AGEING UPDATE

 April and May and June are big birthday months in our family.

The BRD's birthday was nearly a week ago.

My son's birthday was yesterday.

My birthday is coming up in less than a week.

SWMBO's birthday is next month.

Our younger daughter's birthday is in June.

Gadfrey!

After all that, plus our wedding anniversary, it's little wonder that we are exhausted.

Not only that.

I heard from my son late last night, saying that he had not done much on his birthday yesterday.

Just entertained the grandchildren in the afternoon.

The GRAND-children!

That means our GREAT-grandchildren.

Talk about making a guy feel old!

So we went out to a Mexican restaurant this afternoon . . . Judy and I and Gayle . . . to celebrate multiple trips around the sun.

It was good, actually great.

The Margaritas were fine.

The food was wonderful and much of it came home with us.

So how did we look afterward?

With apologies to the BRD, whose picture I neglected to take . . . first SWMBO, whom I know you all want to see.

And then your faithful scribe.

So now you know.

Older, wiser, battered by wind and sea, but standing athwart the years.

Bring 'em on!

MUFFIN, MUFFIN, WHO'S GOT THE MUFFIN?

 Last Friday morning I decided to try broiling a couple of eggs in our muffin tin.

The first time I opened the oven door I was met with a cloud of smoke.

SWMBO estimates that muffin tin had been with us for a few decades and maybe it's time to throw the relic out.

I gladly leaped at her suggestion and did a bit of searching on-line before suggesting that now they had ones made out of silicon that made baking and exiting the pan as easy as A, B, C.

She said she thought they might be difficult to get into the oven if they were loaded with something sort of liquid and suggested maybe to just get the silicon-coated non-stick metal pan.

So I went to the store before she could change her mind and came home with this.

Yup, it's flexible silicon but it has a metal framework that holds it steady when being put in or taken out of the oven.

SWMBO quickly agreed to my great wisdom in buying it, even though she noted it was the most expensive one in the store.

But then she sent me to the kitchen with instructions to inaugurate it, especially since we had some blueberries in the fridge that were getting close to going bad.

Well, I am never one to turn up my nose at homemade blueberry muffins.

Here's a couple of pictures of the result. (And, BTW, the new pan worked great!)

THE STAFF OF LIFE

 SWMBO, my wife, would probably tell you that nothing is better than homemade bread.

Nothing smells as good.

Nothing tastes as good.

So I try to keep her happy.

And because making bread is one of the easiest kitchen duties I can imagine.

Recently I tried one of Jacques Pépin's recipes.

It's for soda bread and he insisted that it was simple and fast.

In fact, it was.

Here's my first loaf ever.

Judy gave her approval and much of it disappeared as we munched on an inside picnic dinner Thursday evening.

Thanks, Jacques!

Or should I say "Merci beaucoup".

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Oh, gosh, what a dark dreary day it was yesterday.

And the day before.

SWMBO said she was sure it was going to rain for two reasons.

The first was the way the sky looked.

The second was the way her joints felt.

But there came no rain, just wind and temperatures about 20 degrees cooler than a few days before.

Up and down, up and down.

As I said to someone today, "It's Arizona."

At any rate it has not caused my sense of humor to freeze up.

Which is why you're getting these:

Oh those guys!

Well even if we can't get away from them and their corny puns, try your dangdest to have a sparkling weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oh, NOOOO . . .)

HERE, BIRDIE-BIRDIE

 

Finally got the bird bath installed in its new location off the side patio, joining the Monja and the Blue Cat.

SWMBO said the sealant on it wouldn't be ready until Tax Day but I guess she got as impatient as me and we cheated by a few days.

Now to get the birds interested in it.

THE SEASONS

 After waiting so long and so impatiently for Spring to finally come we launched this week into an early Summer.

The temperature climbed to 80 degrees here yesterday and nearly reached 100 down in Phoenix.

Today is expected to be much the same.

All of which made these flowering fruit trees all the more pleasant a couple of days ago.

Coincidentally a couple of white cars were passing just as I took the photograph.

EASTER DINNER

 'Twas a fine day at the Taylors' Table.

Salad Plate

Cucumbers, Plum Tomatoes, Jicama

Taíjin Clásico Seasoning

Bacon-topped Roast Pork

Mashed Potatoes & Pork Gravy

Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Apples

Asparagus

Blueberry Clafoutis

HAPPY EASTER

 Yesterday in a local grocery store, the ladies in the flower selling area had gotten into the mood.

