I'm home for good, for a while, for now.

Since I haven't been really attached to a job for a year +, I forget why it is that I need to come back to Boulder to live. Today, I'm remembering why. Who else would keep the grasses from taking over the yard, make sure that sticky viney weed doesn't take over the roses, prune the dead branches from the old plum tree, find the birds' watering dish in the bushes and fill it with water, plant those drought-resistant plants along the front walk, find the milk delivery on the front porch instead of the back, fill the fountains and set up the solar sprays, notice the pee spots made by the neighbor boy dog and clean them, get all the lint out of the laundry room, egg the boys on toward painting the house, and all the other mighty and powerful things I do?

And more important, who would provide a lap for Hansel's chin to rest on and who would clean off Roxie's eye boogers and rub their special secret places that only we know about?

Yesterday I spent some time engrossed in the offerings at Jon's. There is a whole aisle of foods from countries that I can't figure out. I know there is the usual Mexican and Asian group. There's also Russian and Mid-Eastern and some others. This isn't considered a gourmet aisle, either - they appear to be staples in local diets. The store is filled with non-English speaking families picking up daily vegetables like a marketplace. Yesterday, I noticed frozen cactus leaves and guava paste. It's really run down looking - not your suburban bleached grocery - but I realized yesterday that there are always lines when I go there. The store must be a real money-maker for the chain.

The air is pretty soupy. I hope I'm breathing in June Gloom and not smog.