Curtains of Colonia

Female Handler has this thing with woven threads. She has about 6 balls of yarn, all of various colors and textures, scattered about the apartment. I think it is her therapy. Better therapy would be listening to my purring...it could calm a giant in 5 seconds flat.

I hacked into her picture files....and sure enough, she has spent way too much time admiring the curtains of Colonia. I am sharing a few below. For those felines out there...we could definitely do some damage with our claws on some of these curtains.

 

Are we there yet?

So I do believe our time in the high rise is winding down. The Handlers all seem to be checking drawers and picking up their stuff. And they are buying more stuff. Nothing for me that I can see, but stuff to make their lives easier….sheets, towels, pots and pans…and a coffee maker. Female Handler commented that it was the same size as the one she gave away in the yard sale in April…that she bought 28 years ago. I don’t want to point out the obvious…but I will: Well then, why did you give it away then?

Regarding this potential move, the questions that eat at me are:

1. where are we going?

2. will it be a long trip?

….because I am DONE with long trips.

We’ve had some pretty wicked storms at night. Back at the old house, I used to go to the interior bathroom and wait out storms. It just felt safer. The interior bathroom in the apartment here in Colonia has a large vent to an interior chimney/chase. So hanging in the bathroom with the wind howling through there really doesn’t sound any safer than any other room in the apartment. So I end up staying on my warm indentation that I’ve created on the futon couch and cover my ears. But my eyes are peeled at the window, and this is what I see out in front of me over the bay…

Shazaaaam! If I were wearing britches, I surely would have soiled them! Instead....I did leave a little wet spot on the couch!

Sunday Market Special

(Acelga) Chard...3 bunches for 30 Pesos
(Remolacha) Beets...2 bunches for 30 Pesos
(equivalent to about US$1.66)

And many of these beets were the size of softballs!

What's happening to the Penguins?

Other animal news to be concerned about is that roughly 600 Magellanic penguins washed up on the shore of Uruguay this past week. In addition, there were a few dolphins and albatrosses. While it is not uncommon for some penguins to die during this time of year as they make their way up to Rio for some good feeding grounds, the quantity of deaths has the Biodiversity Conservation Society in Maldonado, Uruguay doing further analyses to determine the cause, as oil was ruled out.

Makes me glad I can count on food in the dish beside the refrigerator. While not the best, I don't have to put forth so much effort to get it refilled.

Un Gato Uruguayo

So much to share…where to begin?

Last weekend the Handlers, including mini-Male Handler, were going to go out to the famous monthly auction that takes place every first Saturday of the month. They had their eyes on some bikes and possibly some dishes that they previewed online. The car that they had acquired earlier in the week refused to start, so they scrapped that idea and instead spent the day exploring Colonia on foot. Much of that included sea glass hunting on the beach.

On Monday, a friend came into town and helped them jump start the car…and supposedly things were good again.

On Tuesday, the Handlers went to see a small little farm just outside of town with a house that dates back to the 1800s as an interim place to stay. The specific reason:  such that I can finally stretch my four legs out and get a little exercise chasing ñandús. 

The 78-year old owner, Teresita, is going back to Europe to visit family for three months, and has offered it to us. She professes to be a cat lover, but all her cats have passed on (…hmmm). The Handlers were smitten with her place…her vast collection of proud, old books; the high-speed Internet; and the playhouse-size doors (people were obviously smaller in the 1800s). Female Handler (F.H.) will be going back this Monday to finalize the arrangements to move the last day of June. I think it is just an excuse to have tea and pastries with a lady who has had a full life.

On Friday, the Handlers bought a 12+ acre almond farm that we will all occupy by late August. That time frame certainly seems like an eternity…but baby steps forward.

Today F.H. had to do laundry by hand because things were getting, shall we say, just a little ripe.  As I write this, the laundry is drying outside on the balcony and serving nicely to filter some of the fine volcanic ash that the eruption of a Chilean volcano has sent drifting this way.

Male Handler went out to purchase a new battery for the car because things were supposedly not good again as previously indicated. In the process of changing out the battery…noticed that the rear license plate was missing!  Must have been a recent swipe, because the outline from the volcanic dust was still very evident.

The family then headed off to the police station to file a report concerning the stolen plate (a Testimonio de Denuncia). The officer on duty said that it was a crazy day for that. That morning 11 plates were reported missing in that precinct alone! According to the police, it’s not that the thieves take them and put them on other cars. Rather, they sell them to European visitors who are in town for the National Futbol Team announcement!

Yes, the bigger news of this posting is that the entire Uruguay National Team is in Colonia today, including the revered coach himself, Tabárez (El Maestro). Number 10….where are you? I watched your every move during World Cup 2010.

Diego Forlán grew up right down the road. I suspect it was the primary reason the Handlers picked this province. The announcement of the National Team is this afternoon right here in Colonia, and an exhibition game against Argentina will be played in the town’s humble stadium. Celeste flags fly proud from street poles and bodies alike, along with many of the regional team flags.

And even the bee-buzzing clamor of the vuvuzela--that artifact of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa--reaches my ears on my 7^th-floor perch. “Impresionante” is all I can murmur. “Impresionante!”  Today I am definitely un gato uruguayo.