I asked if I could take their photo.

I hope your day is a good one. 

A FULL DECK

 Yesterday was Good Friday.

And it was a good one for a special couple.

No, not them, although they are cute.

I'm talkin' about THIS couple.

Those last two are representative of our motto here at camp: Always Keep Laughing!

This one was taken in San Antonio Tlayacapan, Jalisco, Mexico as we were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.

I said at the beginning of this post that yesterday was a good day for this couple.

Because we were celebrating again.

I asked my bride yesterday evening if she'd had a good anniversary.

When she responded in the affirmative I said, "Great! Let's go for another 20!"

I think that's when she fainted.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Now I know we've all been having a lot of fun this week but it's STILL the day for Laughter and Levity.

So let's turn those frowns upside down and enjoy it.

And here's another reason to smile: all that sacrificing (some of) you did for Lent?

It's almost over!

(Giving credit where credit is due: I swiped that one from Jolly Jeff)

Will he ever run out of Trekkie Titillation?

No, probably not.

So you Jews, Passover is nearly halfway over.

And you Muslims, Ramadan, though longer, is about the same.

And you Christians in the crowd, Easter is only two days away.

So mark your observances, my friends, but try your hardest to have a sensational weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . yup . . .)

MORE ABOUT BIL KEANE

My story the other day about Bil Keane, which was prompted by Sharon's mentioning him on her blog, just keeps producing.

I received an email yesterday from a long time friend, the journalist and author down in The Big Valley Sam Lowe.

Sam and I first met many, many, many years ago in our home state of North Dakota.

Somehow we both ended up working in Phoenix, me for a t.v. station and Sam for a newspaper or two.

I asked him if I could repeat the story he emailed me and he said, "Sure, just make sure you spell my name right."

So here goes.

-----------------------------------

Your story about Bil Keane reminded me of my initial meeting with him.

I was just fresh from North Dakota, working at the Scottsdale Progress, when Keane introduced a dog named Sam into his cartoons.

I took mock offense at this and muttered that there should be more famous people named Sam, not so many dogs.

My boss said, "Well, call Bil up and tell him about it" and I responded, "Oh, sure, call up somebody as famous as Bil Keane."

And he said, "Sure, he's in the phone book."

So I looked and sure enough, there he was.

So with much apprehension I called and he answered with "This is Bil", (with only one "l").

So he invited me to his home to meet Sam.

He was a most gracious gentleman and always remembered the incident when we'd meet in the ensuing years.

Am attaching a photo to back up my story.

        Sam (the human one)

(left to right: Bil, Sam, and Sam)

Sam's story shows his sense of humor and foretells the career that has seen him write not only newspaper columns and articles but also a hefty pile of books.

Thanks, Sam.

Proud to call you a friend.

SKETCHY

 I wrote yesterday that I would show you another piece hanging below the Bil Keane cartoon on my wall.

It's a sketch of yours truly in 2015.

I was attending a Diamondbacks game with my pal, Baseball Steve, at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a sketch artist sitting half a dozen seats away and he apparently became transfixed by my movie star looks and drew a picture of me.

The first I knew of it was when the stranger sitting next to me handed me the sketch.

It had been passed down by the artist.

I was stunned and upon having him pointed out to me I went to where he was sitting, thanked him and asked him how much he wanted for it.

He steadfastly and smilingly refused any payment.

Back in my seat, the inning came to an end and cameras throughout the park roamed looking for something to put on the Jumbotron until the game resumed.

I held up the sketch alongside my head and, lo and behold, the cameraman found me and within seconds I was on a huge screen seen throughout the ballpark.

It was a great laugh and when the game was over I once again approached the artist and tried to pay him and again he refused any payment, shook my hand and sent me on my way.

But there's more to this story which I just learned today.

I cropped down the artist's signature to see if I could figure out his name.

I never had before.

Using my secret cryptoanalogy skills, today I made it out to be "Roger Pops".

Then I went to the all-knowing Google and amazingly I learned his real name.

It is Roger Johnston but he sketches here and there as Roger Pops and here's a photo of him I found on Instagram.

I recognized his smiling face.

So now you know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say on his radio programs.

Thanks, again, Roger.

One other thing.

In a previous home I used to have an entire wall display of photographs and badges from my (somewhat) illustrious broadcasting career.

Judy named it and I kept it: Bruce's Trophy Wall.