By me, they are innocent enough, these colorful, helium-filled balloons. But I fear my dear cat Max was marked for life by such a balloon. The occasion was the 1st birthday of our newest granddaughter. At Albertson's, I saw a silver plastic balloon with a smiley that said "Happy Birthday." Bought it. Tethered it in the hallway at about person height during the party.
At the end of the gathering, on a lark, I fastened the tether to Max's harness. Not a happy idea. So I disengaged the big silver smiley, which promptly floated up to the ceiling. We all forgot about it.
In the middle of the night, my husband woke me up. "The cat's going crazy," he said. Where the bedroom ceiling slanted up to the clerestory windows, the balloon was floating back and forth, back and forth, with the face looking down at us -- and the terrified cat. Shortly thereafter, the knight in shining armor slew the dread monster.
However, ever since that night, Max cat goes into hiding when he hears a car pull up and he takes his time emerging to inspect any arrivals. I suppose if I were a cat or a little kid and saw those eyes staring down at me as the face drifted back and forth, back and forth on the ceiling above me, I'd be more than a little traumatized, too.
For a symbol of childhood fun, how about the balloon. Whether it's those long thinsies that party entertainers fashion into butterflies and dragons or plain old fashioned blow-em-up round ones, a balloon says everybody had a good time. Yes, even if the kids are too tired out to walk home from the party down Park Avenue (below).
Balloons -- the hot air variety -- are just plain fun for grown-ups, too. They regularly fly early in the day down in the desert north of Phoenix, which is why I have seldom seen them. It is difficult to get me out of bed before nine in the morning. I might do it for a ride in one of those beautiful balloons, however.
Links of the Day: Here is one spectacular video of the hawk's eye view of flight (especially remarkable is the goshawk speeding though the trees of a forest -- like something out of Star Wars). Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, two videos of cats who not only use the potty but unfortunately learned other bathroom rituals (just for Catalyst and any other readers whose pets are of the feline persuasion.) And from Warren is a link to an article in the Tucson Star about a Muffler Man from the same mold as our Fair Street giant.
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