A Rhino for the Rhino Blog

Fil and I started off the morning at The Fitzwater Cafe. They live downtown, so we can walk to anything in just a few minutes. This awesome restaurant is just down their street. Brian would have liked the food here.

Fil writes a blog called "Rhino Love" (the Rhino Bar was where she met her husband, Sam, in Missoula, Montana). She was able to use the "cancer bonus" at the zoo, and we got to go behind the scenes with a 5,000 pound rhino. The rhino's name was Tony. Felicia said that the rhino didn't like loud noises, so I was NOT allowed to use my kitty voice in his presence.

We got to brush Tony (this was like a massage for him). We also got to pet him, but we had to stay behind the bars. I'm not sure who would want to be in a cage with a 5,000 pound creature with a giant horn. His skin was very leathery. While we were inside, his shares his outside pen with the zebras.

The garbage cans are Tony's toys.

While the word is actually the abbreviation for building, the door looks like it says, "Blog Rhino." Awesome.

The giraffes were out for the first time this spring, and they were excited and galloping around.

I liked this sign: "Don't call me kitty," because I call everything "kitty."

Felicia and I got to attend the Philadelphia Orchestra's matinee. Sam is an amazing clarinet player (I played clarinet in the junior high orchestra--I was only better than Katherine--ask Bill Roehrs, and he'll confirm this). We had amazing comped tickets, and Sam stared us down and gave us his sign: he patted his head. I have never been to a professional orchestra concert before, and it blew me away (maybe literally). Fil and I forgot to wear our fur coats, so we stood out in the audience a bit.

After the concert, Fil and went to The Fat Ham for dinner. As we were walking there, Fil wanted to get call-ahead seating, so she asked Siri this: "The Fat Ham." Siri replied, "That's not nice." Since the restaurant didn't open until 5, we walked slow and wandered through a few stores. Fil wanted me to eat at The Fat Ham, because it reminded us of eating at Fatty's Pizza in Breckenridge (when we were kids). Felicia thought that Fatty's was an awful name, and she made a fuss about it. Then, when we returned to our condo, she sat down and "broke the bed." The food is similar to Tapas, but it has a Southern flair. We decided to walk the two miles (or so) back home via some stores on Walnut Street. For the record, I did not buy anything at Tiffany's. 

When we returned home, we watched the India episode of An Idiot Abroad with Sam and finished up our giant chocolate chip skillet cookie that Fil made Thursday night. 

In addition to a variety of culinary experiences this week, I also had a variety of good drinks--local hard apple cider, Lambic, margaritas, Moscow mules, wine, and Sam's prized Maker's 46 whiskey. Thank goodness there was some walking involved this week, so my pants still fit for the flight home.

Kat and Felicia were awesome hosts. However, despite being both highly educated people, Kat thought I should follow the rental truck in her car instead of leaving her car in the U-Haul lot, and Felicia told Ruby and I that Ben Franklin was president. 

My TripAdvisor reviews for Kat and Felicia will be positive.

Painting with Penguins and other Phun in Philly

Food and animals were major themes of my spring break. Luckily, we did a little walking to burn off a few of the excess calories.

The crocodile I brought Ruby was trying to eat our fancy desserts (post-dinner on Wednesday night). While it might not look like much, this dessert (from the restaurant, Barbuzzo)--the salted caramel budino is immortalized in Philly.

Felicia makes "special juice" every morning. It is loaded with all kinds of fruits and veggies. 

Fil and I went for a nice, long walk on the new trail along the Schuykill River.

We ate lunch at Dizengoff (after a pre-lunch donut at Federal Donuts), which features hummus. Both Kat and Fil took me to fun, non-Brian friendly restaurants. I take that back, he would like the donut shop. 

Felicia organized two surprises for me during my stay. Felicia sent the latest Journal Star about me to New Jersey's Camden Aquarium and the Philadelphia Zoo. The "cancer bonus" got us to go hang out with the penguins. I am glad Ruby got to have this experience with us. Felicia is worried that Ruby will think these things happen to normal people. 

This is the view of downtown Philly from New Jersey.

We each got to have Kassi (the penguin) paint us a picture.

One of the penguins wanted to chew on Ruby's zipper.

This is my penguin painting.

We were "petting" stingrays.

After our aquarium experience, we stopped at the local farmers' market and bought veggies and fresh tortillas for our taco feast. I thought Felicia had put down her bag of tortillas, so I picked it up and started walking around. It turns out that I took some woman's sack, and she had to ask for it back. Yep, I was stealing veggies at the market. 

Fil's husband, Sam, plays clarinet for the Philadelphia Orchestra, so, when he left for his concert, Fil and I watched The Judge. When Sam returned, I introduced them to An Idiot Abroad on NetFlix--if you haven't watched this series, you are missing out. 

