Category: adventure

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May 23 -Keep Going

Today was a great day for this little monster!  Not only did I get to go on an adventure, I also met lots of new people who were super friendly to me.  And because I met lots of nice people, I made some serious progress on my 100 People Project.

Mr. Guy and The Lady wanted to go to a bookstore and hear a guy who writes books talk about what he writes in his books.  I don’t know why, if they have read the books, they wanted to hear the writer tell them what he says in his books. Maybe he forgot to put some of the important words in his books.  I asked if the books were grown-up books or little monster books.  The Lady said that they were for grown-ups, but she thought I might learn something if I went and listened.

 

The book writer’s name is Austin Kleon.

 

He writes books about creativity.  The Lady said that creativity is what we need when we write our stories together.  I thought we just needed to go do fun stuff so we have adventures to write about and then we have to find the best words to tell you about our adventures, but The Lady said that it is not quite that easy.  I guess that is true.  Sometimes it is hard for me to make my words and my thoughts match.  It’s like my thoughts are striped and the words that come out are polka dotted.

The Lady and Mr. Guy have read almost all of Mr. Kleon’s books.  They like what he says and the way he says it.  His newest book is called Keep Going.  I like that title a lot.  The Lady and I need to keep going even though sometimes we are both tired and don’t think that we have much to say and don’t want to write any words.

Mr. Guy and The Lady were right!  Mr. Kleon was a cool guy!  I didn’t understand everything that he talked about, but I liked that he talked about his two little boys and how they inspire him.  That made me think that I can inspire The Lady and Mr. Guy when they need creativity.

After Mr. Kleon talked about his book, people stood in a line so that he would sign his name in their books.  It seemed a little funny to me that he put his name in our books.  We bought our books with our own money; this book place was not a no bills book barn like where we went earlier this week.  Now if our book gets lost, it will get returned to Mr. Kleon because he put his name in it.  I guess if people don’t take good care of his books and they get lost, those books will get back to Mr. Kleon.  He will take good care of them because they are full of his words.  If I had a book with my words in it, I know I would take good care of it!

I did get to help when Mr. Kleon signed a book for Mr. Guy.

Because Mr. Kleon is such a a nice guy, the people who read his books are also nice people.  I was surprised and happy because so many peoplethere listening talked to me and wanted to know my name and hear my story.  Not everyone we see is open to talking to a little furry blue and orange monster!

 

Ms. Christy and Mr. Garry sat near us.  They drove all the way from Oklahoma to hear Mr. Kleon talk.  That is a long drive!  Ms. Christy is a copy editor and her husband, Mr. Garry, is and artist.

Then I talked to Ms. Zee.  She writes a blog about artist’s and travel.

Look at her smile!  I bet she would be a fun travel companion!  I am looking forward to reading her blog posts and learning about different artists and places that I want to visit some day.

Mr. Eric also has a friendly smile.

I am a lucky little monster to get to meet so many interesting, talented, and most importantly, kind people.  I think that the world has more kind people than mean people, but it feels like most of the time we only hear about the mean people.  Tonight was an evening filled with all nice people.  That made my smile as big as Mr. Eric’s smile.  Really, I am smiling, but my fur covers it up sometimes.

Mr. Tom works at Interabang Books.  That is where we went to listen to Mr. Kleon talk and it’s where we met all of the friendly people.  The last person I talked to was Mr. Tom.  He is the Events Coordinator at Interabang Books.

He worked hard tonight making sure that all of the happy people stayed happy.  I think he might have been smiling because this event was almost over and he was going to get to go home and rest soon!

So, I added six people to my 100 People Project.  That is exciting for this little monster.  I am now up to fifty-one.  I have passed the halfway point.  I can do this!

Like Mr. Kleon says, “Keep Going!”

 

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May 19 – A Smiley Sunshiny Day

Today was a sunshiny day both outside and in my heart!  After church, I got to go out for lunch with Mr. Guy, The Lady, and a couple of their best friends.  We went to a place called Potbelly’s.  The name makes me laugh.  They serve delicious sandwiches there.

When we sat down to eat, all of the sudden my 100 People Project popped into my head.  A couple years ago, I decided that I was going to try to have my picture taken with 100 different people, some who I know and some who were strangers.  I haven’t taken any of these pictures since I was in Alaska last year, and I haven’t even posted those yet.  I have been a super lazy little monster.  But, The Lady always tells me to begin again where you are; so, that’s what I did today.  I am beginning where I am, with #45/100, Ms. Wendy.

