Spring Fever

It's different in different hemispheres, but Spring is springing in Southern California. Birds are chirping as they move north (as the snowpack recedes) and bees buzz.

Anastasia explains it this way:



It runs this way as you walk through springtime in Germany:



But to me, springtime means tulips.

Thinking about Bond

There's nothing NOT to like about James Bond films.

Oh, sure,  you have your favorite Bond:

Sean Connery
George Lazenby
Roger Moore
Timothy Dalton
Pierce Brosnan
Daniel Craig

As the central figure for his works, Ian Fleming created the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his code number, 007, and was a Royal Navy Reserve Commander. 

Fleming took the name for his character from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide, "Birds of the West Indies"; Fleming, a keen birdwatcher himself, had a copy of Bond's guide and he later explained to the ornithologist’s wife that "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born". He further explained that: When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument...when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, (James Bond) is the dullest name I ever heard.  —Ian Fleming, The New Yorker, 21 April 1962

On another occasion Fleming said: "I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, "James Bond" was much better than something more interesting, like "Peregrine Carruthers". Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, blunt instrument wielded by a government department."

My favorite James Bond Theme Song


My second favorite James Bond Theme Song



"It takes two kills to become a 00 rated case officer"...

And then there are the "Bond girls" like:

Olga Kurylenko, who doesn't seem all that happy in handcuffs?

But seems to be thrilled to be at the movie premier.

And who can forget Octapussy?

The 45th Day of the Year

Each day could be Valentine's Day... but it only comes once a year. 



She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Amanda at 29

I seriously didn't think that I'd ever live long enough to have a daughter who was 29 years old. Amanda is not one of those ladies who is 29 forever -- ok, maybe she will be, but today she's genuinely 29.

However, I remember her in a different way.

Circle of life...