DAY 13

Another sunny day.
After breakfast, I headed for the 27 bus stop where I was soon accosted by a woman with high anxiety. She shared her foodbank grapes [quite good], gave me a foodbank orange [I didn't eat it], and we talked for a bus and a half until she got off. We both laughed like a couple of old friends when I almost fell over when moving to make room for someone else to sit down. She is a Christian, born near Baton Rouge Louisiana and was living there when I was. She has a couple of kids and takes the youngest to pre-school using the buses.

Downtown Phoenix is undergoing construction for a "light rail" system. Joy told me that the locals are having fits about it as it will benefit the tourists only and knock out the more favored bus stops. [More about this after I get home]. What appears to be well and good sometimes is dressing provided by big business. And anything that is good for big business happens. I think that the locals should have been consulted about the light rail idea.

It took four buses [the fourth because of my impulsivity] and several hours to get to Joy's home in Scottsdale. The living room was pleasantly cool. I was delighted to find two dumpies [her son's] in the living room along with some fish, and a snake and a coupla scorpions on the back porch.

We drank hazelnut coffee and chatted for an hour. Joy makes beautiful rope bead necklaces-- exquisite-- and they should be on display, winning prizes, and commanding 250 dollars apiece or more. Politics [recently the San Francisco mayor declared his city to be a haven for illegals and Bush and more] and paganism [working circles and bitchcraft and more] is what was on our minds. I found Joy to be amiable and comfortable.

We hopped a bus to Scottsdale Old Town where Joy pointed out landmarks, we went to art galleries, and then to a pub for lunch. We both had reubens. I had the fries and she had the salad. The place was filled with Green Bay Packers [quit laughing Jer] memorabilia and a sign over the door of Molly's stated "Wisconsin spoken here."

We walked somemore, stopped at the pink and white striped retro Sugarbowl for ice cream, and then bussed back to Scottsdale. I got my three buses back to the hotel. I was dead tired so no meeting. Didn't feel like eating either so Gatorade sufficed.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I discovered it had been invaded by aliens in blue shirts-- a barbershop quartet convention had come to town. It may be that tomorrow night there will be some demonstration of singing other than what was occuring impromptu in the hallway.

sapphoq n friends