Good morning all:

Weekly birthday quiz quote:

“Enrico Caruso and I were both born this coming Friday. Care to guess who it was that was born in 1873? Hint, one of us is still ‘sol-faing’.” ~ anonymous

Those of you who remembered that it’s not been that long ago that I watched The Sound of Music for the umpteenth time will have the quiz’s answer very quickly.

From neutral we’re in the thick of it. I am referring to the dreaded El Nino or La Nina weather anomalies. All winter we’ve been experiencing a few, very few, temperature dips and a lot of 45 – 60 degree weather during January and February, with barely any snow. So, why ‘dreaded’? Because we’re all sick is why!

We’ve now migrated to buying tissue by the shipping carton. One tissue dispenser empties, and like magic the next one appears, then before anyone can say “thanks” it’s half empty.

Early in the week Vaioleti was hauled to the pediatrician who declared he’d seldom run across such a massive ear infection. No 10-day antibiotics regimen for her. A three-day shock treatment was prescribed. In the meantime, Viliami, Oma, and Opa all sat around pretending we were human faucets.

Being fully dosed-up on a variety of herbal teas and honey these last few days, I am so enjoying my morning coffee.

Picture Book – Every so often its fun to grab a coffee table picture book and just zone out a bit and start leafing around the pages. A while back Kirstin recommended a picture book and you know how that works; look around a bit, initially, and then quickly forget.

This week I found myself at the Blue Manatee kid’s book store picking up a birthday gift for Derek, and there, on the checkout counter itself, there it was!

Kathy Hoopmann’s all cats have asperger syndrome. OK, it’s a thin picture book and so I ‘read’ it in mere minutes, but that is not what you want to do. I found myself sitting for round two – till 11:30 last evening – enjoying and learning a bit from each photo and the accompanying one or two lines of text. Then nodding with a bit of insight, discovering something about myself and those around; diagnosed with asperger’s or not.

Some while back I signed up with an online social-media site called Goodreads, The idea being that by logging and rating books read, with others, it builds up a sort of reference list (also good for possible gift ideas). Anyway, since not that many are on Goodreads I thought I’d share the “all cats have…..” book here in the Ramblings. If you care to search me out on Goodreads, I am listed as “Opa”.

Crocodile Tears – Last Saturday I called around looking for grand-kids to take to the Playhouse in the Park, Next Generation Series. All were busy doing things, other than Vai. Off Vai and I went to see “Z Puppets Rosenschnoz” and a puppet-live action theater experience about an incompetent French Chef who is opening his new restaurant. The first effort, cook a gourmet Lobster meal. Of course, chaos ensues.

As the play progresses the Lobster which entered the pot as a small plastic trinket grows and grows, Boys of Marin’s age howled with laughter! Little girls Dinah’s age squealed with nervous enjoyment. When I realized that Vai had curled up on my lap and buried her head into my chest I also realized all was not well. Maybe it was the intensity of having a first-row seats, maybe it was the chef’s bulbous red nose, whatever it was, it did this little three-year old in. Between sobs she begged that we go home.

So, what to do as a grandparent? I realized that the whole thing would be over within a couple of minutes and that all the mayhem would be gone. Also, that it might be good to experience that “see, nothing happened?” moment. So, for the next two minutes there I sat, with Vai curled into a little ball, me with my arms around wrapped her and hands covering her ears.

We left the moment the clapping stopped. Vai stressed that she did not want to stay and shake the chef’s hand.

Animal Planet – My friend Dave P shared his Animal Planet moment with me. Dave lives on the outskirts of the ‘Nati and like most homes in this area, he has some evergreen shrubs in his yard. In these parts, an evergreen shrub means that its common to be privy to seeing some stunningly red Cardinals.

He spotted, several time over, an unusual Cardinal which he finally managed to photograph. Heavily involved with Ohio Wesleyan University he contacted their bird experts. One of the experts is their ornithology professor and the former head of the American Ornithologists Union. He tells me that they were beyond thrilled (apparently it doesn’t take all that much to get birders excited) and advised he’s spotted a very rare “piebald cardinal”, a genetic mutation displaying albino traits over what we normally see. Just thought I’d share with everyone. Apparently it doesn’t take me all that much to get excited either.

Closing – This coming week it’ll be Happy Birthday to Derek. The last two years I managed to join him on his festive day—sadly that won’t happen this year. I did try, got the schedule set, went online the next morning to book the flight and it had jumped from around $290 to well over $400 (and that also meant a 100 mile drive to Columbus, then a flight to San Antonio rather than to the preferred Austin, and a full week’s stay). Since the plan was for me to also take Marin, the idea was scrapped.

Now, with Garbanzo Beans and Tahini at the ready, it’s time to start building massive quantities of Hummus. This evening, you see, is our neighborhood’s annual roaming dinner and we’re assisting with appetisers. Seventy or so folk, many dragging rolling coolers filled with spirits will head out: appetizers at houses one and two, ‘dinner’ at number three, and desert for house number four. Possibly there will also be a wee dram of Scotch whiskey for a night cap–who knows.

Make it a great week everyone and be safe.

Cheers,
Dirk