we took the cats with us to montauk which wasn't the easiest, but they did catch the mouse so they were useful (!) (i also hadn't lined up a cat sitter . . so . . ) we had to play special cat soothing music for zuzu in the car . . she doesn't like bumpy roads or trucks or going too fast.
as we started out, chanda sent us a text and photo that she was on her way to a whale watching excursion in provincetown. my sister had been on the cape all week so i called to let her know chanda would be in her vicinity (they just happened to be biking in the provincelands, just outside of p-town). a few hours later we received these photos:
they were able to say hello to her before she sailed!
it was also nice to get a photo of chanda and her roommate and fellow students . .
and here are two videos chanda sent of the whales they saw (32 in all, with one calf) . .
you can also see several dolphins lunging near the beginning of this video . . so beautiful and very exciting!
here's one more video . . i also love hearing the calls of the seagulls feeding around the whales . . i think these are humpback whales blowing massive bubbles up towards the surface to then catch the sand eels. the gulls share in the frenzy.
meanwhile . . back to lawn mowing . . i did the front, and greg mowed the back and sides. i also weeded along the driveway and swept the front walkway. weeding is very tiring!
when i came back inside, i decided to film the cats . . pluto and zuzu greeted me right away . . but cricket stayed aloof . .
i didn't notice it when filming, but you can see his little ear poke up around the corner of the hallway behind zuzu who is cleaning her paws . .
zuzu was being so funny, flopping around on her back . . i don't think i've noticed her ever being so seemingly self-satisfied . . why was she acting like this?
because they had caught the mouse! when i finally stopped taking pictures and filming and walked around the corner, i found cricket still bopping it around, though it was quite dead. i immediately ran outside to get greg to pick it up . . he's holding it here in the paper towel and laughing at cricket who didn't want to give it up. i'm not sure how helpful pluto was. he probably just stood around and watched all the excitement.
we buried the mouse outside.
a fish and chips dinner at one of my favorite places . . i had clams with the bellies, french fries and cole slaw.
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sunday -
a misty morning photo of woods hole from chanda . .
and morgan sent these next two photos from a quaint, neighborhood park near their apartment:
a vacuum cleaner planter . .
and the park itself . . it looks shady and cool for a hot summer's day.
today i took down all the canisters from the top of the kitchen cabinets to wash them and to clean up the mouse droppings i had found during our last visit. zuzu was happy to prowl around looking for any loitering vermin.
i convinced greg that we should stay an extra day and return home monday evening (meaning he would work from the house and not go in on monday) so we could spend all afternoon at the beach. it was such an incredibly beautiful day . . and i was able to get in lots of swimming (the water was a perfect temperature), knitting, sketching and reading (locations by jan morris, the first chapter titled vermont).
greg is reading a book on his phone and listening to music related to the book.
back at the house . . a cat and clean canisters . .
once, when i was going in and out onto the deck, cricket managed to squeeze himself between the screen door and the outside sliding glass door . . thankfully, greg managed to get him out.
he's such a nut . .
he also managed to do this . .
i suppose we should have let him figure out how to get down . . but i also didn't want to take him to a vet for emergency bone re-setting . .
after dinner walk . .
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monday -
monday morning - remembering 9/11 - the fire siren went off four times . . this is the first one. i was watching the table of silence project which performed at lincoln center and began at 8:10 am (you can still view it on their website).
we tried a new place in town for lunch . .
and greg had a sandwich . .
and it stopped raining long enough for me to get in a short swim . .
on the way home . .
What a lovely time! I am glad that the mouse got caught. That reminds me a lot of Julius and all the dead birds and mice we would get from him! Zuzu sure does look proud. I hope there won't be more mice. What is soothing cat music? I mean, can you buy something like that or did you just discover music that the cats like? So great that Chanda could see her aunt, uncle, and cousin, what a surprise! And those whales! That is amazing. I did not know you could see so many on the East Coast. What are you knitting in the picture? Good that you could stay a bit longer. The weather looks perfect. Crickets antics are crazy! Maybe he would enjoy going for a walk on a leash? Did you like the new lunch place? And Morgana's planter is cute.
ReplyDeleteI did like the new place, though not as much as the old :) The knitting project is my "Pure Joy" shawl that is almost finished. There have been more sightings in the past few years. They say the numbers have grown, but I wonder if it also might be due to warming ocean currents and ocean plastic pollution. The music I found on the Spotify app . . a special app that has podcasts and music.
DeleteInteresting about the growing number of whales. Oh, that plastic in the oceans is really a problem! I know they have special machines in California to take it out. I had never heard about soothing cat music. Maybe Julius would have liked it.
DeleteMaybe he would have :) My sister never heard of it either.
DeleteI wonder who determines what kind of music is soothing for cats . . .
DeleteFunny! Yes, I wonder :)
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