The Complex Web of Friendship

It is 5:20 in Philly, and I am up long before my new housemates. While I am still sleepy, it seems imperative that I use this time for writing and reflection.

I have friends displaced all throughout the country, and while Kat, Felicia, and I are not great at keeping tabs on each others' lives on a consistent basis, we are able to pick back up where we left off, still deeply tangled from past experiences and adventures and caught securely in each other's own current life webs.

Yesterday, I had to leave Winston-Salem and Katherine. We spent our time together simultaneously creating new and remembering old stories. While our long conversations were moved from The Mill to The Porch, from Pioneers Park to Salem Lake, it didn't matter where we were, and it is obvious our friendship's foundation is grounded in a mixture of sweat, humor, tears, toilet paper, Fred Garvin locker signs, feral Italian kitties, Saturday Night Live skits, long runs, old school notes and text messages, competition, orchestra music, gold medals, rose Turkish delight, goats, Turkish men and parachutes, granitas, and garlic bread and spaghetti noodles: this is our recipe for a lifetime of friendship.

***

An hour plane ride to Philadelphia, and I am now hooked in the web Felicia and I have created. Immediately, from the airport, we are munching on Geno's Cheesesteaks (Pat's is her favorite, but she wanted me to make my own decision--Brian and I had Pat's last time we were in Philly).

We picked up Ruby from pre-school, grabbed coffee drinks, and headed to the playground. We watched the 4-year-old be a kid, as we regressed back to our own interwoven childhoods. Thirty years ago, we were seven, bonding over 400 meter repeats, which carried us through the stories of junior high and high school.

Previously, I had mailed Felicia a crocodile stuffed animal, so I could give it to Ruby. I brought my old croc for moral support, so Ruby and I played crocodiles, and then we took them to our separate dinner reservations: Ruby went with her dad to get pizza, and Fil and I went to Chou to get Asian noodles (with a detour to pick up Philly's best dessert).

We wandered through the streets of Philly and returned home happy and full of good food and stories. 

I am happy to have more time here to make more memories. Today we will spin new lines on our web.

Relaxing in Winston-Salem

For the record, Kat is still fiddling with her dryer hook up...some plug issues that I'm not about to help her with. The noise from the garage reminded me of the father tinkering in the basement in A Christmas Story.

This morning Kat fixed smoothies and coffee (the weather has multiple personalities right now). It's warm, but it looks gloomy outside.

We wandered around Old Salem and then ate at the Tavern, an old fashioned restaurant, where we both had grown up grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. At the "old timey" bakery, we bought some apple strudel for tomorrow's breakfast. Kat became BFFs with the old guy manning the even older stove (he was baking bread).

Now we are at Kat's coffee shop. She's working on a grant proposal, and I'm playing with technology. 

My new camera takes terrific photos, and it has a WIFI feature, so I can send the pictures to my phone.

It's a lovely laid back day, and I don't feel like I have to do anything productive.

Trip Advisor Katherine's House

I've decided, like the Trip Advisor commercials, to Google "Trip Advisor Kat's House instead of Kat's House." I like the shower pressure and the shower amenities. Kat also promptly fixed my loose toilet seat immediately upon request.

This morning, Kat and I slept in, had some coffee, and then rented a U-Haul to pick up a washer and dryer from a consignment shop. Apparently, Kat remembers me as a strong, muscular person. Indeed, I am not. Kat has a doctorate, but her logic failed her, as she thought, after renting the truck, that I would traipse after her in the car, where it was obvious to me that we would need the car once we returned the truck. Yeah, so we left her car in the parking lot.

We got the full-sized truck and drove to the shop, where, much to my happiness, the big burly men loaded the appliances into the truck for us. When we got home, I insisted that we needed Jonathan's help. Kat was definitely over confident in me. Yesterday, hoisting my 25 pound suitcase onto the conveyor belt took enough strength. I am one of those "movers" that is there but not actually lifting anything.

Somehow, we unloaded the appliances and drove the truck back to U-Haul, forgetting to add gas, so we had to backtrack. A couple of near miss accidents, which would not have been our fault, and we were back at the house to eat our leftover pizza.

Kat and I went to Wake Forest to see the campus. It is really beautiful and completely empty of all life, thanks to spring break. I met a few of her colleagues who were holing up in their offices. After checking out a little more of the city, we stopped at Home Depot to get a level, a dryer connector thingy, and a can of compressed air.

Our dinner plans have been changed, because, like many other places in town, Mondays are hard for some people, so they refuse to open. No tacos for us...yet. As you can see, Kat is the only person at Wake Forest today.

After a short catnap, we went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant downtown, Quanto Basta. The best part was the molten lava cake with Nutella lava. 

