Today's cartoon: "I'm from --insert 'safe' place-name here--."

From this morning's Tucson newspaper:

Remember how it was popular for a while, among Americans traveling in Europe, to put a Canadian patch on their backpacks? They hoped to be seen as 'friendlier,' or perhaps 'less politically offensive'...

Now AZ residents (known in the SW as 'zonies' in other states...kind of like people from Maine are 'mainiacs' elsewhere in New England) are starting to feel that being known as someone from the Grand Canyon State is a similar liability. (Any of you catch the big article in last week's TIME magazine re: Arizona's loco-status?...not to mention how comedians and news commentators are having a field-day with AZ...)

By the way, if you're going to put a Canadian Maple Leaf on your backpack, you have to know some basic Canadian facts.
--They speak French up there?!
--Stephen WHO? Harper. Yes, Harper. He's their national leader. No--not a king--nor a president. A prime minister. Yes, a 'prime minister.'
--Queen Elizabeth II is also technically the Queen of Canada.
--It's "Canada," not "Canadia."

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After two weeks of pneumonia--only the 'walking' variety--I am up and running again.

Tomorrow my wife and I head up to Seattle--a quick trip to attend a dear friend's wedding.
Alas, to leave the sunny 70-degrees of a Tucson February for the rainy 40's of the Emerald City--the only reason to go up there this time of year would be a dear friend's wedding...

Winter has done its damage down here too though--several nights of temps in the teens last week--thousands of homes here were left without water (frozen pipes) and also no heat--too high of a gas demand! Prickly pear cacti have been decapitated by the rare cold and any remaining citrus fruit on the trees has turned into pithy mush...