They're quite large... from head to tip of tail easily a foot long.
Apperantly our property is within their summer feeding range. Now that we have a park-like garden with hull-free, waste-free bird feeders, they're making our place part of their late afternoon snack stops. They come around 4:30 pm each day.
So we have various migrating finches, humming birds, scrub jays, red tailed hawk, American kesterels, doves, crows and other feathered visitors... not to mention the plants and flowers are attracting butterflies, moths, humming birds, bumble bees, native ground bees and more.
I just thought I'd share this shot.
Anyone else in SF getting visits from members of the SF feral parrot population?
(keeping my mind off of things... you know.)
She ate a little and drank a little and didn't barf last night. We monitored her closely. Got her into a vet appointment first thing this morning. They kept her for tests, including ultrasound.
Her temperature n pulse are fine, her kidney count is high normal, she's anemic a bit, but they felt a lump in her abdomen. Ultrasounds shows very enlarged lymph nodes around her stomach or bowels. (I can't exactly recall the phone call). Currently they're looking at 3 different possible cause for that... from least to worst case scenario: bowel irritation with infection, small cell cancer, or mass cell cancer. If the first, they've got some good outcome treatment. (I forget the details now.). If the second there are things to make her life comfortable and might go in to remission. If the last, it's pretty grim. "Grim" was the term that the vet used.
More tests to find out.
In the mean time, she's at the vets, with my well worn and me-smelling hoodie, getting hydrated and monitored. She's on narcotics and fasting, both to relieve her discomfort. She's going to stay with them tonight. Her regular vet will be back in the morning and he'll take over her care/diagnosis.
I'm crying a lot but I feel better knowing that she's getting good care and we'll find out more clearly what's going on and what to do... which will help me to prepare better. I leave for London for a big presentation gig. I was worried that it would be something that would cause her to die while I'm away. Maybe it's selfish of me, but I want to be around to make things comfortable for her and - when the time comes, to make the best decision on euthenasia with the best possible environment and care for her. I want to spoil her silly.
oh and her medical bill... it was big. and it's not over. I really hope I can afford to pay for all this... (At the same time she was getting her tests, I was having procedure-number-I-don't-know-what at the dentist as the follow-up from my jaw surgery last year. Due to various family and creative reasons I've taken much of August off the road - which is good for some things - but as free-lance / self employed that's also means zippo dineros. But at least that means I'm around for Tigger.
I calculated her human equivalent age. At the 17 years, she's something like 85 years old.
I guess knowing that she's living a great life and has been quite healthy is comforting. But it's still really really hard. I'm glad I can touch type because I can't see the screen past my tears.
Man oh man it's going to be hard to work on my articles today and the London presentations.
For those of us who are pet parents, dealing with the ailments, aging and pending death of our loved animal companions is so deeply painful and difficult. When it comes to treatment and euthanasia, it's not like we can ask the patient for their desires. (although sometimes they will let you know in their own way.)
As omnivourous, carbon-based life forms, it would have been nice if our evolutionary process had equipped us a bit better with dealing with this... I am trying very hard to remember that this is the cycle, the wonderment that is life... that this is how us carbon based entities recycle our building blocks.
The pain of birthing, if you survive it, has built in euphoric effects to deal with it, our brains are programmed to bond with our young, our species are programmed with so many coping mechanisms for the inevitables of living on this planet and propagating... How about some for aging and dying? Perhaps the grief among the living around death and dying is part of the strategy to keep the sense of social / tribal bonding and encourage cohesion. I'm not sure. I'm babbling here.
That gray lump in the foreground is Tigger. Behind her, the black kitty is Yoshi and the sprawled big furball in the back is Kind David. This was taken within the last couple of months.
Ok I have to get back to the office and work now.
I stood there dressed in pink and silver, grinning and mooing at K, with a box of pink frosted, pink sprinkled sugar cookies and a mooing, squeezy cow toy.
She asked me "how old are you right now?"
I wasn't sure - but she bought me the moo and cookies.
Sticker on the cow reads "squeeze me".
Squeeze = moo moo moo
I squeezed it all the way back home. From the back seat.
It made me very happy. Maniacally happy.
Tomorrow I will return to being 42, mature and teacherly again.
Location: In front of Mayor Newsom's office in San Francisco City Hall, watched over by the bronze busts of Harvey Milk (!!) and Dianne Feinstein.
Our dear friends flanking us as witnesses.
The stunning bouquet was made by Wade, our beloved friend who's an interior designer.
