AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

We had to have Jazz put down a few weeks ago.  She had become incontinent and nothing we tried seemed to help.  If you've ever had an incontinent pet, you know the agony of having to clean up after her once or more every day.  So, after 8 years we tearfully said goodbye.

Jazz was our box-cat.  Any empty box on the floor became a home for her.

Even ones she couldn't get all of herself into.



She liked to jump up and stretch out on the back of my chair and if I invited her, she'd come down to my lap.



I don't know what she was thinking when she curled up in a bathroom sink one day but I know if we had turned the water on that scowl would have gotten fiercer and she would have fled.

She was a good little cat.  And she stayed little all her life.  As Blackwell evolved from a scarred up tiny kitten into a big, brawny male cat . . she seemed to grow more and more terrified of him.  But that's over now and we will remember our sweet Jazz.

So now it's time for the crocodile tears to end.  After all we still have two cats.



Big old Blackwell.

And his playmate, the lovable Muggles.

CATNIP!!!

SWMBO sprinkled out some catnip the other night.  It's the cats' drug of choice.  Muggles got to it first as Jazz waited politely.

Though Jazz was waiting patiently, Muggles seemed to be sticking out her tongue at her.

Maybe she's just working up to a sneeze.

A little later, after Jazz had her taste and lay down near the stash, Blackwell showed up to see what the big deal was.

He soon found out.

Jazz and Blackwell never get this close to each other without some trouble.  But both stoned?  A different story.  And I do mean stoned.

Blackwell:  "Is anyone going to supply us with some chocolate?"

Jazz:  "I'd get some but unfortunately I can't move right now."

AND THAT'S JAZZ!

SWMBO and I went to an outdoor jazz concert the other night.  In the middle of the monsoon!  We had doubts about it but got there early enough to shelter under the roof of the amphitheatre.  It was an occasion because we knew the keyboard player, Joel Robin, from way back in the 70's.  We had never heard his wife, Delphine Cortez, but knew she was one of the premier jazz singers in Phoenix.  And how much can I say about the fabulous Margo Reed.  As I told her at intermission, we had seen her and her sister Francine the first time they sang publicly in Phoenix.  There was a jazz festival going on at a shopping center and these two girls, in their cutoff shorts and t-shirts came up from the audience and just took over the stage.  Margo told me the other night that the band was led by Keith Greko and "he didn't like performing with chick singers!"  But they were fabulous.  Margo later went on tour and became a very well known performer.  Later her sister Francine did the same thing, performing with Lyle Lovett's Large Band and leading her own group, as she was when we saw them in Guadalajara, Mexico during the Cervantes Festival.

At any rate, the concert the other night was a great experience.  Margo was as sassy as ever with all the style of a great singer.  Delphine, as I told Joel, just creates a symphony on stage and she's a great scat singer.

As for the band, Joel is better than I can ever remember him.  He does a number of arrangements as well.  Drummer Cleve Huff kept everything on time and showed some great skill as a soloist.  Saxaphonist Tony Vacca was a new find for us and he was spectacular, whether playing his solo riffs or doing back-and-forth with Delphine.

It was a great evening.  Now, gentle readers, go out and hear some live jazz!

No snow, sun back

Ah, winter is gone.  Again.  There was snow on the ground this emorning but the sun was out today and the temperature climbd to 51 degrees.  Tomorrow the high is predicted to be 64.

Meantime, Jazz was pouting last night.

I'm not sure if it was because of the cold, snowy weather . . . or because her box was too small.