Saturday, February 8, 2020

A Yellow Ferrari and Some Hedgehogs


We've had parent-teacher conferences at work the past couple of days, so there were no classes and fewer kids in the library. A handful of people, both students and parents, came in for books – but no one asked for a computer charger, thank God! A refreshing change from the normal monotony. I did manage to snag a few parents to pay for their kids' long-lost books, which solved some problems.

One mother actually checked out the Daniel Boone book! I had it displayed on my desk along with my latest Newbery review, and she said she was distantly related to Boone. (I thought, "Uh-oh. I hope I didn't say anything critical of him in my review!" But I didn't.) Anyway, that was nice, given that when I bought the book online I never imagined anyone else would want to read it.

I also caught up on some back-office stuff in the library, like deleting duplicated patrons from the system. Sometimes our computer interfaces result in two accounts for a single person – easily corrected but I have to do it manually.

I found the card at right on the sidewalk. It's a loyalty card for Gail's, a chain of bakeries in our part of London. Even though I almost never go to Gail's I saved the card because look at those stamps -- they're little hedgehogs!

I wish we could encourage hedgehogs in our garden, but with Olga around it's a bad bet. I've never seen a wild one, though supposedly there's a small colony not too far away in Regent's Park.

Speaking of Olga, she was dramatically ill on Thursday night. She clearly ate something disgusting on her walk. I got worried because when she tried to hold her head up, it would wobble from side to side -- I've never seen that. She appeared to be dizzy. Anyway, it stressed me out, but we let her rest and cancelled her walk yesterday, and by evening she was back to her old bouncy self. That dog will be the death of me.

I finally, finally got all my Egypt photos posted to Flickr. If you're interested, the album is here, though it might be more Egypt than you'd ever want to see.

(Photo: A yellow Ferrari in Belgravia, a few weeks ago.)

17 comments:

Frances said...

I love those hedgehog stamps! I also love hedgehogs, but like you can't encourage them into the garden. Alexi goes nuts if he finds one, and pokes it with his nose while growling! He has saved 2 little ones this way though.....finding them at night and I think they are rather small......weigh them, and get them to a hedgehog rescue lady who lives nearby.

Moving with Mitchell said...

I’d go to Gail’s just for those stamps! So glad Olga is OK.

Mary said...

Good to hear that Olga is better. Scary stuff.

Don't you love the ridiculously expensive cars you find in Belgravia and Kensington?

Ms. Moon said...

Oh, Olga! Stop worrying your Steve!

My life so far said...

I'm glad Olga is okay. Our beagle used to have explosive bloody diarrhea randomly. Thankfully that seems to have stopped.

I enjoyed the Egyptian photos. My two favorites, the lone dove and the Nile salesmen. You're a wonderful photographer.

ellen abbott said...

dogs have iron stomachs. I don't think anything they find and eat will kill them. unless someone poisons them on purpose of course. and how silly of me to be surprised you kept all that scouting stuff. you just picked up and kept a loyalty card from a bakery you don't even go to.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad Olga is feeling better. When I read that she was dizzy, I thought "uh-oh, I hope she didn't catch that from me." I hope you get to see a hedgehog in the park some day. I'd love to see a photo of that.

Red said...

The poor critters can't tell us what's wrong. the only thing we can do is worry.

Catalyst said...

That Ferrari is gorgeous. There seem to be quite a few wealthy people in London, judging by some of the cars you've shown. :)

37paddington said...

Glad Olga is back to herself. Very cool yellow Ferrari!

Sharon said...

Your description of Olga's ailment makes me think she might have picked up something drug related. Poor Olga, I'm glad to hear she's back to normal. I'm going to take a look at the Egypt photos. I'm sure I'll never make it there so I should enjoy it through your eyes.

Penelope said...

I am glad Olga got better. How scary!
The Ferrari is interesting. I saw one here a few months back and could barely believe my eyes. I wondered how that handles on the ice.

e said...

Yay, Olga! I'[[ enjoy Egypt through your eyes as well.

Edna B said...

I'm glad to t hear that Olga is okay now. We have hedge hogs in my yard. I'm having problems with my words being erased, so you have a great day, hugs, Edna B.

jenny_o said...

Poor Olga. Could you tell she'd eaten something from visual evidence? or is it also possible she had something like vertigo and was sick because of that? It's so hard when a pet is sick. They can't be helpful with a description of what hurts or what they may have done to get into that situation. And they DO worry us. Your line about her being the death of you is reminiscent of John Gray :D

I'd like to have that colour of car just so I could find it more easily in the mall parking lot!

Steve Reed said...

Frances: It's great that you even have them to rescue. Apparently the hedgehog population is in decline these days (like many wild animal populations).

Mitchell: I know! I'm seriously thinking of going more just so I can use this card!

Mary: And Mayfair! Yeah, it's like an exotic car showroom.

Ms Moon: If only.

Lily:Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the pics. Apparently some amount of bloody diarrhea in dogs, especially young dogs, is pretty typical. Our vet told us not to worry about it unless it continued for a certain period of time, and like your beagle's, Olga's eventually went away for the most part.

Ellen: I might start going, though! I was afraid she had been poisoned, actually, with that strange head movement.

Robin: I hope your dizziness is better!

Red: It's true. It's so hard to know what's going on.

Catalyst: Yeah, the swanky car ratio in London is quite high. Of course I only take pictures of the swankiest ones, so what you're seeing is not representative. :)

37P: It definitely stands out!

Sharon: That's what I thought -- that she's been drugged or poisoned. But I think she was just dizzy.

Penelope: Well, it probably has a low center of gravity, which seems like it would help!

E: Hope you like the pictures!

Edna: That darn new computer, I'm guessing!

Jenny-O: Yeah, she threw up something that definitely wasn't food. I'm not sure what it was but it was gross. And yes, that car would definitely stand out in any parking lot! (Or "car park," as they say here.)

Unknown said...

I loved your Egypt photo's! Thanks for sharing them, I relived my visit way back in 1994 when I only had an Instamatic with a 24 film in it! Keep well and keep blogging, next time I am in the UK I will look for Olga on Hampstead Heath. best wishes Gillian