Get Out

You're not going to keep us down, COVID Winter, oh no. In the depth of the cold snap, high of about 18 degrees during the middle of the day, we hold work meetings with doctoral types out back by the fire. Bring it!

The dogs proceed to troll the winter by purposefully lying on the part of the patio not cleared of ice and snow. Bring it!

And when we've had enough of beating up on the sorry winter outside, we take a break inside. Yeah, that's right, our break time is inside. Inside the bowling alley that is. Levi bowls.

And bowls.

And bowls.

 

Bowls, bowls, back home ballers. Yeah, dad rolled a 575 triple his first time back in a year. High game of 205. What the pros shoot. On a good day. OK, actually that's a pretty bad for a a pro, but not unheard of. 

Eva eschews bowling for the aerial arts. Lyra in this case.

 

The other crazy person in the house prefers gymnastics, because that makes sense. I especially like the second picture, taken today. What's with today today?

 And you know what else? We just make more nachos. These are around 9pm, after a long day of yoga teacher training. Like Kindergarten cop - what for it!

 

Eventually the snow melted, and we had our first gathering outside in quite a while. Ol' Dan Sheehan talking about brands or some such thing. Cole seems interested.

 

Speaking of Cole, I think he might be some kind of god. Maybe even the earthly incarnation of THE god. The glow from the sun behind him makes that a possibility.

I became even more convinced when, despite repeated attempts to recreate the scene, I realized how lucky I was to see the diety-like flash that special, sacred day. 

The best part about Cole being overlord of the world is that he keeps his approachability. He doesn't like to appear elevated above the mortals. Like when he rests his head on a butt baby. He knows the humans eat that stuff up. Go ahead, take your picture.

 

Funny story. If you encounter a server looking to scam her employer, order a pint of beer and she'll bring you a pitcher. Oh my, since it was my mistake I'll just charge you for a pint. Tip much? No ma'am, you can charge me for the pitcher. Look at how beautiful it looks against the sunset backdrop. Who could ever deny it?

 

Where is Calli in all of this, you ask? And what of the beautiful stub tail these days? See for yourself. She is a big and bold as ever. In Spanish they would say mas Calli. As in mass. Of fur.

 

You better not post anything bad about me. 

Astute readers will sense a change going on. Things are happening outside. Eva was pleased.

 

Even the skies tell a tale of change. Three different at one time in the small corner of sky above our place.

And with outside activity comes grilling. Eva hinted that maybe she would like a filet the next time I grill steaks. OK then.

 I was struck by the memory of a different time when I had a filet and she was barely able to get a piece of rice down her throat.  Our last night together in Vietnam, 2010. This picture is pre-delivery of said filet. I think the one she was eating this night outside was as big as her head in the picture from 2010.

The filet was, in part, to load up on strength building protein ahead of the showcase performance the next day. The evening ended with some braiding action. Calli was feeling the gal vibes.

The big day arrived, and the showcase duet was beyond any word to describe it. Being the first time I was allowed to see it, I cried through the whole thing.

Of course, the actual video will be framed and lighted properly compared to the screen grabs from the video I took from outside the viewing window. But it still looks amazing. Here Eva basks in post-show glow, the first of many, many, many more to come. When I asked her rate how good she could become, 1 being me (and my iron-cross pose that i got in silks) and 100 being the best in the entire world, she simply answered "100."