The gelato place in my neighborhood was the one Italian food that was not a huge disappointment when I got back from Italy.

I mean, I get it, you can't just magically make tomatoes and basil taste like they were grown in volcanic Italian soil, or to make mozzarella taste like it was made from buffalo milk just yesterday (or however long it takes to make cheese), but at least making gelato is something that can be done well almost anywhere.

And pear and chocolate is hands down the most amazingly delicious gelato flavor combination I've ever tasted. If I can get that combo, that's what I'm getting.

Let's see if this works. Facebook wouldn't let me share.

Fell down a rabbit hole of photography. Found a forum on (I guess) the European facebook??

So this photo album is then and now shots. This is my fav. Berlin. 1990 & 2011 [link]

Oh! That made me tear up a little.

My sister's cat went poop in her bed quite often.

Plague du Jour: A swarm of black ants in the kitchen.

I'm going to Home Depot and try to buy some plutonium.

Oh dear, Nora. I wonder if he and Bella have been trading notes somehow.

Pear and chocolate, wow. I have not had gelato once this summer. I may need correct that oversight. Today.

omnis, that photo is great.

Cool, gray morning here. Our cool being 72 degrees and 94% humidity. Got lots to do today...

Good lord, Ginger. Did someone curse your house? Maybe an exorcism would be the way to go.

I will not engage ignorant people in a discussion of Chelsea Manning getting her hormone drugs in jail. I will not engage ignorant people in a discussion of Chelsea Manning getting her hormone drugs in jail.

In what I vow will be my last whinge for a long time...update.

I scarcely slept, partly out of stress over the sick cat and partly because I apparently ate some sort of poison (hyperbole) last night an have been throwing up fairly consistently since midnight.

I finally got a hold of the cat's person saying what I said here. Pressing him for a solution.

He was vague.

He didn't explain why I was saddled with the second weekend without notice. But he did say something quite illuminating.

Turns out. It's a known behavior.

Apparently, the cat 'gets upset' and leaves a sea of shit for anyone who takes care of him.

Neither the owner, nor the former friend who knows this, felt it useful to mention this to me.

The one good thing to come of all this is that I am well, truly and God-is-my-witness DONE with taking care of other people's pets.

I love 'em all, but it is just not worth it to me to navigate the petty shallows of the minds of people who can't seem to tell the truth to save themselves...or their pets...and who are more than willing to take advantage of my willingness to help.

Seriously.

Done.

Granted, I'm still sick, from whatever it was, but maybe that is what it finally takes for me to catch a clue.

I. just. can't.

Neither the owner, nor the former friend who knows this, felt it useful to mention this to me.

That is a pile of bullshit, if I ever heard any.