In the middle

Most nights the Bubbles fall asleep in here, the den, with me, while I write or read or play on the computer.  Then I carry them to bed.  Usually, it's easy to decide whom to lie in the middle, next to me, and whom to put on the outside -- somebody's been sad or sick or just super cuddly, somebody's been wild, or rough.  But tonight, I'm looking at them, soft and beautiful and sweet (and did I mention soft?) and thinking, hmm, maybe I have to go in the middle.  I HATE sleeping in the middle.   But yeah, the middle it is for me tonight.  Between the poet and the coroner (more on that later).

This post is brought to you by my dear Thembi

...who reminded me tonight (though I already knew) of how lucky I am.  She and a group of mutual friends and I were talking about the weekend being over.  I said that I was bummed about that even though Monday only means Alex goes to school (no work for me or Mr. Bubble).  And Thembi said that I was one lucky lady.  This is what I said.

I AM a lucky lady.  And in fact I just had that exact thought as I walked thru the kitchen into th[e den].  The last hour has been less than stellar -- Gregg had a beer too many watching the Super Thing and was goofy at dinner, such that I sent him to bed.  And then I turned to see a messy kitchen, two kids in need of a bath, a living room strewn with stuff they played with while we watched the game -- all with me feeling flu-ish and it being an hour until Alex's bedtime.  I was just like F!!!!!!!  I ran the bath, cleaned the kitchen, straightened the stuff, dried them off, put the PJ's on, shined the damn sink, and came in to take them out to see the Smile Moon.  But Gregorie had fallen asleep.  Alex and I went out and the moon had set.  We vowed to get out to see the bigger smile tomorrow.  We came in and Cat Steven's Moonshadow was on my playlist.  I looked at my sparkling kitchen and my beautiful daughter and listened to "If I ever lose my eyes, I won't have to cry no more..."  

Yeah, it's all damn good.  I'm very, very lucky!

Life on Trophy

It's nice to live here, deep in this cool canyon, with our shady trees and mild weather (well, not as mild as most of LA County but still...).  But one of the really nice things about living on Trophy Trail is that you can hike right into the Topanga State Park.    We used to do that often (in fact, when I worked, Gregg did every day, carrying both little bubbles).  But life gets busy and you need to remember.  So last week we headed out into our home park.

This picture is interesting to me because the houses across the way on Dome trail seem SO near!