Theresa Sparks officiating. Darryl is signing as witness
Our City Hall is gorgeous!
The crowd was good about ignoring them. As the haters spewed poison from their megaphones, a group of charming older women started various chants to bury them in the voice of tolerance and love. The most popular chant by them that spread was "Blah Blah Blah! Blah Blah Blah!"
Anyhow, here are what haters look like. The most shocking to me was this mother who brought her young daughter out to stand and hate along side her. What is she teaching her? How wretched is her heart? What does love mean to this mother? I just wanted to hug the poor daughter and give her hot cocoa. (it was a very cold summer day here).
So it was great to be down there. I needed to be in the area for another errand so I timed it to be around 430pm. At 5:01pm the first marriage was being performed by Mayor Newsom somewhere in the rooms of City Hall. I joined the growing, buzzing crowd around 4:30pm. I ran into a friend or two.
Mood: Excited, joyful, unbelieving, teary.
I was near the part where a happy group of people showed up with a Chuppah and musicians and cake and a Jewish marriage contract re-written as contract to witness the legalization of marriage in California. They shared cake and rose petals and had folks sign the covenant. A gay band showed up playing various wedding marches. A guy showed up with dozens of roses and handed them out to people. He gave me a lovely, soft, fragrant red one.
Lyon and Martin, the amazing activist couple chosen as the first to marry.... they didn't make an appearance for the crowd, that I'm fine with that. It was just important that we be there. Happy.
We did see many dignitaries and important activists, all dressed well, trickle out of the building. They must have been part of the wedding party. I saw Reverend Cicil Williams of Glide, Betty of Betty's List. I think I saw San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg and Superior Court Judge Donna Hitchens. I even saw one of my doctors. I knew she was cool, but I didn't know she was that cool!
To be honest, I'm still in shock that marriage is legal for same gendered couples now. I really didn't think I'd see it before I was as old as Lyon and Martin.
Interracial marriage wasn't legal in the US until just after I was born - that's 1967. You wouldn't bat an eye at that today - but back then, not too long ago, it was sure to unravel the fabric of the American culture. I still don't get what two guys or two women getting hitched has to do with the quality of some het couple's marriage. last time I checked het divorces and het affairs and Britney Spears were the downfall of sanctity of het marriage. How often do you hear of lurking handsome homos seducing the unhappily married Family Guy? There's something tragic when throngs of wedding planners, florists, hairdressers and bridal dress designers themselves can't get married.
Below are some of the photos. They're not that good. I'm short and the crowd was big, but you get the idea.
Oh and the errand I was supposed to do? It didn't get done. I'll do it today. So I'll get more photos today, I hope. I was there to get a certified copy of my divorce decree from years back so I can get our marriage license and merry in city hall. We're doing it on the anniversary of our private ceremony, July 7th.
= = =
Monday was hot. I scheduled a visit to the Chicago Art Institute during the height of the early summer heat. I love the place. K's first time. We wondered around with no particular agenda.
Found a room with the works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres..
Deeply moving pieces for both of us.
Here's one... "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991.
A pile of brightly wrapped hard candy is piled in the corner. I took a candy and ate it as I considered his other works.
Here's the description.
"Felix González-Torres used ordinary materials to extraordinary ends. From 1986 until his early death in 1996, he produced work of uncompromising beauty and simplicity, transforming the everyday into profound meditations on love and loss. González-Torres’s quiet, elegiac oeuvre comprises serial work including lightbulb strings, candy spills, beaded curtains, language-based works, graph-paper drawings, and stacked paper sculptures. This installation is an allegorical portrait of the artist’s partner, Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991. The 175 pounds of candy corresponds to Ross's ideal body weight. While on display in our contemporary galleries, viewers are encouraged to help themselves. As the pile diminishes, candies are replaced.
Then I spotted this piece. "Untitled" (Silver Beach), 1990.
Part of the description: "Each viewer is invited to take a sheet from the stack. In 1989 Felix Gonzalez-Torres made the first of his stck sculptures, which are comprised of sheets of paper piled neatly into a cubic form on the gallery floor..." "... The artist thus advanced a kind of subversive generosity tinged, as always, with sadness. As the sheets disappear, they are replenished; the work thereby endures despite its continual dematerialization."
I took a paper and stood for a moment. I didn't so much think as had a gut drive.
I handed my purse to K and asked her, without explaining, to document what was about to happen.
