First of all, my state of mind.  I’m doing alright I suppose.  Except that it’s floor time.  It’s been my habit in the last few years to get up from the computer or TV in the evening, lay down on the floor next to Tasha and pet her.  I do this a few times in the course of each evening.  Tonight, I keep starting to push away from the desk, only to remember that there’s no particular reason to do so.

Happy spent last night with me, and today I took her to the park and to the groomer’s for her bath. I went swimming. Then I went to the local car wash and got the Classic treatment for my pickup.  Which means they clean the dash board, dress the tires, clean the insides of the windows, etc.  I couldn’t do those things.  Nose prints, see?  Nose prints all over the dash board, windows…. I wasn’t going to clean them myself.  So a recent immigrant gentleman got six bucks an hour plus tip, and vacuumed the dog hair from the carpets and seats for good measure.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

It was a brilliant, warm summer day here in paradise. The kind of day that makes the Santa Barbara area a resort destination. The tourists were out in force, moving up and down the sidewalks in little gaggles, looking for that angle of light and time that makes reality go all Magic Kingdom.  I’ve seen it a million times.  Their eyes are a little glazed over, and they seem not to understand that the traffic is real people, with someplace to go. See, they’re expecting to stumble into a candy store or an antique shop that will transport them into a dream to be remembered at their office or school, after Labor Day. I always hope they find it, though I think you can’t beat the real deal.  It’s a cool town to visit on vacation. It’s just that, having lived here my whole life, there’s no pixie dust in the air.

Hey, I just had a cool idea!  We need characters – people in big costumes, walking around getting their picture taken with The Visitors.  What would the characters be?  We can’t use Mickey Mouse or Goofy.  And this town is famous for nothing but avocados and a good beach.  A giant fuzzy avocado with big white cartoon hands and shiny black shoes?  Hmmm.