BIRTHDAY GIRL

This is kind of like forcing you to sit through our vacation pictures.

But.

How often do I get to show off a photo of my great-granddaughter?

Confronted with a cake on her first birthday, Alexis did what anyone would do. 

She piled right in.

And if you're wondering where she got that bright red hair, take your pick.

Here she is with her mother, Kayla, and dad, Russell.

I think you can see why I couldn't resist nicknaming him Rusty when he was about the age of his daughter.

SUNDAY SERENITY

A quiet and restful day.

Alternating between the Diamondbacks game and the PGA Golf Championship on the t.v.

S-l-o-w-l-y reading the New York Times.

Probably a nap somewhere in the afternoon.

Watching the clouds and hoping for rain. Fruitlessly, probably.

Day dreaming.

It's what a Sunday should be.

AN ADVANTAGE OF SLOTH

Since I've moved my desk over a couple of feet, I now have an unimpaired view of our bird bath. It gets a variety of visitors: goldfinches (nearly always in pairs), house finches, a rufous towhee (who likes to bathe as well as drink), the damnable doves, a rare robin, and this guy - a mountain jay.

He seems to be very nervous, jumping around, chirping, and not staying long.

To date, this is the only picture I've been able to get of him. He likes to jump from twig to twig in the tree just above the bird bath and then he moves down the trunk.

He seems to defy gravity, sometimes perching on the side of the tree with his head down, then quickly moving to another position. I mentioned my amazement at his tree-gripping ability to SWMBO the other day.

She said "He doesn't clip his toenails."

Hmmm. Why didn't I think of that?

SOMETHING SPECIAL

In this space I normally have the Friday Funnies, a collection of cartoons I've picked up (stolen) or had donated from various friends. But this week, I've got something different. You may have seen it on CBS News or on Facebook but whether you have or not I think you'll appreciate a story about a boy who just wants people to smile.

The regular Friday Funnies will be back next week but in the meantime, just keep a smile on your face. 

It's addictive.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Back we go, into the time machine once more. 

Back to the 1970's. 

The scene is a room in the supposedly-haunted old Connor Hotel, above the Spirit Room, in Jerome, Arizona.

Before the hotel was boutiqued.

In an unbearded moment.

Back when people still smoked cigarettes.

Back when men wore love beads.

And long hair.

And sideburns.

Pretty battered look, isn't it?

Here's a much more attractive one from roughly the same era.

The young and lovely She Who Must Be Obeyed, enjoying a glass of wine at a cabin at Kohl's Ranch.

High atop the dread Mogollon Rim.

Ain't she a looker?

Ah, the 70's.

HEAVY READING

As often as I visit the local library, you would have thought that I would have noticed this earlier.

But I only noticed it recently as I was driving away. I came back a few days later and snapped these pictures.

It's quite a nice sculpture and it couldn't be more appropriate as a welcome to a public library.

There's a plaque identifying the sculptor and the donor in front of the stack of books.

Rock solid charity.

TUESDAY TRAVELS

Today marks the last picture of the Shorts Tour from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, to Boissevain, Manitoba, Canada in the summer of 1988. Unlike the others, this photo was not taken at a state border.

No, Gentle Readers, this was one unscheduled stop when I spotted this sign at an intersection in South Dakota. 

As you will soon realize, I just had to stop.

White, South Dakota, is a city (?), population 485 in the 2010 census, named for an early settler, W.H. White. Thirteen-and-a-half miles away is Bruce, South Dakota, a city (?) with a population of 204 in the 2010 census. It was originally called Lee but was renamed in 1883.

Now most people probably wouldn't find that interesting but for a white boy named Bruce that intersection was nigh unto irresistable for yet another photo opportunity.

(Special thanks to the photographer for this series, the incomparable Judy, a.k.a. She Who Must Be Obeyed.)