View from the Couch

His name was Paws. But before long, it was clear that this cat needed a new name. At 6 months old, he weighed nearly 10 pounds and his paws were huge. Fully grown, he reached an awesome 25 pounds. He was over 2 feet long from the tip of his nose to the base of his tail and he frequently lay stretched out to his full length. His tail was a lethal weapon! So he became PWAS. Pwasimodo the Hunch Cat of Notre Dame. Pwas. We adopted Pwas and his brother Ba (that's another story) when my daughter was 8. Our tiny house was soon overrun by these two playful tuxedos. Ba was the smaller of the two. Small only in our house. Pwas was the alpha cat. He chose where he slept, where he ate, what windows were his and who would pay attention to him. There was no ignoring this cat. If he wanted you to get up and feed him, his hulking mass sitting on your chest made breathing difficult, let alone opening your eyes to see him staring at you. His demanding "meow" let you know he ...

My friend Brett has had a loss. His father died this morning after a long illness. Another friend, Pete, lost his father on Sunday. And my dear friend Chris is currently sitting beside with his father. I wrote this for Brett on his last birthday. I post it here for him. And for Pete and Chris and all my friends who are watching our parents age, watching ourselves age and wondering when we all got so grown up. Just a man and a horse. And a tumbleweed or two. During the day, The horizon had no end. At night, The sky held too many stars to count. Cowboys don’t have mothers or fathers. Cowboys don’t have brothers or sisters. Nobody tells them the way to go. Cowboys know the way. During the day, He’s just a man. But sometimes. At night. He dreams. He’s a cowboy. April 30, 2007 KC McAuley

Road Work Ahead KC McAuley Dec. 2007 When she labored to give birth The road to the hospital Twisted and Turned The sign announced ROAD WORK AHEAD. When she sent her to school Lunch box and loose tooth The bus pulled away The sign said ROAD WORK AHEAD Every road had work. School and books and math. God and boys and drugs. Sex and love and marriage. College was long road from home Even longer when she returned. Together they traveled the longest road of all. Three thousand miles from coast to coast. They traveled broken roads, Mended roads, Detour roads, No roads, New roads And old. When she left her daughter The cab ride to the airport Twisted and Turned The sign announced ROAD WORK AHEAD.

I watch a lot of movies - many, many more than once. And every year, I keep track of the new (to me) movies that I see. This past year I watched 114 new movies. That's an average of 2 per week. So when I went to compile my list of the best movies of 2007, I was a little surprised to find that I couldn't come up with 10 "best" movies. I have 5 that I think will stand the test of time. And another 5 that I thought worth noting. I must preface this by saying that I have not seen what many consider to be the best film of the year - No Country for Old Men. Nor have I seen Juno - which is getting praise from many different circles of friends. So without further ado, here is my list of the Best movies of 2007 5. Zodiac (David Fincher) Based on Robert Graysmiths books about the Zodiac killer, this is a fine thriller. Fine performances all around especially from Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo. The film is well paced, taut, tense and everything a thriller shoul...