The Truth About Cats and Dogs

The other morning as I sat with my cup of coffee and checked my email, I turned on the t.v. It's a reflex that I try to break, but I don't try very hard.

In the old place, I'd listen to NPR on the radio, but we have a different stereo system in the new house and the little radio we have only gets the public radio from WNIJ, which is the Northern Illinois University public radio station. Now, there's nothing wrong with WNIJ, but it's no WBEZ, and that's the truth. There's no Lisa Labuz. There's no Morning Shift, which I had really come to enjoy; there's not even a traffic report, because who cares about traffic in Dekalb? No one.

Now, you might ask why I would care about a Chicago traffic report when my commute is three miles down a two-lane highway through cornfields. Well, because, nostalgia, that's why.

So, when I flipped through the t.v. channels and landed on the '90s movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs, I stopped. It was the perfect thing to have on while I did the zombie task of filing and deleting the previous day's emails: pleasant enough not to irritate me, and mindless enough not to distract me.

A dog on roller skates? I'm in.

But even as it was on in the background, I couldn't help paying attention to a number of things that made the soft spot in my heart--the spot reserved for the decade during which I graduated from junior high, high school, and college--warm like a puddle of pudding in the sunlight. Here are five of those things.

1. Phones. The characters in the movie, played by Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, and a Random British Guy (RBG), talk a lot on phones. Talk is the key word in that sentence. They have big soul searching conversations; there's phone sex (it's weird and shot in soft focus, but at least it doesn't involve sexting...); and Thurman uses a number of payphones to leave messages on Garofalo's answering machine.
2. Book Stores. There's a scene in a book store, and this made me realize that there are a lot of '90s movies, rom-coms especially, that have scenes in book stores. It's something that will likely not happen a lot any more, and this makes me sad. Even though the store is a prop, just scenery, it is always nice to think that people in '90s movies spent time in book stores.
3. Smoking. Now, I am not a fan of smoking--it's a nasty habit that is not cool, no matter what these goofy teenagers today think. But it's such a throwback to see Thurman smoking, not because it's some part of her character, but because it was 1996 and that was what people in movies did.
4. Poo Shoes. A woman calling in to the radio program Garofalo hosts uses the term "poo shoes." This doesn't make me nostalgic; it just makes me giggle because it's something that I sometimes call Roo. And it's silly.
5. Hank. The RBG has a great dane and the dog's name is Hank, which is basically Henry. And, really, the dog is a lot cuter than the guy. A lot. Also, that's the dog's real name: according to the credits, he is Hank the Dog.

I finished watching The Truth About Cats and Dogs, not because it's a good movie (it's not) or because I'm a huge Uma Thurman fan (she's okay) or because they play a Suzanne Vega song in the scene where Thurman has a dessert orgasm while being fed a piece of cake by the RBG (I do like Suzanne Vega). It's because it made me feel sweet and sappy inside for that time in my life, that time when people talked on large cordless phones and the Internet wasn't a thing and movie soundtracks were popular and so was Janeane Garofalo. That time when I was a teenager. And sometimes, when it comes to watching t.v. at 7:30 in the morning, that's enough.

Kids, Cranes, and a New Piano

Over the past few weeks we have spent some time with some of the young people in our life, specifically our niece, nephew, and my cousins. And they're all pretty great.

First, there's Bo, who just graduated from pre-school. Yes, you read that right--he just graduated! Whahooooo!

Front of the line, ready to get his diploma

All right--what can I do with my brand new diploma? Nothing? Okay. Where are my toys? Also, have you seen my shirt? It's great.

To celebrate this graduation, Bo's pre-school class sang an amazing song, "We Recycle," which was done to the tune of Frère Jacques.

 Then, there's Sadie, who is counting up a storm and showed her Uncle Trevor her new skills.

Two basketballs and a bunch of footballs. Why can't I count mermaids or something fun instead?

All right, Uncle Trevy-trev: one picture and then it's back to hide-and-seek. No, I will not negotiate.

And finally, there are my cousins Erica and Carly. They're smart young college students (DePaul University and Elmhurt College) who just so happen to be gorgeous. Is there a connection between their smarts and the fact that they're related to me? Well. Let's just say that there might be. (yes. the answer is yes.)

We are Boscos. We need no other explanation.

Now, I can't leave out our niece Destiny, who, although we haven't spent time with her in the past few weeks, is also smart and gorgeous. So, for a pre #TBT, here she is (and I couldn't decide which picture to post, so we have a variety [Destiny, this is what you get for not hanging out with your Aunt Laura lately...(we miss you)]):

This is Destiny, mid-dance and mid-song, at our wedding in 2007

And there she is at her mom and Neill's wedding in 2012--she's such a grown up! (this is what aunts do, Destiny...we humiliate you)

And here's D. with some more smart and gorgeous young ladies. Check out the paparazzi!

Now, on to the cranes that live in our neighborhood.

As some of you know, we moved to a neighborhood that is full of woodland creatures: flying squirrels, gophers, geese, turtles...

Yeah, this exists. And it's the best thing in the world.

...and recently there have been two sandhill cranes hanging out in the neighborhood.

We are cranes in the neighborhood. Hello. We're cranes.

But the other day they ventured away from the main hangout, and Roo and I ran into them on our afternoon walk. They were wandering through a backyard--a backyard, I might add, that is inhabited by a basset hound who is a fan of Roo.

Here's a short video of the cranes:

 And here's a slightly longer video of the cranes, the basset hound, and Roo:

Grandma Madel, our very own bird expert, told us that we should see a baby crane wandering around soon. And when that happens, I will probably crane-nap it and make it my new best friend. Pictures to come.

And here is one last video to finish this post. Last month we had my old piano moved from my brother and Paula's house to our place (G&P have been piano-sitting for the past five years since my parents moved to the city and didn't have room for it in the condo). And I discovered that I can still (sort of) peck out a tune!

So, enjoy all of that and look forward to my next post celebrating Trevor, who is very hard to pin down for a photo.

BOOM.

But I will pin him down. With words. (ha!)

See ya.