Insights from The Magic Tutu

Welcome to my blog

 I like to write about things I love -- my family, my theatre, my ballerinas, my animals and community.  I also write about things that drive me crazy!  Hope you enjoy my news and insights.  Here are a few events scheduled for our theatre this fall. xoxo Amy

*Chautauqua -- September 19
*Torme' Sings Torme' -- Nov. 20-21   Tickets available August 15.
*The Nutcracker -- Dec. 11-12-13  Tickets available September 26.

Please do not harvest photos from my blog.  Thank you!  Amy

Thank you cards -- and endangered species?

My girlfriend sent this funny Thank You card to me for helping her out with a project she's working on.  She's my friend, so to me, it was my pleasure to spend time with her.  Today her card came and I cracked up because it's a musical card that plays "We Are Fa-mi-ly" (remember that?)  My point is that she knew I'd love that card.  She knew I'd crack up and she just plain old wanted to thank me for my help even tho she'd already thanked me to my face.  Compare this to people who never take the time to buy a card and a 42 cent stamp and make a trip to the Post Office to mail it.  I guess they're just too busy to do something as trivial as send a Thank You card. 

I love to send cards.  Birthday cards.  Thank you cards.  Cards just for fun.  And I think it's another one of the old-fashioned customs that is vanishing -- just like letter writing.  It's so easy to type an e-thank you and click send.  It takes no effort.  But the person who did the helping used effort (that would be the help-er, right?)  The person who did the helping either helped with their muscle, time or money (or all three).  So why not make the effort to buy a fabulous card and make the effort to send it?  

Oh well, I guess in our gimme gimme gimme society manners have become a nuisance.  I still believe it is proper manners to send a proper thank you card with an actual handwritten signature (what a concept!)   It's nice to be nice.  Maybe some people live in a world that's hurdling out of control and the Thank You note concept doesn't stand a chance.  That's why I'm so grateful to live in small town America and to be surrounded by friends who still bake bread, sew and send Thank You cards.  I can't imagine being so stressed and frazzled that the thought of sitting down for 5 minutes to write "Thank You!" to someone is out of the question.  Pretty sad, isn't it...

This is why we all must vote for Mr. Bubbles for President next time -- because his platform mandates that every American sit in silence for 15 minutes every day to calm their wild mind and pray.  After all, if a person doesn't have time to send a Thank You card, they certainly don't have time to take a walk and smell their neighbors roses, and that means they certainly don't have time to pray.

Freedom

Today some people will get as drunk as possible.  To them, that's what the Fourth of July represents -- a day to party down and get bombed.  Hmmm...   Thousands upon thousands of our young American men went to war and were blown apart to fight for the Freedoms we, as Americans, enjoy today.  Punks can sag their jeans so their underwear show.  People who hate America can openly say so in America (go live somewhere else!).  People "expect" handouts from the government.  The abuse of our Freedoms is endless.  (One of my dancers made the Heart-Flag pin for me.  I wore it pinned to my blouse today.)

 I wonder if any of the people who enjoy their Freedom to get really drunk tonight (woooohoooo!) will give even one second of thought to all the men who died for them.  And all the mothers over the last 200 years who cried themselves to sleep when they found out their son was killed fighting for Freedom.

I do not like war, but I do Honor those young men.  Today I went to the July 4th parade that we have every year in town.  It goes right down Main Street.  Some of the floats were great, others were semi-great.  But we did have a parade and we did honor our Veterans and we did sing "You're A Grand Old Flag".

My little vent here today is heartfelt.  I don't like the direction America is going.  I don't like to hear people badmouth America.  I can barely listen to the president's speeches on TV.  But in the midst of all that's wrong, there is something Right -- and that is God and His never ending surprises, gifts and Love -- even in the wake of global insanity.  God is fine.  It's the humans that are naughty.  (Our feelings are clear by the message we put on our theatre marquees every Fouth of July.)

God bless you.  God bless this country.  I am grateful to live in America and am sending a "Thank You!" across time to all those young men who died to give me the Right to fly the American flag in my front yard today.

"You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." -President John Adams

One of the funniest videos ever!

