Sedona Donuts

Girl Junior got it in her head that we were going to Sedona for donuts, so, when we got here, we went to get some. It is now the next morning, and she is finishing her donut, sitting on our hotel bed watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." She's not crazy about the part where the squirrels put Baruca (Veruca?) down the garbage chute.

Girl Junior slept just fine in a small extra bed in the room last night, wheeled in. It was fairly low to the floor, so a good trial run to see how she does with no sides keeping her from rolling out. That bodes well for travel, a great deal of which lies ahead for her and Girl Senior this month.

So, within what as far as I know is just the past several months, three of five siblings have lept into the tense, stringy embrace of the guitar, in Dad's footsteps. In my case, it has been just the past couple weeks, since Father's Day. But I now have some functional calluses, so I am off and running.

A word or two about Dad's six-string footsteps... I am probably the only sibling who has actual memory of Dad's shirt with the sunset sewn on the back of it. We sang along to a lot of guitar when I was a kid -- I remember really enjoying this. Dad playing, all of us singing. Not sure when I "got too old for that"... I don't think I remember doing this much past maybe... No idea... Age ten or so? Not sure.

The songs we sang..."M.T.A.", "Froggie Went a Courtin'" (before I even knew why it was funny to call him a horny toad), "Pick a Little Talk a Little/ Good Night Ladies", "Tom Dooley"... "My Name is Jan Janssen"... Hmmm... "Day-O (The Banana Boat song)". OK, gang, what songs am I forgetting?

Yes, I am trying to go home.