12.10.2003. Lunch in one hand, my little green notebook in the other.

David is absorbed in Vanity Fair, and Noah is in the other room. For all intents and purposes, I am free to sit here at the table and write what I like, without interruption or question.

* * * * *

Never let it be said that I don't ever let anyone take photos of me. Jody, not a word from you, boy.

Noah says: "Make sure everyone knows that these are just snapshots, and not my usual artistic stuff."

Flickr photos from the album 2003 - Sedona by domesticat

Oak Creek Canyon overlook
by domesticat.Oak Creek Canyon overlook
by domesticat.Leaving Oak Creek Canyon
by domesticat.Very red rocks
by domesticat.Cathedral Rock - 1 of 4
by domesticat.Cathedral Rock - 2 of 4
by domesticat.Cathedral Rock - 3 of 4
by domesticat.Cathedral Rock - 4 of 4
by domesticat.Primitive road?
by domesticat.Sunset - 1 of 5
by domesticat.

10 out of 17 on Flickr

So that's what the photos from the Grand Canyon look like. I wasn't able to get Matt and Kara's computer to play nicely with my card reader, so even looking at the photos had to wait until I got to California, but a few of them were actually worth the wait.There are about twenty photos in this batch. I took more, but decided to prune out the obvious duplicates. I'll post the photos from Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona separately. Right now I have a choice: sit here and work on photos, or make myself some lunch and enjoy an exquisitely sunny day.

I have a 4 p.m. play date with a very exuberant Labrador retriever, whose day job is to be a hearing dog for one of Noah and David's friends. We're going down to the beach, and we're planning on having a lovely romp.

Sunset and rock formation photos can wait. It's time to play.

So here I am above palm trees so straight and tall
You are smaller, getting smaller
But I still see you.
  — Jimmy Eat World - 'Goodbye Sky Harbor'

It's difficult to write anything coherent about one of the most visually beautiful days of my life when I have a camera full of photos that I can't show you. Silly computers. They promise us a world of information, given and received, and then sometimes snatch it away from us when we least expect (or want) it.

I have a confession to make. It will surprise a few of my friends, but not Jeff, who has insisted in the truth of this statement for quite some time, to my disbelief:I am a chilehead.

* * * * *

Ages ago, someone who didn't know me very well asked me what my favorite restaurant was. (Anyone who knows me well would inherently recognize the dangers and long-windedness inherent in such a topic, and would steer clear. It's almost as bad as asking me about my cats.) My response was typically obtuse, yet truthful:

"What kind?"

"Oh, any."

I wish I could remember the gist of my response, but I told the truth. If I want to go to a Japanese steakhouse, I have to go to Tuscaloosa, to have Ben-Kei's shrimp sauce. If I want sushi, it's Vancouver. Blue crab? The little shack that Andy took me to a few years ago. Cheesesteaks? Philadelphia. Indian? Little Rock.