The other day I found this pencil case abandoned on the floor in the library. I set it on my desk in the hopes that whoever lost it would see it and reclaim it, and in the meantime it became an object of curiosity. Is that a dinosaur? And what is the dinosaur doing?
It looked to me like the dinosaur was either smoking or shooting a gun. As a fellow teacher remarked, "Either one would be inappropriate."
Lo and behold, a few days later, a high schooler walking by saw it and grabbed it. I asked if it was hers and she said yes, and I asked for the story behind the dinosaur. Was it smoking or shooting? "I don't even know," she said, looking at it quizzically.
More research being warranted, I loaded the closeup above into Google. It took me a while to wade through the results, a slew of dinosaur cartoons -- including one of a dinosaur smoking a joint, which is an option I hadn't even considered. (But which would explain feigned ignorance on the part of the teenager.)
But forget about that because I finally found the exact image, a product of a cheerful Korean outfit called Joguman Studio. The caption reads, "I am a herbivore. But that doesn't mean I can't kill you."
Aha. Gun it is.
I'm sure that probably violates some school policy, but it's a tiny image and as I found, not readily decipherable. I'm letting it slide, especially since I now can't remember whose pencil case it is. Looking at my top picture again, I see that the pencil case has a manufacturer's tag, so why I didn't just look at that rather than going through all the rigmarole above, I'm not sure.
This little display just went up in our Lower School lobby. Who doesn't like a "Funky 2nd Grade Pumpkin Patch"? I like the autumnal color scheme and all the individual artworks, but I think my favorite might be the blue-gray one at upper right, second from the top -- the one that looks like a big lima bean. That kid has quirky artistic vision!
The second one from the left in the top row above is pretty cool too. Looks like pumpkins baking in a big magenta oven.
Thanks for all your concern about Dave. He stayed home yesterday and rested and he feels better today, but we still have to figure out next steps. The doctors didn't recommend any kind of follow-up beyond an MRI of his head, so maybe it's back to the GP for suggestions on how to better regulate his heart rate. I think he needs to be sure not to get dehydrated, which I suspect could be playing a part in this, and I know he has some anxiety about stuff going on in his professional life. A colleague suggested I get him a FitBit or something similar that will monitor his pulse, and I like that idea. We need to know how often this is happening and if it's constant or episodic.
I moved a few more of the dahlias into the shed last night, tucked away for the winter. The others still have leaves on them so I'm leaving them out until the foliage dies back naturally, which it will do with the first light frost. They look so terrible -- I'm ready to get them out of sight!
In the afternoon I read that Dick Cheney died. As I told a co-worker, "He's in a warm place now."
Last night Dave made chili using some leftover bolognese sauce that he made a week ago. When he suggested this idea, I was all for it -- but I told him he should heat the bolognese separately, put it in the bottom of our bowls, and put the new chili on top. That way we'd eat ALL of the bolognese right away, rather than stirring it into the chili, which itself will become a leftover. Know what I mean? Otherwise, we'd have old bolognese hanging around in the new food.
Well, Dave thought this was just the craziest suggestion I'd ever made. "I'm boiling the whole thing again," he said.
But in the end he relented and I ate the bolognese with the new chili on top, and chili pot remains untainted. Doesn't that make sense to you? Or am I being nuts? I suppose any time we make soup with leftovers everything gets stirred together -- which is the same thing Dave was proposing -- and that sits around until we finish it. I dunno.
Our Japanese maple is a ball of crimson at this time of year!
Totoro appreciates the colorful leaves. He needs a bath again, doesn't he?
Yesterday, my boss pulled together a little birthday celebration for me in the afternoon with my co-workers, which felt really good. We've gotten away from celebrating birthdays in recent years so I'm glad we're apparently back on track with that -- it seems like a small thing but I think it helps with team-building and morale. I got a stack of chocolate chip cookies which I will never refuse!
I also learned, to my chagrin, that I'm supposed to participate in an upcoming meeting that will help write a mission statement for my department. One of my co-workers will be there too. Neither of us is thrilled about this, and it seems especially silly when I'm on my way out the door, but hey, I'll do whatever I have to do.
The day took a turn on my walk home from work. Dave had gone to the doctor for a checkup because he felt over the weekend that he'd been struggling with "brain fog," and some of the immunological symptoms associated with his Crohn's (and its treatments) were flaring up again. He gets really red, puffy eyes, for example, and they were bothering him. The doctor checked his blood pressure as a matter of course and found that Dave's heart rate was 136 beats per minute, which is quite high. He sent Dave off to the hospital for an ECG and blood tests.
