Just had a brief but cathartic phone call with a faraway mutual friend who has been a part of his tightest inner circle for years--she's utterly wrecked and feels all the worse for being at the other end of the continent and totally unable to fly out for any memorials, and some of the extravagantly sorrowing FB posts by people who barely knew him (many of whom didn't even like him much when he was alive) were starting to make her just the smallest bit throatpunchy (a lot of them are marvelous and revelatory, but a couple are walking the line toward what Addams Family Values has taught me to think of as What About Debbie). It was oddly comforting to let her vent a bit and then cry together about him and his daughter.

Oh, that's so hard, JZ. I'll always remember sitting in the hospital with my grandmother the day she died, and it was kind of great, but she was 94, and had been more or less fine the day before. I can't even imagine.

Timelies all!

Congrats to Juliana and family!

{{{JZ}}}

This is incredible. Abebooks has created a web page devoted to weird books: [link]

You too can savour such delights as "Baboon Metaphysics" or "How to Live with an Idiot". Or (I kid you not, but someone sure as hell is) "Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant". (Any thoughts that hey, that Liberace chap could cut a fine figure on occasion, that doesn't sound so bad, will rapidly be dispelled by the picture on the cover.)

For myself, I finally lost it completely and had to flee the office when I got to "Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy?". I myself know that when Ryan was three, perhaps 70% of my parenting was taken up with admonishments that "You're either with us or you're against us".

Ha, in my online parenting circles, "Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy?" is totally a classic. It's not wrong.

Abebooks has created a web page devoted to weird books

Which, I believe, is where I found my copy of "The Recently Deflowered Girl." [link]

I will be hard pressed not to do all my Christmas shopping there this year. The only question is which of my brothers should receive "Nuclear War: What's In It For You?" (Kidding! I know exactly which brother should receive it.)

So good of you to be there, and to stay, JZ. That's so hard and I know it must have helped to have you there. And I'm glad that you're finding some comfort, too.

We also have those crane flies in our house, only we don't call them crane flies or daddy long legs, we call them mosquito eaters, mostly I think to reassure ourselves that they aren't hugenormous mosquitos.

We always called them mosquito hawks. Like chicken hawks, but for mosquitoes. I think. I didn't actually recognize them in the crane fly picture but that's what it sounds like Burrell is describing, so I'm gonna go with that.

If I don't get back from browsing the weird books in three days, send supplies.

JZ, that's a hard and right thing you did.

I'm doing a last load of laundry and first pass at packing. Flight isn't until 2:30, so I'll do the last pass at packing and a quick vacuum tomorrow. May or may not squeeze a swim in. Not counting on it, though.

Is $10/visit the right amount to pay a neighbor kid to catsit?