2009 4-Miler

I worked the Charlottesville Women’s 4-Miler yesterday, as I have pretty much every year for a long time. The setting at Foxfield is beautiful and the weather was very nice this year. The crowd was very large (I’d like to obtain a well-documented estimate of the number of spectators) and wonderfully enthusiastic. The decorations, including the banners with the names of loved ones lost to cancer, attached to the fences along the last mile or so of the course, were familiar, but they still get to me.

Hug a Zephyr

Our cat Zephyr, whom I sometimes called “Zepha-lump” because she was rarely very active and she would lie in my arms as if she was a pacifist protester, turned into a complete lump today. We had her euthanized.

With Zeph, we had lots of good times. Sometimes she would run in her sleep, like dogs do. She survived a battle with what was probably a rabid raccoon. Mostly, she just hung about on the porch. For a long time, we thought her brother was the one who defecated on the side porch. After the brother died, though, the defecation continued. I think the fecal matter was Zeph’s, but there is some disagreement between us about that conclusion.

I find it hard to euthenize a pet. The balance between the decline in their quality of life and the desire to have them in one’s arms, to sustain their lives, to protect them, and on and on—it’s a difficult balance.

I’m not doubting the decision with Zeph, though. The Lump’s quality of life was pretty poor (she was incontinent, getting little nourishment from food, physically unable to get around, and not getting much oxygen by her breathing), and it was not going to get better. So we thought it was right to help her die quickly and painlessly. But we doubt our judgements, so we asked for advice.

Our 30-year-trusted veterinarian were careful about this, as they have been in the past. They checked her carefully (vitals, organs, etc.) before we answered our question, “Do you agree?” They did.

They were calm, professional, and considerate. After the team put in a catheter, they let me hold Zeph on my lap while they injected the barbiturate and pentobarbital (I think). She was gone quickly, in my subjective judgment. They checked her vitals again (no heart beat, no respiration) and then made sure the dose was stong enough that she wouldn’t suffer. They petted Zeph, spent time with her even after she was dead, and consoled us.

Zeph was another one of our many cats who was wondefully loyal to us. I’m happy to have shared 21+ years with Zeph. I’m glad to prevent additional suffering for her. I don’t want to make any more of this—no political statements…I’m too spent—than simply to celebrate that Zeph’s time, Pat’s and my time, and these kind vets’ time all happened at the same time.

HB, J. Child

It’s Julia Child’s birthday again. Had she lived, she’d be turning 98 today. Ms. Child’s mother, Julia Carolyn McWilliams, who lived with John McWilliam in Pasadena (CA, US), named her daughter after herself. The younger Julia later married Paul Child in 1946 and took his last name. When Mr. Child was assigned to a United States Foreign Service post in Paris (FR), they moved there and Ms. Child learned about French cooking.

It was Ms. Child’s “The French Chef” that made me think cooking could be not only rewarding but fun and intellectually engaging, too. Pat and I would watch it on our old B&W TV and then cook things we’d seen her make. Our menus were not grand (chili beans with souffle and salad!), but I got the general ideas of the recipes and the nerve to try them.

Our friends Alan and Diane shared our interest in fine food and gave us Mastering the Art of French Cooking (both volumes). Another friend, Jim, edited the title, replacing “cooking” with “kissing.” We still use them.

It’s wonderful to see that sales of Ms. Child’s cookbooks have increased recently. Those increased sales are the result of renewed interest because of the movie, Julie & Julia. I’ve not yet read Julie Powell’s book Julie & Julia, based on her blog, Julie/Julia Project. A few days before I drafted this post, we saw a trailer for the movie based on the book. And then we saw the film the day it opened (7 August).

Hits happened

On Bob Edward’s Weekend, Mr. Edwards interviews Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote and produced many of the songs of my childhood. I know the show is broadcast at many different times around the country (I heard it several times last weekend when driving back and forth across ~30% of the US), whenever it’s aired it’s worth hearing.

Link to the entry from Mr. Edwards’ Web site, where one can also snag copies of the broadcasts, too.

What I did on summer vacation

As Peter H. and Mary C., my friends in high school, would know, I like playing electro-magnetic pinball machines. John C. (Mary’s elder brother), Mary, Peter, and I played regularly on a Hi-Diver machine in the entryway to the C. house. We even talked about forming a team, having shirts embroidered with our nicknames, and touring amusement parks. What a scam!

The C. house was a friendly home. Mary and John’s father was a professor of some sort somewhere. As a prof, I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t recall his discipline or his name. Their mother was ill with a disease that I also don’t recall, but the C. place was pleasant and we had lots of adolescent fun there. In addition to playing endless hours of pinball together, John and Mary sometimes had other events, too. For example, during the period it was on TV, they held “Bat Parties,” which were brief gatherings of 6-12 friends who ate popcorn and hooted about the camp-ness of “Batman,” a 1960s American television series. Other times, Peter, Mary, and I would talk in earnest-adolescent ways about what we were reading, politics, the war, civil rights, current music, and such.