Ms. Wendy is one of Mr. Guy and The Lady’s best friends.  She is part of “our village,” a group of nine friends, and this furry little blue and orange monster, who all go to church together, share a meal every Sunday, and look after each other.  Ms. Wendy is also a musician like The Lady, but Ms. Wendy blows into a silver tube to make music and The Lady blows into a black tube.  Sometimes they blow into their tubes at the same time and make pretty music together.  I was surprised that I didn’t already have a picture with Ms. Wendy, but I didn’t.  Today I fixed that and I am a happy little monster who, like my shirt says, is feelin’ awesome!

The Lady needed to take a picture “With Words” today for her picture taking group.  I offered to write her some words, but she said that we had to find already written words on a sign or something.  That could be kind of fun.

While Mr. Guy, The Lady, Ms. Wendy and Mr. Todd went to order their food, I decided to be a helpful monster and got napkins for our table.  When I put them down, I noticed that they had words on them.  The words made me laugh a little.  Then I had a great idea…I could surprise The Lady and use her cell phone and take a picture of me with the napkin and its words.  I think when you do this it is called a Cell Fee.

I see people all the time taking pictures of themselves with their cell phones.  I wonder what they do with them.  Do you have to pay for them and that is why they are called Cell Fees?  Or do the people that you give them to have to pay for them?   I could take my picture and sell it to the Lady for a fee to earn money to buy a new t-shirt…except that my picture would be on The Lady’s cell phone and she already buys my shirts for me.  What do others do with their Cell Fees?

This Cell Fee thing is hard!  First I only got half of the words, which were the important part of my picture.  Then I only got half of me.  I couldn’t figure out how to get all of the words and all of me.  I think my monster arms may be too short.  This is the best that I could do.  Maybe Cell Fees are not for me.  Mine are more like Cell Frees!  No money will be exchanged.  Despite all that, I do clean up nicely, just like the napkin says!

Mr. Guy cleans up nicely too!

When we went to fill up Mr. Guy’s cup, we found the perfect sign for The Lady’s picture for today.

The people at Potbelly like to make people smile and so do I!  This sign made me smile.  Another thing that made me smile is that The Lady took this picture instead of Mr. Guy or me trying to take another Cell Fee!

I had a lot to smile about today.  I hope that you had smiles in your day too!

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May 17 – Sort Of Confusing Italians

After my confusion the other night with Mr. Fibonacci and Mr. Pisa and wanting pizza, Mr. Guy and The Lady said we could go out for pizza tonight for dinner.  Usually we make pizza at home, so this was a real treat.  Acually, I think Mr. Guy and The Lady did not want to cook.  That was OK with me.  I like to go on adventures.

We drove to the pizza place.  I could see that their sign was orange.  That made me happy!  When I got close enough to read it, though, it said Bay  34th St.  We don’t have any bays near our house.  Where I came from in Delaware, there was a bay.  The food at that bay was fish not pizza.  I sure hope we are not having fish pizza!  Then I read the rest of the sign…New York style pizza.  I’ve been to New York and I ate pizza there and it was not fish pizza.  But still New York pizza in Texas?  Mr. Guy said that the people who make the pizza are probably from New York and they brought their recipes with them to make pizza here in Texas.

I got to go look through a window at all the pizzas and tell the pizza maker guy which one I wanted.  There was a funny looking moon-shaped thing in the window that did not look at all like a pizza.  I asked Mr. Guy what it was.  He told me that it was a Cow Zone.  Ooooh!  That didn’t sound good!  I live in Texas.  I know about cows and what cows leave in cow zones.  These people from New York must not know about cows or they wouldn’t make food from stuff in the Cow Zones!!!  That makes even fish pizza sound pretty good.  I didn’t order a Cow Zone!

Not only did the pizza makers from New York bring their recipes, they also brought some signs from New York too.  I rode the Subway when I was in New York.  I remember signs that look exactly like this.  It was fun to think back to my trip while we waited for our pizza.

Then the pizza came!  I have been whining, and wanting, and waiting for pizza for a long time.  Well, for a couple days.  That is a long time to a furry little blue and orange monster.  Boy was it worth the wait!  My pizza had lots of stuff on it – sausage and pepperoni and olives and onions and peppers and probably some other stuff, but definitely not fish or stuff from the cow zone!

This pizza was delicious!!!  It was worth the wait!

After we finished eating and were ready to go home, Mr. Guy showed me a sign that was behind where I was sitting.

I think I owe Mr. Guy five cents for whining about wanting pizza.  That’s OK.  This pizza was worth way more than five cents!  It might even be worth ten cents to whine doubly for pizza again soon!

