I was going to talk about how hot it is here, but then I saw this and decided perhaps not. I am so fortunate that even on the hottest days; the sea breeze has been blessedly cool, and even chilly at night. We are still sleeping with a blanket, so nothing much to complain about eh?
I had my reflexology (foot) massage at Moving again. This time the thirty-minute massage lasted twenty minutes. That is still not up to specs. I tend to be a very generous tipper, because I think good work should be rewarded, but I feel the same about poor performance. I have paid for the massages, but left no tips. I am thinking Maryam will get the hint, as I tipped the hammam mistress very well. We’ll see… the massage is so good; I am willing to give it one more try. I am in a bit of a bind as we have seen nowhere else that offers it.
That happens quite a bit here, when you realize you can’t just run out for something, anything, whatever. For instance I need, really need not just for play, a bed table/breakfast table. I use them to work. I am one of ‘those’ people. I love to spread everything out on the bed so I can see and reach it, and then work from there but the laptop is too hot and ungainly for me without a table for long term working. And there just isn’t one. We went over to Agdal and walked about, found some lovely lingerie at La Vie en Rose but no table. I looked at the Marjane in Souissi, no joy; so now I am at wit’s end. You can’t order something like that, the postage to get it here cost more, and sometimes twice the cost of the item! It is interesting to find what you can live without… Nonetheless I shall forge ahead today for another look.
I went by Dessange yesterday to have my hair washed and blown out, here is called “a brushing”. The wonderful Muss who cut it before is on vacation. I did not care for the job the chap did today, not bad, just not up to snuff; however the woman (I will get her name tomorrow at the manicure) who washed my hair gave me a scalp massage to die for! I almost dropped my fan, to which I was clinging for dear life, to the floor I was so relaxed. And the woman at the reception desk was all over it, “You are not very pleased? You did not like this one? You will tell me and I will have someone else for you next time.” Now that’s service. Hear this ladies – the wash, massage, and blown dry? 100 dirhams (12 usd/6 pounds), with 20 for the hairdresser, and ten to the shampoo lady. Such a deal. Apparently it was “impossible!” to have a manicure today, ah well probably too hot to dry anyway.
M.C. Solaar is moping about missing Q.
Here we go, I started thinking about this last night when Annie at Blooming Marvelous mentioned she doesn’t like westerns (gasp). Top Ten All time greatest movies:
The Dirty Dozen
The Seven Samurai/and then The Magnificent Seven (for those who prefer guns to swords)
The African Queen
Breakfast at Tiffany’s/An Affair to Remember (I know that’s cheating, but it’s MY list.)
Star Wars
The Great Escape
MASH
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Young Frankenstein
Henry V (the one with Kenneth Branagh)
What are yours?
Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 July 2007
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
SUCKER
Reading “wife in the north” this morning put me in mind of a sign I saw years ago in the deserts of Texas, USA. My daughter and I were driving across the southern expanse of the U.S. from California to Georgia taking in the Grand Canyon and the beaches of Mississippi among other sites; everything including the markets are huge in America. We had passed what was obviously a large prison out in the desert miles from any other signs of civilization. About a mile east of the prison was a large sign “Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers”. Now you know that for that sign to be there some idiot at some time had picked up an escaped prisoner, or two!
The forecast today is for 33 degrees C! I am pleased to report that in the heat of yesterday the salon downstairs and the upstairs bedrooms remained quite cool. Not surprising the Moroccans know how to build for the heat. I went up to close up the ceiling windows after sunset and took a turn about the terrace. I noted that our neighborhood was all up on the roofs! There was a table of four men over on the far roof/terrace to the right having a lively discussion over mint tea. A mother and her daughter across the street were spreading a cloth on the table for dinner al fresco, and the children were running, screaming, and exhorting each other to further efforts in the football game taking place in the cobblestone street down below. I love the sounds of the Kasbah Oudaylas.
