Well, Happy Saturday.

It is very sunny right now — and this will allegedly be the final moment of sunshine that we’re gonna see for the next 10 days or so.

I guess we’ll find out.

I do have some flowers getting ready to bloom in the backyard. And my ancient dogwood tree is also getting ready to bloom out there.

And the kittens will be one year-olds on Easter Sunday!!

Remember this unbelievable surprise that surprised me on my kitchen porch in the wee hours of April 5th last year??? And how it sort of irreparably changed my life??

Anyway. My point is that it really is starting to be Spring around here.

So that feels good.

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There is not much to report today. (I mean, assuming you’re tuning out everything in the “global news”.)

Later today, my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s daughter arrives from Seattle, so her visit gets under way today. (Although, she won’t arrive until after I’ve gone home.)

But we’re ready! I didn’t need to buy any groceries for him yesterday. And the private nurse had done a bunch of housecleaning before she left town. So there wasn’t anything I needed to do yesterday except my usual stuff. Cook for him, make him his coffee, hang out with him and chat. (And, well, a tiny glass of the pre-mixed Vodka cocktail and the Pringles Mingles!! We were, after all, celebrating his daughter’s almost imminent arrival!)

Oh, and this happened yesterday.

And I have to add, here, that the Agency I work for is a really, really great Agency. For so many reasons.

When I got to my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man’s house yesterday, there was a card waiting for me, tucked inside his back screendoor.

It was a handwritten note from my supervisor, who had stopped in the other day to pick up my monthly paperwork. I had briefly gone over with her some things I had done to try to make the daughter’s upcoming visit a smooth one.

The note from my supervisor was thanking me for “going above & beyond” for the client and his daughter, and for being a special part of the Agency.

Wow, you know? And what does it take — like, 5 minutes to do something like that? But it meant the world to me.

So, even though I so wish I could retire and just focus on the writing again, it is a great company to work for. I always, always, always feel appreciated.

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All right.

So it turns out that yesterday was National Joe Day!

I had never heard of it, but it turns out it’s an actual thing. It celebrates guys & gals named Joe! (Or Jo.)

So here’s this!

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And I loved this! What a great photo!

From the recent “Wild God” Tour of Australia, in Sydney. Nick Cave on the jumbo screen, overlooking the backup singers onstage:

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And that is actually it!

I’m looking forward to sort of an easy, sunny Saturday today, gang.

Both proofs — the eBook and print proofs — for The Curse of Our Profound Disorder were sent to me yesterday afternoon by the publisher and they both look great. So that feels good. A novel that’s been in me since 1998 is finally going to be in print.

And so I’m just gonna try to not stress about anything today and let the world happen however it’s meant to happen.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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I leave you with this!

This was so strange — around 3AM, I was just coming out of a dream, and the voice in my head was singing these specific lyrics, and I knew every word but I couldn’t figure out what the song was, since I was still half-asleep:

“Baby’s gotta have the things she wants.
You know she’s gotta have the things she loves.
She’s got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I’m doing everything just tryin’ to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.”

Then the chorus came:

“Why do you have to say that there’s always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don’t you think that I know that walking on the water
won’t make me a miracle man?”

And then my whole being smiled, gang. “Miracle Man”, by Elvis Costello!! 1977.

The very same song that made me stay home sick from school the moment I first heard it, because I needed to hear that song (that whole album — My Aim is True) over and over and over!! I could not be bothered with school!

So that is the song I’ve been singing around here all morning today!! I share it with you now.

Enjoy, gang! I still do!!

“Miracle Man”

You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin’ on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who’d come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it’s the way that you walk.

[Chorus]:
Why do you have to say that there’s always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don’t you think that I know that walking on the water
won’t make me a miracle man?

Baby’s gotta have the things she wants.
You know she’s gotta have the things she loves.
She’s got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I’m doing everything just tryin’ to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.

[Chorus]

I hear they’re givin’ you a bad reputation
just because you’ve never been denied.
You try to say you’ve done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don’t know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I’m the one who’s here tonight,
and I don’t wanna do it all in vain.

[Chorus]

c – 1977 Elvis Costello