das zinnia!

back to normal(ish)...

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

I'm really digging this quote this week. It really applies to my non-existent work life and somewhat to the home life as well. For with everything that's changed these past few months (employment status, the State of the Courtyard apartments and it's inhabitants, the coming and going of new and old friends), I realize how concrete certain people and things are becoming in my seemingly "unattached" lifestyle. It's hard to put into photos in a simple yet convoluted manner the minute flux of life over time without revealing to much about myself, since I haven't been taking as many photos lately, just thinking about them...

Things that haven't changed much:


I'm still cooking a lot. This was a veggie and Mahi coconut curry. It was delicious.


The garden's been kind of on and off sucky lately since I haven't had time to build the planter boxes for organic veggies like I wanted to. In the mean time, I have these tiny burgundy beans and some vines that will hopefully someday produce cantaloupe. I'm fascinated by the way the send out little "grabber" shoots to help propel themselves upward!

Some serious changes:


My 17-year-old cat with the recent kidney disease? SO MUCH BETTER! It's insane - with no treatment other than some new food, this sweet little buddy is back to her old antics. Excited about her new office assistant job, here she is expressing her boredom with my line of work and then attempting to engage me in a game of "knock over the wacom pen" - an afternoon favorite.


Remember the gutter cat that showed up shortly after my 30th birthday? It managed to adopt the only family in the courtyard with a little kid. The dad managed somehow to tame the ferile thing just enough to feed it and name it Jonsey. That neighbor is English and I think they have a certain obligation to naming things Jonsey, male or (even in this case) female. Even the little neighbor-dog has made peace with gutter cat, knowing to keep his distance from the little thing that's gone up against racoons and won. Everyone in the complex, however (human and animal), are doing their best to adjust to the new neighbor. Well, maybe not the animals. Neighbor-dog barks like a crazy chihuaua every time he sees the guy and gutter cat just runs and hides. Too bad it doesn't work that easy for people!

I think the biggest change, though, is the thing I can't express in images, really. Or just really wouldn't here, I suppose. It started a while ago as the unemployment rate rose and friends within the industry started moving away for better work opportunities. It's weird when you realize that you've spent all this time trying to keep from getting comfortable with your job or your surroundings, only to have to admit that it's the people and the interactions that have become so familiar. With or without the corporate or social structure, the relationships we've built are still very much in tact. Months after working with my former boss, I'm still stopping by his house to exchange camera gear the night before he sets off for location; and months after tossing back a last beer on some balcony at work, I'm still at a bar on a weeknight saying good bye to more and more colleagues that will always be more than just people I once worked with.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

homegrown ways to make yourself happy...

Spring...

The rise and fall of Ziggy Grasshopper... one garden's almost unnoticeable example of birth, progress, change and evolution, and the breakdown of life over time.

Neighbor Dog

The next best thing to actually having a dog, in fact - maybe even better, is having a really great little neighbor-dog. This one likes to hang out on my (dying) lawn (if you could call it that) and on my door step and just generally in front of my apartment so when I come home sometimes, it looks like I actually have a little apartment-sized dog, when in fact, I don't.

and so it goes, the new year's blog post...

So it seems that in the last month-or-so of 2008, I've grown a zucchini, gained a fuzzy little tenant under my apartment, and found out that my own 16 and a half year old cat has kidney disease. She seems content to just sleep and follow me around but I think I'm going to see if the cat wants to sit outside in the sun a bit - I hear old people like that...

other things in my garden besides the spare cat...

I noticed my white (really, light green) zucchini managed to not die during the unseasonably hot fall weather, along with some cucumbers. I wasn't consciously thinking of green, phallic objects when I bought the seeds but one can never tell these days what kinds of things influences our decisions, I suppose...

inter-species communication: the day we made contact...

I think backyard-cat realized that someone lives inside the box today. She walked up to the window and meowed a bit but since I didn't understand, I tried to get my inside-cat to meow back a bit and then tell me what backyard-cat keeps demanding of me but apparently cats don't really do that. At least these ones don't.

there once was a woman who lived in a shoe...

I noticed this cat living in my backyard and under my apartment almost immediately after turning 30, as if it was pointing out that being single and 30 officially makes me an old spinster cat lady and it was just doing me a favor by keeping me company - adorning my backyard as if it were some pretty plant I don't even have to water. Thanks spare kitty, now I really don't need a man...

Yom Kippur Grasshopper

I always feel a little guilty working on the Jewish high holidays - like I'm setting myself up for a bad year by not believing in or following the traditions of my ancestors. But while at home on my lunch break, I noticed this giant grasshopper in my lavender plant. For some reason, having one of these creatures adorn my garden makes me feel lucky. I think they're considered lucky in some cultures, though doubtfully in mine - I'm pretty sure they're one of the ten plagues... you know, from Passover?

simple pleasures

april in paris

No I'm not delusional! No more than usual anyway, that's just the name of this rose variety which is currently in bloom in my backyard! It smells so sweet!

The Catching Up Blog!

It seems that when you have so many of these unhealthy obsessions/healthy addictions (cooking like 90% of the food you eat and growing some of it, talking to your cat, dogmatically debating between contact lenses and new glasses) well, you tend to stay pretty busy. Here's what I've been up to that I can take photos of - you'll just have to imagine the rest (swimming a lot to firm up my already-nice ass, mouthing off at work and planning my upcoming trip to the most geographically isolated country on earth!)




the cat gets pissed when my new laptop sits in her spot. she marks her territory during a recent movie night by leaving her chewed popcorn all over my couch.


music mission - biking to spaceland with georgia and megan, plus some new (for me) records... because a gal can never have too much Billie.


there's all kinds of things growing in my garden these days...




it all tastes better than it looks, I swear.


I sliced my thumb open while making yam chips a couple weeks back - the photo of my hand is after 2 and 1/2 weeks of healing! I thought it was an interesting coincidence that I hurt my hand the same week I had a very important hand to photograph at work - I was just totally stupid with hand-job jokes for like 3 weeks about it! The chips were delicious, by the way.


I think I may go with contacts if I can ever get the right fit...


This is a combo. of a blank sign and a word-bubble shape that was cast onto my floor one day by the light of my office window being partially obstructed by my desk. I have a couple of these word-bubble shapes in my collection but can never really find a good use for them.

somebody cue the monolith music please, I've created life again...

Just add light, water and oxygen...

and just when I thought he was dead...

he moved!