Oh, and another observation Mojo has recently made, and now shares with you so that you can maybe learn from her bitter mistakes: If you and your Favorite Husband (or whatever companion of your choosing) should have dinner in a decent enough Greek restaurant, and your Favorite Husband should order something but decide he doesn't want the cole slaw that comes with it for some reason.....Just Order the Stupid Cole Slaw, okay?

Because when you tell the waitress, "That's okay, don't bother with the cole slaw, just bring me a side of green beans" do you know what will happen? What happens is, the owner of the restaurant--who is a very nice, well-meaning Greek man, but STRAIGHT OUT OF My Big Fat Greek Wedding--will come to your table and ask, "What for you not want cole slaw? Is good cole slaw! I make it myself!" and then Mojo gets the entertainment of watching her Favorite Husband stammeringly defend those Proud People of His Who Choose Not to Eat Cole Slaw. Of course his defenses were very soon struck to the ground by our Greek friend, who assumed my Favorite Husband's dislike of cole slaw was some sort of mental aberration he had never encountered before in life, judging by his open-mouthed, stunned disbelief and his constant assertions of "But is good cole slaw! I make it myself!" no matter what the argument.

Of course Mojo didn't help much by privately and quietly suggesting behind the restaurant owner's back (again, the famous Mojo Cowardice) her Favorite Husband should have taken another tack aside from his whiny "I'm sorry, sir, I just don't like cole slaw" defense. Mojo dearly wanted her Favorite Husband to Be a Man For Once and say something along the lines of "Cole slaw? Hah! I SPIT in your cole slaw!" in a sort of faux Greek accent just to see what would happen. Mojo thought it might be fun to enjoy a floor show with her meal. But nooooo, he wouldn't do it. Not even for a WHOLE DOLLAR. Although to his credit the thought did make him laugh very hard and it became our Running Gag for the rest of the trip. ("My, what a lovely view!" "View? Hah! I SPIT on your view!")

And then we came home it was to a very relieved doggie named Rosie. My Favorite Parents took care of her and fed her all the wrong things, and then my Favorite Younger Sister looked in on her one morning when the Favorite Parental Units had the nerve to go out gallivanting. She sent me this cell phone picture, which as it turns out I didn't get for several days owing to my general stupidity of forgetting my charger, blah blah blah. Anyway I thought this illustration of Doggie Desperation was a fitting coda to our idyll in the mountains, at least as a gentle reminder to Mojo that, while she might be enjoying life, others are not as fortunate as she:

"Uhhh--they ARE coming back, right?"