A cactus meets a Scottish bear

My mum is doing better after a medical scare with her small colon. I flew into Tucson early Thursday morning and I leave tomorrow to head back to Seal Beach. I went for a long walk tonight to enjoy the desert night sky and listen to the coyotes howling in the distance. Next weekend I head to back to the center of action (aka Washington, DC) for a conference. There are quite a few positive things in the pipeline about my job but they are in the development stage so I will spare my loyal readers any further speculation until I have something more solid to report.