On my recent two-week trip to San Francisco I forgot to leave the air conditioner on. Its kind of mandatory this time of year to avoid damage to things.

After a week of 110+ temperatures my studio was quite warm when I returned. It took 15 hours to cool it back down. I had a package waiting from Amazon containing Vanilla and Almond Extract. When I unwrapped them the bottles were almost too hot to touch.

What I failed to notice for a couple of days were the candles in my gold candlesticks. They were from Point a la Ligne in Paris and had musical notes circling up the sides. One gave up, started to melt and fell to the floor. But the other one put up a fight. It stayed attached at the base and drooped into a lovely swan dive.

***

The Last Temptation of Me

• Helping the More Fortunate
• Do They Know It’s Christmas?
• Ithaca!
• A Horse With No Name
• The Blackened Snapper Is To Die For
• Come Together
• Pilgrimage On The 75% Off Trail
• The Ancient Cohachellian Art of Cacti Arranging
• Popsicle Sheers
• Life Is Strife
• Life Is Strife: Addendum
• Casting My Net
• Where Seldom Is Heard
• Desert Sage
• Jackie’s Tears
• Cancer, and My Name Is Larry
• Me and Mr. B
• On Milkshakes
• Learning Curve
• Dunbar’s Last Stand
• Tale of Two Cows
• Barstow Barista Boys
• The Season of the Donald
• Visions of San Jacinto
• Hackneying Hockney
• On My Way to Ralphs
• Gaydom’s Gump
• Goodbye to All of That
• The Final Salvo