NERD ALERT

 Let's see how many nerds are out there.

SLIGHT SATURDAY SNOWFALL

 

33 degrees Fahrenheit right now (9:00 a.m.)

Which means it could turn into Snain, then Sleet, then Rain

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

The weekend is upon us, Gentle Readers.

Speaking of that, I'm a little over a hundred pages into Hamnet.

What are you reading these days?

While you conjure up a good answer, let's get down to the business of the day, shall we?

 

And with that rather lame pun I bid you a fine weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

TRAVELIN'

 One of the bloggers I've begun following fairly recently, Tasker Dunham in Yorkshire, posted the other day a review of a book he'd just read, "The Great Railway Bazaar" by Paul Theroux.

I think it was the first of many books he wrote about travel and, specifically, railroad travel.

It was published back in the 1970's and I had read it shortly after it came out.

All of which put me into Throwback Mode and reminded me of a photo of Judy and I when we were doing our railroad travel in Europe in 1985.

(Lordy, lordy, that was 37 years ago!)

On one leg of our Eurail adventure I inveigled someone to take a photo of us as we were about to board a train.

In my faded memory it was a train called the Orient Express, though it wasn't that Orient Express but a new train named that, no doubt, for the impressionable American tourists.

But, though my memory was that there was a sign on the outside of the train car carrying that name, I find no evidence of it in the surviving photo.

But there we are, anyway, about to join fellow passengers on a train that ran from Paris, France to Salzburg, Austria, at least.

We were both train buffs and became enamored of the trains that shuttled us around Europe for a few weeks.

I remember a marvelous meal with wine in a dining car between Innsbruck, Austria and Florence, Italy.

I recall the wonderfully scenic trip through the Alps going to Innsbruck.

And seeing the beautiful golden mustard fields around Dijon, France while speeding our way on a bullet train from the Mediterranean coast up to Paris.

Those were good times and while we never achieved our aim of getting back to Europe we made many memories to last a lifetime in that glorious month of April, 1985.

(Some memories are fuzzier than others but . . .)

WET

 

It's a gray and rainy day in my part of Arizona.

A good day to stay inside by the fire.

WAFFLING

 Yesterday morning my wife commanded me to come to her room and bring my camera, pronto!

Being as she is She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO), I responded with alacrity.

Also with my camera.

She directed me to her slider door and said "Look at these clouds."

I did and this is what I saw, peeping over our neighbors' HVAC unit.

Waffle Clouds!

The odd and unusual pattern, we surmised, must have resulted from contrails left by many aircraft passing high over our turf.

We are in an area that sees planes overhead flying into and out of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

And a little to the left of this mix, there was proof of our theory.

The sighting of those "waffle clouds" had an effect on me.

Early this morning I went to our freezer and pulled out a previously baked item for my morning breakfast.

(In answer to Robin's post yesterday, that gives me "hope". 😘)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Am I late or are you early?

A Friday enigma.

Whatever the solution, it is time for the weekly Cavalcade of Comedy from Catalyst!

So here goes.

That last one is for the groaners.

You know who you are.

I hope you all know who you are on this bright, shiny weekend and that you will expend all energy to enjoy it to the fullest.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Oh, yeah, I've felt like that a few times . . .)