Clear skies and sunshine this Sunday afternoon on California’s north coast, but the beauty of it well-tempered by a chilly ocean breeze.

Also my first post in nearly a week — a rare lengthy space without a new Compatible Creatures.
Next month, Creatures will be 9-years-old with 2.491 posts published as of last Tuesday, and along with being a shitload of fun, a hobby/time-consumer, which for a single old guy, carries much weight.
Creatures carries a staff of one, who makes a hearty-attempt to produce at least one daily post for the work week, Monday through Friday, a schedule as a personal goal, a holdover from my long-ago ‘professional‘ journalism days — sort of a deadline scenario.

A wonderful week-long visit from a daughter overshadowed a Creatures’ narrative…

(Illustration: Pablo Picasso’s ‘The Frugal Meal,’ found here).

As should such a time — she’s working on her doctorate degree in cultural studies at UC Merced, down in the San Joaquin Valley, and fell in love with the North Coast. We made the rounds, from Trinidad, to Arcata, to the Redwoods, along the way enjoying some good restaurants.
And spent a most-marvelous afternoon ‘scrapping‘ more than three-decades worth of family photographs — five kids growing up makes for a whole-lot of pictures.
A short visit, which seemed to have flashed past in a way-way hurry.
In fact, she was the subject of a post last November at Creatures in a story about a stabbing rampage by a student on the UCMerced campus. He was shot and killed by police.

Hence, no time this past week for any kind of Compatible Creatures.
Although there have been several occasions in the past where due to some outside influences, like no Internet a couple times last year, like when my two laptops got stolen three years ago, or the more-recent when my oldest daughter was involved in a bad car crash in January (she’s fine, back at work), there’s never been a conscientious desire to not create a daily post for the Creatures.
Until last week.

So there’s the story of behind the mystery behind the missing three-days worth of posts. I fully understand there’s absolutely-no ripple across the InterWebs due to it — the number of regular visitors to Compatible Creatures can be found partially on the hand of a tiny, tender baby.
And what’s really happened since last Tuesday? The same horrible shit, only worse.

Perk up, Monday’s only hours away…