Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Fishy Heaven

Thank you to all of you who inquired about my health and sent me well-wishes this past week (Dad and Judi). Well, at least my readership is up! I'm feeling much better and am prepared to reemerge in Okinawan life.



Any of you who know John know that he is a friend to all creatures great and small. I can leave for the afternoon and return to find him canoodling with Gunner our cat. Gunner is lying there, totally wiped out and John is covered in white fur.

He takes great pleasure in gardening, making sure the eggplants are well-nourished and the tomato plants are not collapsing under their own weight (I tend to think of this as a problem solved by darwinism, and if the plant can't stand up of its own accord, well, maybe tomatoes should go the way of the dinosaurs. This is why I'm never asked to house- or pet-sit. But I digress...

John "the kindhearted" is a pinch of of St. Francis and a dash of Horse Whisperer, affectionately calling every living thing "Buddy" - from glow worms to birds, to, well, tomato plants. "Hey buddy, you gettin' enough sunlight?" "Hey buddy, is that kibble tasty?"

This past month, we've been fish-sitting for Mortachai, Lauren's beta fighting fish. Poor Mortachai was nameless until John christened him. Thinking how boring it must be to swim in circles around his fish bowl, John constructed a "Lighthouse of Luxury" from a plastic water bottle. Now Mortachai towers above of his bowl and experiences life from a whole new perspective. You should have seen how excited he was when Mortachai actually swam up the tower. As John put it earlier, "I blew his little fishy mind!"



He's now researching and developing a kitty levitation mechanism so Gunner can join us at the dinner table. That's all we need...Gunner and Mortachai at eye-level.

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