Double Nickels

This stand of sumac near our flat is looking particularly nice this year. I wish I'd been able to photograph it in sunlight, when it's even brighter, but you get the idea!

Fifty-five years ago today, at Tampa General Hospital, a slightly underweight baby entered the world a month early -- and that baby was me. Fortunately, although I was early, I was completely healthy and didn't need any special attention. (I was going to post a picture of me as a newborn but even though my dad took about 12,000 of them, apparently I never scanned any. That's probably because they're incredibly boring. I look like a rectangular blob swaddled in blankets, lying in a crib. So, on second thought, it's just as well I'm not inflicting that on you.)

Anyway, Dave says we're celebrating sometime later this week. I have no idea what might be in the works, but I hope a martini is involved.

Yesterday, on our walk, Olga and I came across a couple of balloons -- a black one and a purple one -- lying on the grass at the nearby housing estate. It was trash day so I'm guessing they were leftovers from someone's Halloween festivities, and had blown out of a trash bin. I picked up the purple one and gave it a swat to make it airborne and Olga was immediately excited by this new game -- she jumped and tried to bite it but of course that just knocked the balloon higher into the air. Eventually it landed and she demolished it.

We did the same with the black one but my attempt to make a video went completely haywire, as you can see. It's hard to hold a phone AND focus on a dog that's practically climbing my body AND keep a balloon airborne. Plus some poor woman chose that moment to pass us on the sidewalk so I was trying to avoid getting her in the shot. The result is chaos, but you can see Olga give the balloon a couple of good bonks before she ends its misery.