Words I learned this month:

1. WatchDuty
2. Shaggy Dog Tale
3. Muffler Man
4. Petroglyph (ok, I knew what these were, but not the *specific* definition, which I wanted)
5. Desert trumpet
6. Saltgrass
7. Broom Snakeweed
8. Rubber Rabbitbrush
9. Goldenbush

Nice things in Joshua Tree

- The Boyscout Trail
- Panorama Loop
- Sawtooth Loop
- Black Lava Butte Trail
- Escondite Tranquilo
- The Tiny Pony Tavern
- Red Dog Saloon
- Pappy & Harriets

Hi friends,

I miss you but I can't spend another second on Instagram. I wonder if that's a non sequitur as I write it. Did IG ever fill that longing space between us?

Maybe. I moved* to LA in May and your memes, your vids, seeing you like under the GenderSauce posts has felt akin to watching Gossip Girl and having tea on your couch. Easy. Comforting. I AM a soft animal, too, we've mumbled/tapped.

I missed that this month. I was out in Joshua Tree with friends when we started getting alerts about high winds in LA. We downloaded WatchDuty. I read the app's legend to understand what the pink shading over my bungalow meant. Within 24 hours, a friend threw my hard drive, passport, portrait of my Grandma, and Ernie into her car and came and met us. Who wanted to wait and see if the fire would jump the 101?

I ended up spending most of January in the desert. This is a privilege, I know. It also felt necessary. I landed in Rimrock in a bnb someone had just flipped and listed after its original owner died. They called it "rustic," "a time-capsule." It _is_ quite charming. There are big windows, a kitchen table perfect for playing cards, a wood-burning fireplace. The dead man's boots were still in the closet.

Caught somewhere between the care a man once put into cleaning that sink, the generosity the hosts showed me, and its morbid existence made possible only by second-home fiefdom, VC-funded software, and Instagram aesthetics, I anxiously followed the headlines coming after the inauguration. 🙃 Ernie padded the cold tile meowing at "what better not be fucking ghosts" on top of it all.

This brings us back to it. Instagram doesn't feel like a couch anymore. Maybe it's a bit extreme, maybe I only do this once, but rather than post another story, another photo to the propaganda machine, I thought I'd try to make something.

The grief is big. I don't have words for the fires in LA. Have too many words for what's happening in "politics." I do have a list of words I learned, some photos, a few nice things I think are worth sharing.

I miss you and wish we could go on a walk together and talk.

Please tell me what's on your mind.

Do you have a shaggy dog tale? Text me about it.

First solo hike!!