Texas

Jeff's idea of posing for a picture. Actually, it's my idea of posing for a picture too. The more things to hide behind, the better. I had the best intentions of having my annual beer with Jeff and then moving on to a Booze Cruise around Manhattan, listening to Nick (who works part-time at Holly, Wood and Vine)'s band Jollyship the Whizzbang (it really is good). But I wussed out after my support group wussed out. None of us was brave enough to embark at 7 and stay on board, surrounded by supremely drunk people, till 11. And I definitely wasn't going to do it on my own. So Jeff and I had another beer, at Zum Schneider.

We talked about family, and the Tolstoyan axiom. We talked about Cyberspace, and who you meet, walking there. We talked about Texas, where Jeff's from, and Big Bend State Park, and camping. And he told a wonderful story about cycling last week in Toronto, at the blue lake full of herons and night herons (he does a very good night heron impersonation, all hunched over); about the yellow jackets in the money jar where people are encouraged to leave a dollar for the maintenance of the bike trail; about the stick he picked up to get rid of the yellow jackets, and the little chikadees that flitted around him and sat on his stick. He does a very good impersonation of a chikadee hopping up a stick, sideways, too. And about the man who came up close and said to him quietly, Uh, hi, are you Up or Down? I raised my eyebrow at him: that's what he said? I asked ...Yeah, Jeff said. Up or Down. Wasn't it maybe Top or Bottom?? A light goes on in Jeff's eyes...Yeah...

Later Jeff tips the yellow jackets out of the money jar just as two Japanese tourists ride up on their bikes in full lycra riding regalia. So Jeff, pursued by angry yellow jackets, yells at them in his best Texan, Y'all better hustle, 'cos I just messed up a yellow jacket nest! He's not sure if they understood or got away or not because he was running in the opposite direction.