Now, it is not summer, but it is warm. My to-do list for today actually looks like this:
Wash floors, walls, and furniture (thank you Toby)
Wash Tilly (thank you, Toby)
Wash dog beds (thank you, Toby)
Give Toby his Addison's shot
Cat Boxes
Clean fridge
birdcages
Food Shop
Naturally, I distract myself from all of these things by sipping a cuppa coffee and writing this blog. Who wouldn't. The legs aren't ready, anyway. I am rewarded by having Boncuk perch on my right shoulder and actually cuddle up against my cheek, looking for snuzzles and kisses. This doesn't happen often since he has bonded with Zaza the little blue Quaker boy. Cairo has landed on the other shoulder, but is being more of a pain in that he keeps jumping around to my head and suspiciously eyes my coffee cup. Hapi sits on the Java tree to my right, chewing at it like a good boy, and Kizzy sits in the bird room saying "What?" as though he is missing the point of a good joke. The dogs have settled in on a bed that needs washing, waiting patiently for their scrambled eggs and dog food brekkie. The cats have already come down to eat and have retired to their upstairs kingdom to do what cats do. A temporary holding pattern until I have to unleash my inner domestic goddess. Yeah. Right. Life's too short not to steal some birdie cuddle time.
Yesterday Tim and I went to Salem, MA to visit the Peabody Essex Museum. It was an inspiring trip -- absolutely excellent exhibits that have got me thinking in a hundred more creative directions. The Wearable Art exhibit was nothing short of phenomenal -- truly amazing in terms of technique, craftsmanship, and zany concepts. Imagine seeing a bra made out of taxidermied hedgehogs? Parakeets also befell the same fate, with their little heads being nipples. I think the birds were the artist's pets, and she made a comment that it was part of keeping them near her heart. Okaaay. Kind of freaky. Also on display in the exhibit of shoes called "Pleasure and Pain" was a pair of shoes embellished with "parakeet" wings that looked suspiciously like Zaza...must have been monk parakeet wings. It was another fascinating exhibit! Absolutely amazing wearable art in both exhibits -- worth the trip! Additionally we wandered through the other exhibits and saw neat artifacts from China and Salem during the early era of trade. It is impossible to not feel the history of that area of Massachusetts.
We also explored the small cemetery near the Museum. It was filled with stones from the late 1600's onward, with a range of visual complexity. I loved photographing the skulls on the different tombstones. Sadly, most of the tombstones had surfaces that were so worth their owner's name was no longer visible. Again, seeing the tombstones conjured up images of the past -- loved ones standing around the grave. Were they crying? Was there a crowd or just a few? What was the context? Surprisingly many of the graves contained people that had lived to a good old age -- 70's, 80's, even. Always intriguing.
So, now, after taking the afternoon off yesterday for a little artistic enrichment, I am faced with a nasty day of catch up filled with domestic horrors that should not have to be dealt with (thank you again, Toby.) Game on.