It's a beautiful day. I woke up this to birds singing and Piper Sue deciding that it was time for breakfast. At 6:30. I tried to convince her that it wasn't time to wake up yet. Hell, the baby hadn't started crying yet. It was time to embrace this delicious opportunity to sleep! Piper sighed. And flopped her self across my legs. With as much weight as possible. Because I'm stubborn, I slept for a few more minutes. Then the baby started crying. I turned to my right to see if their other mother wanted to do breakfast duty. And found an adorably solidly sleeping woman.

So, it was my turn. Which meant that I had to find clothes.

Ten minutes later, Piper's belly was full, Bella had a full Buster cube and was gleefully flinging it about her kennel and Piper and I were happily curled up together and on our way back to dream land.

A while later, Piper and I got up (Bella and Shelley had been up for hours - i have no idea what Shelley does in those utterly avoidable morning hours) and I set off for work. Which today, was code for getting my hair done. This hair takes a while. It involves bleaching, washing, dyeing and cutting. I'm not entirely sure what all Leah does, but I know it's magic. When I skip back down the stairs to the store my hair is glowing literally. I think somehow she infuses it with actual light.

Now, the day is still beautiful and I'm looking forward to spending part of the evening at Jack's birthday party. Hampden is a pretty solid community. One of the pillars of the community is a lovely many named Jack. He has lived in Hampden for more than 30 years. Today is his 75th birthday. Last year there was a city wide proclamation honoring his birthday. This year, he has a special crown and a party and a big ole banner on the street. Years ago, Jack created a job for himself. He walks the neighborhood every day, checks in with the merchants and spreads the word about new businesses, old businesses moving or closing, upcoming events all kinds of good stuff. If you want any info distributed around the neighborhood, you just pass it on to Jack and the job is done. He calls himself the nosiest man in Hampden. One of the local merchants, Alta, is a fabulous, fun artist. She (with the help of the folks from Red Tree) has made him an assortment of pins with 3D noses. Today, he's wearing a baseball cap with a gold crown attached. The crown is bedecked with a nose at every point and sparkly jewels. The cap itself is decorated with pink flamingos and rhinestones. It's pretty fucking fabulous.

Jack has made himself an indispensable part of this community. Last year I was required to dress up and sing him happy birthday. Luckily, they learned their lesson and there is no repeat performance....