Havin' a ball(oon)!

We finally got around to hanging the balloons Jerry got me for my birthday last weekend.

Here are two shots of possible arrangements. Let us know which you like better in the new poll over there in the sidebar.

Just hangin' around

Blowin' in the Wind

And let us know anything else about them in the comments!

(Oh, look, there are turtles that haven't shown up on Tuesday. Some certainly will.)

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A birthday turtle (featuring a birthday suit) from our stop in Idyllwild.

It's based on a fountain in the Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy. It gives us Bacchus (Colleen's favorite god of wine, I think, or maybe her favorite god, period) and a turtle.



Let's drink!

Birthday Trip to Palm Desert

Today started with a shave with a razor that Jerry got for me a few weeks ago as an early birthday present. (It's taking me a while to get the hang of it. I'm down to just one nick per shave.)

Then Jerry took us to Palm Desert to do more celebrating of my birthday. That's always a fun thing to do.

On the way there we made a side trip to Idyllwild where we shopped for tchotchkes. You'll have to wait till some future Tuesday to see pictures of what we got there. We had lunch then headed to the desert floor.

We parked behind Adagio Galleries where we got the masks by Dave Sisk the last time we went up there. Julie greeted us as we came in the door and said that we were early, that the reception for Dave Sisk was at 4:00. "Oh, was that today?" I asked. We had gotten their card announcing the show but, since we don't usually make it to galleries' openings, we didn't plan the trip around the show. What luck, huh?

We went up and down El Paseo. Jerry got me some balloons at Coda Gallery to go with the one I got him (see his in the sidebar of his blog). These will go on the wall with the first one and will make that wall very festive. We haven't had the chance to put them up so you'll have to wait for pictures.

We've seen some lazy Susans at one of the shops and have always hemmed and hawed about whether to get one. This time I decided finally to do it. Here's our new lazy Susan. It's glass with copper in it.
It will make assembling our tostadas on tostada night a lot less messy. And prettier!

We went back to Adagio Galleries and had a nice visit with Dave Sisk.

We had supper at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza (mac and cheese will have to wait) then came home.

The newspaper said that Palm Desert was going to reach 105° today. According to a weather station near Indio they were spot on. It was hot.

Keep your eyes on this spot for pictures of balloons and other tchotchkes!

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A long-necked turtle.

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Answering questions:
The back has a sticker saying it came from Facsimilies Ltd. of Nashua, N.H. I don't know whose culture it's a facsimile of. I think Peggy gave it to us.

Drugs are bad, mkay

I had to report for jury duty this morning at 7:30. I didn't know how traffic is down I-15 in the morning commute so I left home at 6:25. I got there at 7:15. The orientation didn't start till 8:00 but they don't want to tell us to report at 8:00 because then we'd have stragglers missing important information.

There was only one trial starting today and there were a lot of people there. My chances of getting on the jury were going to be small. Heck, there was a chance that I wouldn't even be sent over to the courtroom. But I was among the people who were sent out to go through the jury selection process.

I got to watch the proceedings from the front row of the jury box.

The defendant looked like he is about 25 years old. He looked worried and uneasy. He allegedly was caught trying to smuggle something like 20 or 30 kilos of cocaine through the Calexico port of entry.

In the questioning of the prospective jurors we were asked if we heard that he had a prior conviction in a drug case whether that would make us assume that he must be guilty in this case.

After they questioned 40 of us (plus the few who replaced the people who were excused because they said that they were definitely going to be biased) they sent us out for a half hour. They did their peremptory challenges and took the first 14 people that neither side had tossed. I was tossed!

Now that I don't have to have an open mind I'm going to speculate that this kid was caught with the cocaine and that he knew what he was doing. And he hadn't learned his lesson from the first time!

If he looked as nervous while driving through the border checkpoint as he looked in the courtroom I'm not surprised that he got caught. But then maybe when the jig is up and you finally understand how stupid you've been and you realize what's ahead of you you lose your cockiness.

Anyway, I got out of there at noon and got to go back to work.

But I'm still on the hook for the rest of the month (or till I serve on a jury). They say that the second of our four weeks of being on call is our "prime week." There are few if any new cases starting this week so maybe I've done my duty.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

Five bookmarks. (The silver one isn't marking the page...you wouldn't see all of its body if it were.)

Shall I Compare Thee to Something Ugly and Gray?; or, Happy Mother's Day!

I just didn't get it.

Here is the "M is For Mother" poem that I wrote when I was almost 10. I should have been old enough to understand the concept of this genre of poetry.

Except for the first line none have anything to do with Mother (I hope the second line isn't related to Mother!). They don't relate to each other. But they rhyme!

Mom, I hope I didn't make you cry thinking I was comparing you to an ogre. I wasn't. I just needed an "O" word whose attribute rhymes with "gay."

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Have a happy and gay day!

(Rats!)

A fabulous reward!

Recently Colleen posed a question about what kind of mushrooms are growing in her patio. I came up with an answer so I won the prize. I got a bunch of turtle clip art emailed to me.

The best includes kitties.

Aren't they precious?

Hello. I'm Forrest. Forrest Gump.

(This really isn't all that interesting.)

I might not be running across the country like Mr. Gump but I've been running.

This morning the odometer on my account on our treadmill turned over 2000 miles.


Without leaving the house I've run from here to Birmingham, Alabama. It's taken me a little less than three years. I apparently average around 5.4 MPH.

I think the calories burned (the 48K) must go back to zero every so often otherwise that's only 24 calories per mile.

(I told you that this wasn't very interesting.)

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

Doorstop and friend.

Waste not

Our morning newspaper is delivered inside a plastic bag.  This keeps it dry in the rainy season.  The rest of the year the bag doesn't do anything that a rubber band can't do other than give us something more to store then haul to the recycling bin at the grocery store.

Today's newspaper's plastic bag had helpful water saving hints printed on it!

But wait!  The stop-wasting-water bag was an extra!  Inside it was the newspaper inside its usual plastic bag.

Let's hear it for reducing waste!