TUESDAY TRAVELS

I don't know about you but all of this Tuesday Traveling in my virtual world has worn me out.

Oh, all right.

I can hear the cries of dismay from the (my) electorate.

So here I am visiting the Grand Canyon of my adopted home state, the state I have lived in more than any other including my birth state.*

At first glance you may have thought I was holding the Royal Scepter.

Or perhaps a telescope.

I think it was a rolled poster, the subject of which I have no memory whatsoever.

That's what all this incessant traveling has done to me.

* - North Dakota: 28 years; South Dakota: 1 year; Indiana: 3 years; Texas: 2 years; Jalisco, Mexico: 4 years; Arizona: 38 years (and counting!)

This is intended for a cousin of mine in North Dakota, who whenever I speak to her asks "when are you coming home?"

My response has always been "I am home."

WEEKEND AT THE TABLE

While brother Tom of Light Breezes was enjoying a gourmet meal, SWMBO and I were indulging in the kitchen and at the table as well.

Saturday, I made a Nigella Lawson recipe for Involtini which combines Greek and Italian flavors - thin eggplant slices rolled around a feta cheese and herbed stuffing, topped with tomatoes and mozzarella and baked.

Unfortunately, my camera stayed idle but here's a photo of Ms. Lawson's dish.

I fear her dish looks and probably tastes better than mine but then she's been cooking longer than I have.

Sunday's meal, prepared by SWMBO, was much better.

A chicken salad enlivened with candied ginger, apples, grapes, celery, green onions, celery dressed with a mayonaise-yogurt-apricot preserve sauce and accompanied by fresh-baked apple-oat muffins.

With the exception of the muffins, the master just threw that together out of her head.

And 60+ years of kitchen slavery.

I'm a rank amateur compared with those two ladies.

TO CURVE OR NOT TO CURVE

On a day when political junkies are watching South Carolina and Nevada, a new issue has arisen in Great Britain.

The croissant!

What better way to start one's day than with the classic French pastry?

One British baker thinks he has the answer to straighten out his customers.

For his wimpy clientele he is making his croissants without the curve!

Read the story from today's New York Times.

Blasphemy, says I!

To hell with South Carolina!

To hell with Nevada!

With a sense of righteous indignation I say "Leave the croissant alone!"

Is nothing sacred?

FRIDAY FUNNIES

The BRD watches the Comedy Channel on t.v.

At least she used to when Jon Stewart was hosting the Daily Show.

I just turn on one of the cable news channels.

Without further comment, it's yuk-yuk time again.

That's it, folks.

Once again, thank you to my contributors and theft victims.

Have a spectacularly humorous weekend, Gentle Readers, and always keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

How did this 1958 high school graduate . . .

. . . become this old pirate?

(Hint: Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!)

OLD FRIENDS

And yes we are old now.

The Three Amigos I showed you in my blog post yesterday at a very early age got together for the first time in many decades yesterday at the annual Stanley (North Dakota) picnic in Mesa.

Two of them are now 76 and one (me) is fast approaching that age.

We've changed a bit.

All of us now wear glasses.

All of us now sport facial hair.

All of us are, how should I say, stockier.

But the expressions on our faces are much the same as they were 70 or more years ago.

You might wonder why a picnic for former residents of a small town in far north North Dakota is held every year in Arizona, more than a thousand miles away.

It's the snowbird factor.

Long ago, retirees from those cold, snowy climes discovered that the sun nearly always shines and it's nearly always warm down here as opposed to cold and snowy in their home environs.

So they began spending their winters here and migrating back north for the summers.

Such people are known as Snowbirds.

A number of them (like me) found Arizona so pleasant they moved here permanently and only go back to North Dakota for a visit or for a few weeks in the summer.

Hence, there is a large population of people here in February from that town in the center of the Bakken oil boom and an annual picnic was begun many years ago and it continues today.

Turnout is usually good and everyone has a great time.

As one grows old(er) it becomes more and more of a pleasure to see our former classmates and friends and catch up on their lives.

Even if, at first glance, we may not recognize them!

TUESDAY TRAVELS

I'm traveling today for the first time in a long time.

Heading down to the Valley of the Sun for the annual Stanley picnic.

That's a once a year reunion of residents from my home town - Stanley, North Dakota.

This year will be a special once since a childhood friend whom I haven't seen for 48 years will be attending.

Jerome Larson will join Jim Burbidge and I as these three amigos get together once again.

Just to prove that I haven't always been a "cat man", that's my dog, Honey, getting the adoration of (l to r) Jim, Me and Jerome.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a fresh photo of the triad, minus the dog.