Dave called me on my walk home from work to deliver this news, so I altered course and met him in the hospital's A&E (accident and emergency) department, which we in the states would call the ER. His heart rate was still high there, though slightly slower -- around 131 -- and his blood pressure was a bit elevated. The ECG was normal and his blood tests revealed nothing. The doctor ordered an additional scan to make sure he hadn't had a small stroke, which seemed a very remote possibility, and again, nothing was found.
Needless to say, it was a LONG evening of sitting in a waiting room. I read blogs on my phone (I didn't comment because I wasn't signed in -- but thanks for the shout-out, YP!), multiple newspapers, and in a sure sign that I was desperate for entertainment, I watched Facebook reels of cute animals and of guys doing parkour. (They're always very muscular and often shirtless -- a different type of cute animal, I suppose.) We had dinner from the hospital cafe. When Dave was there last year for his hernia surgery I got a cup of mango every evening for dinner, so I did the same last night. As I told Dave, "I'm always happy to have mango at the hospital!"
I finally left after five hours because I knew Dave was more or less OK and I'd never be able to get up and go to work today if I didn't get some sleep. Dave was about an hour and a half behind me. The doctors said the tests were all normal but they want an MRI, again to check for stroke risk. We still have to figure out the heart rate issue, but Dave also gets no exercise. I told him, "Your heart would probably be healthier and stronger if you used it!"
On a happier note, I have more footage from the garden cam. This includes an excellent daytime look at our stalking fox, and also some evidence of conflict among the creatures in our little woodland oasis. WARNING: Turn down the sound on your computer at the end, particularly if you have cats nearby!
The video starts with a nighttime shot of the fox, practically invisible behind shrubbery at the left of the screen. -- At 0:18, we have some amusing squirrel shenanigans. -- At 0:40, Bell the Bengal walks by, followed just six minutes later by Pale Cat. -- At 0:57, things really get good. We get some excellent daytime footage of Q-Tip, the fox with the white-tipped tail. He/she lingers by the camera and unsuccessfully stalks a nearby critter, probably a pigeon. -- At 2:07, the brown-tailed fox (Brownie?) goes by. -- At 2:27, Pale Cat turns up with a prominent bandage on his forehead. Obviously he's been out scrapping. -- At 2:40, Brownie trots by in the rain. -- At 2:47 Bell the Bengal turns up, followed just two minutes later (!) by Brownie. -- At 3:06 we see Q-Tip in the rain. -- At 3:20, Pale Cat shows up again. The bandage has been removed but he/she seems to have a bald spot. -- At 3:35 Bell the Bengal is on a leisurely stroll; Pale Cat follows his/her exact path one minute later! Clearly these animals are keeping an eye on one another. -- Finally, at 4:20, some off-camera conflict. Pale Cat goes on alert, followed by hellacious feline yowling. We were awake when that was going on but surprisingly, we didn't hear them. I do occasionally hear yowling cats out there, though.
As promised, I had to get out and take a walk yesterday to work off my oysters and filet mignon. I decided to go back to Hampstead Heath. I hadn't walked the main part of the Heath in ages -- not since Olga died. So I was long overdue for a visit, even though I knew it would make me miss Olga.
Autumn leaves in London are usually not that colorful, at least in wild places like the Heath, but I passed this tree in Hampstead that was such a pure yellow -- amazing against the blue sky.
There are still some vestiges of Halloween hanging around out there!
I saw loads of squawky parakeets on the Heath. This one was using the leaves of a tree to keep the sun out of its eyes.
From the northern part of the Heath near Kenwood House there's a good view of the city through the trees. I definitely hadn't been up in this part of the Heath in a long, long time.
The blackberries always develop a lot of color in the autumn.
These are the gardens near Athlone House, another area I haven't seen in ages. Remember when I took photos of Olga there, in front of the blooming azaleas? We used to routinely walk through that area but as Olga got older it got to be too far for her.
And of course I finished up atop Parliament Hill, taking in the scenic view of the city. As you can see, the weather cooperated quite nicely. We had a rainy morning but the sun was out all afternoon.
I'm far enough out from Olga's death now that I can take walks like this and not be sad -- at least, not too sad. I did miss her crazy activity -- the mud baths, the Kong-chasing. It's harder to walk so far when I'm not distracted by an amusing dog! I was beat by the time I got back to the house, and I slept like a log last night.
