Greetings from Arizona

For those of you who read the blog, and wish to know, my mother is out of the hospital and back at home where 4/5ths of the immediate family has gathered. Thanks for all the well-wishes.

I'm typing this from their backyard with the temperature in the 40s and it still feels good enough to me. Too damn bad I missed the big snowstorm. They live out in the east valley of the greater Phoenix area in a retirement housing development with great views. And I have to say they have a menagerie of desert animals that come here every morning to demand food. From the small rabbit my mother has taken to nursing with a fresh carrot every morning (from sickly to full health but still demanding) to the partridges and the male cardinal that visits every morning standing three feet away from you and chirps for birdseed until he gets it.

Anyway, that's the boring status report. Stay safe, happy holidays and such.