SOLSTICE(S)

 It's finally here!

Where I live, in Arizona, in the United States of America, the Summer Solstice arrived at 2:13 this morning.

That corresponds to 9:13 this morning in Merry Olde England, home of Universal Coordinated Time, which used to be called Greenwich Mean Time.

At any rate, what it all means is that this is the longest day of the year, or the day in which we get the longest period of daylight.

HOWEVER!

South of the Equator it's the reverse and this is the shortest day of the year and the beginning of Winter.

We Summer fertility worshippers (that's another story) can offer our sympathies to those folk Down Under, as we scornfully refer to them.

Well, all except fellow blogger William Kendall up in Ottawa who thinks the season of snow and cold is the best season of all.

'Course he also styles himself as a bit of a rogue and a scoundrel.

At any rate for those who love sun basking, barbecues and baseball, today is the happiest day of all.

Happy First Day of Summer, y'all!

CATIFICATION

 Yes, I made that word (above) up but I think by the end of this post you'll agree that it works just fine.

It begins with a visit recently by SWMBO to her offspring The BRD.

Now the BRD has always been an "animal person" but primarily a "cat person."

That is to say she's always had either or a dog or a cat or multiple cats or birds (who can forget those noisy zebra finches) in her households.

In her latest place she was, for a time, down to only one cat and she thought it needed a companion so she got a playful little white cat to keep the older one company.

But then she figured out that the little one was too playful for the older one so she got a third cat to keep them both company and to provide a play partner for the white one.

So Judy went over to Gayle's house a few days ago to meet the new cat.

Opal, the black cat, as Gayle says, "never met a stranger" so she immediately came out to greet Judy and find out what this was all about.

Judy had brought with her a big bag with some things for Gayle and once it was empty it was just sitting on the floor.

Too much for Opal to resist and she was quickly into it with one of her toys thrashing about while Mimi, the little white cat, looked on curiously.

Opal finally came up for air and to pose for her portrait.

The arrival of these two new cats has seemed to give Lilly, the older cat, new life and she came out to sit on the arm of a chair and watch all the wild activity of these two youngsters and to also greet SWMBO.

As Judy often remarks, "she has the sweetest face."

Meanwhile back here at Wistful Vista (does anyone remember "Fibber McGee and Molly"?), our rental cat Matty was up on the wall at the back of our property, stalking something he's unlikely to catch.

His family had been gone somewhere all last week so he'd been spending full days at our house and having to be physically put out at the end of the day.

Now that his humans are back we haven't seen hide nor hair of him for a few days.

And so ends this journey into the World of the Felines.

And probably you now know why I called this post "Catification".

E.T. PHONE HOME

64 + 16

 "Will you still need me, Will you still feed me

When I'm Sixty-Four"

The guy who co-wrote and recorded that song back in 1967 is having another birthday today.

The former Beatle, Paul McCartney, turned 80 today.

NOW do you feel old?

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Yes, it's early.

But it's cooler this time of day.

Well, it is when I'm writing this but who knows what it is when you're reading it.

All I can say is "I tried".

Or, if you're in a climate like mine, "I'm fried!"

However, if you like popcorn, there's a benefit to this type of weather.

I know, I know, you're alphabetizing your fingers.

So that, my friends, is this week's edition of The Friday Funnies.

And now that you've had your chuckles and chortles, let's see if you can do the rest for yourself.

In other words, have yourself a happy, fun-filled weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

THE NEW "OLD WEST"

 A few Arizona scenes from my photo bank as the locals try to keep the "Good Old Days" alive.

A GATHERING

 Once again a few of "the old boys" got together yesterday for lunch and to solve, or at least to bemoan, the problems of the world.

Lew - "The Investigator"

Wally - "The Thinker"

Steve - "The Birthday Boy"

(His 73rd candle is burning in a clutch of fries)

 Does he have a portrait in his attic or not!)

Karl - "aka Doc"

The senior member of our gaggle of old-timers

Oh and I was there too but stayed behind the camera.

It's been a few years since the last meeting of the minds, what with the pandemic.

But except for a bit of aging, nothing much had changed.

The same reminiscing about "the good old days" and about former colleagues who had gone on to brighter futures or who had succumbed to the undertaker.

On this particular day, it felt good to be among "the Survivors."