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Monday, August 19, 2013

WHADDA-WHADDA-WHADDA HAPPENED?!

 
Hi Everybody! It's me,
Squirrel. Did you see me in
this month's Guinea Pig
Magazine? If not, you should!
You should see me in EVERY
issue, actually. I'm
too modest to say more...



 
Just too adorable.

But, life in Seattle
is very different from anything
we could have possibly imagined.



 
We live in Chinatown, actually
now called "The I.D." or
International District. Mom
spent lots of time here before
moving to Bellingham, taking
photographs for various small 
newspapers which later got published
 in a book called "Pacific Voices,"
published through
U of Washington's Burke Museum.
(Shameless plug, we bad!)
Studying martial arts
with Bruce Lee's first-ever student,
Jesse Glover, and playing in a
Japanese Taiko performance group,
Chinatown once felt like a second home.

But, see, that was before Bellingham...
Way before.



 
We tried to make the best of it,
truly we have! Exotic food shopping,
just a walker (and STEEP HILL)
away, lots of yummy treats-for-all!


 
Eaten in bed...see, that is just
one part of the Big...
Homesickness.



 

Tried drawing. At least you don't
have to move around much to do that!
 

But here, things went from living
color in our Wilderness Town to
Black & White...no one has
adjusted. Mom got sicker.
And skinnier and skinnier.
When our friend said, like from
the "personal columns"
"Well, you're HWP =
Height-Weight-Proportional"
and mom asked,
"Soooo...if I hear this correctly,
I was a heifer before getting sick?"
Our friend is Asian. It wasn't his
fault that he didn't know what a
heifer was and said "Yeah!"
In his defense, he was just trying
to cheer her up. I shan't whisper
what happened next.
O.K. I will: He KNOWS WHAT
A HEIFER IS NOW!!!
(it wasn't pretty.)


 
Nothing beats radioactive
"Creamy Vanilla Smoothies!"
You couldn't do this in Bellingham
without getting an official note from
the hospital explaining the "radioactive
isotope part" because up there you
could be detected from all the Security
Thingies they got during the 2010
Winter Olympics in Vancouver...
And you'd glow green and they'd
wonder why...and so you needed
a letter because the first time they
detected radioactive isotopes, it was
this poor man driving and they all
pounced on him and couldn't
figure out where he was hiding
the "dangerous thing" and it
was really, really embarrassing...
NOT FOR THE MAN! But,
because his cat had just come
from chemotherapy at the vet
and really WAS RADIOCTIVE!
The "Security" faux pas made
national news...LOL!
They saw a "glowing green threat!"
It was a cat!



 
Practicing hand gestures from
the "Learn to Bollywood"
dance DVD, yeah, gonna
get this one DOWN, baby!
Get it DOWN!


 
But not dancing...
just being quiet.



 
Homesick.



 
Dreaming of being a "Whale
Rider" like in this drawing
from when we were still
living in Bellingham...
and felt "rooted" and life
was full of Wonder and
Mystery, inspired by such
a wild, wonderful landscape
of wilderness from Mt. Baker
to the San Juan Islands.
We just isn't "city people"
...or...
"City Pigs."


 
So it's my job to bring joy and
make a smile come out like
the sun. It's all our jobs, us piggies,
and we are doing our very best.

But we would be lying to say we
aren't all homesick.

(At least ain't got no heifers livin'
here no more: LOL!!!)
OH! WE DISCOVERED THAT
VINNY-GUINEA CAN CHIRP
LIKE A BIRD!
It's rare in guinea pigs, but Taj Mahal
used to do it when we watched
"Molly the Owl" over the Internet
all the time, the other night after we
got our habitats switched so's we could
all touch noses and nuzzle, mom woke
up and had to turn on the light since we
got no birds living in here and Vinny just
grinned! Life is still beautiful, and
full of wonder, surprises, with more to
come! We love you all.





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4 comments:

  1. So, if you're radioactive, does that mean you glow in the dark and don't have to worry about a nightlight? Just kidding. Sorry about the homesickness. Are you in, or out of the hospital? Good to see you out and about the blog world.

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  2. Ha-Ha, actually I MUST glow in the dark because we DON'T have nightlights since moving here...or could it be that it never gets dark next to Seahawks (football)/Sounders (soccer) and Seattle Mariners(baseball) stadium!?! Currently, an outpatient with a caregiver. Your candid, courageous blogging about Mike has given me the courage to begin leaking the truth that we are actually "in a pickle" here. The weight loss, physical weakness, and some internal bleeding from unknown source has begun worsening at an alarming speed. Fortunately, "third time's a charm" and I think the hospital I'm at now is on it. One caveat, frankly spoken by my doctor for the first time: without diagnosing the source, they can't treat. Without treatment, at this pace..."Well, it won't be good." I wanted to scream "YA THINK?! WHADDYA THINK I'VE BEEN TELLING DOCTORS FOR THE PAST 6 MONTHS WHILE THERE WAS TIME???" They will be thorough and care so far has been the best I've received in Seattle. Like your family and Mike, this is truly uncharted territory. I have been ill for over 35 years but ALWAYS BOUNCED BACK WITH ZEAL! No bouncing. The well is dry. The tough questions are inside, when do I speak openly about what really is going on? That would mean it's true, to actually say the words. What I really feel like doing is shaking my fists and asking God: "DID YOU NOT RECEIVE MY MEMO?" This is NOT GOING WELL! LOL! Best wishes to you, thank you for pioneering tough, painful truthtelling in your own blogs...perhaps I will get the courage to speak frankly, too, instead of waiting for such time as I can post a "Happy Blog." That is why I stopped writing. Thanks for the inspiration, and caring, Ms. A. Love and prayers to you and your family, you remain always in our prayers :)))

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  3. Good news or bad, I am so glad to see you. I have so missed you. I so hope things will get better for you. Enough is enough. I will continue to pray for you. I will look into the distance to see a glow from the PNW and be waving at you. Hugs to you and the piggies.

    Hugs to Ms A and her family too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much, Marifun. I just noticed your comment as I went to delete this post because I want to leave the blog on a good note...but you are here, so will keep it. And we are waving back! We love you. Thanks for being here for us.
    love,
    chana

    ReplyDelete