Domestic . . . Bliss?

The cat has no idea how good he has it.

I passed a lovely street cat yesterday. Out in the cold, on the snowy Moscow streets. A nice fluffy cat with a poofy tail.

Our cat has started being really naughty. First, he got into the closet where we keep the fur hats. I usually am very careful to keep this closed, as I am afraid he will eat the fur.

Here he is: busted.


Then, yesterday, there was this nonsense:

His hat trick was pulling an entire roll of toilet paper off the cardboard center in the night. I didn't have a chance to take a picture as The Spouse already neatly folded it.

This is on top of his usual antics involving the bathtub. He loves the bathtub. He doesn't even run away when you turn on the tap, although the shower does drive him out. For now.

I have never known a cat to play Tag the way he does either. He will lurk somewhere and then leap out and gently tag you before running away. Clearly he wants to be chased. It is very funny.

On another domestic topic, yesterday The Spouse and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. Can you believe that? I think he was traveling for business last year, so somehow this year, although it is not such a milestone number (other than the fact that our marriage is now legally old enough to buy a beer), it seems somehow . . . sweeter?

We didn't really do much. The plan, initially, had been to get a sitter and have a really nice meal out. But The Dreaded Cold made the idea of paying Economic-Crisis-Notwithstanding-Inflated-Moscow-Restaurant-Prices seem like an even bigger waste of money.

In the end, we sent the children to school and went to the Starlite Diner where we had Cobb salads. I had really been craving a Cobb salad and Starlite does them well. With 1000 Island dressing even. There is one down the street from us, so we soldiered out in the -12C weather and had a nice lunch. It was just what I wanted.

We've also had sort of a Film Festival since Christmas, as I got several movies. Last night we saw Aldomovar's Bad Education (which, although I knew something about it, was not at all what I expected). Over the past week we have also watched Pan's Labyrinth (grim, and I did not like it as much as director Guillermo del Toro's earlier The Devil's Backbone), The Motorcycle Diaries (another opportunity to look at the very lovely and talented Gael Garcia Bernal), and The Darjeeling Limited (probably my favorite and the most typical of my kind of movie). However, all are worth watching.

Finally, I have received much good advice about vodka after my last post. I think I might have to write about bacon in Moscow next. Got lots to say about bacon. Really.