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Friday Guy Day in Denver

Last Friday when we were in Denver…

The Lady and some of her friends with white fur – Ms. Joni, Ms. Becca, and Ms. Cindy -wanted to go shopping at a special store where you buy the fancy sticks and string that they like to use to make stuff.  Ms. Becca is just learning how to play with sticks and strings.  She went along to look at all of the pretty string and because she likes to hang around with The Lady, Ms. Cindy, and Ms. Joni.

Mr. Guy, Mr. Scott F (Ms. Joni’s brother) and Mr. Scott G (Ms. Cindy’s Mr. Guy) don’t know how to play with sticks and string and they don’t have any interest in learning. The boys would all much rather play with trains. Since I am a boy, I spent my day with them.  I think that a little blue and orange furry monster with sticks and string might be a disaster.  I like it when Ms. Joni and The Lady work their magic with the string and I end up with sweaters and hats that are already made!

I knew a little bit about trains. I had been on the light rail train at home in Dallas. It was a big train, not the size of a toy.  When Mr. Guy told me that we were going to go see trains, I thought they were going to be too big for this little monster to play with. Mr. Guy explained that he and the Mr. Scotts like to play with model trains. Model trains are trains that look just like the big trains but are much smaller.  Mr. Guy says he doesn’t have any of these little model trains anymore. He did when he was younger. The Mr. Scotts told me that they belong to model railroad clubs where they live. I got a bit confused.  Railroads?  I thought that we were talking about trains!  Mr Guy explained that trains are the individual cars and the railroad is everything having to do with trains – all the train cars and the track put together in one big package. He said its like when the ladies play with their sticks and strings it is called knitting. Knitting means the sticks, the string, the pattern, and the playing with the sticks and strings!  I think I now understand.

So while the ladies looked at string, we guys went to the Colorado Railroad Museum.  I was a little confused again. I didn’t have my dictionary to look up words and I wasn’t sure what a museum was. So Mr. Guy told me that a museum is a place where people keep special things that they don’t want to be damaged, or that they want lots of people to be able to see. The museum is a place where things are kept safe when they get old or can’t be used anymore.

An art museum has art in it and a science museum has science things in it. I asked if that meant our house was a museum because we have lots of art and things on the walls and The Lady says that there are science experiments in the refrigerator. Mr. Guy said not really because we do not preserve our stuff so that lots of people can come see it. He said that our house may be kind of a private museum for us and our friends.  But, not a science museum.  No one wants to see the experiments in our refrigerator.

Mr Guy told me that the railroad museum has lots of train cars – old ones and newer ones – and special ones that people might not get to see unless they visit the museum. I understand better now…things in a museum are there so that lots and lots of people can see them, even little blue and orange monsters!

W were on our way!  Mr. Guy, the Mr. Scotts and I headed to the train museum. The first thing we did was walk to find the bus that would take us to the station to wait for a real train that we rode to the museum! That was a lot of ways of transportation already!


I have to say that Mr Guy is not as good at picture taking as The Lady but he did his best.

The Lady and her girlfriends were shopping in Denver.  We went all the way to another city. It is called Golden. Golden did not look very golden to me, but Mr Guy said it got its name because they dig up lots of gold there. I wondered if we would get any gold.  In case you are wondering…we did not.

When we got off of the train, Mr Scott G thought there was a button we could push to get us to the museum. He said someone had told him about this button.  I wasn’t sure about that…a magic button? Mr Guy explained that it was supposed to be a button to let someone know that we were there to visit the museum.  I sort of understood this idea to be like our doorbell at home, but we never found any button, magic or otherwise. We did, however, see a green van and the man inside agreed to take us to the Visitors Center, for free!  I thought that maybe this was a  magic man driving a magic van.  Nothing is ever free!  Nope.  Our train tickets allowed us to ride in the magic green van.  Though I guess that means that the van was not really free because we had to buy tickets to ride the train.  It just felt free and maybe a little bit magic.


The van took us to the Golden Visitor’s center…not a golden visitor’s center, and not the train museum. We looked around there a little. There was a big statue of a bear.


Mr Guy told me that there are lots of bears in the woods near Golden, but that the bears rarely ever come into town. I was glad to hear that because this was a very big statue of a very scary looking bear.  Mr Guy said that the real bears are the same size as the statue!  I did not want to meet one of them!

We also saw a dragon!  Well, it was a statue too.   I asked Mr. Guy if dragons and bears were friends and if there were dragons in the woods too.  He assured me that I did not have to worry about meeting a real dragon.


Mr Guy said this dragon was made to honor the president of a special club.  I wondered what kind of president would make people think of a dragon.  I kept that thought to myself.

