The pope is on the radish is what Ken said to me Friday night when I arrived at his house. I'm not sure what that means but my mother and I agreed that it pretty much means you're on your way out. Sure enough, to Molly's ultimate relief I'm sure, the pope finally gave it up. And now Prince Charles has to make last-minute changes in his wedding invitations (what an inconvenience!) and change the date of his wedding. My gosh what a center-of-attention kind of guy that pope turned out to be. Stealing Terry Schiavo's thunder, even.

But I managed to eke out a pleasant weekend anyway. I even cleaned my bathroom, an odious task. I finally gave the dogs my old toilet brush, the most coveted chew toy of all. Eeeeewww, gross, I hear you squeal. But Tess and Chances and I have been playing "where can I put it so you can't get it" for a year now. I bought a new, improved brush and keep it on top of the window in the bathroom, the only place I've discovered that Tess can't reach. So I left the old one in a lower spot and she triumphantly pranced into the living room with it. Jenica knows how she prances, ears cocked just right, tail wagging enthusiastically, front paws trotting high like a Tennessee walker's (my plastic horse named Chesapeake was a Tenn. walker, he was a palomino and I believe now lives in Naples, lucky horse). Anyway, she and Chances now share their new chew toy. Who can begrudge them something so proudly acquired. And such a cheap toy!

So I cleaned the bathroom, changed the bed, vacuumed Jack's horrible hair and brushed him on the deck (no, brushed him while he was on the deck, not brushed his deck). Then I watched 2 of the videos I had, one a Matt Damon Bourne flick. He's cute. The other was The Door in the Floor, with Jeff Bridges (who is getting less cute as he ages, looking more like his father. Who remembers Sea Hunt, where Lloyd Bridges wore swim trunks up to his navel? Only Molly, I'm guessing) and Kim Basinger, who is ethereally beautiful. Now I send them back and get two more, hopefully Neverland and another one I forget which. Surprise me. Sideways comes out in DVD tomorrow, I'll put that in my queue.

It rained all day on Sat., a perfect day to watch cooking shows and videos while having a gentle fire in the stove, eating popcorn and having your dog lie on top of you. Not a bad day. My sump pump came on, a great sign of spring--the permafrost is thawing. The frost line is about 7 feet down, so this is real progress. The mud is quite respectable this year. I muck through it to get to the car. It's boot-sucking mud and I'm having fun playing in it, trying to get rid of the deep ruts I made the last time I drove to the house. This is one of mud season's great pleasures, rearranging the mud. I had grosbeaks at the bird feeder, just one pair but they sure looked happy. While I was vacuuming the dogs started to bark, looking out the window. I looked too, and a wild turkey was walking up my driveway toward the house. When it heard the dogs it turned around and ran down the hill. They do look funny when they run. Later on I let Tess out and she flushed him out by the bird feeder, put him up into the woods. They look most impressive when they fly, they're really huge birds. When I told Ken about it he asked why I didn't shoot it. Well, I have no gun, that's really why.

Sunday dinner was quite the event. Visitors before dinner, visitors after dinner, then Bill's brother Carl arrived from Penn., a surprise visit. Bill and I don't really like Carl but Ken adores him so it was a really nice thing. Carl was surprisingly charming to me (he usually pretty much ignores me). He'll stay today and leave this afternoon. Ken is thrilled to have him there so it's very nice. Ken's foot is completely healed, as of Friday night. Ken asked if I would come tonight, though, to take another look at it. We showed it to Carl yesterday so I suspect this is really a social call, which is fine with me. Ken and I are so used to our daily visit that I'll continue to stop by a few times a week for a while, until he gets busier with his spring time chores and is out until dark.

Late to work this morning. These are hard days for me to get up at 6. I have no real excuse, just that my brother is dead. I told my boss this morning that this was a really hard time for my family. Her face actually expressed compassion for a moment, and she was very kind. She said it was a good time to put my head under the pillow and not come out. That's her way of saying she's sorry for my pain. She's an only child so has no idea of a sibling relationship, and is excused for this. She was kind, that's what counts. Tomorrow, I vow to be on time. It's embarrassing to be late so often. At least spring is here, slow, early, but here nevertheless. Ken had red-winged blackbirds at his feeder. I'm jealous, that's one of my favorite spring sounds, their trill.