A WATERCOLOR SKY AND ???

Mother Nature has had her paintbrush out again.

The latest from Wacky Wally:

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.

ADIOS, 2020

SLAP-HAPPY SATURDAY

Lacking any wisdomatical thoughts to blog about today I resorted to a blogger's fallback.

My photo files.

In a true Sisyphean manner, I began to push the boulder of inspiration.

And I came up with this:

The ugliest dog in the world, as we named him after he slunk up to us on a beach in Mexico.

Unless I'm wrong, he's one of a variety of hairless dogs known as Xoloitzuintles.

They are celebrated in ceramic in the state of Colima where they are known as Colima Dogs.

They've been found in burial sites in both the Toltec and the Mayan cultures.

But they were also considered to be delicacies at the dinner table so you might wonder why these two are dancing.

This guy, a dear departed member of the BRD's family, obviously is not one of the hairless variety.

Perhaps on the same night that picture was taken, one of his housemates had found the perfect place for a nap.

Jet is still with her, a dark presence in the family.

Speaking of dark, these two seemed not only to be dark but in the dark, puzzling over a birdbath fountain in Crosstown Lori's front yard.

At our birdbath, a couple of house finches were more delicate in satisfying their thirst.

But another avian visitor seemed to be saying, "Hey!  It's a bird bath, isn't it??!!"

Well, all of this work just to get a blog post has me positively exhausted.

So I'm just going to go back to mulling the peculiarities of this sultry Saturday.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hi, there, Gentle Readers.

How's everybody doing today?

Oooohhhh, really?

I know what you need.

A Lilliputian lashing of laugh-provoking levity.

Let's liquidate the labyrinth.

All right, those are your just desserts.

Now that you're (hopefully) in a better mood, I'd like you all to have a wonderful weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oh, yeah)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

It's a balmy day here in the Central Highlands of Arizona today.

2:15 p.m.

Just checked the temperature.

93 degrees Fahrenheit.

When I describe weather such as this as "balmy", SWMBO says "YOU'RE the one that's balmy!"

So what better time to dip into the Wayback Files.

Five and a half years ago.

We lived across town and this is what it looked like on a day in early January, 2015.

There.

Feeling cooler now?

HERE, KITTY . . .

I'll bet I fooled you with that title.

No, it's not Friday yet.

But a kitty did come.

All the way from Scotland!

This original, one-of-a-kind sketch came from one of our own.

The artist is Gwynneth Rixon, known as "gz" here on Oddball where her blog,  "ook?!", is available in my sidebar.

She is a master potter, as well as a sketch artist.

And, lover of cats as I am, when I saw the drawing of a "Cat on Bricks" on her Etsy page I had to have it.

Here's a better look at that rascal in his gold frame.

It was shipped by Royal Air Mail and originally was expected in about 10 days.

But the pandemic has things here in the United States on long holds so it actually took 41 days.

Both Gwynneth and I expressed relief that it had finally arrived.

And I am delighted to have it.

Thanks, gz!

CLOUD GAZING

When I notice them I am always amazed at the shapes of the clouds in our normally bright blue sky.

I usually don't try to anthropromorphize them.

Actually that sentence was merely an excuse to use that ten-dollar word.

But anyway that cloud formation above resembles a huge white bird to me, flying from left to right.

These I think resemble daubs of meringue, sort of a big Floating Islands dessert.

You may not see them that way.

I have no idea what these are or were but they seem to be disintegrating to me, with small wisps coming off of the larger formation to the right.

I could be wrong, of course.

What I find truly amazing is that the same sky can at the same time hold these lovely white shapes against the azure sky in one direction, while turning my camera around and looking another way I find this.

That mess looks like it contains rain.

Or maybe I'm just boring bored.

I'll be interested, though, to read your views of what you view in these clouds.