I was beginning to think that the only train we were going to see was the one that we rode to Golden. Fortunately, Mr Scott F used his phone to call someone named Ooh Bear, who he said would come and give us a ride to the museum. Mr. Guy had just said that bears didn’t come into the city and he also said that bears are big and scary.  I wasn’t sure why Mr. Scott F called one of them on his cellphone to come get us!  As it turned out, we were lucky.  The Ooh Bear that he called was not a real bear.  He was a man.  I wonder why his mom named him Ooh Bear. Oh well, the Ooh Bear man seemed very nice, though his car was a little small for all five of us. But, he got us to the Colorado Railroad Museum and that was what was important!

When we got there, I saw all of these big boxes and things I did not know about all around.   Mr Guy said that they are trains and that they once carried lots of people and lots of things all over the place. They are what we came to see.


I was very excited because the first thing we did at the museum was buy a new shirt for me!  Ms. Roz sold us my shirt and she agreed to be one of the people in my 100 people project.  She sells tickets and other things at the museum too.


We then headed downstairs. A model railroad club keeps their special train stuff there.  I wasn’t really sure what I was going to see. And then…Wow!  They have a whole set up of small trains, just like Mr. Guy and The Mr. Scotts said there would be. I had never seen trains like these before. They were small but looked just like the big ones that were all over outside. Mr Guy told me that the big ones worked just like these little ones except that the little ones were for people who had to pretend with trains rather than work with the big real ones. He said these are the kind of trains that the Mr. Scotts have. Mr Scott G was looking carefully at all the details of the trains.


When we were done inside, we went outside where there were more train cars to see. Mr Guy showed me how some of the cars were for carrying people and some were carrying things. There were also special trains called engines.  The engine is was what makes the train cars full of people and things go. The person who drives the engine is called an engineer.  I pretended that I was the engineer!


There were so many cars to see that Mr Guy and the Mr Scotts just couldn’t get pictures of all of them.  Mr Guy tried to take a picture of the two of us outside a caboose, but it didn’t really work. He told me that the last car on a train was called a caboose and it was a place for the people who worked on the train to eat and sleep when they were on long trips.


Mr Guy also told me that when he was a little monster like me, his dad worked for the railroad. Mr. Guy’s dad did not drive the trains.  He was a lawyer who worked with people who had been hurt while working for the railroad or who had had an accident with a train.  I don’t think I would want to be one of those people!

Mr Guy shared that he too had worked on the railroad one summer. He fixed train tracks. Mr. Guy showed me how the train cars at the museum were sitting on metal rails. The rails then sit on a metal plate and that plate sits on a big piece of wood. Mr Guy said those big pieces of wood are called ties. I thought ties were something that you wore around your neck. I certainly wouldn’t want to wear one of those ties. They look heavy.  I bet they would choke me!  Mr Guy explained that they are called ties because they tie the rails together. Big nails, called spikes, hold the plate and the rail on the tie. The rails, ties, and plates are called tracks. Mr Guy told me to look at where the tracks ran off into the distance so I could see how they looked like a path for the train to follow.

The last thing we saw at the museum was called a garden railroad. This was sort of like the little trains inside, but the train was bigger and ran outside in a real garden with pretty plants and flowers.  Mr. Guy explained that trains come in all sizes, from tiny model ones all the way up to the great big real ones. He said there are even some that are little blue and orange monster sized like me! I asked him if we cold get one of those  He said we would not have a place for one that big.  That made me a little sad.  I thought it would be fun to be the engineer on my very own train.


After we had seen everything at the museum, Mr. Scott F called our friend Ooh Bear again to take us back to the visitor center.  The guy who came to get us this time was a different person and in a different car than the first Mr. Ooh Bear!  There are two mothers that named their children Ooh Bear???  I guess it is a Colorado thing. I need to remember to ask Mr Guy or The Lady about that.

After we got back to the visitor center, everyone wanted lunch before we loaded back in the not-so-magic green van, and then the train, and then the bus, and then walked back to the hotel.


Mr Guy told me he was sorry he did not get more pictures. I told him that was ok. I had lots of fun and was glad he and the Mr Scotts took me along. I think I had more fun with them than I would have had looking at string with the ladies.

I sure was a tired little monster when we got back to the hotel. I went right to bed and slept all night long.

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An Afternoon of Happy People!

We just got home from a weekend trip to Denver.  Before we even left Dallas, I knew it would be a good trip because I met all kinds of happy people in the airport!