Yes, today is in fact my birthday. Dave and I celebrated last night because it's always more fun to celebrate on a Saturday, and besides he has to go down to South London today to guest-conduct a musical ensemble for a friend. (Long story!)
We went to Canary Wharf, in East London. A couple of years ago, while there for the Winter Lights festival, I spotted a couple of restaurants that appeared to have been built on floating structures in the boat basin. I blogged a photo at the time. They've lived in my memory ever since, so we made a reservation at the Hawksmoor steak house.
Hawksmoor is a small chain, with ten restaurants in the UK, two in the USA (New York and Chicago) and one in Ireland. Here was the view from our very good table by the window:
Not too shabby, right?! I like the reflected lights from the restaurant overlaid on the cityscape. I do wonder how long we're going to be able to maintain the kind of energy production that allows us to light up empty office buildings at night. Surely this is not sustainable in the long run of civilization. But in the meantime it looks nice.
I had an excellent dinner -- oysters, filet mignon with a couple of sides and a salad, and a pavlova for dessert with a candle in it. Oh, and two not-very-strong martinis! I gained approximately 20 pounds and will probably be diagnosed with gout.
But that's OK, because I plan to work it off today with a long walk somewhere. We shall see.
When left to my own devices I usually tend toward vegetarian meals, but you can't go to a steak house and not eat steak. And it was darn good, I must say. Dave and I were both very impressed.
Otherwise, yesterday was pretty chill. I spent it mostly on the couch reading. I'm about 140 pages into "The Old Curiosity Shop" and I fear the curiosity shop itself has already exited the plot, having been siezed and its contents sold off by a scoundrel. What will the old man and Little Nell do now?
The photo at the top, by the way, shows illuminated "Lightbenches" by LBO Lichtbank that were part of Winter Lights several years ago, and are now permanent features in Canary Wharf's Jubilee Park.
Believe it or not, we had NINE trick-or-treaters yesterday! I was astonished! By the time I got home from work Dave had already had one, and then the rest showed up over the course of the evening until about 7:30 p.m. And then I had to turn out the porch light because we were down to one mini-candy bar and I worried about how I'd handle it if two kids showed up.
I guess the porch light really is the signal, because we had no other Halloween decorations and no jack-o-lantern. Maybe people on the street know we're American and thus likely to be participating in this insanity, but as I said yesterday, no one came around in previous years.
I must admit I enjoyed handing out candy more than I thought. At some point I turned to Dave and said, "This is pretty fun!"
He rolled his eyes.
Pictures today from our Thanksgiving cacti, which as I understand it really are slightly different from Christmas cacti. Something about the shape of the leaf -- and when they bloom, obviously. (Here's a rather breathless article on the subject.)
This first one is the white -- or really light pink -- cactus that blog reader Frances sent me as a cutting several years ago. It's having its best year ever. I actually have two of them, because I rooted some sprigs in different pots, and now one of those pots dropped a few segments so I have a third one going.
My salmon-colored cactus has about three flowers on it, which is better than last year's one. I've had this plant since 2019 and it's probably the feeblest (healthwise) of all my Thanksgiving cacti, but it's hanging in there.
And finally, here are the bright pink ones, which have dozens of flowers and are easily the most robust. I have two pink-flowering plants. How did I wind up with all these flipping cacti? Basically every time a piece breaks off I root it, because I can't bear to throw it away. Hence, I have more than I ever intended. This is the time of year that it all pays off!
Another year, another Halloween. I went out on a limb this year and bought a box of miniature Cadbury chocolate bars, in case of trick-or-treaters. Mind you, we have never had a trick-or-treater, and as you may remember Dave and I normally turn off the lights and stay in the back of the house so as not to invite any. But the new neighbors upstairs have a couple of kids, and though they're probably well past trick-or-treating age, I wanted to be prepared in case they knock on the door. They'll know whether or not we're home so hiding from them wouldn't be an option.
There's also a house a couple doors down, festooned with fake cobwebs and plastic spiders, where an American couple live with numerous small kids. I figured they might turn up too.
In any case, we're ready.
Found in a returned library book
I had a funny exchange with a little girl yesterday in the Lower School, a first-grader. She asked me how old I am.
"Pretty old," I replied. "How old do you think I am?"
She thought for a moment and said, "Twenty six!"
I told her that was the nicest thing anyone had said to me for at least a month, but I was much older than that.
