I'm smiling after the dogs and I dodged the 'skunk bullet' tonight.
Walking along - hmmmm, what's that squirrel with the funky limp.
Oh my GAWD! it's a skunk, running with it's tail up.
RETREAT RETREAT RETREAT
phew, we're home, and we didn't get sprayed!
Hee hee hee! Pepe himself!
can you say "adrenaline rush" ?
Too funny! Thanks, Beth! I needed that laugh!
This afternoon, I went to sit on the landing, where two canals meet in an L-shape by the picturesque locks around the corner from here. One of the best places to sit in the sun - you're in town, yet have a pretty view, and the sun stays till late.
Lots of boats passing by, of course, cute small ones, vulgar big ones, the odd low-lying tour boat with tourists. Just as I was sitting down, a rather worn-looking largish boat chugged by - on deck, a lot of elderly locals, many with striped sailor shirts or caps - a guy played a boisterous Dutch song on an accordeon, and they all sang along with feeling more than skill. No pretense there. Definitely more a Petersburg than Amsterdam kind of scene ;-).
Computer is still working great
Tonight, I went to Amsterdam to see an open-air movie. Some scruffy low-budget German thing, not without charm. It screened at a riverside location, on one of those borderland bits of quayside land yet to be claimed by fancy new development. It was down the end of a long, big road, with squatted waterfront warehouses down a grassy slope on one side and the dark water of the Ij on the other side, the lights on the other shore twinkling in the distance.
It was the prettiest of locations, with a sympathetic crowd. Beach chairs in front of the wall they projected the movie on, beergarden-style tables and benches further down, and impromptu tents where they sold pizza, crepes, drinks. The whole decoration of the place suggested an enthusiastic volunteer set-up. The girls making the crepes were French, the interval music was tongue-in-cheek (Pizzicato Five), and you could buy wine by the bottle, the guys sitting down in the sand next to me offered a drink. Most people were in their late twenties, early thirties, but there was all kinds, and some parents with kids, too. Behind the shed, in which afterwards there was a disco (fitting just thirty people or so, dancing before a video screen showing some tell sell-type cooking show, the DJ mixing easy tune with asian underground and acid jazz) - the water, again.
Barges floating by in a quiet horizontal stripe, speedboats bobbing their lights up and down, waves a copper-coloured to and fro. A long narrow pier stretched out into it all, lit by small lanterns, couples sitting on its side and looking out. And on one side, a huge building that must once have been some industrial harbour-type construction, and now had been remade into very different styles of apartments. All glass on top (giving a pinball machine-like effect to the building whenever residents turned their lights on or off), and narrow windows and ridiculously high ceilings further down, making the silhouettes outlined in the light, whenever an inhabitant stood there looking out, look like wire figures of Giacometti proportions.
The movie was kind of sad, but in a melancholic way. People seemed to be wholly relaxed, unconcerned, mellow. No E in the disco, just people having a good time, and making fun of each other. Made me want to take friends, next time. Its the kind of thing you only get to do on the spur of the moment - I'd never heard of the movie they were going to screen, I just wanted to get out of the house. At the exit of the grounds two girls said bye-bye to everyone. All very cute.
I understand that getting out thing. Yesterday, I had a need to just take a wander. By myself. It was wonderful. I didn't do anything exciting. I just wandered in a neighbourhood I like. Grand feeling.
it finally rained last night, what a relief...
reading about nimh's outing
listening to ehBeth talking about her animals, walks
Rae
I had to smile today when I was doing a crossword puzzle at my kitchen table and a gentle tapping on the window disturbed me. I glanced at the window and there was Beatrice, my new tarsier, tapping away to her hearts content. She wanted to come inside, I believe, but I can't allow that sort of thing. So, the two of us just stared at each other for awhile, basking in the moment. It was special.
I'm glad I was able to grab my camera...
my sister fell down some stairs...
I was walking through "senior territory" and a bunch of girls came up to me and started talking to me. Made me smile because im not usually known for my sportsmanship
Tyrius just made me :big grin:
Senior territory - it's either A2K or high school! :wink:
Hee hee!
Sozlet has been very interested in mammals lately (is a lizard a mammal? is a whale a mammal? is a bird a mammal? is a kangaroo a mammal?) and made up a really great sign for "mammal", combining the signs for "breasts" with the sign for "animal". That might even be the real sign, which I have forgotten if I ever knew it.
And she says "marsupial" with a hint of a lisp which is quite cute.
(Long impy day shading into a calmer evening made me smile, too.)
My nephew spent the day with me -- we watched "Amadeus" together (his first time to see it) and he loved it! He talked about it at length afterward, discussing music and Mozart -- it was cool!