Mr. Guy and The Lady wanted some holy donuts for a snack on the airplane.  I’m not exactly sure what makes a donut holy, but they went into a store and asked for holy donuts and the nice lady behind the counter filled a bag with them and gave it to Mr. Guy.  Then the cheerful lady behind the counter asked all about me.  Mr. Guy and The Lady told her about how we travel and meet new people and about my 100 People Project.  She said that sounded like fun and was happy to be #37 of my 100 People!

Ms. Lashanna shared her holy donuts and her smile with us.  What a great start to our trip!  I still don’t understand the whole holy donut thing, but if they make everyone cheerful, I guess that’s all I need to understand.

After we met Ms. Lashanna, we went to sit at our gate to wait for our airplane.  There we met more happy people!  Ms. Shelby was sitting across from us.  She asked what my name was.  Mr. Guy told her that I was his little blue and orange furry monster, Blueper B.  She said that she had a little monster too.  His name was Baby Ivan.  He didn’t look like a monster to me. He was a cute little boy. Ms. Shelby told us that she liked to call him her little monster.  We talked to Ms. Shelby for a long time while she and Baby Ivan ate their lunch and we ate some of our donuts.  Even though Ms. Shelby had some sad things happening in her life, she was still cheerful and smiling.  That made me smile too!

Ms. Shelby said she and Baby Ivan would also love to have their picture taken with me!  I was excited about that, but Baby Ivan wasn’t too sure that he wanted me to be that close to his mommy…or maybe it was that close to his chicken nugget.  I think he thought that I might try to eat his chicken nugget.  I wouldn’t do that!  Most of the time Mr. Guy and The Lady feed me well.  I don’t have to take food from sweet little babies!

There are lots of terrible things going on in the world and sometimes it is hard to smile.  We were lucky to meet all of these nice people.  There was also another lady sitting beside us while we were talking to Ms. Shelby.  That Lady had to leave her house in Florida because of Hurricane Irma, which was on its way close to her home. Her family wanted her way far away from Florida so that she would be safe.  Even though she was facing the unknown of this great big storm, this lady too was cheerful.  I didn’t have time to have my picture taken with her.  I do keep thinking about her, hoping that her home is safe and that she is still smiling.

I will probably never see Ms. Lashanna, Ms. Shelby, Baby Ivan, or the nice lady that was sitting next to us ever again, but I will always remember the smiles and happy conversations that we shared for a few minutes in the airport on that day.  The world would be a much better place if everyone made a point to share smiles and kind words every day!

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Play-ing in NYC


I bet you are wondering why I went to New York…

Offspring #2 and The Lady have a friend, Ms. Mandy, they said that she plays right in New York City and they wanted to go visit her.  That sounded fun.  I like to play.  When I asked The Lady where we were going to play  – at Ms. Mandy’s apartment? a park? a pool? a beach? – she said it was not that kind of play.  Ms. Many writes the kind of plays that you see on stage at the theater.  She is a playwright; she doesn’t play right.  Well, I bet she does play right, but that is not what was happening on this trip.  We were going to see the play From A to Double D that she wrote and Ms. Mandy was also acting in her play.  I like the theater so this plan was OK with me.

The title of Ms. Mandy’s play sounded like it was a story about the dictionary, but only a little bit of the dictionary, since it only talked about the the first three letters and part of the fourth.  I thought about it and that makes sense.  That is job security for Ms. Mandy.  At this rate, she can write six sequels to her play before she gets all the way to the letters ZZ!  I did think that it was a little strange that she stopped with “DD.”  I had to go look at the dictionary and see what words even started with two d’s.  All the words that I found were either abbreviations or acronyms.  I didn’t really understand Ms. Mandy’s thinking on this one, but she is the professional playwright so I guess she knows what she is doing.  When I asked The Lady about this, she explained that the play was not about the dictionary, it was about bras.  Bras??  The Lady explained that little (boy) blue and orange furry monsters don’t need to know or think about bras.  They are for grown-up ladies.  She showed me hers.  Boy was that a confusing contraption!!  It was even more strange than my vest!  Not only did it not have any sleeves, it didn’t have much of a front or back either.  I can see why the grown-up ladies wear these weird things under their clothes.  They are funny looking!  The Lady said that grown-up ladies wear bras to keep their breasts in place.  Breasts?  Where is Mr. Guy when I need him?  I needed a boy to explain all this girl stuff to me! 

As it turned out, I learned a lot about bras and boobs breasts and girls while watching From A to Double D.  I don’t think I understood everything, but I am pretty sure that I am glad that I only have to worry about my t-shirts and not trainers, underwires, and sports bras!  There are definite advantages to be a little blue and orange furry boy monster!  

