people on Earth worked for United Airlines. The reality, of course, is that good people are found everywhere. But the thing that bonds us together at the zoo is much deeper in a spiritual way.

Leslie, you've had a lot to deal with lately. A death in the human family, especially an unexpected one, is a tragedy. I think of you frequently, fondly and as I think you know, have a special place in my heart for you and your family. Can you believe that we first met nearly 20 years ago? Aloha.

Today there will be a family reunion in Hinckley, Utah which I will not be attending. It's on my father's side of the family encompassing the posterity of his maternal grandparents; my great grandparents. That has the potential of attracting a whole lot of people! When I was a kid we used to go to family reunions and I really only cared about three or four of my cousins. The rest were older, meaner and different because we lived in town and they all lived on farms.

I learned to dislike family reunions at about 6 years of age when my brother and sister told me I had to get up and perform "Two Little Ducks" on stage in front of everyone. I didn't care about performing, really, but that was such a stupid song I knew I'd be dead meat after my tough farm cousins ahold of me afterwards.

We always took our own drinking water with us because the local stuff was so nasty. It was always hot, dry and I suffered badly from hay fever. I couldn't imagine being more miserable. The corn on the cob was good though. Fresh farm grown corn is good stuff. But stopping at the A&W in Delta on the way home and getting one of those cone shaped containers of ice-cold root beer for the long drive home almost made the trips worthwhile.

All those memories are filed away in "my past." To go there now and see my cousins who, in my mind, are all still eight and ten years old now looking like our parents did the last time we were together would be upsetting. It's also upsetting that our parents now look like the very, very oldest people who we were afraid of when we were kids.

Jury duty is coming up soon and it would be great if I could actually serve on a jury, even if it's for a purse-snatching. It's just one of those things in life that I really want to do. Every year I get the notice in the mail but don't even make it as far as the courthouse. My number never comes up. If I never get to serve that's okay as long as I get a guarantee that I'll never be judged by one.

BED TIME