SUCKER. Let’s be honest, when it comes to children and animals just tattoo it on my forehead and be done with it. I rose this morning and took myself (with bags as they only offer those tatty little thin plastic ones) to Marjane’s for kitty supplies. I bought a playpen. Oh no Lucy not a little, cheap one that any normal person would buy to put a kitten in, but a quite huge grand affair sturdy enough to survive any desert dust storm that might sneak up on me eh? I couldn’t find any chicken livers that Q had requested, so I bought a couple of small cans of pate’ de foie. Oh hush. I can hear Q making sport of me already in my head. Because the little dear is so young Q has been feeding him formula with a bottle per the vet’s instructions. I stocked up on those, and the requisite jingly balls, litter box, and litter – arranging in all in the play pen where we can keep an eye on him. I am thinking when he is big enough to scale the walls of his confinement, we can cease to worry about his being eaten by spiders, falling down the drain, or wandering out on to the terrace to be carried off by a large hawk.
I had a funny, shared moment while checking out at Marjane. As per usual there was one item without the bar code and the young man had to jump through some hoops (one of them physical as when he returned to the register, his way was blocked by a chap with a trolley full of long-handled brooms!) to get it. I was in no hurry so I was doing my usual people watching and took my ever-present fan out of my purse to cool myself. In the next aisle was a young woman dressed in black satin knee britches that were molded to her bum, peek a boo three inch black patent leather heels, and a black blouse that had a plunging neckline exposing enough breast that I would have thought it in poor taste in a Western market; here it is shocking. She had long quite lovely black hair and was smacking gum. As she walked away my eyes, the eyes of the guard standing in the walkway, and the eyes of the young woman at her check-out, followed her; and when I looked back my eyes met the checkout woman (around late twenties) who was obviously having the same thoughts as I, and we both grinned simultaneously.
Interestingly enough Q has explained to me while we were living in Fez that the prostitutes are as a rule dressed in full hijab and djellabas, and you find them in the bars or even restaurants but alone with men as opposed to being with family or women friends. “Then who are the young women in tight jeans and Western style shirts?” I asked.
“Oh those are just young people looking to piss off their parents,” she said. So it is a reversal of sorts culturally.
My other major purchase at Marjane’s (the Harrods of Rabat and Fez) today was a table and umbrella for the terrace. I am quite pleased with myself. I do so love items that fold up neatly to be tucked away when not in use. The small wooden table and seats fold amazingly into a portable wooden case with a handle! Who thinks of this stuff? I set the umbrella (comes separately) in the slot and was feeling proud when I glanced upward to see my neighbor from next-door watching me from her terrace. “Ce bon!” she said and tossed me down a red geranium as the first decoration. I love Moroccans. We have a steady breeze from off the ocean side but not strong enough to be a trouble with the patio umbrella I don’t think.
Q is on her way home from Fez. I look forward to hearing all about the wedding and showing off the new terrace furnishings. And yes, I am excited to get my hands on the tiny furry creature in the basket.
The forecast today is for 33 degrees C! I am pleased to report that in the heat of yesterday the salon downstairs and the upstairs bedrooms remained quite cool. Not surprising the Moroccans know how to build for the heat. I went up to close up the ceiling windows after sunset and took a turn about the terrace. I noted that our neighborhood was all up on the roofs! There was a table of four men over on the far roof/terrace to the right having a lively discussion over mint tea. A mother and her daughter across the street were spreading a cloth on the table for dinner al fresco, and the children were running, screaming, and exhorting each other to further efforts in the football game taking place in the cobblestone street down below. I love the sounds of the Kasbah Oudaylas.
SUCKER. Let’s be honest, when it comes to children and animals just tattoo it on my forehead and be done with it. I rose this morning and took myself (with bags as they only offer those tatty little thin plastic ones) to Marjane’s for kitty supplies. I bought a playpen. Oh no Lucy not a little, cheap one that any normal person would buy to put a kitten in, but a quite huge grand affair sturdy enough to survive any desert dust storm that might sneak up on me eh? I couldn’t find any chicken livers that Q had requested, so I bought a couple of small cans of pate’ de foie. Oh hush. I can hear Q making sport of me already in my head. Because the little dear is so young Q has been feeding him formula with a bottle per the vet’s instructions. I stocked up on those, and the requisite jingly balls, litter box, and litter – arranging in all in the play pen where we can keep an eye on him. I am thinking when he is big enough to scale the walls of his confinement, we can cease to worry about his being eaten by spiders, falling down the drain, or wandering out on to the terrace to be carried off by a large hawk.
