MOONSET

We watched the lunar eclipse from a neighborhood street in Mazatlan, where we had come for dinner at the invitation of the Mazatlan in-laws of one of SJG's colleagues. They sat us like royalty at a long table on their front patio and served us homemade gorditas and quesadillas, stuffed with grilled beef. Only after we'd finished our meal did the family sit down to eat.

The next morning, I awoke at 6 o'clock--unusually early for me--and walked out onto the hotel patio facing the sea. To the south, the full moon was setting in a sky blushing pink from the rays of the rising sun. Pelicans skimmed the crests of the waves as they crashed onto the beach, and a lone fisherman cast his net into the waters from a rocky point under the moon.

FINNA!

Finna is our bruiser cat, the one who talks tough but has a marshmallow heart. The one who loves to snuggle under the covers when I crawl into bed at night and who purrs when you look at her. She's the smartest of our three cats, too. She knows how to open doors and cupboards, while the other two watch and marvel. She's the one who bit our toes and climbed the curtains when we brought her home. But she's the one they said was "bunny soft." And she is. Who can resist?

CAUCUS 2008!

I live in a caucus state. I am not, however, a group person and so have stayed clear of participation. I feared the pressures of public declaration of my political sentiments, some of which are gut feeling as much as rational intellectual thought. I feared the long night of arguing arcane resolutions and suffering the monologuists. And I didn't like the idea that, at a caucus, they don't serve cookies and cake.

This year the state Democratic party (okay, so I'm a Democrat) changed the way they organize caucuses and it became possible to simply show up, vote, and go home. I decided I could handle that, so last night--the night of our Super Tuesday presidential caucus--SJG and I headed to a nearby high school to be in line as they opened the doors at 6:30 pm.

I have to say it was fun. With triple the number of participants, the caucus was overflowing with people eager to cast their vote. I waved happily at all my neighbors, most of whom I know from walking Buddy every day and meeting their dogs. And since I live in a place where order is next to godliness, the entire caucus process went smoothly and efficiently. I wrote the name of my candidate on a little yellow post-it note (they'd run out of ballots) and pushed it into the slot of the Folger's coffee can the precinct volunteer held out to me. And then she pointed me to the table behind her, where cookies and cake awaited voters like the prize I had long imagined they should be.

NO BAD WORDS WERE FOUND

I rated my blog through the following link: http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/blog_rating

It's like rating a movie to see what the target audience might be. My blog rating came back as "G: General Audiences All Ages Admitted" with the delightful commentary that "no bad words were found." Whew, what a relief.

I don't quite believe that the rating is particularly valid, however, because my sister's blog came back with an NC-17 rating (No One 17 and under Admitted) based on the usage of the following "bad words," some of which occur on my blog too:

death (27x) dead (10x) pain (9x)
fuck (8x) fucks (3x) dyke (7x)
suicide (4x) breast (1x)

I haven't quite decided if I should up the quotient of "bad words" on my blog or not (I probably already have by listing the above "bad words"). Which is a more desirable audience, the general family crowd or those naughty adults?