This has been a week to try one's soul, unless one doesn't have a soul.
Be that as it may, my job every Friday is to bring you some comic relief so here goes.
Now if those don't have you groaning I don't know what else I can do.
So I'll just wish you all a very merry weekend.
And always remember to keep laughing!
Here, kitty-kitty . . .
The other day my internet friend Margaret, writing in her blog Stargazer was telling about going to a movie, in a theatre, and the joy it gave her in spite of it being a kind of crummy movie.
I "dressed up" in nice leggings, a shirt and a pair of boots; I haven't made much of an effort to do that lately. I now realize that one of the gifts of the pandemic (of which there are VERY few) is that I appreciate and treasure these special times out whereas I used to take them for granted. Never again.
Well, that struck a chord with me because I had just had that kind of experience with Judy.
We decided to go out for lunch, in a restaurant, a few days ago.
It was one of the few times we had been in a dining establishment in, what is it . . two or three years?
As we often do we opted for a booth in the sparsely occupied bar and began with a preprandial Martini.
Now we don't drink Martinis often.
They're sort of reserved for special occasions.
But this felt like a special occasion.
And once the feelings of warmth and goodness spread over us the bar began filling up.
By the time we were ready to leave it was a rollicking, noisy crowd of people who all seemed to be having a great time.
Judy smiled at me and remarked how nice it was to see so many people eating and drinking and talking and laughing and just acting normal!
And I knew what she meant.
It was good.
My back yard this morning.
No, it's not Spring yet, even here in (normally) sunny and warm Arizona.
A winter storm is moving through the northern part of the state, snow plows are working like mad on the Interstate highways, and my weather-worn Blue Cat is not amused.
Guess what?
I have no pictures of desert plants or glass art today.
Oh, stop, I know you're relieved.
So, you're probably asking, what DO you have?
I.
Have.
Humor!
(aka humour, in the English English Speaking World.)
SWMBO keeps telling me people will get tired of seeing these photos from the Desert Botanical Garden.
If that's true, you'll be glad to know this is the last batch.
Today we're continuing our tour of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, which currently is featuring the blown glass artistry of Dale Chihuly alongside the works of Mother Nature.
And the glass objects mirror the natural growths.
There is more to see but, as Scarlett Ohara famously said, "tomorrow is another day."
Happy Valentine's Day!
Here are my girls, at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix Friday.
They make my life better.
It was the day when all right-thinking men turn their televisions on to watch hours upon hours of pre-Super Bowl football and then hours upon hours of Super Bowl football.
I am among them, though I watch the Phoenix Open golf tournament final round before I switch over to the battering game.
(Much to Baseball Steve's disdain. He has yet to appreciate golf.)
I had predicted the Los Angeles Rams would win the game, along with about 110 percent of the sports writers.
Steve had predicted the Cincinnati Bengals would surprise us all once again.
In the end, the Rams won, though barely.
And the golf tournament was won by Scottie Scheffler in a three-hole playoff.
It was an exciting win, almost as exciting as the one by the Rams.
But that's not what I came here to write about.
You see, like many women in this world, SWMBO is not a football fan.
On Super Bowl Sunday, knowing that I will commandeer the television set for most of the day and night, she holes up in her room and only comes out when I tell her she has to see this or that commercial.
So this morning, very early (somewhere between 6 and 7 a.m.) I crept out of the house and went to a grocery store where I knew I could probably purchase a New York Times.
And an Arizona Republic.
And a Prescott Daily Courier.
All newspapers she would read.
And then, because it was nearby, a visit to Dunkin', previously known as Dunkin' Donuts.
I happen to know she has an affinity for French Crullers so I purchased a half-dozen.
And then, because I was there, four Boston Kremes and a couple of Glazed Blueberry Donuts.
They were all insanely rich and delicious and way too many and way too much.
So tonight I feel like this.
How was YOUR Super Sunday?
This pandemic struggle has made us a bit stir crazy.
I say a bit because our last road trip was to Cave Creek, a suburb of Phoenix, over a year ago.
Here is a link to my post about that trip in December of 2020.
Since then we've been for the most part cooped up here in our duplex, except for trips to the medicos, the grocery stores, occasional visits to fast food drive-throughs, and the rare visit to the BRD's digs.
So, as we're not getting any younger, yesterday the BRD, SWMBO and I journeyed once again down to The Big Valley.
It's bigger than the last time we were there, the traffic is insane but the views where we went were spectacular.
