Shame in Two Cities; Caption Quiz; Dog in a Bag; Happy Trails; Apalone Ferox

Greek drivers are just as bad as Americans. Maybe even worse. I had forgotten about this photo from Athens. The scene is a street corner just down from our hotel, which was near the Acropolis, but in a mixed residential and commercial area. Like many European cities not designed for modern traffic, there are insufficient parking spots. This Land Rover is parked in the middle of an intersection with barely enough room for small trucks and the occasional tour bus to pass.

Back in LaLaLand (AKA The Villages), the driver of this Pontiac (photographed at 2:00 PM) was either spatially challenged or had been at an early Happy Hour. (Okay, Dale, the Rover driver has an excuse in that he was Greek; what about this Pontiac driver? BTW, your Twinkies go in the mail tomorrow.) The Kia behind him is also over the line, but only gets a 5 yard penalty; the Pontiac gets 15.)

Here’s a new feature for the blog. Each week or so (unless I forget), I will post a photo and ask for entries suggesting appropriate (or inappropriate, as the case may be) captions or titles. Please keep them (relatively) clean. I’m a simple sailor not used to off-color words.)  The winner will get a prize of my choosing. Here is the first photo.

My Lovely Bride left this morning for a weekend retreat (which she is leading) sponsored by Unity Village in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, just outside Kansas City. She has been looking forward to this trip for weeks, even after being on the road for five months and then two weeks in Greece. We’ve been home for just over a month, and she’s been gone for over half of that time… I’m beginning to wonder whether I should change my deodorant or mouthwash. In any case, our little Rudy was feeling a bit sad about her leaving, and tried to pack himself in her luggage Thursday night. Good try, Dude; you’re stuck with Dog-Dad for the weekend!

I have heard from Suzanne; she went for a run shortly after arriving at Unity Village. Lucky for her, there was a nice trail near the Unity campus, so she didn’t have to run on roads. Trails are our favorite places to run. She also got lucky with the weather; it was cool and dry, and fall colors are peaking, unlike here in Florida, where it hit 85F today.

I took the puppies to t-o-w-n for a w-a-l-k today, and saw some large Florida softshell turtles (Apalone ferox) swimming along the waterfront at Lake Sumter Landing. This gal was about 20 inches long. They can grow up to 30 inches in length, and stay in the water except to lay eggs or bask in the sun. My first thought was that there mustn’t be any big alligators around, but on a visit a few hours later, a six foot gator was cruising about 50 yards offshore. Hope the turtles found a good place to hide.

Here’s a close-up of the Florida softshell turtle. His nose actually has a snorkel-like shape so he can breathe without sticking his head out of the water. Pretty clever! The carapace (shell) is bumpy and leathery and lacks scutes (bony plates or scales common to other species of turtles). Sexual dimorphism is the rule, with females typically three times larger than males. (I just report the facts, ma’am, just the facts.)