Tucson – Nine Day Winter
Flossie – The Fly
A week ago I adopted a fly from FlyFinders.com. I’ve been without a pet since Amber Dog died two years ago, and I can’t bear the thought of replacing her. Flossie flew into our lives through the open screen door. She knew exactly where Richard and I live.
Sweet Flossie, a gray fly with a pink nose, does not need to be walked or groomed. A few toast crumbs for breakfast satisfies her simple diet. Leftover bits of food on the kitchen counter please her, and she uses her front legs to brush her face when done eating.
“Don’t land on the cutting board, Flossie,” I told her. “I know your feet are clean, but flies can pick up germs.”
On Wednesday, Flossie disappeared for hours. She wasn’t walking on the floor or sitting by the sink. I began to worry.
“Richard, did you kill my fly?” I asked the man who drowns pack rats and mice caught in the Have-A-Heart trap.
“No,” he laughed, “I didn’t kill your fly.”
Flossie revived my memory of going to the butcher shop with Auntie Alice when I was a kid. I would sit on the window ledge while Alice talked to the meat cutters. The window had dozens of dead flies with silver wings and black noses. Having nothing much else to do except wait, I would pick up a fly and pinch off its nose. The noses separated as if they were only screwed to the body.
My pet fly is wild and fast. Flossie’s not pesty like flies that buzz your ears or want to taste your sweat. I’ve tried to capture her under a glass, but she gets away. She’ll land close by and stare in wonder as I concoct breakfast. I’ve opened the screen door inviting her to the grassy yard. Flossie likes the air-conditioned rooms and tiled floors.
On Thursday, Flossie went missing again. She was not in the kitchen. I shrugged and acknowledged her independence. After all, who wouldn’t love flying through these cool rooms with high ceilings? Sadness came the next day when I dust mopped the floors. Behind the bathroom door lay Flossie’s still gray body with its pink nose. Sad to say good-bye to such a cute, perky fly.
* * *
I Can Honestly Say. . .
I can honestly say I looked like a million
when I wore the carnelian necklace
With the Fred Leighton black cotton dress
I bought in Puerta Vallarta
When I had a straight up and down french fry figure.
I can honestly say I wish the hotel maid
had not taken the necklace as her own.
She did not know or care I spent good money
to buy the piece at Brentano’s on 5th Avenue.
Does she look svelte wearing a black dress and my necklace?
I can honestly say the carnelians will bolster
the maid’s desire for prosperity
Increase her creativtiy, guard against poverty, and
if she continues to steal, the stones
Will not protect her unexpected afterlife.
Flower Photos
Yellowstone Photos
I took a few photos with an Olympus Stylus camera. If you want to see Yellowstone in all its splendor, the wildlife you most want to see lives in the back country, which is far from the road most traveled.
Yellowstone
In the first week of June 2012, Yellowstone rewarded us with clean air, bison, geysers, hot springs, endless vistas, and best of all, open roads. Since we couldn’t talk to the animals, the rangers, guides, and staff filled our knowledge cup. Their stories sent my sister dreaming about how she might have a pet bison and escape a Tucson summer. Not interested in mosquito bites or being polite in 6-hour shifts, I nixed the room for two. I would be bored after a few hikes and bike rides, and no WiFi! If a bear chased me, how fast could I run?
At the Grant Village Visitor Center I saw “Louisville” stamped on an employee’s badge. Louisville – Cousin Joe owns King’s Shoe Repair in Louisville. John lifted his right foot and began talking about his loafers.
-See these shoes? They’re ten years old, and I love them. . . always take them to King’s for new heels and soles. John and his wife work the summer circuit, live in their RV, and make happy talk with visitors.
Chris met Daisy from Mesa, AZ working a cash register. Daisy has a cool $25 a week room with shared bath. She pays aThe first week of June Yellowstone rewarded us with clean air, bison, geysers, hot springs, endless vistas, and best of all, open roads. Since we couldn’t talk to the animals, the rangers, guides, and staff filled our knowledge cup. Their stories sent my sister dreaming about how she might have a pet bison and escape a Tucson summer. Not interested in mosquitos bites or being polite in 6-hour shifts, I nixed the room for two. I would be bored after a few hikes and bike rides, and no WiFi! If a bear chased me, how fast could I run?
At the Grant Village Visitor Center I saw “Louisville” stamped on an employee’s badge. Louisville – Cousin Joe owns King’s Shoe Repair in Louisville. John lifted his right foot and began talking about his loafers.
-See these shoes? They’re ten years old, and I love them. . . always take them to King’s for new heels and soles. John and his wife work the summer circuit, live in their RV, and make happy talk with visitors.
Chris met Daisy from Mesa, AZ working a cash register. Daisy has a cool $25 a week room with shared bath. About $50/ week for 3-meals a day in the employee’s cafeteria. A ride to Bozeman, five dollars. Escaping Arizona politics until late September would save any normal person a cranial stress fracture.
The first night, Nick from Atlanta took care of our dinner at the Old Faithful Inn. A broadcasting and creative writing major, he wants a career in comedy. Nick’s goal: Write for Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or SNL. When he sent Zanterra his job application, he included a photo. Good looking, beautiful eyes – who would refuse?
We drove to Lake Yellowstone Hotel (built 1889-1891) for a lunch. Poor Kevin, the season had just begun, and he mets us on a rather quiet day. Richard orders a salmon wrap with french fries. Chris bites a fry and says, these are cold! Would you bring us some hot fries? We don’t see Kevin for a while. I tasted the wrap – dry salmon right out of a can mixed with white rice, corn, green pepper bits, and fresh spinach. (If only I had my Waterpik!) Let’s get everything out of the wrap and on to the plate. Richard folded the giant tortilla in a triangle and wrote Help in ketsup. Kevin brought the hot fries.
Richard – I suggest you tell the chef to add lemon juice, maybe some mayo, to give the salmon some moisture. The wrap is really dry.
Kevin – That’s a good idea.
Chris works at a resort hotel and knows about temperamental chefs. She laughs at the idea of Kevin giving the chef a suggestion.
– He just started his job. He’s not going to tell the chef anything. Not if he wants to work at the Yellowstone Hotel through the summer. The chef will say,”Get the f*** out of my kitchen before I break your legs.”
Memo to Chef – Google a recipe for tzatziki. The veggie pita promises tzatziki and doesn’t deliver. I’m far from Yellowstone, and you can’t break my legs.
* * *
June Day
June day with slow, lazy hours.
Books to skim looking for prologues,
maybe I’ll read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
Diane Trilling praises McCullers prior to Part One.
“In the town there were two mutes. . . . “
I have spent hours being mute
watching sparrows steal bits of bread from the doves.
Silently I read a recipe for pizza crust
and promise myself to sit in the living room tomorrow.
The living room is a dead room,
no one sits on the couches.
A striped, crafty cat stares as I walk by a dozen times a day or more.
come, sit and read to me.
Read to yourself on a June day.
Consider Writing 