Heat + Humidity + Fur = Less Active Kitty

Why hasn't Pawlene been blogging lately?

Have you heard about the summer weather we've been having? It's all I can do to drag myself from under the bed to the tiled bathroom floor to find a cooler place to lay my belly. The only respite we've gotten has been LOUD thunderstorms and brief but torrential rain showers. The latter occur only when there is some music-related event happening in Central Park. Erika has planned and cancelled TWO picnics now. The last picnic wasn't technically cancelled, it was just moved indoors. Instead of listening to the New York Philharmonic perform Mendelssohn on the Great Lawn, we blasted Beethoven's Ninth on the stereo in the living room of our apartment with various assorted good-natured friends. At least Batch 2.0 of the S'more brownies did not go to waste. They aren't *quite* the same as Citizen Cake's addictive (and pricey!) morsels, but they are darned close. More experimentation is necessary as soon as Erika and Martin drop the 5 lbs they gained from the first two batches. This week, it's hummus. Just dry cat food for me, thanks.

Erika and Martin found an ideal way to beat the heat on Sunday - after lazing around Central Park and catching up on phone calls, they spent 2 delicious hours at the well-air-conditioned Ziegfield Theater watching Ratatouille. The movie was delightful (despite the slam on the French), but the Ziegfield was out of this world. *Friendly*, charismatic ushers! *Good* popcorn! Acres of seats! A tiny personal sink in each ladies' bathroom stall! Ok, it's the small stuff but WOW, Erika had forgotten that movies used to be like this. Does anyone remember the good old Varsity Theater in Palo Alto, BEFORE it turned into a chain book store? Now THAT was a Movie Theater. Poor Martin didn't even know about pre-movie organ music. Is the Stanford Movie theater still open? They sure don't make them like they used to...