Great day!

Yup it really is. Mysteriously... Magically... Seeing as how yesterday just sort of never ended and merged itself (not flawlessly) into today. It all started with a night train after a nice day with nice people. The train dumped me out in Simferopol, Crimea... In the middle of a blizzard. Rachel's here. Great to see her again. The first thing she did was force me to take a nap...at 5am... That's when the train arrived. Then she force-fed me some super yummy spicy sour Thai soup (I'm sure you didn't notice the absence of breakfast there...I mean, I did have it... A few minutes before lunch.) Then... Gasp... Rachel jammed this Belgian chocolate right down my throat... I fought bravely but am just no match for a 90 pound 4 foot tyrant like her... Nope... You Know Belgian Chocolate... Made in Belgium...the kind they say is the best in the world. (I haven't even noticed those 2 direct-from-Belgium boxes at the end of the table here to my right...and I would CERTAINLY never even DREAM of opening them to see what's going on inside...not even to make sure nothing's getting lonely or discouraged... Or cold or anything. Nope. Not me.)

But back to this being a mysteriously magically good day. As you may or may not know by now, a night train can never be represented by such a simple 2-word phrase. Not when little Anastasia is next door. Not when she howls half the night. Because Mom won't give her something. Because Mom won't let her run up and down the corridor. Because she bumped herself AGAIN because she won't hold still. Because it's blisteringly hot...even with the door open....even with a blanket on top of the heater...

Ah yes- it's a good day! :)