Kat is trying to hook up the dryer, and I'm going to stay out of that disaster.

Day 2: Winston-Salem

,After a two hour time change, thanks to Daylight Savings and Eastern Time, I popped out of bed bright and early to coffee and PB on sourdough. Kat was a guest pastor at a church in High Point, so Jonathan and I went with her, spending time reading while she got acclimated. High Point's downtown is absolutely full of designer show rooms, but a normal person can't buy any furniture there--it is for buyers. 

For brunch, we ate in Winston at Mary's Gourmet Diner. Kat and I both had the special, the lavender brioche French toast. It was a beautiful sunny 70 degree day, and the sky was, as my mom would describe, a Vail blue. 

Kat and I took Karl Bark, the dog, to Salem Lake for a seven mile walk. There were several people out enjoying the perfect day. Kat and I were jealous of the people running effortlessly up and down the rolling hills. Kat was happy for the multiple trash cans, so she could stop belittling herself by carrying around dog feces. I didn't see anyone picking up their horse poop.

Despite having one in the West Haymarket, I haven't eaten at Mellow Mushroom. I think this is because I don't like mushrooms. The pizza was awesome, especially the Thai Dye with the sweet chili sauce. I've also avoided playing Bananagrams because I'm not fond of bananas. It's a word nerd game, so Kat, Jonathan, and I were very competitive. We were also drinking Lambic, which sounds like a language, but it's a fruity drink from Belgium. 

Tomorrow our future is undecided, but we will probably be renting a truck to go pick up Kat's new washer and dryer from a consignment shop. Since Kat's furniture in college always came from the side of the curb, I'd say that's an upgrade. I can't hang out with Kat without getting one jab in. But I hope I still have a place to sleep.

I think my hands and head even got a little sunburn today. I didn't pack sunscreen.

After an Ambien and the Lambic, I'll probably act ridiculous like Chelsea Handler in my book. Or maybe I'll just crash.

Spring Break Adventures Day 1

Saturday, March 7:

I made it to spring break without latching onto any germs. Brian drove me to Omaha, and then he dropped me off at the front door. Somehow, he forgot to put his truck in park, and we were both out of the vehicle when it started rolling forward. Brian took the "No Parking" sign literally. Once it was safely parked, before driving itself through a barricade, I joked around with the security guy.

After having chemo on Friday, I had to get my white blood cell boosting drug, Neulasta, in its new form: a sticky patch system. The drug is delivered 27 hours after chemo, and until then, a green blinks light constantly goes off. I had to get a doctor's note, so the TSA didn't freak about the blinky box strapped to my arm. I also had to get a good old-fashioned pat down, and some guy commented that I got a full body massage for free. The TSA lady liked my Prana pants, and she wrote down the name of them, so she could get some.

It is impossible to escape the Omaha airport without seeing someone, and I ran into Niki's sister and her family heading off to Cancun. I bought my usual breakfast (American terminal side): a Rice Krispie bar and a bottle of Mountain Dew. I had Priority Access (maybe because I used frequent flier miles--I paid $16 in taxes for my multiple leg flight), so I was able to board early. For your information, a side effect of chemo for me are gaseous issues, so I was silently thinking of the SNL skit where the flight attendants are boarding everyone by strange categories: clappers when the plane lands, people who fart...yeah.

Miraculously, I had ample leg room, and I said next to a maybe 12-year-old boy (who had serious ADD issues (every five minutes, he pulled out a different device or book). I managed to read most of a graphic novel, Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. 

I had a long layover in Dallas, so I ate at TGIF, where I had an Elvis like waiter. He saw my crocodile necklace and told me when I left, "Keep rocking the croc." 

I finished my graphic novel and bought a NY Times Bestseller, Chelsea Handler's travel memoir, which is not something I would normally gravitate to, as she exhibits some of the worst ugly American behaviors in various places all over the world, including while on safari in South Africa. Regardless, it was funny to read, and I charged through 146 pages on my second flight. 

The plane to Greensboro-Wintsin Salem-High Point was a very small commercial flight. With Priority Access, I managed to stash my backpack in an overhead compartment, but the walk to the retsroom felt like a walk of shame. I had to gallop sideways down the aisle, while simultaneously ducking my head and ricocheting like a pin ball all the way to the back.

Kat and her husband Jonathan picked me up at their tiny airport covered in plastic scaffolding, and we headed to a burger joint in Greensboro: Hop's Burger Bar. Kat just moved to a cute little house. There are white doors everywhere, and I keep losing my room. 

Sunday, March 8:

Two hours of Spring Forward for me...

Kat is preaching this morning, filling in for a woman who's husband committed suicide a few weeks ago. I'm not a church persons, but I like hearing Kat preach.

More adventures await...