It’s better than Day 1, or Day 2, but honestly that’s the most I can say so far. It looks like another day in bed. Hey, at least I CAN stay in bed- my job ports anywhere. The kids are home for Rodeo Vacation, of all Arizona things, and we are all piled up together.
I’ve watched about ten thousand episodes of Law and Order in the last five days. Can’t wait for Jeff Goldblum’s appearance this season. Jeff makes everything better. Speaking of the concept of Jeff, my friend Jeff Lieber, a prince among men, a professional fool, a funny, sweet, sensitive person, a fierce campaigner for us all, refuses to come out for a Cubs Spring Training game because he’s working on a new series. Jeff was one of the original creators of Lost, but in true Hollywood fashion, things got a little wack and, well, although you see his name on the screen, he didn’t get to write the actual series. Give ‘em hell this time Jeff. I’ll go to a Cubs game for you.

It’s beautiful outside, kind of cold this early morning, but we’re headed for another warm sunny day in the 80s. The cats are loving it- cold nights for snuggling and hot days for stalking birds (they never catch any) and chasing lizards. Our kitten is so charming to sleep with, she likes to be held just like your favorite teddy bear, snuggled right in your arms. It’s kind of like sleeping with a baby, though, you never really pass out deeply because you don’t want to accidentally roll over on them. What’s particularly sad is when they are at the end of the bed, and you don’t know it, and you stretch out your feet and launch them into the air. That’s not good for anyone.
The grapefruit and oranges on the trees outside are ripe now. I just had a Minneola Tangelo, which was cold, from the night, and so sweet and juicy that it flooded my mouth with liquid sunshine. What kind of flu germ could hang on in the face of that?
Amacker Bullwinkle (yes that IS her name and we all wish it was our name) sent me the best get well E-card I’ve ever had, from Rubber Chicken Cards. It’s the Ellen and Winsor. Winsor is her cat, who has the best teeth and tongue ever. I love his questions- as a cat he is unclear on the difference between soup and tea, Monopoly and Risk.

Amacker is not only extremely hard to kill, which is one of the qualities I most admire, but she is a fan of one of my favorite things on earth, ziplines. I rode my first one at my great-grandmother’s house in Snowflake, Arizona (which my great grandfather, Mr. Flake, founded, with Mr. Snow, for real). It ran from the top of the hill behind her house to the bottom of the garden, and I there was nothing better than being 5 years old at our family reuinion, for my grandma’s birthday, and riding that thing down the hill about ten million times. It’s a pulley-cable kind of thing, you hang on to the handle, and zip! Down you go.

My great grandfather, William Flake, also very hard to kill, was one of the founders of Snowflake, Arizona, and a pioneering Mormon. William served time in the Yuma jail for polygamy, and wore his prison uniform proudly in the annual parade in the years after his release. We have a copy of an issue of Arizona Highways, showing him dressed in his stripes.
People are all high-tech with the ziplines now, harnesses, helmets… good times. We just hung onto Great-Grandma’s with our small hands, and flew down the hill, where we could smell her pies baking through the back kitchen door. Her house is now an official museum of early life in the West, as complete as the family could make it. We are planning a trip up there to see it this summer.