I was happy to be at the play because The Lady, Offspring #2, and The Young Guy were very excited to be there.  Offspring #2 has been friends with Ms. Mandy for a long time, since when she was kind of a little girl and not famous, maybe since after the trainer time and before the double D time.  


And, Ms. Mandy was happy that they were there.  We had breakfast with her the next day.  She  agreed to have her picture taken with me!  Maybe some day we will both be really famous!

During the day before Ms. Mandy’s play, The Young Guy, Offspring #2, and I walked around New York City.  Well…they all walked and The Lady carried me.  Mr. Guy does a little better carrying me. The Lady didn’t do so well trying to hold me and her camera.  She didn’t take very many pictures on this trip.

The first place that we walked was to the World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial.  Offspring #2 and The Lady explained that sixteen years ago, two buildings called the twin towers, were hit by airplanes that had been taken over by people who did not like our country.  Lots and lots of people died and lots were hurt.  I was not born when this happened and Offspring #2 was only eight years old.  The Lady remembered it very well.  There is a memorial where these two towers stood.  It is a fountain and a reflecting pool with the names of all those who lost their lives on that day.


There were so many names on the memorial.  So many people died.  This made me very sad.


A new building has been built in the area.


It is called Freedom Tower and is the tallest building in the western hemisphere.


It hurts my heart to think about that day in 2001.  I wasn’t even alive back then and seeing this memorial sends chills down my furry spine.  I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for all the people who were right here in New York City or even those, like The Lady, Offspring #2, and Mr. Guy, who watched it all on television.  The people who’s names I read on the memorial here and their families now have a place in my heart forever.

After we visited the 9/11 Memorial we walked some more and then decided to take the subway.  I have ridden the trains in Dallas, where I live, but they are above the ground.  In New York the trains go under the ground through tunnels.  The Lady told be that that is why they are called subways, because sub means below.  I should have figured that out by myself.

We bought our tickets and then walked through this gate that looked like we were going into a sideways jail.

The good thing was that the bars kept moving so it didn’t feel like we were in jail!

Once we were inside the not-jail, I saw the tracks and watched for the train we needed.  Offspring #2 told me which one to look for.


We got on…rode for a few minutes in the dark…got off and walked up some stairs…and we were right where we wanted to be.  It sort of felt like magic.  I guess the same thing happens on the airplane, but since it is usually not dark in the sky when we fly, it doesn’t feel so much like magic.


I wish we had more pictures from our trip. I thought that Offspring #2 and The Lady might be taking lots of pictures with their phones because they were in their hands all the time.  When I asked to see their pictures they said that there weren’t many.  I was confused until they told me that they were using their phones so that we knew where to go.  The phones had a map on them and gave them walking directions.  I wondered how they always seemed to know where they were going!

We weren’t in New York very long.  I wish we could have seen a little bit more of the city, but I was also glad to come home because I missed Mr. Guy.  Hopefully Ms. Mandy will do another play right and we will get to go see her and one of her plays again!


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Orange You Glad To See Me In NYC!

This week was both fun and a little strange.  I went on an adventure.  And The Lady went on the adventure.  But, Mr. Guy did not go on this adventure with us.  We went to New York City.  Mr. Guy had important stuff to do here at home.  Plus, he said that he doesn’t really like New York City.  That made me a little nervous.  I was afraid that I wouldn’t like it either, but I decided to be a brave little blue and orange furry monster and go.  I hoped that The Lady, Offspring #2, and The Young Guy would take good care of me.
     


Mr. Guy always carried me in airports and I always sit on his lap on the airplanes.  It felt funny to sit on The Lady’s lap, especially because we had kind of a bumpy ride to New York and I got a little scared.  It all worked out, though.  The Lady did OK but I hope that next time I fly somewhere that Mr. Guy goes too.

We landed in New York and had to take a taxi to our hotel.  

I have never ridden in a taxi before.  It was like the fancy black cars that have picked us up at airports before, the lemonzines, except that it wasn’t fancy and wasn’t black.  It was yellow.  That was all OK.  We crossed some bridges and went in a tunnel and passed lots of big buildings.  Then we got to our hotel.  The Young Guy picked the hotel and made the reservations.  It was called the Mobile Noble Den.  We have a den at our house, but it doesn’t have a bed.  I thought maybe The Lady and I might have to sleep on a couch.  We don’t have a bathroom in our at-home den either.  Maybe that’s because it is just a den, not a noble den.  Hopefully the noble part means that it has a bed and a bathroom in addition to a couch.