With the artist's huge piece of paper in hand I kneeled down in the middle of gallery floor and began to fold the paper, precisely, repetitively, silently - with each fold executed in long intentional movements.
At first people didn't notice.
Then some stumbled over me.
Then some noticed.
Then someone took a sheet a paper from the stack and started to fold.
I continued to fold.
More people took paper and sat down to fold.
Some knew the intent of Torres' work.
Others did not.
A father came in with a very young son and they sat down and made paper airplanes.
Art students murmurred while folding.
Tourist, laughing, joined in.
I continued to fold
a crane was taking shape.
The room was filled with people folding.
Creating.
Creating from a now dead artists intention.
Keeping art and generosity in motion.
The world changed just a bit.
I left the crane on the floor and walked away silently.
I felt different. Both very light and very heavy.
The security guard smiled a knowing smile at me.
Inside of G Boutique. Sweet and romantic.
Millennium Park art and play!
Archetecture Foundation's River Cruise with an excellent docent. The weather finally warmed up so it was lovely. Went with RedDevilWolf and a new pal who just moved to SF. I've done this tour before but I always enjoy it. Each docent tells it a bit differently with different focus so it's ever changing. As the river front properties keep changing it's exciting to see the progress.
LUNCH adventure!
Lindsay from LA joined us for the first course of our lunch adventure.
First stop - the "famed" Billy Goat Tavern. You know the one that was parodied by the John Belushi and crew on Saturday night for "cheezeburger cheezeburger no pepsi coke!" I didn't know it was based on a real place - so we had to go. Yup, greasy spoon and a fun stop. (No need for a 2nd visit though, I think.)
SECOND course - from low brow to high brow... Across the street to the Intercontinental Hotel for Eno. A wine - chocolate - cheese tasting bar.
OMG! simply foodgasmic!
Some of what we had...
Cheeses
* Ossau-Iraty A.O.C. Basque France, Sheep(raw) "Increadily smooth, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Creamy and refreshing with undertones of vanilla bean."
* Memoire Truffled Gouda, Noor, Holland; Cow "A semi hard Gouda with morsels of fragrant Italian summer truffles."
* Valdeon, Leon, Spain; Cow and Goat. "A pronounced spiciness characterizes this cheese which is also quite slaty and pungent" (OMG this one blew the backs of our heads off. Very yummy)
* Piave Vecchio "Oro del Tempo" Veneto, Italy; Cow "Firm and dry iwth a sweet nutty flavor."
Chocolate
I loved the honey caramel with sea salt in dark chocolate... Also wonderful was the passion fruit in dark chocolate truffle... mmmm
Having 4 of us there was great, as we each did "flights" (samplings of 3) of cheese and chocolate and some of us did wine as well. It allowed us to try each other's flights...
mmmm such pleasures... and especially great to share with sexy, sensuous and kinky people!
Other foodie note... I forgot to mention that on Friday I stopped by the the CHIC cafe at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. For $15 I had a really lovely three course lunch of very tasty steamed mussles, delicious fish and a chocolate mousse. Total value for the meal. Unfortunately their service was, while well intentioned, nervous and clumsy. (It's not the CCA or CIA) Still, an interesting yummy and great value lunch.
Other foodie notes...
I get tired of eating hotel food at conferences and events. Never mind asking the front desk or concierge about to where to eat. They'll send you to blandsville. Try asking the other staff. In the elevator we chatted up one of the office workers and asked for good, cheap local eats. She recommended Boston Blackies just 3 blocks from IML. It looks like a dark bar... with decor leftovers from the 30's, 40's, 70's and 80's. The burgers are just world class! I had fried smelt, crispy and greasy and delish. The slaw was crispy and not overly dairy gooy - just right. Cheap. The service was down to earth and genuinely friendly. We went there twice, three days apart and Marsha, the waitress remembered us. We felt very welcome and well fed. I highly recommend it.
While I was in town for International Mr. Leather, several local shops had me present classes (Boutique G, The Pleasure Chest and Early To Bed.) They went really well so they've all booked additional classes for my mid September return. I really like the students here. Very eager and quick in learning.
Hotel gripe: ( Read more... )
Food Adventures:
Saturday....
I am on a mission. Not having a car wasn't an issue. I had to get us to Hot Goug's The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium .
Not having a clue about where it is, relative to the trains, and time being a limit, we decided to take a taxi, which was pretty expensive. (Later we find out that the Blue Line would have gotten us out pretty close.) The place is located in the middle of offices and remote businesses... Not easy to get to but worth the trip is you're a foodie. The reason for the determined journey? Fridays and Saturdays are the only days that Duck Fat Fries are available. Yes, French fries fried in duck fat! And their hours? Monday - Saturday, 10:30 am - 4:00 pm, closed on Sundays.
