Free Falling (The Truth About Delilah Blue)

Click on the orange link below to read a review of the upcoming novel The Truth About Delilah Blue by Tish Cohen (Inside Out Girl, Town House). Cohen grew up in Los Angeles before moving to Toronto. She writes about both cities in Delilah Blue.

http://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/free-fallin/

The Cube that's as cool as ice

The automobile pictured above, the Nissan Cube, created a bit of a stir at the L.A. Auto Show... Road and Track magazine called it a "funky yet functional box-on-wheels" while another source said it looks like it was designed for the next Roger Rabbit movie! I think it looks like the result of a cross-mating between a Scion xB, a Chevy HHR (Heritage High Roof wagon) and a VW New Beetle.

Despite what you might think, Nissan did not steal the shape from the Scion as the Cube has been on sale in Japan for the past ten years. The Cube will finally be sold in this country come spring. Yes, it is another retro-futuristic design - looking both backward and forward - and a pretty good one in my humble view. In Super Black (one of the scheduled paint colors), the car might look like it's wearing a Darth Vader mask, just the thing for Oakland Raider fans.

Munchy the cat thinks the Cube looks so neat that he'd almost be willing to volunteer to go to the vet in this lean, clean, retro-machine. Almost...

Old Lady Munchy - a poem

Here's a poem about a very, very well-loved cat with a fine name, with major thanks to Stinky Junior!

OLD LADY MUNCHY

Munch has farted
Just a little
"pfft" noise as she
stood up from the futon
we share.

She runs her head
into me
wanting my love
as her stink,
a mix of rotten bread and athlete's foot,
envelops the room

This morning I found
another spot of vomit
little chunks of
Science Diet, Sensitive Stomach brand
cat food, floating
like little islands,
in a pond of green bile.

I clean up her mess
and she comes over
to apologize
I pet her crown
trying to take
her pain into me.

I wish for a cure
some pussycat pepto
to make her feel
better
an elixir
to make her
young again.

My Munchy, who
meows like an enraged Bette Davis.

Who always sounds
like she is yelling for
more scotch and
a fresh pack of camel lights.

Munchy, who sat
quite under my feet
in the cab of my GMC Sonoma
on our cold, November
journey from Chicago
to Hollywood, while
her sister rang choruses of
"Let Me OWT!" to the plains,
mountains, deserts and ocean.

My Munchy who has
warmed chairs for me,
tripped me on
my midnight trips to
the toilet &
has
listened to me cry
curling up on my belly to
soothe me, leaving
half her soft coat to remind
me to be ok.

The ER Vet told us,
last March 23rd at 1:30 a.m.,
nothing was specifically wrong
"cats this age just
tend to have problems"
sometimes fatal
in Munchy's case
"sometimes just painful"
Then the vet relieved us of $500.

My Old Lady Munchy is now -
IBS, special food and funny noises
followed by
not so funny smells

My Munchy
is only gonna get
more expensive
from now on.

But I'll be as
patient with her,
as she has been with me.