guinea pigs

Yesterday was a catch-up and California trip prep day for me. Jeff went off to work with a client and I stayed at home in my pjs most of the morning (my penguin pjs, a gift from Andrea a while back). Worked on my WritersMarket.com column, my novel, wrapped Sara's birthday present, started packing.

It was a wonder to me, seeing Sara on her eighth birthday. She is already so much more poised and confident at eight than I ever was. Ruth asked Sara what she wanted on her cake, and Sara asked for a guinea pig (see photo at top of this page). Stripe and Fluffy are doing well, by the way, and remain the placid little food-consuming balls of fur that they were originally, except much bigger.

I was pretty ignorant about guinea pigs until Sara educated me; she did extensive research beforehand. Did you know that guinea pigs originally came from South America? Apparently several species still roam in the wild. Guinea pigs are a type of animal that must have "EAT ME" stamped across their furry little foreheads to predators. And almost everything is a predator to them, really. Supposedly they were named because sailors selling them for one guinea and noticing that they made squealing noises like a pig.

Downtown Toronto is devoid of Catholic World Youth right now, by the way; they're all out in Downsview for a vigil with the Pope and an outdoor mass today. One church official was quoted as saying that the "most devout" will be awake through the night, which I thought was pretty funny.

Two more days until I leave for California!

Links/News:

William Shatner has a new VH1 documentary show called "One Hit Wonders", which he says is a tribute to unforgettable tunes by artists who never repeated the same success", according to Reuters.