There's Even Cactus Growing on Balconies Here

Still sick, but it's been a great day or so. Had sooo much fun at the roller derby watching our friend and Clarion student Betsy Hasman, aka, Venus Dynamite kick some ass on skates. I had no idea how much skill was involved in roller derby, and by the end of the night I was a major convert to it. Them jammers gots some wicked skills. Alas, I was such a moron I left the memory card out of my camera, so you have to make do with this canned photo.Clarion student Catherine Cheek was also there, and we gave her her NW copy for placing in the contest. A wonderful time, even if I seeing it through a haze of flu-ness.Today we visited the desert museum and saw this, among other things:The funniest thing, though, was a kind of cut-away glass area of a beaver's dam. A little button turned on a light so you could see the beaver. Ann stood in front of the dark window and pushed the button. The light came on. The damn beaver was so big in the glass she couldn't see it. So she starts looking to the side of the beaver and I had to tell her, "No--that's the beaver." LOL. Now, as I'm writing this, she's saying to me, "Jeff--that thing was big. It was blocking the light. That's why I couldn't see the beaver."tonight I gave the keynote speech on creativity to librarians and others here at the Hilton. They laughed in all the right places and seemed to really enjoy it. I know I'm really enjoying them, as is Ann.Jeff