Written last night:
Dear Friends,

We are back — Zing! has barely moved from the couch, tired from his stay at Grateful Dog, and I had a normal day after almost a week of Christmas in Miami.

On the flight back yesterday I read Michelle Obama’s autobiography, seatbelt fastened the whole way because it was a bumpy, rainy flight. The air was clear when we landed and the moon was big and yellow. My neighbor Sandy picked me up at the airport near midnight. 

Miami was stone crabs and snapper and black beans; English spoken with a Spanish accent and Spanish with an American accent (sometimes), more construction cranes than buildings on the skyline; sand flies and even mosquitoes; a few sailboats on the bay; watching the palm trees shuffle their fronds in the wind; treasured times with family and friends. Mitch Kaplan, owner of my favorite bookstore (Books & Books) looked harried and his curly hair is now gray,

Today I woke up surprisingly early, went to the gym, and then toured backstage at the Capitol with a friend of Sandy’s, an advisor to a legislative committee on the environment. She showed us all the regular rooms, but with a knowing side patter. Senate chambers are red and Assembly is green, California has 58 counties (Ohio has 88, right?), there is an old and a new part of the Capitol, and the floors don’t match, so you have to take different elevators, Senate bills have goldenrod covers, outgoing governor Jerry Brown played it close to the vest, everyone is waiting to see who the new governor Gavin Newsom names as aides, and it’s still not certain whether he’ll take up residence in the Governor’s Mansion or commute to the Capitol from his home in San Francisco. 

My Christmas tree is still alive. Sacramento is colder than Miami, and I’m glad to be home.

Love,

k

Bill Baggs State Park, Key Biscayne,  FL

California Assembly chambers