We had a good sleep and then did our grocery shopping in a leisurely manner. Since we needed sugar-free pudding and the refrigerated case where our usual Kroger used to keep the pudding hasn't worked in almost six months (meaning they stock very little of it any more), we went to the Kroger on Whitlock Avenue instead, where we were tempted by a "rotisserie pork roast" rather than a chicken. We bagged it for supper, along with the usual stuff: bananas, yogurt, etc.—and the pudding. It wasn't until we were almost home, having taken our weekly drive past Jim Miller Park to wonder What in Tarnation They Are Doing (half the park is dug up, including a ditch big enough to float canal boats in), that we realized we'd forgotten the one thing we do get every week: the newspaper!

However, we had to go out again anyway because I'd forgotten to get gasoline on Friday. So we drove by our usual Kroger to use their gas station (we had enough credit points to get gas 10¢ a gallon cheaper) and snagged a paper there, then made a brief visit to Party City. James needed some clear colored plastic for a model project and swizzle sticks would be the ideal size. We hadn't seen any in either supermarket, so that was our next plan of attack. We found just the color he needed.

We didn't have any other plans, but stopped at Borders for a little while just to walk around, then came home. The weather was operating in fits and starts: it was mostly cloudy today, and we had rain during both grocery store trips. Thankfully this rinsed most of the pine pollen off my car—you should see the "drifts" of pine pollen on the open windowsills. I haven't put up my outside Easter decorations because I don't want them covered in this nasty grit.

Despite the rain, the sun peeked out a couple of times, sometimes at the same time! It didn't appear to have gotten into the low seventies as the forecast said, as at times there was a sharp breeze, but it was still warmish. The weather report is astounding: it's still in the high 60s outside as I write this, but we have a severe thunderstorm warning south of us, and the low tomorrow morning is supposed to be 46°F—and they are talking about snow flurries tomorrow night! Wicked bizarre!

I finished the afternoon by drowning the dog (from her point of view, anyway), and sweeping out and tidying the master and hall baths, then reading the paper. James made potatoes to go with the pork roast and we both have leftovers for lunch. We also made the rather annoying discovery that one of our milk jugs was leaking around the handle, so had to pour part of the milk into another container.

Watched a great Nova tonight about the extinction of the mammoth, as well as a new documentary based on the story of Christian the lion. I am amused at this new interest in the subject due to a YouTube clip, because I remember seeing the Christian film back when it was first broadcast on television in the early 70s.

If you've been media-less in the last few months when this flurry happened, the story of Christian began in the late 1960s, when Harrods in London was still allowed to sell exotic animals. Two young men from Australia had moved to London to take part in the "hip scene" back in those days and had purchased a lion cub they saw there. They raised him in their apartment building, but as he got larger and more powerful, they realized they could no longer keep him as a pet but did not want to send him to a zoo or a circus. Then Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who had starred in the film Born Free about the releasing of Elsa, the formerly tame lioness, into the African bush, visited them. They arranged to have Christian taken to Africa to be released to the wild by George Adamson, who, with his wife Joy, had raised and released Elsa. Christian did manage to be released into the wild and George sent the two young men periodic reports on him.

A year later they decided they wanted to see how Christian was doing and flew to Africa. A film was being made about their experience and the camera was running the day Christian first saw them again after being a wild lion for a year. At first he sniffed and approached them cautiously, then, excited, they called his name. At that point he realized who they were and ran to them, greeting them joyfully, but not once injuring them. Someone posted this reunion on YouTube just recently, and the resurgence of interest in Christian's story had brought about this special as well as a reissue of the book written about his story.

Labels: chores, food, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:41:00 PM

Comments:

LOL about "drowning"... sounds just like my Spiffy. :)

# posted by  niferjen : 1:56:00 AM

 

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