Somehow every time I turn around it's garbage day.

I'm pretty tired. Jen's got a sinus/ear infection and is feeling pretty miserable. The kids, of course, are their usual selves, bouncing and screaming and spilling things faster than we can keep up with them. Willow now kisses her dolls on the head and puts them to bed, saying, "Baby! Night night!" I'm going to really miss this toddler phase when she grows beyond it.

I went to see Lhasa at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last night. G got me in on the KALX guest list, which was nice. Lhasa sings like somebody you'd expect to hear in a smoky bar at 2 am somewhere in southern Europe, perhaps France or Spain. Or maybe Portugal, since she did sing an Amalia Rodriques song. Quite nicely too, I might add.

At work this week I managed to give an olfactory lesson on animal adaptations, with an emphasis on defensive behavior. Within the space of half an hour I picked up a large millipede and a stinkbug, so my left hand smelled like upset millipede and my right hand reeked of angered stinkbug. Most of the kids smelled my hands too. The consensus was that the stinkbug was stinkier. The millipede's defensive liquid, which is yellow when emitted, stains skin a bruise-like color that fades after a day or so.

Today we hiked up to a nearby reservoir that I had never previously visited. I took a wrong turn and led everybody up a creek which we had to cross and recross, scrambling over rocks and under low lying branches. Several kids got quite wet, but all had a great time anyway. There were hundreds of spider webs shimmering in the sunlight (warm sun in January, what next?) and the ground was covered with Banana Slugs. When we finally did reach the reservoir, the frogs were croaking, the Fence Lizards were out sunning themselves, and the kids were tired.

Me too, mostly because I got home late from the concert last night. At least I no longer have to go directly to work upon leaving a venue.