Arrived in LA on Saturday and spent the night with Marcel, Annalisa, Dylan and Nicky. We fixed a lovely dinner-mostly veggies in my honor and BBQ steak for the meat eaters. For dessert Anna opened the Colefax we had brought them. Up up and away again the next morning. Everything went without a hitch and Helen and T met me in Tucson Sat afternoon.

Shortly after we arrived at Helen's place Kathy came over, then Melinda and her 18 mo old girl Anihara (which means "angel" in Maori). Kathy's daughter DeAnna was next and after several calls for help, Hilda arrived. She had come all the way from Flagstaff. Once a week she looks after a very old man. She has to wake up several times a night to attend to him so was pretty pooped. We stayed up exchanging news until nearly midnight. Unfortunately I got very little sleep and seemed to be covered in cats most of the night.

The next day (Sunday) Helen, Kathy and I went to a beautiful matinee performance of Carmen. Exuberant as Carmen is I nearly nodded off a few times.

Yesterday Helen and I both had restorative massages and came out feeling light and loose. Today is a quiet one and most appreciated! We found a small carry on size suitcase for her and she has had a couple practice runs to see if she can fit in what she needs to take. I plan to try out the local Curves when T returns from having the rest of his "Lori" tatt removed. He is flying to N. Carolina on the morning of Dec 2nd to his new home and significant other. In the meantime he'll hold the fort here. Phil flies in from San Diego tomorrow night. Can't wait!