on se casse

I thought I might be doing other things tonight (art shows with quiet friends or lying in bed watching Amélie) but I'm doing the best thing, the kind of best thing that you wouldn't think of doing but someone asks of you and it's like a good vegetable. A tasty one, really. I'm babysitting my FIVE MONTH OLD nephew. I can't believe he's been around for five sweet months and in six months I'm probably going to move far away. Ugh.

He smells sweet and is all soft chubby baby and some days (namely today) he's tired and must be held ALL THE TIME and you can't hold him and sit down. No. You must hold him and stand up. So you turn on an Otis Redding internet radio station so while you hold him in your arms you can dance and "lalala" along to all the soulful music and he'll join in with "ahhhhhuuuummmmmmoooooo."

Yesterday I remembered that the back seat of the mom van (babies and vans and I'm not even dating anyone) was folded into a bed....Or a bench to sit on! I grabbed my drawing pad, drove up the mountain, parked with the trunk facing the valley. Sitting in the back, protected from the wind, I looked out at whatever...you know, pretty late afternoon suns over mountains and a lake and a little town....I drew a volcano.