When we got there the line was, literally, half way down the block. The customers were patient. Some brought weekend readings and generally socialized with their friends and fellow encased meat lovers.
The people in line were really nice. The guy behind us gave us directions on how to get back on public transit. Another person gave us their transit pass with a few cents left on it so we could just refill it. Met a nice couple, Mona and James, and we chatted about our various cats, their wedding plans, etc. When they asked what brought us to town, we told them "International Mr. Leather" - then a moment a thought and then she chuckled "Oh is that in town? No wonder we've not heard from XXXX, he'll be busy all weekend." Yeah, IML is big here.
The wait was an hour and half. We didn't care.
Here, the interior of the store. A paper plate joint, where you're greeted by the owner with a dry at the counter and the staff are really cheery.
The reason for our sojourn? Can you make out this amazing menu?
We had
* Chardonnay-infused Rattlesnake Sausage with Bacon-garlic Dijonnaise and Mirabo Walnut Cheese
* Brandy-soaked Portuguese Chorizo with Saffron Rouille and Queso Arico Cheese
* Bell Pepper Wild Boar Sausage with Anchovy Goat's Milk Butter and Saint Paulin Cheese
and duck fat fries of course.
ahhhhh mmmmm aaaaaa mmmmm omg mmmmm!
We shared the window perch with Mona and James. Then they gave us a lift to the nearest train station! They were so sweet! (I've noticed that Chicagoans are really nice, unless they're driving and you're a pedestrian.)
The El is really easy and pretty efficient. Chicago's just so huge that as a tourist it's figuring out where you are that's tough.
After the sausage heaven, back to IML and enjoyed half the vendor mart. With 125 major vendors, it's the largest kinky market, and simply the best, in the world. Ok, no much for chickie clothes, but I don't care. Great to see so many friends!
K was "assulted" by an attack-homo! There she was, minding her own business, trying on super sexy and unique moto cop pants by InSeam Clothing, when a hunky fashion fag molested her and then forcibly accessorized her with a hot set of red leather braces. No consent here! LOL.
Saturday night - women's meet and greet...
(Gripe warning)
A rather somber event without any festivity and coming from a rather dower place with attitude of scarcity. A real contrast with the excellent party making festive environment of IML. Made me sad. 'Nuff said.
The new International Ms Leather - Hobbit, and the new International Ms Bootblack, Q - did an awesome job to liven up the party. These two are going to be a couple of great title holders!
OMG, IML has parties everywhere! and hot sexy men everywhere!
Also exciting is that fetish wear is really expanding and getting creative. Lots of sport gear inspired outfits, like moto cross and pro speed moto racing, etc!
Ran in to my favorite male models with Colt and they want to shoot with me again! I'm sooo excited!
(Up until 5am trying to wrap up articles...)
The meeting I was to have morphed into a phone meeting... for planning my "secret" return visit to London and the fall salons with Coco De Mer.
With the day generally open but still on hold for a possible meeting, I decided to wonder around the center of town....
So I take you along with me on my day's trip in London... ( Read more... )
View from Eurostar. I think on the UK side, but there's a section where both sides look really similar. Yellow field is mustard flowers...
See
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kumimonster working hard on her site updates.
Gare Du Nord, Paris
( Read more... )
[Door of Buenos Aires]
( Read more... )
[Architectural Features]
( Read more... )
[Butcher & Grocer]
( Read more... )
[Trail made by ants at the park. They're really amazing engineers!]
(all the photos at the end because there are so many!)
Theme: Colonial Beauty
Up early, again… It’s a hot day here in Buenos Aires. At 8am people were already in tank tops and shorts. This is their fall. It’s beautiful, but we’re glad to be out of the heat this day.
We hope a cab to the ferry terminal. We’re heading to the quaint little townlet of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_de
Yup, another country, and it’s only an hour’s boat ride way from down town Bs. As. It’s the oldest city in the nation of Uruguay, founded in 1860, and it’s now a World Heritage Site.
( Read more... )
Don't they look sort of, well, naughty?
[Thrs 4/3]
Theme: Spendorphines
( Read more... )
K, bless her, went to the pastry shop next door and returned with sweets, quiche and yummies, which I enjoyed with my mate.
( Read more... )
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