I had a funny, shared moment while checking out at Marjane. As per usual there was one item without the bar code and the young man had to jump through some hoops (one of them physical as when he returned to the register, his way was blocked by a chap with a trolley full of long-handled brooms!) to get it. I was in no hurry so I was doing my usual people watching and took my ever-present fan out of my purse to cool myself. In the next aisle was a young woman dressed in black satin knee britches that were molded to her bum, peek a boo three inch black patent leather heels, and a black blouse that had a plunging neckline exposing enough breast that I would have thought it in poor taste in a Western market; here it is shocking. She had long quite lovely black hair and was smacking gum. As she walked away my eyes, the eyes of the guard standing in the walkway, and the eyes of the young woman at her check-out, followed her; and when I looked back my eyes met the checkout woman (around late twenties) who was obviously having the same thoughts as I, and we both grinned simultaneously.
Interestingly enough Q has explained to me while we were living in Fez that the prostitutes are as a rule dressed in full hijab and djellabas, and you find them in the bars or even restaurants but alone with men as opposed to being with family or women friends. “Then who are the young women in tight jeans and Western style shirts?” I asked.
“Oh those are just young people looking to piss off their parents,” she said. So it is a reversal of sorts culturally.
My other major purchase at Marjane’s (the Harrods of Rabat and Fez) today was a table and umbrella for the terrace. I am quite pleased with myself. I do so love items that fold up neatly to be tucked away when not in use. The small wooden table and seats fold amazingly into a portable wooden case with a handle! Who thinks of this stuff? I set the umbrella (comes separately) in the slot and was feeling proud when I glanced upward to see my neighbor from next-door watching me from her terrace. “Ce bon!” she said and tossed me down a red geranium as the first decoration. I love Moroccans. We have a steady breeze from off the ocean side but not strong enough to be a trouble with the patio umbrella I don’t think.
Q is on her way home from Fez. I look forward to hearing all about the wedding and showing off the new terrace furnishings. And yes, I am excited to get my hands on the tiny furry creature in the basket.
Monday, 7 May 2007
the AIM conversation or how I got a cat in Morocco
10:39 PM
Q: ok
Q: so we need to talk
Me: ?
well
uh oh
Q: neal just opened the door
10:40 PM
and a teeny tiny kitten walked in
Me: i was on the moon with steve
Q: I have no idea how he got in the building
Me: NO!!!
Q: but he's very tiny, and he walked in the door, and neal gave it food
Me: well maybe no
Q: and you SAID you want to adopt a street cat
and I can't put it back on the street now
he showed up at the door!
Me: well....shit.Oh yes you could you bugger
Q: I can take him to the free vet in fes tommorrow
no, I can't
I'd like to see YOU put this thing back on the street, it fits in your palm
Me: he will want to go ourside and he will get fleas or get eaten or fall off the terrace
Q: the vet may say he has something wrong so he'll die anyway
but I should at least check
so you don't let him outside....duh
Me: can you take him tomorrow?
is it a he?
Q: we never let the other cats outside
yeah, I'm going to
I'm not sure, I think so
Me: well turn him over and Look
duh
Q: I'm not sure what to feed him, he's quite tiny, may have escaped from one of the guys who steals kittens from the mom
Me: milk?
Q: yeah, it's not good for him but it'll do for now
Me: that pasturized stuff might be good, lots of fatty
Q: yeah but milk isn't good for them long term, I'll ask the vet if there is any formula
and google it I guess
Me: and exactly WHY are Neal and Caroline not keeping him? since they let him in?
I haven't even SEEN a litter box or litter anywhere in this country you know...
.
what will you carry him in?
