I only have it for 24 hours and it's heartbreakingly beautiful. I don't think the 24 hours is equivalent to the approximately $1000 that it's going to cost to have my car repaired (60k service I forgot about, brakes, new battery etc.) It's astonishingly zippy and handles like a little sports car. How adorable is this face??
It's even that perfect shade of green that somehow has become fixed in my mind so firmly as a time (late 60's early 70's) and a place (Italia! The original version of "The Italian Job.") The interior has the right combination of the green and the odd white stuff that reminds me of Bakelite.
I haven't had the hots for a car since I was 17 and wanted an apple green Jaguar XKE with pink leather seats. Sounds like a Barbie car, doesn't it?Dude, I'm a goner. Fiat 500, I love you.
What do you do?
In the rapid checkout (do it yourself) line, I observed a late teenage son and his harpy mother struggling with the scanner. I had seen this young man earlier, struggling with crutches and a walking boot, hobbling speedily through the store. He was thin with wildly curly hair and seemed determined and good humored.
As I was scanning my stuff and dropping it into my canvas bags I overheard the following:
"What's wrong with you? You always screw things up!! I told you not to go in this line!! I hate this line!!" etc.
The mother was haranguing the young man, and the louder and more abusive she got, the more he struggled to do things. It was at this point that I noticed his slightly paralyzed hands that were almost clawlike, making the struggle with the groceries and the scanner even more complex. I imagine that his mother wanted to go through a check out line that had an attendant so that it would go faster and she wouldn't be embarrassed. But I could see that this young man was determined to try to do things on his own, in spite of his mother verbally assailing him.
They had reached a stopping point because the scanner had a button on the screen that said "Skip bagging this item." You had to touch this button to be able to scan the next item. His mother was escalating with her screaming and everyone was starting to look in our direction.
"You see what you've done? This always happens! It never goes right and here we are again with you messing up everything!!!" and so on...
I had a choice at this point. I could either: (a) go over and show him that you just had to push the on-screen button, put the item back in the cart and then scan his next item; or (b) do my first choice and then give his mother a piece of my mind. I wanted to tell her that it was unconscionable to speak to another human being that way and she should be ashamed of herself. That if he was her son, there was even less reason to behave like this, ever, let alone in public and embarrassing everyone including her son who should be her first priority.
I did option (a). I walked over and said very calmly and quietly, "here's what you do." He sounded happy and said "thanks!" but his mother carried on berating him.
I saw them in the parking lot and contemplated saying my piece there, but I pussed out and here's why: I was afraid that she would be even more abusive to him and lash out even more severely. I hope that my small quiet kindness to him was helpful.
I still think about it and wonder if I did the right thing.
I'm not sure I did.
My first spring in the PNW has been AWESOME. The word abundance is probably an understatement. These are photos from around my neighborhood.
This is the very first time I've seen wisteria so beautifully trained. I aspire to this but can't be bothered with the amount of fiddling you'd have to do to make it happen.When I was growing up, this would have been my dream treehouse.
The Puget Sound... a beautiful sailboat in the distance.
Surprisingly, there is one ruin in the midst of all the enormous beautiful homes and a deer that found a good snacking spot. I saw a deer right across the street from my house. And then the Seven Day Adventists rang my doorbell 10 minutes later and changed my mood.
A great curated collection of blue:
So groomed.
This is the best looking compost surround I've ever seen.
Pretty stonking glorious, eh?
At the risk over stating the obvious, in the UK the term "tosser" is a euphemism for ... well... yanno. Someone who takes matters into their own hands. Or also synonomous with a loser, an idiot etc. More affectionately, people in the UK call each other "toss-pots."
A Canadian film made in 2007 makes the most of this play on words. The Way of the Tosser. Here's the trailer:
Genius.
Excised from my scalp today: 2.5cm, 2.25cm & 1.5cm.
OUCH.
No photos unless you email me and ask for them.
Gnarly. Beyond gnarly.
Ben Hlavacek, Ali's extra roomie for the summer. Ben's a home slice from KC. 
Nice one, Ben!!
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