Friday, July 9, 2010

Day Off

I had a really nice day today, although I didn't sleep well because of that injury I did myself practicing yoga this week. I now have two bum hips (at least they're a matched set, I guess!), and this means it's hard to get up from chairs, and that the yoga that will eventually restore me to normal hurts more than usual. But I'll live.
After a tough yoga class, in which I could feel the pain diminish, at least for the moment, I went to seek out some new cat food for Shadow, who has developed a new allergy to fish, as if she hasn't got enough already. Between her and Whistler, they cannot eat chicken, eggs, turkey, or duck. I haven't tried out beef because I've been warned that many cats are sensitive to it. I also avoid any additives or wheat in the food because many cats are allergic to it. Now Shadow has added fish to the list; their dry food is salmon and sweet potato, and Whistler still seems okay with it. I thought I could get some rabbit dry food (they love the wet food made of rabbit put out by that company), but it turns out it has chicken in it, so it didn't work out.
I'll have to keep looking, I guess.
Then we went to Liz's house and watched the final disk of Kieslowski's Decalogue, which is a series of 10 short films made in the 80s by the great Polish director. I believe I have written about these before. The films can be slow, but they are interesting, usually, and certainly not like anything else one has seen recently in this country.
Then we took our Steinmart coupons and did a little shopping and I came home. And yes, I hit the jackpot and brought home a lovely green silk outfit and matching shirt!
I haven't had such a relaxing day in some time.
Recently, I finished reading a new short novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni called One Amazing Thing. I won't spoil it for you, so will say only that it is about a group of very assorted strangers who are waiting in a passport office to get their papers so they may travel to India when a serious earthquake strikes. At first they are suspicious of each other, and some of the guys even fight, but they end up telling each other stories, which changes everything. It was a wonderful novel, and I hope to be able to use it in a class sometime.
I hope to be able to get back to the library where I can get some more things to read soon. I'm looking for the novel Cloud Atlas (I forget the writer's name), having heard how terrific it is. It's nice to have the time to read.

3 comments:

Lou said...

You so deserve days like this!

Anonymous said...

Robbi,

You have high maintenance cats. How are you doing?

Beth

Robbi N. said...

Thanks Lou. I hope to have more of them.
I spent a lot of time around places I used to go to with my parents, and it made me think of them fondly, sitting in the car and waiting for me to bring them things from Trader Joe's or helping mom to try on things in Steinmart.
Today I was in Wholesome Choice, and I thought of my dad because he loved that place and of my mom because they carry South African food. There were a bunch of South Africans there, and I chatted with them briefly. It is the only place around where they can get such food items, such as brands of the extremely strong tea they like in South Africa.
Beth, you are right about the cats! I am doing okay. If I could get this book for the fall chosen, I would feel much better.