Q: because they are leaving in 10 days
and the cat won't be healthy or big enough to take by then, and caroline is allergic
I'll buy a box and marjane tommorrow I guess...have to find something
I think it's a girl
could be that the testes haven't descended yet though
Me: before you do anything take it to the vet. A girl!
females are trouble, but they don't spray...
I am making no decision yet. You take it to the vet and then I will decide.
I guess the worst thing that could happen is that it lives on the roof and I have to spend time gathering up shite!
Q: yeah, I imagine it needs to be defleaed and ear-dropped
I imagine it needs flea dipping, ear drops, and deworming
Me: YES!!!!!
Q: so we need to go and eat
Me: lovely
hehe
Q:well
sorry
Me: you can't help it I think
aim me tomorrow then
Q: but if you were waiting for one to show up...
it showed up
Me: hard to argue with that logic
go eat!
Q: k
I am a bastion of firmness am I not? This is how the past three cats entered my life! I am only pleased she doesn't bring home reptiles....anymore. Morocco is lousey with cats as the Phophet was said to be fond of them. I have not noticed them so much here in Rabat, but in Fez they are constantly underfoot and for the most part are well fed and surviving. I have no idea if I can find a litter box anywhere, much less litter! Now I have something to do tomorrow, eh?
Q: ok
Q: so we need to talk
Me: ?
well
uh oh
Q: neal just opened the door
10:40 PM
and a teeny tiny kitten walked in
Me: i was on the moon with steve
Q: I have no idea how he got in the building
Me: NO!!!
Q: but he's very tiny, and he walked in the door, and neal gave it food
Me: well maybe no
Q: and you SAID you want to adopt a street cat
and I can't put it back on the street now
he showed up at the door!
Me: well....shit.Oh yes you could you bugger
Q: I can take him to the free vet in fes tommorrow
no, I can't
I'd like to see YOU put this thing back on the street, it fits in your palm
Me: he will want to go ourside and he will get fleas or get eaten or fall off the terrace
Q: the vet may say he has something wrong so he'll die anyway
but I should at least check
so you don't let him outside....duh
Me: can you take him tomorrow?
is it a he?
Q: we never let the other cats outside
yeah, I'm going to
I'm not sure, I think so
Me: well turn him over and Look
duh
Q: I'm not sure what to feed him, he's quite tiny, may have escaped from one of the guys who steals kittens from the mom
Me: milk?
Q: yeah, it's not good for him but it'll do for now
Me: that pasturized stuff might be good, lots of fatty
Q: yeah but milk isn't good for them long term, I'll ask the vet if there is any formula
and google it I guess
Me: and exactly WHY are Neal and Caroline not keeping him? since they let him in?
I haven't even SEEN a litter box or litter anywhere in this country you know...
.
what will you carry him in?
Q: because they are leaving in 10 days
and the cat won't be healthy or big enough to take by then, and caroline is allergic
I'll buy a box and marjane tommorrow I guess...have to find something
I think it's a girl
could be that the testes haven't descended yet though
Me: before you do anything take it to the vet. A girl!
females are trouble, but they don't spray...
I am making no decision yet. You take it to the vet and then I will decide.
I guess the worst thing that could happen is that it lives on the roof and I have to spend time gathering up shite!
Q: yeah, I imagine it needs to be defleaed and ear-dropped
I imagine it needs flea dipping, ear drops, and deworming
Me: YES!!!!!
Q: so we need to go and eat
Me: lovely
hehe
Q:well
sorry
Me: you can't help it I think
aim me tomorrow then
Q: but if you were waiting for one to show up...
it showed up
Me: hard to argue with that logic
go eat!
Q: k
I am a bastion of firmness am I not? This is how the past three cats entered my life! I am only pleased she doesn't bring home reptiles....anymore. Morocco is lousey with cats as the Phophet was said to be fond of them. I have not noticed them so much here in Rabat, but in Fez they are constantly underfoot and for the most part are well fed and surviving. I have no idea if I can find a litter box anywhere, much less litter! Now I have something to do tomorrow, eh?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)