The Lady and I shared a room and Offspring #2 and The Young Guy had another room.  The room that The Lady and I had was perfect for us.  It was all orange!!!  Everything was orange.  I didn’t think The Young Guy knew me well enough to know that I love orange, but he did.  I still missed Mr. Guy, but the all orange room did make me happy.

Look at all of the orange!


Our bed was orange…


Our shower was orange…

I guess that you noticed that our den has both a bed and a bathroom.
Our telephone was orange…
Our sink had an orange stripe, though you can’t see it in these pictures.  I think that you can in the one above.  Even without the orange, this was a cool sink!  It was sort of in the middle of our den, but that was OK.  It had a fancy light up mirror.  I had fun looking at my fur in this mirror.  I didn’t even mind brushing it because I could watch for tangles so that I would not pull my fur and hurt my little monster body.

Eben “my office” was orange.  I sat here and made notes about all of the things that I wanted to tell you about.
Can you see my orange chair?
This is the view from my window.  We were staying right between Chinatown and Little Italy, whatever that means.
I really did miss Mr. Guy on this trip, but I have to admit that it was nice to have an entire half of the bed to myself rather than being squished between Mr. Guy and The Lady.
Speaking of having lots of room in the bed…now that I am home, I have my own bed back and I am very tired tonight.  Tomorrow I will tell you all about what we saw in New York.
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Bond’s Eye

Last Saturday we were supposed to go to the Farmer’s Market in our city, but we couldn’t go because it was raining.  I thought we might go yesterday; however, we couldn’t go then either because Mr. Guy and The Lady had something else to do.  They were going to a Bond’s Eye class.  They said that I could go with them if I wanted to.   I wasn’t sure that I wanted to, but I decided that I wanted to spend some time with them, so I said I’d go.

I had no idea why Mr. Guy and The Lady wanted to go to a class on learning how to see like a special agent, to learn to use their eyes as a spy like James Bond.  I didn’t even know they liked James Bond.  This little blue and orange furry monster knew almost nothing about Bond, or secret agents, or spies, or how to see like a spy.  I figured this would be a chance for me to learn something new.  They might teach me how to break codes and hunt down criminals and even how to drive a fancy car.  OK, maybe not drive the fancy car…but ride in it as the co-pilot.

Mr. Guy got me dressed to go.  He put on my brown “Dirt Shirt” that Ms. Michele gave me when I was in Delaware.  That sort of made sense.  A blue and orange furry spy might stick out in a crowd.  I was hoping I’d get a cool trench coat and hat, but my brown shirt was good for a beginner secret agent.  

We drove about twenty minutes to the place where the class was being taught.  It was down a gravel drive in a building hidden behind lots of trees and shrubs.  The building had sort of a secret look to it, but there were no fancy cars anywhere, well fancy spy cars.  There were fancy Dallas cars.  I guess that’s how they keep the secret agent training center really a secret.  It just looked like an old house.  Now I was getting excited.

We walked into the Bond’s Eye place.  It was a little weird.  The people didn’t have on secret agent hats and coats and sunglasses; they looked like hippies in their overalls, t-shirts, jeans, and gypsy shirts.  Don’t tell them I said this, but Mr. Guy and The Lady fit right in with this crowd.  I looked around for books about being a spy and magnifying glasses and anything else that reminded me of James Bond.  There was nothing.  This whole secret agent school had nothing but plants everywhere.  Most of them were little, but there were some bigger ones too.  I thought to myself that maybe we were going to develop our Bond’s eye skills by first looking for bugs on plants or something like that.  Surely if I could spy a tiny bug on a tiny plant I could track down a big bad guy or girl.


Mr. Guy and The Lady wandered around looking at all of the plants.  They didn’t say anything about looking for bugs.  They were talking about things like organic dirt and water culture and fertilizer and apexes and old wood and aesthetic balance.  I know I don’t know much about being a secret agent, but even with the little information I did have, I was now pretty sure we were talking about different things.

I finally asked when the real Bond’s eye class was going to start.  Where was all of the secret agent stuff?  Why were we in a place surrounded by happy hippies and plants rather than secret agents in trench coats?

I quickly learned that I was completely confused about the whole experience.  It was not a Bond’s Eye class; it was a bonsai class.  Bonsai is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers.  The trees and the practice of caring for them is a process of meditation and contemplation for their owner.  Bonsai trees don’t provide shade or food or medicine; they are just to look it.  They make you happy.  Once I understood that, it all made sense that Mr. Guy and The Lady would want to come here.  They like plants.  In fact they already had a couple bonsai trees.  )I didn’t know until yesterday that that is what they are called.)  

