On the pleasant surprise side of today –

Sappho got me all sorts of cool goodies for my birthday!

In a Dragon Tales Bag, to boot!

• Time Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism in paperback, The stuff from 1880 to 1920 is especially neat.
• A bunch of gray and green army men.
• A giant size copy of mad magazine.
• A jar of gravel and fossils from the peace river, including a nifty ray’s tooth, and bit of turtle shell. The stuff from the river is so rich with fossils you can just sift through a handful and come back with a tiny shark’s tooth or the like. A very nifty, and thoughtful gift. I’m a big fan of the Peace River.
• A chip the cat beanie baby.. (Newt will adore that!)
• A third-hand Electronic Hand-Held Trivial Pursuit — The Best of Genus Edition… She didn’t want it, and neither did her mom. But when folks think trivia, they think Scotto!
• A pack of Big Red Gum is it my breath?
• Many Packets of Pez Candy.
• Two cool rubber lizards (about 2″ long), that will fight well with the army men, or be treated cruelly by Newt.
• Charles Kuralt’s American Moments – Hardcover. I’ve not dug too deeply into this one yet, but I really liked his spots “On the Road” and on “Sunday Morning”.

Hmm… Charles Kuralt says something strangely appropriate.

Oddly prophetic synchronicity, there. Goodbye, January. Goodbye Year of the Horse… Goodbye, Moon. Goodbye to much of what is behind us now.

Hello to the New!