This 'n that...

C and I went to breakfast on Marie's patio this morn, but didn't linger. Though a day with blue skies and puffy clouds, the damned wind is mighty chilly. Comes straight in from the Pacific and that ocean is damned icy and unfriendly 90% of the time. There are reasons the surfers wear wet suits most of the year.

So, Prince Charles and Camilla are finally wed. This is good. Horrid to be part of the royal family. Talk about having to go through contortions to get anything done! Only took them 30 years from the time they met to finally get permission to marry and then actually get married. Good for them and may their marriage be happy for the rest of their days.

And the Pope is finally, as per his wishes, buried in the ground...but inside 4 different coffins. That's fine. That's custom. Today is the first of the official nine days of mourning, and then the Cardinals are locked up in conclave until they can elect the next Pope. That they have will be marked by bells and white smoke. Whereupon the new Pope will be presented and everyone will be waiting to see what name he chooses. More ceremonies, and finally things will begin to settle down again.

Meanwhile, today is the 2nd anniversary of the pulling down of Saddam's statue, so people are celebrating in Iraq. Sadr's Sunni faction...plus others, I'm sure, are demonstrating and yelling for the US and allies to leave their country. Of course the US and allies won't, much as the men and women themselves would like to. There are oil deals to be secured. The new Iraqi government has to be up and running and the new Iraqi Constitution written and agreed to. They also have to get their congress and judiciary put together, and security established. Big job.

S gave me a pad of post-it notes. This is no common pad. CCDC (Center City Development Corp) is enamored of his photos of the downtown city skyline, as shot from across the harbor on a Coronado beach. And that photo is on all four sides of the pad. Very cool! I have it sitting atop my CPU here so I can admire it from time to time. Makes me grin. Of course I'm not gonna use it or even remove it from its shrink wrap. Every sheet torn off will reduce the size of that photo, beginning with the sky. Not gonna do it. This is a keeper.

Vince was most probably out in the desert shooting today since he was a no-show on the patio this morn. So put Ed Fitzgerald's Green Beret novel, Bank's Bandits, back in the trunk until tomorrow morn. If Vince is there, I'll give it to him. Otherwise I'll just haul it around in the trunk until he shows. There's no hurry here. For somebody as impatient as I, these kinds of things I can be patient as all hell about.

And yes, I did indeed get to read the front section of the LA Times this morn. C had a book in hand, so read that while I read the paper which is our usual habit at Marie's. Lost my lighter. Probably dropped it somewhere on the patio or near the car. Just a Bic, so no sweat. Stopped by the cigarette shop while C went in for a carton of smokes and C picked up a new lighter for me. I have about a dozen really nice lighters but all have to be filled with fluid. That's a pain. Don't want to lose one of those, so Bics do nicely. And now for the rest of the paper.
Wrap...