So as it turned out, I learned how to take care of these little trees rather than how to be a secret agent. I didn’t get to ride in a fancy car, but I did get to pick out a bonsai tree.  Mr. Guy and I decided to get a ponytail palm.  Mr. Guy said that The Captain had one in Delaware and that he had hoped we could bring it back to Texas, but that didn’t happen.  So, we got our own.  And as it turned out, my dirt shirt was the perfect thing to wear!

I never know what to expect with Mr. Guy and The Lady!  There’s always an adventure.

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Me With the TCC

I did it!  This was my weekend to perform with the Turtle Creek Chorale.  I was a little nervous…well, maybe I was a lot nervous, but all of the guys in the chorale were very nice to me and helped me with my stage fright.  They said something about imagining all of the people in the audience sitting out there in their underwear.  I think that was supposed to help make me less nervous, but that thought just scared me even more!

Mr. Stan was in charge of me.  He helped me with all of my lines and my music and he held me and kept me safe, like Mr. Guy usually does, even when we were on stage.  

Mr. Guy and The Lady came today to our last performance of the three.  I hoped that The Lady would take some pictures that I could put in my monster memory book, but they don’t allow picture taking boxes to be used in the concert hall.  That was kind of disappointing!  Something else that was disappointing is that Mr. Guy’s and The Lady’s seats were up high in the hall, way over my head.  (I couldn’t have seen them in their underwear if I had wanted to, but I’m pretty sure that I didn’t want to see that!)  They bought their tickets before they knew that I was going to be a part of the concert.  

After today’s concert, Mr. Stan took me to the lobby to find Mr. Guy and The Lady so that I could go home with them. The Lady showed us some pictures that she tried to take with her phone.  I’m not sure she should have done that; she might be detested arrested.  The pictures aren’t very good at all, but they will remind me of my first time on a stage, my first time learning the right things to say at the right time, my first time learning music, and my first time away from Mr. Guy and The Lady.  I sang For Now from the musical, Avenue Q.  I saw that musical a few years ago and I got to meet Nicky who was in that show.  Nicky is kind of like me!



After the concert, when I could finally relax and let my fur be shaggy, I remembered my 100 People Project.  Mr. Stan agreed to be in a picture with me.  He asked Mr. Sean, The Turtle Creek Chorale artistic director, to be in the picture with us so I got a two for one today!  

Mr. Sean does not sing.  He stands up in front of the chorale and waves his arms around.  I think his arms are magic wands because when he waves them, things happen.  All the singers make music together.  Or. the instruments start playing.  He can wave his magic arms and everyone will stop singing, or sometimes only some people stop singing.  He can make people sing louder or softer.  I wish I had magic arms like Mr. Sean’s.  I would wave my magic arms and make everyone happy.  I’d put a genuine smile on everyone’s face!  

Now that my weekend is over, the little blue and orange furry monster is going to get some rest!


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A Month of Me: Day 23: – I Could Be A Star!

I was having a nice relaxing day at home today.  I didn’t have to brush my fur because I wasn’t going anywhere, or hang up my laundry because it is all still dirty from our trip,  or read a dictionary because I didn’t want o learn anything new, or do anything with The Lady’s ticklish iPad because it is just frustrating.  I was just relaxing and thinking about maybe coloring, or eating monster crackers, or maybe even having a nap. And then The Lady got a text message.

A local singing group needs little monsters for an upcoming performance and they wanted me to come and audition.   Well, I said I wasn’t going to read the dictionary today, but I had to get it out because I didn’t know what the word audition meant.  Once I looked it up, I got very nervous.  I was going to go audition with the Turtle Creek Chorale.  They are are a very prestigious men’s singing group.  I’m just a little monster.  I don’t know if I can sing well enough to sing with them.  Mr. Guy and The Lady told me to just do my best.  The scariest part for this little monster was that Mr. Guy and The Lady couldn’t go with me to the audition.  I went with one of the singers who is already in the chorale.  I tried to be a brave little monster and do the best that I could when it was my turn to sing.  Mr. Stan, the singer who took me to the audition, helped me a lot with the words and the notes.


And guess what…I passed my audition and I get to perform with the Turtle Creek Chorale the first weekend in June!  My calm life just got very busy all of the sudden!  Starting next Tuesday, I have to go to rehearsals every night.  Then I will have three performances!  Now I am a very excited furry little blue and orange monster!

I could be a star!  I could become famous!

Or, I could perform three concerts and then come home and hang out as I always have with Mr. Guy and The Lady and wait for our next adventure together. 

If you want to see me and the Turtle Creek Chorale, you can buy tickets here.