Good Morning! Well, Morning!, anyway.

Some mornings are more interesting than others. Mine began slowly, as I was up too late last night helping Phil build a prop. This morning, Glady had to get ready for a field trip to the zoo, in addition to all the other morning stuff. So, let's see... hat, water bottle, lunch, snacks, money for souveneirs, binoculars, jacket... can't find the sunscreen, but it is overcast and likely to stay that way. On to the rest of the morning routine. Snacks for Juliet and lunch for Dad. Breakfast, vitamins, coffee and chocolate milk. So far, so good.

Then the bus shows up almost ten minutes early, with Phil and I wrangling with Juliet (who was dilly-dallying and needed a little push to finish tidying her room). Fortunately Glady caught it and ran screaming out into the driveway, "Bus! Bus!"

So I grabbed Juliet's backpack and ran out... but where was Juliet? The bus driver called an apology for her early arrival... still no Julie. Finally, she come running out, still sniffing because she was in trouble and because she almost missed the bus. After the girls got on the bus I heaved a big sigh of relief, fed Phil and the baby, and started to pack the show.

The new trick Phil put in Good Friends, Bad Bullies involves a sharp-shooting duck with a water squirter, so now my morning involves being squirted at by a giant thumb, a rubber duck (like a rubber chicken, not the cute bath toy) and finally, a little bottle that could be concealed in his hand. You know you are a magician's wife when there is a rubber duck drip-drying in your bathtub.

Show packed, Phil preparing himself, I go out to load the truck. Well, Dad used it last night to transport bees and didn't take them out this morning. So now, my morning involves dealing with about 30-40 sleepy, grumpy, confused bees clustered on the tailgate. They all fall off on the driveway and lay there humming sullenly when I open it. (Gingerly, with a giant leap backwards as I release the catch.) I unload all the equipment with no incidents and go on to get loaded with Phil's stuff.

As I re-enter the house I notice that Pippa has lost her pants somewhere and is now dressed in shirt, panties, and a gold lame cape because "some magicians wear capes to do tricks". OK. Moving on. I load the bunny and what not in the front, then go around to the back where I have left open the cap hoping the last bees would leave. They are mostly gone, with only a half dozen wandering around inside, still confused and lost. As I am loading, one orbits my head briefly, but not hostilely, and then two land on my head. The one in my hair departs quickly, the one on my forehead has taken up residence. I try to think calm thoughts, knowing that the smell of fear will upset her. Finally, I end up spending three minutes walking around the garden smelling flowers before she bumbles off me.

Well, the day has hardly begun. Hopefully the rest of it will be peaceful... but not likely!