so anyways...

i have to go to the bathroom, but the cat is on my lap. he looks up at me with trusting green orbs, blinks, puts a soft paw on my arm. dang it. i have to go to the bathroom!
we had such a great time in swellay. actually hollywood. i'll have to post more later.
oh good: kitty just remembered he really is a wild, only-semi-domesticated beast & swiped at me with claw. off the lap, beast!
now i can meet nature's call...
here's a poster i made for saturday night. i'm gonna play on this show.
ahhhh.... vacation: leisure time! i like it. :)
may your holidays be filled with love & not too much internal conflict as you reconcile breaking bread w/dear ones in commemoration of a genocide... i choose instead to focus on the fam!

!!!!RAEY WEN YPPAH

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! may yours be happy, honest, purposeful, creatively fulfilling, & w/o too many regrets.
THE ELVIS SHOW IS COMING... see www.sofein.com for the flyer. :)
just got back from "vacating." the dogs were patient & stalwart travelers. iron butt briggs got us home by new year's eve, for which i was grateful. summary:
-> day 1: 574 miles to richfield, ut. food: cracker barrel dumplings. music: voodoo jive, chuck berry oh yeah, jimmy yancey vol. 3. conditions: white christmas snowy. cold!
-> day 2: 466 miles to denver. food: mexican in denver. music: just rockin’ & rollin’, more bad habits, the sadies. conditions: 4wd on icy roads, snow everywhere, frigging cold!!
-> day 3-4: boulder-denver. food: lucile’s boulder (biscuits, grits, beignets). music: rockin’ bones boxset from generous paul! conditions: cold, snowy, yuppie boulder, downhome denver, good women's mtg.
-> day 5: 200 miles to trinidad, co. food: feta pizza at whole foods denver, lee’s bbq trinidad – the best! hershey’s chocolate shake, buttered vienna roll, bbq sandwich, battered jalapenos, nice service. music: rockin’ bones, npr. conditions: warming up, found jawbone at truck stop.
-> day 6: 251 miles to albuequerque. food: overrated harry’s roadhouse sta fe, delicious homemade tortilla & empanadita in las vegas, nm, sopaipillas & sweet rice at garcia's kitchen abq. music: night train to nashville. conditions: cool little towns like raton & las vegas, lost in touristy santa fe, nice old square in abq.
-> day 7: 804 miles to home. food: couscous & tofu pudding at macy’s flagstaff. music: the very best of the 5 royales. conditions: long invention & brainstorming session w/b as we head for the barn, pedal to metal. fog in kern county, blessed home.
-> home: overly tired, meltdown. today: tired but copacetic. happy new year. :)

Home is the sailor from the sea, The hunter from the hill.

here's a collage of the motorcycle vacation. we've taken this trip & others like it so many times, we no longer take pix of stuff like the grand canyon, grand tetons, utah's national parks, indian country, etc. the picture never captures the experience, anyhow. these are what remain.
tomorrow i get to mix our little LP with sharon marie. whoopee! i'm so excited! then monday i get to go practice christmas songs with manuel. again, whoopee! so excited! then friday night's our little alano club show for friends. whoopee! so excited! (hey, marcus aurelius, may i get the flyer from you? thank you so mucho.) :)
this wk, too, it's back to work, & tho i cry, in my heart, i know back to teaching i must go. i love thrills; get to do way more fun things than many; & tend to float away like a delirious helium balloon -- therefore even more crucially do i need to have my feet firmly replanted on the ground each fall when school begins & i resume the important role of educator. it's quite a responsibility & privilege. for although i fervently lament & dislike the legislation that's turned our schools into impoverished, embattled-yet-neglected test-prep factories, i still love the kiddies. :) (a.e. housman poems: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~martinh/poems/housman.html)

feliz cumpleanos from the home of the world's largest mineral springs

tomorrow, happy bd to dear little laurel & to me... our dear sweet mama had her bd just last wk. my family is specifically leo- & generally summer-heavy birthday-wise: more than 10 between july & sept 1st.
on this trip, we have all loved lava hot springs the other day & thermopolis today; we're glowing- fresh, soft as noodles. friends are true here, the scenery's stunning, & boy, once again, i get to travel & see this big big country. my family says they'll sing me happy bd tomorrow from bakersfield & i'm to listen for their wishes of good cheer. (wish they hadn't said that.) yes, times are good & i am grateful, & i'm so happy to see b so happy out on his motorcycle, which he loves like i love music. and i miss home.
enough sobbing from me. wish i knew a good joke to put in here. i can only think of one of my favorite exchanges from "horse feathers":
thelma todd: oh, professor, you're full of whimsy!
groucho: can you notice it from there? i'm always that way after i eat radishes...