On Saturday, Mark and I took Lester to his vet to board. Although Lester can’t necessarily directly tell me how he’s feeling, he does seem to actively enjoy boarding. I took the video above just after I’d put him in his car/travel cage, and you can see how chatty and happy and at ease he is. Typically (as he did yesterday) he sings for the entire half-hour car ride down to the vet/boarding place.
I genuinely think Lester doesn’t mind being boarded. He recognizes the entire staff, and he knows both the Amazon and African Grey parrots who live there–the African Grey greets him by name. He gets to come out of his cage every day, and has lots of interaction with other birds and people.
When we arrived on Saturday, the staff had prepared an absolutely huge cage for him to board in, which I arranged with all of his toys and perches. In the waiting room were two women with a huge, white rabbit. The first time I tried to get Lester to step on to the scale to be weighed, he spooked and flew into the box with the rabbit–who was totally unphased. The second time around he did a very admirable job of stepping up onto the scale.
There was also an older woman in the waiting room with her 17 year old dove–doves in captivity typically only live to be 10 or 11. The dove sat calmly in a little basket with a mirror and various stuffed animals. As I put together Lester’s cage, the woman had all sorts of advice for me about how to arrange things.
The only other time we boarded Lester for more than four weeks was when I went to Oman to visit my family. It’s helpful to remember that he was perfectly fine and well taken care of then!
Mark and I are all packed. We have to get up at 4 am tomorrow to catch our flight. It’s early, but not as early as I’ve had to get up for flights. In less than two days, we’re going to be in Belgium with friends having a beer!
We’ll have a Saturday Lester feature tomorrow, instead of the usual Friday Lester. All will be explained tomorrow. For now, my packing list, because writing it down helps me organize:
Yoga / Hoop Stuff
Twin collapsible hoops
sticky yoga things (what is the brand name? I can’t remember), for hands and feet. No space for a mat, but I still like to practice when I travel.
Technology Stuff
Camera, with two rechargeable batteries and battery charger and two cards with lots and lots of memory. And the cable thing to connect it to a computer.
Ipod full of everything from Mississippi John Hurt to Art Tatum to Pee Wee Russel to Siouxsie and the Banshees to Bjork to Dusty Springfield…
Portable Ipod speakers. I don’t normally carry these, but since we’ll eventually be in the same place for a few weeks, they seem worth it.
Ipod shuffle full of hooping music; earphones and extra earphones.
Lots of adapters: 1 for Mark’s computer, one for the camera battery charger, one for the portable speakers.
My phone, which came with it’s own adapter
Books
Mark and I are sharing books. We’ll have quite a bit of time for reading once we’re in Portugal.
Rough Guide to Portugal
Last year’s pocket Rough Guide to Brussels, Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp (though we’ll only be in Brussels & Ghent).
Larousse Portuguese dictionary & grammar book
The final (or near-final) draft of Mark’s novel.
The Book of Disquietude, Fernando Pessoa (trans. Richard Zenith)
The Lusiads, Luis Vaz de Camoes (trans. Landeg White)
Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Company, James R. Mellow
To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History, Edmund Wilson
A Sentimental Education, Gustave Flaubert (trans. Douglas Parmee)
Lotions & Potions
I try not to travel with too many facial, hair and cosmetic products–I’ll buy most of what I need in either Belgium or Portugal, and will inevitably buy some kind of Body Shop hand lotion at an airport–but some things are essential and go with me everywhere:
Jack Black lip balm SPF 30
Aveda lipstick with SPF 25 in Sheer Roseleaf
My loose powder travel compact. I think I probably have some kind of Neutrogena powder in there now.
Tarte Smooth Operator SPF 20 (nice medium light coverage)
Shikai eye cream.
Avalon Organics Vitamin C face cream
Neutrogena Age Shield Face sunblock lotion SPF 110
Eyeliner. The kind I’m using now is Clinique khol someone or other
Fekkai glossing cream (good for hair in dry weather)
Toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, etc.
Asthma inhalers, allergy pills, chewable pepto bismol (always in my bag, regardless of whether or not I’m traveling), Tylenol, ear plugs.
