News at 8:01 AM

The gods mock me.
My bday fortune from
the Chinese buffet

Yikes! It's August 2nd already. My birthday. Don't even ask. Anyway....extra peanuts for all...and seeds. There are now a fair number of tiny little Doves visiting Frida's Palm Cafe on a regular basis and several bright red Cardinals, many Red Wing Blackbirds and maybe even a Northern Mockingbird now and then. That's the official state bird of Florida although, clearly, the state bird of Florida should be the Giant Wood Stork. Come on, Florida. Live a little.

I'm way behind in the news here. Haven't even mentioned that I read poetry at the Sarasota Writer's Group in July. Now the tiny town of Nokomis goes on the World Tour list. Nice people. Some good writers. Each reader is allotted a whopping 10 minutes to do with as they will. Most were novelists reading from works in progress or their books newly minted via Amazon's CreateSpace. They all seem to go for the glossy photo covers, which I don't care for, otherwise Amazon does a great print job. Doing a book of poems that way is on my short list.

Snooty the Manatee celebrated his 65th Birthday
with a tower of fruit last week
as the Ancients sang Happy Birthday.

The Big News around here is that tomorrow Misters Leo (age 4) and Frank (age 1) arrive with, as Kristiana and M. Lee say, their handlers. So here's to a week of fun at the beach plus a few extras like a visit to Snooty the resident Manatee at the South Florida Museum. Snooty was born at the Miami Aquarium when his mother was there recuperating. Eventually she returned to the wild but, for whatever reason, Snooty remained behind and has spent his entire life in captivity, a sad fate. I hate seeing any animal confined to a zoo, circus, aquarium or whatever but they do serve to teach us humans the enormously important fact that other life forms live on this planet and deserve our respect and protection. And Leo is going to love this guy!

Misters Leo and Frank

So Venice Florida, collectively having the oldest population in America, has the grandkid thing all sorted out. Tomorrow I pick up the baby gear at A to Z Rentals. They have it all, high chairs and potty chairs to strollers, kid's bikes and even the family beach cabana so we will be set then the family arrives in the evening. More to come.