Friday, July 2, 2021

Handsome Boy


 That's our handsome boy, Gray Kitty, sitting up on the fence to survey his territory. He's getting to be an old boy, so he doesn't wander as much and he's fairly cautious anymore (but that's good, because he doesn't get into fights and come home scarred up and needing to go to the vet). Since he's come to live with us--he was a neighborhood stray that we took in--he's liked to sit up in that spot and watch the sunset.  When he's sitting there, he pretends not to know us and refuses to look at us (like he's doing in this picture) or respond to his name. If we try to touch or pet him, he kind of arches away from it. It cracks me up.

This week I've been feeling kind of...off. The bulk of my sinus stuff has cleared up, but I'm still getting that bad smell. And my throat has been vaguely sore all week. Of course I'm paranoid enough to think that it might be a breakthrough Covid infection (there's more of those with the Delta variant ascending), so I took a Covid test on Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) and am waiting to hear the results. In the meantime, I've been staying home as much as possible, including cancelling my physical therapy appointment yesterday. 

While I wait, I've been embroidering, watching Netflix, the usual pandemic activities. While looking on Amazon for a Japanese style grater, Amazon recommended this new thing that they're offering: personalized virtual tours. Of course they suggested Japan to me and I looked up the specifics. You can book a 40 to 60 minute tour that range in cost from $10 to $70 or so. In that time, a tour guide carries a camera that allows you to see where they're going (popular areas like Gion in Kyoto or Asakusa in Tokyo) and they can give you the history of the place or convey other information. You can direct them to enter various shops and so on if you like. They will also purchase items (which of course you pay for through Amazon) and ship them to you. I looked at what they are offering and thought: I would like a shopping trip to Itoya (my favorite stationary store in Ginza, where I used to spend hours browsing) and perhaps another tour of resale kimono shops in Kyoto. (One of my regrets is not bringing home more souvenirs from Kyoto. In fact, I didn't bring home a single thing for myself from there as I'm not much of a souvenir shopper. But now I think, wouldn't it be great to have some old kimono to repurpose for sewing projects?)

My birthday is coming up soon and since I'm not really prepared to travel what with Covid, maybe I'll arrange for a couple of these tours as a present to myself.

What else has been going on? 

Not much, really. We've been having dinner outside on the patio recently. We had a big Indian takeout feast--dal, tandoori chicken, dosa, samosas, aloo gobi, rice--night before last (from a restaurant called Naan + Dosa) and last night I made Japanese-ish food (hence the online search for a Japanese style grater as our cheese grater did not really know what to do with daikon). The patio has been pleasant at dinnertime because we've been having unseasonably cool and rainy weather. It was hotter and sunnier yesterday, so we had dinner--pizza margherita and braised cauliflower with calabrian chile--inside.

Tonight I think I'll try using up the last of our veggies before our weekend grocery order, so we'll probably have nachos and calabacitas. If we don't order takeout dim sum, that is. Cooking can be such a drag sometimes!

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Such a handsome boy!

Rosa said...

Aw! He is a big ol' sweetie!