Shoes
Running shoes. They’re almost falling apart, so this will be their last trip. I expect to run, walk, and hike in these.
Chaco sandals. I’ll probably wear these on some hikes to give my feet a break from sneakers.
Semi-dressy still comfortable for walking flats. I’ll wear these for readings, dinner, etc.
Clothing
leggings x 2 (good for layering on the plane, in Belgium where it will be cool, and in Portugal at night.
2 dresses, 1 long, 1 short, 1 dressy but not too dressy. 1 of the dresses is actually a two-layered wrap skirt thing made of recycled sari material that can be worn as a dress.
2 pairs of shorts, 1 kind of dressy, 1 for running/hiking
3 short-sleeved shirts (to wear with shorts and layer over dresses & leggings.
1 pair pants. Not jeans. I’m going to bring the crazy orange ones I bought in Gent last year. They are light weight and versatile.
bikini
1 niceish sweater thing, probably a black v-neck cardigan.
gray hoodie–it’s actually some designer yogi lounge-wear thing I bartered design work for
two scarves. I haven’t decided on the colors. I have a nice rusty orange-red one that is good, and a nice gold-brown one. But I might bring the black and gold one…
1 pair nice yoga pants, with a design and other ornamentation, for yoga, but also to use as an extra pair of pants.
Along the same lines–one nice yoga top that could double as an actual tank top.
My standard skirt and tank top combo for hooping
something to sleep in that’s appropriate for schleping around friends homes.
Various sundries
Random Stuff
Sarong (for sitting on during picnics)
Water bottle
Notebook + pens and a drafting pencil
Purse. I have one I got at a Prana sale last year that looks kind of dressy but easily crumples up into a small ball if necessary.
This sounds like a lot, and I suspect I’ll end up bringing less than I’ve written here, but this list is based on my standard template travel packing list (yeah, I have such a file on my computer. Some stuff on the list–like a spare sink plug–isn’t relevant for this trip). And it all fits in my backpack, with room to spare.
Yet another variation of Lester looking down from Mark’s shoulder. You can see that he’s feeling especially plump and confident in this photograph.
In other Lester-related news, our friend Dan is visiting from Washington, DC. Lester has known Dan since I first brought Lester home. Lester has many versions of the Salt Peanuts whistle–one like . . . → Read More: Friday Lester
We hope you can join us for an Agitprop reading at the San Diego Museum of Art on THURSDAY, AUGUST 19 at 6:15 PM, with Rae Armantrout.
In conjunction with Agitprop Gallery, the Agitprop Reading Series is collaborating with the San Diego Museum of Art to present Thursday Summer . . . → Read More: SDMA Summer Salon Series: Rae Armantrout 8/19, 6:15PM
Should “That” be capitalized in the title of this post?
I’ve been doing more writing about Papua New Guinea. I tried finding an image of where Ok Tedi and Ok Minga converge, but so far, no luck. A simple Google search leads me to an old blog post of mine. . . . → Read More: I’m Still Shocked That June Is Over
Lester loves dental floss–and he’s very particular about it. He prefers the more expensive Crest Glide Dental Floss in mint to any other cheaper version I try to . . . → Read More: Friday Lester
We hope you can join us this, Saturday, August at 7 p.m. for a reading by JEANINE WEBB and CATI PORTER. An opening reception for LOUIS M. SCHMIDT’s “We’re All in This Together for Ourselves,” on display at the gallery, will follow the reading.
I’m going through an annual performance review at one of the online programs at which I teach. The review processes uses a remarkably functional online form–quite the opposite of what I’m used to. While I was filling in the details for my “terminal degree,” an MFA in writing that I will, luck and funding . . . → Read More: Genre (Data Entry)
When I read The Medium column about “The Uses and Abuses of Science Blogging” in the New York Times Magazine yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of recent conversations* about online-bullying and the deterioration of civility in poetry-blog comment streams. The author talks about a particular group of blogs called ScienceBlogs, which apparently used to be . . . → Read More: The Medium is the Message, Maybe (Again)
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