Take a seat... any seat....

So we embarked last night (yes, Monday night) on a date. Dinner and the movies. After our meal at the Chinese buffet, we did some shopping for the business and then headed on over to the movie palace. Armed with popcorn and diet soda (according to my calorie book, the popcorn probably had as many calories as the entire dinner at the buffet, but never mind), we ventured into the auditorium. Now, the 150-seat auditorium is filled to overflowing with a grand total of 3 people waiting to watch the movie, and they are sitting in the very back row, against the back wall on the left side. The theater has three sets of seats – rows on the left, rows in the middle, and rows on the right. Because we have the pick of the house, we wander down about midway and choose seats in the middle of the middle row. I turned to R and said ... “If someone comes and sits down in front me, I’m going to get up and move.” And laughed. About 5 minutes later, a couple came down the aisle, and the girl sat down in the row in front of us, one seat to my left. The guy sat down next to her on her left. And then... wait for it... he gets up, crawls over her, and sits down right in front of me. R and I burst out laughing, which I guess was very rude, and they got up and moved so they were sitting behind us on the left. A few minutes later, after the previews of coming attractions started, another couple came in. They sat down.... in the row in front us, but this time on the aisle. We didn’t laugh out loud this time. We saw “Pursuit of Happyness.” It was very good.

The Hairy Meatloaf is at Six.... and Counting

If it is true that cats have 9 lives, then I think ours has just lost another one. It is hard to say how many she has lost already, since things occur that we don’t know about, but I’m guessing 3 so far. She lost one the day she decided to go play with the fox... and survived. She lost the second one the day she brought in the live rat and let it go in front of the propane heater. The rat crawled so far up into the “innards” of the heater that we couldn’t get it out, so we had to dismantle the heater and take it outside so the rat would leave. In the meantime, we also dismantled the “doggy door” so she couldn’t come in with any more live “presents.” If one had been listening carefully, a few pithy words might have been heard, along with “why don’t you take the cat out and shoot her.” And finally, she is down to No. 6. She came rushing in the other morning from the cold outdoors, leaped up on the propane heater, which happened to be off at that particular moment, and then vomited. Fortunately, most of it did not fall down through the grill and onto the heating elements. Once again, I really wanted to kill her.

This little light of mine....

A couple of years ago we drove down to Hardy, Arkansas, a quaint, small town located alongside the Spring River in the foothills of the Ozarks. I found this ceramic oil lamp in a pottery shop, and it became my anniversary present for that year. I enjoy looking at its beauty even when it is not lit, but it is especially beautiful on a rainy winter day, when the sky is dark and gloomy, which it has been here for several days now. The Bible talks about letting our own personal light shine, and I wonder sometimes what sort of light I give off. I was told in a phone conversation recently that I have a “merry laugh.” I loved hearing that. I hope that the light I give off is, indeed, a cheerful one.