Tag Archives: children

Cats!

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On Saturday I went to see Cats. It was good, I really enjoyed it.

What made it really great was I went with my wonderful friend (Hey, coffee soon!) and her two wonderful daughters. I don’t get the chance to see her daughters a lot but I do enjoy hearing about them. It can be hard to figure out how to have a connection to your friends children. I don’t want to be their friend but they’re Mom is an important person in my life and therefore they are important to me as well and I would at least like them to know who I am.

I started sending them postcards when I travel because kids love postcards. They went to Hawaii earlier this year and they in turn sent me a postcard. It’s something that’s really easy to do and gives us a connection without being intrusive.

Going to see Cats was a surprise for them, their Mom hadn’t told them where they were going only that they were meeting up with me. Passing a sign for Cats, they’re Mom asked “Would you like to see that?” They both responded “Yes!” That’s when they’re Mom said “Good because that’s where we’re going!”

It was great to see them in person. We all went to dinner first and the girls were wonderful. Having fun, doing the puzzle on the children’s menu and playing with little animals that came with their drinks. It was a lovely dinner and then we headed to the theatre.

The show is over two hours with the intermission and the girls were completely engaged the whole time. One may have found her calling she was completely in awe of the performers. Leaving they collected some of the silver confetti that had fallen over the theatre at the end of the show. A reminder of how easy it is to make a young girl happy. Confetti never fails. Clutching the programs and smiling they talked about the show. I’m so glad that I went with them and maybe we’ll end up at another show together in the future.

It’s another connection to them and now I can be that lady who sends them postcards and went to Cats with them. Which is all good with me.

Cambodian Spider Snack Anyone….

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On the way to Angkor Wat from Phnom Penh there is a little place called Skuon, if you’re hungry for a snack they have fried crickets and fried spiders (YUMMY!):

Very large fried spiders:

The spiders are a type of tarantula called a-ping. Fried in oil with garlic and some other stuff, I didn’t ask for the recipe. I found the number of spiders disturbing. Where had they all come from?

There must be more where they came from and I wanted to know where that was so I didn’t go there.

I saw a guy bite into one and I gagged.  I could almost hear the torso squish and just imagining what that would be like…. EWWWW! YUCK! Also saw him picking spider out of his teeth after.

Even stranger than eating the spiders was that the children play with them. Like a pet hamster or gerbil. They carry them around, pet them, let them hang off their clothes, talk to them and will let you hold one if you want. I didn’t want. Here are is an adorable girl and her pet spider:

NOT my hand:

One adorable little girl also decided to  freak us out by putting a live one in her mouth:

I would like to thank my friend Becca for the use of the pictures. I couldn’t watch, let alone take a picture.

A lady in our tour group could not get out of Skuon fast enough. She hated the spiders and almost trampled the small children trying get away from the spiders.

This little girl was adorable and had fresh pineapple and not a spider in sight. That was more like it! :

Sometimes you leave a place and then think back to a missed opportunity but I think back and have no problem having not tried or held a spider.

Would you have?