Holiday in T-6 and Counting.....

I'm leaving for NYC/Egypt in six days!!

M and I have been discussing vague travel plans for two or three years and finally, with the help of Air France Holidays*, we're headed off to Egypt.

I have a long weekend in New York on the way out, which is never a hardship. And then--camels, 70 degree temperatures, a totally different cultural experience and a new continent for me!

So far:

• I got my visa, which is a full page in my otherwise unstamped passport. Obviously it's been too many years since I traveled out of the country.
• I have arranged for a cat sitter in residence. O met Gypsy last night and it was a smashing success. Gypsy might want to go home with her at the end of it...
  
• The Incredibly-Patient-Mother hemmed a pair of jeans so I can wear them with flats for hiking about pyramids and such. All of my other jeans are hemmed to two inch heels, so this was an important consideration.
  
• The Brunette has agreed to keep my winter coat and some heavier clothes at his house so I don't have to worry about hauling a down coat there and back.
  
• We've arranged for a tour guide/driver while we're there, working off recommendations of a professor in MN who is a native Egyptian and regularly takes student groups.
  
• Wound up five skeins of yarn and bought new 4" knitting needles to take with me. They're TINY, it looks like I'm knitting with colorful toothpicks.
  

Still to do:

• Pack some clothes.
• Load the mp3 player
• Get a larger memory SD card
• Figure out what to take to read. I'm thinking about my hard cover of Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Yes, it's heavy but I'll be able to lay it out flat on the tray table and knit while I'm reading. Also I'll pack some paperback romances that can be left behind.
  

It's unclear how much web time I'll have once we get there. I expect to mostly be off the grid for five or six days. My cell phone won't work and I'm not packing my laptop. So the pictures and trip updates will probably have to wait.

We're not sure if we'll get to go through full body scanners on the trip home. It's the one thing I'm concerned about as we're headed home because we won't have a long layover in Paris.


*The prices are amazing!

Photo Break Friday

Since you suffered through my nearly 1700 word diatribe, I figured you'd bear with me for a couple of completely non-library related images.

Over Christmas, Gypsy got to watch "Cat TV" at the Incredibly-Patient-Mother's house. There were a ton of birds hanging out in the backyard and three very healthy and acrobatic squirrels. I'm told this is the "skinny" one. Squirrel sandwich anyone?









On the way home she met AudioGirl's Dinah. They spent the night hissing at each other.











But Gypsy has settled in nicely since we got home (she was happy to be back here). She found which chair gets the most sunlight for her battery recharging naps.










She's located a wonderful supply of "celery" (that's what it sounds like she's eating).









She's figured out if she gets in between me and the monitor that I HAVE to pay attention to her. (Yes, my desk is a disaster)










And she continues to be stunningly beautiful.










I'm having "Cat Warming" tomorrow night so she can meet some of my LPL coworkers. And I've arranged for the RefQueen's daughter to cat sit for my next long trip.

Snowfall and Gypsy

Wisconsin has it in for me. I moved up here just over two years ago and we promptly had the worst winter the state had seen in twenty years. Last winter was one of the coldest ones--with an actual temperature one morning of -24F. I don't want to even fathom what the windchill was. All I know is that my valiant car refused to even try and start.

And, in case you've missed news for the past few days, we had a blizzard here on Tuesday night, promptly followed by bone chilling temperatures. I went from casual winter gear to the hard core duck fluff coat, chunky weight hat and mittens I got from a ski shop overnight.

Here's the view early Wednesday, following 11" of small ice crystals down and while it was still snowing.


The snow has been cleared from the roads, though yesterday morning's drive to work was quite exciting when I had the audacity to make a right turn. *insert grateful for the fact I got new tires a few weeks ago here* Friday's commute actually saw pavement and rumor has it we'll be up to nearly freezing this weekend!

In the midst of all of this cold, I brought home a new bundle of joy. I started considering adoption about five minutes after I moved up here and realized I'd be spending the winter having a conversation with a very healthy spider plant or two. The plants have thrived but they aren't much for talking back and they are really lousy at snuggling.


Meet Gypsy. She's between one and two years old. She's from the Coulee Region Humane Society. So far she likes to be draped over my shoulder, enjoys belly rubs, and is going to need a substantial clawing/climbing tower. She attempted to jump the height of a five shelf bookshelf last night. She didn't make it but that didn't slow her down. Who wants to come over and help me trim her claws?

We still have to go the vet and have all of the usual shots and things and spend a few days getting used to each other. She spent all of last night racing around the apartment, enjoying the fact that she wasn't in her kennel cage. Today she's in the bathroom as I realized I'm going to have to further cat proof the apartment. She doesn't seem especially interested in the yarn stash--yet.

I will make a strong attempt to not turn into a blogger whose only content is to post cute photos of my cat. If I limit myself to once a week, will I be forgiven?