This made me laugh so hard.  The father is just as funny as the little girl.  Watch it twice so you can observe both of them.  Have a good laugh and have a superb July 4th too!  God Bless our troops and God Bless America.    Click here for the funny video.  xoxo Amy

Have you heard of the 3/50 Project?

 My friend, Glena, who operates our local version of The Country Register newspaper, told me about the 3/50 Project.  It's just the medicine every local economy needs to help keep money right here -- in our local economy -- rather than seeing it go away.  Click this link for a short overview of  The 3/50 Project 

For years, our Chamber of Commerce has asked folks in town to "Support Your Local Merchant" -- and now this movement has started to help folks across America to do just that.  We live just 25 minutes from Las Vegas where every possible item ever created is available.  But since I'm a "local merchant" myself, I've always tried to do all of my shopping right here in Boulder City where my dollars will recirculate right here in town.  If I spend money in Las Vegas, Las Vegas benefits.  If I spend money on line, who knows who benefits!

I thought Friendly flew the coop!

I have 3 topics on my mind today. (1) I searched everywhere for Friendly yesterday (she's my dove with a broken wing).  I put her in the backyard to visit with her friends, went inside to wash the breakfast dishes, came out 20 minutes later, no Friendly.  I looked in the pool, in my neighbors yard, under every bush, looked in the trees (thinking she may have flown the coop).  I prayed she'd flown away but deep inside thought she was breakfast for a roaming feral cat.  Gloom took me over and I saw how attached I've become to the little dove.  Then Desi went into the front yard and saw her playing with one of her dove friends under the pine tree!  The gloom vanished instantly.  Interesting to see how a little hurt dove has taken over my life.

Topic (2)  Haley brought her kittens over to my house for a coffee party this morning.  They're 5.5 weeks old.  You may be tired of reading about doves and kittens on my blog lately but that's my life right now :)   Their personalities are developing as fast as their chubby tummies.  After the exhaustive effort to climb way up the kitty condo, they were tired.   Look at those tired faces.  Haley put them in a basket to carry them home.  Yum.

Topic (3)  Interesting to watch economics in action.  Example: I buy a lot of cat food but lately have been buying less and stretching each can to feed 3 cats instead of 2 cats.  Everyone is probably doing that which has meant less cat food sales which means cat food prices are going up.  Today I'm going to PetsMart

to buy cat food and will probably faint at the new, higher prices.  Logically, it seems that if people are buying less the cost should go down so they'll buy more.  But it's not working that way.  Just a mini-example of what's happening across America.  I should have listened more in Economics 101 and I probably wouldn't be so shocked. 

A nice Father's Day

We didn't make it out to Father's Day breakfast as planned.  Instead we played with the kittens and babysat Friendly.  Somehow Friendly (the dove with a broken wing) made her way thru the gate that encloses our pool again and jumped in the pool again when I tried to pick her up.  This makes the 4th time she's jumped in the pool!  She had to go into her cage again after that.   I snapped the photo of the kittens out on Haley's lawn.  This was the first time the kittens have been outside.  Double click on their photo to enlarge it so you can see how cute they are.  Chubby tummies.  

Haley gave Desi 2 bars of soap from an organic company called Lush.  I took this photo of them looking at the Lush newspaper that lists all of their products.  Right before I snapped the photo they asked, "Is this for your blog?"  Since I starting blogging no one is safe!  Ha!

Look how strange the soaps are.  The greenish soap is olive oil soap and actually has olive chunks in it.  The blue soap is a sea salt, peppermint soap that smells fabulous.

Desi's Father's Day was complete with phone calls from Julia & Desiree (his daughter & granddaughter in Connecticut), a phone call from Sean (his Godson), and a call from our "adopted son" Justin.  Thanks to all for making it a nice day for Desi.

Friendly -- the swimming dove

Well, Friendly jumped back into the pool yesterday.  I went into my backyard to check on her and she was swimming.  This is the 3rd time she's jumped into the pool.  Haley thinks she's suicidal because of her broken wing and the reality she'll never fly again.  I scooped her out of the pool with the net and put her in a larger cat cage I had in the garage.   Didn't have to drive all the way to Pets Mart yesterday because I remembered this perfect cage I already had on hand.

