Wish You Were[n't] Here

Acquired at the Vintage Paper Fair in Golden Gate Park, this packet doesn't have a date, but the USS Barnett (5th image) was stationed at Guantanamo between 1921 and 1936. Stay tuned for other postcard packets from the VPF, including such titles as "Hannibal, Mo., Mark Twain's Boyhood Home" and "With Lewis and Clark over the Lolo Indian Trail".

Luck Was His Companion

There isn't much TSG can add to the articles posted this week honoring James Garner. He was an American Icon and will be sorely missed.

Strangely enough, one of our favorite memories of Jimbo goes back to a night spent in a run-down hotel in Gila Bend, AZ.  It was the first night of a road trip, too hot to camp, and our channel surfing was rewarded with Tom Snyder interviewing the actor on CNBC. Something Garner said about his career has always stuck with us--that he considered himself successful because he was able to provide for his wife and children...acting was just a means to that end. Everything else--the fame, the travel, hanging out with the great actors of his age, was just gravy.

Thanks for the wonderful memories, Mr. Garner.

Not An A-Hole

So, the other day TSG was taking out the trash and noticed what appeared to be drill holes (and a corresponding pile of  sawdust) in the crook of one of "our" trees:

Upon closer inspection, the sawdust was, yes, really sawdust, and there was yet another hole in a slightly less conspicuous spot. We wondered who the heck would be drilling random holes in the landscaping when suddenly a large black carpenter bee buzzed out at us. Ah! Mystery solved!

The bee buzzed around a bit and then went to work on the hole, chewing the wood and pushing out sawdust behind. We rushed upstairs to grab a camera, came back and were all ready to shoot a video of the insect, but were foiled by a dead battery.  By the time we ran back upstairs and returned, all we could get was a marginal shot of the bee peeking out of it's little bee hole.