Tennis

I love tennis. We didn't grow up in a house that watched football or baseball, rarely even basketball even though we all played. We watched things like tennis, track & field and swimming. I think this may have been because my dad worked over seas where those sports were more popular and televised so we watched them when he was home as well.

I've been a fan of tennis since the days of Boris Becker, Ivan Lendle and Stephan Edberg. There were some heated debates in the house about who was better looking; as I have a tendency to be attracted to red heads, I favored Becker.

Every now and then, when we were in town, Dad would take us to the tennis courts. He'd be on one side, we would all be on the other and he'd still win. Granted none of us knew much about technique and such. When I moved out on my own, I would find a court with a backboard or wall and play by myself. But again, I've never known technique.

Liberty Park, a short two mile walk from home, has adult tennis classes. During the summer break I signed up for the adult beginner class. It was a short, fun six week class. Now that school is back in, I think I have to postpone taking the second class, but I have had so much fun the past six weeks and can't wait to take another class.

To end my summer tennis, I decided to watch a little Boris Becker vs Stephan Edberg on YouTube. They were amazing tennis players.

Google

I am usually okay with changes and updates to software and search engines, but Google, you have failed with the new way that you search. Hate it Hate it Hate it. May start using Bing instead.

In about six months I have to decide what I'm going to do with Pennywhistle and Maltie. If all goes according to my master plan, I will start a PhD programme next fall in the UK.

Do I take the cats with me? I hate the idea of putting them on a plane for that trip. Plus, to take pets into the UK you have to have a six month quarantine to prove they are rabies free. (I'd start that process in January. The vet test them for rabies, then puts a chip in them, and if the cats don't go outside for six months they can safely enter the UK.)

But the idea of giving them away also makes me really, really sad. Who is going to love them as much as I? Who is going to cater to their every strange quirk? (They have many.)

Here are two photo's that capture a snippet of their daily lives:

This is Pennywhistle fanning herself. She LOVES to sit in front of the fans!















I call this hydration station. They both love to drink water from the running tap. They both have different techniques. As you can see from this photo, Maltie likes to lap straight from the running stream. Pennywhistle sticks her paw in the stream and licks from that. Or licks from the base of the sink where the water is hitting.





















Strange creatures.