We're on our way to Father's Day breakfast and while we're gone Friendly and her new cage are in the backyard  under a big, shady tree.  I can't leave her wandering the yard anymore if I'm not home.  Also, ChiChi (Desi's favorite feral) is on the prowl and he would love to pounce on Friendly.  So the cage it is till later today when all the ferals are sleeping.  Friendly's bird friends are flying around near her new cage and eating birdseed.  She wants to get out and socialize.  Just what I need -- a dove with a broken wing.  I shouldn't complain.  I could have a son in Iraq.

Friendly -- the travelin' dove

I realize Tehran is about to explode.  100 families will be foreclosed upon today.  Water has been shut off to fertile California farmlands in order to save the 2" endangered minnow.  And right here, in my backyard, Friendly still has a broken wing.  That, however, has not stopped her from leaving the relative safety of my backyard and walking over to our neighbors yard.

Yesterday, Desi and I went out to our local Coffee Cup diner for breakfast.  I left Friendly in my yard with her other bird friends and told her to stay put.  I came back 2 hours later and couldn't find her.  I thought the feral cats hauled her away.  I wondered if she could have maneuvered her way thru the gate?  She did.  And there she was under a bush next door.  I brought her home and put her in the kitty cage where she had to stay the rest of the day and night.  I let her out into my backyard about a half hour ago so she could eat birdseed and visit with her bird friends.  Today I'm going to Pet's Mart to buy her a BIG cage so when I have her confined at night she doesn't feel so claustrophobic.  My life has come down to babysitting Friendly.  While I'm typing this I'm also watching Fox News about the protesters and police clashing in Iran.  What a blessing it is to live in America.

Friendly Dove

The dove saga continues.  Remember I fished Friendly (that's her name) out of my pool after she escaped the feral cat attack that broke her wing?  She dried off in a kitty carrier case over night and the next day I placed her in my yard to see if there was any hope of her flying.  No.  She ate birdseed with her friends and walked around the yard and fell right back in the pool!

I fished her out again.  Back into the kitty case. She dried off again and now the routine is this:  she wanders my backyard during the day for a few hours (I babysit her thru my kitchen window) then she spends the night in the kitty case to be safe from roaming ferals at night.  I know now that Friendly is a "she" because a boy dove has been courting her by bobbing and cooing.  She doesn't like him.  She has a broken wing and doesn't feel good.  Early evening she lets me pick her up and she goes right into her safe kitty case to spend the night.  

I'm so glad I still have grass in my shady backyard in spite of pressure to go "desert landscape".  Yuck.  My feeling is that with all the obscene water waste over the hill in Las Vegas, what does it matter if I have a lawn?  My water usage is invisible compared to the waste in Las Vegas.  So I'm keeping my lawn and I'm watering it every day this summer even tho our city sent out a notice that we could only water twice a week.  That's how they're trying to force people to remove their lawn and go "desert".  OK.  I'll water twice a week when Las Vegas -- the water guzzling capital of the world -- starts to cut back and stops sucking so much water out of poor Lake Mead.  And besides, Friendly likes to relax on the grass in the shade.  Ha!

Harvesting photos

I always thought it was odd that so many blogs have a "don't steal my photos" caption on the sidebar.  Well, now I know why.  Someone harvested photos from my photo albums and used them somewhere else.  Those are my photos, from my album, taken with my camera and published on my blog by me.  Doesn't that mean they're mine?  Remember when we were little and mom said, "Look but don't touch."  Well, that applies to life, not just candy.

I usually read comments that folks post here and keep them off the blog so there is no chance of their e-mail address being harvested.  I know about scoundrels who harvest names from blogs.  So if you are someone who has ever commented here please be assured I read your comment.  

Now I'm going into the backyard to check on the dove with the broken wing that one of the feral cats caught last night.  The dove escaped and somehow fell into my pool where he spent the night huddled at the water intake.  I fished him out and put him in a kitty carrier to recoup and dry off.  But he can't fly.  His left wing is down and now he's walking around the yard as a prime target for the next roving feral.  I guess I'll go pick him up and put him back in the kitty case and pray for his wing to heal.  

Update 6/20/09 --  The person who harvested my photos e-mailed me to apologize.  I accepted the apology and there are no hard feelings.