Reap What Has Been Sown (Sowed?)

It's that time of the year again:

Number Four appears to be going a bit fast.

Not Photoshopped!

This is the launch of the Celebrity Solstice, a 3000-passenger dinghy available to entertain one and all:

 

I think these things may be getting a bit too large.

What On Earth?

Alright, gentle readers. I need some help here.
What on earth is this 4" insect I found on the front stoop last night? It looked like a grasshopper, but it was light brown/tan in color. Is it a grasshopper/chameleon? An albino?

All information proffered will be studied and appreciated.

Sights & Sounds In Scotland

The Falkirk Wheel is on my short list.

 

Read the Wikipedia article. An eighty-foot lift! It must have been a wonderful design challange.

My First Car

(Don't I wish!)

Autumn!

Taken early this morning. (Notice the shadows.)

Christ The Light Cathedral, Oakland

This appears to be a wonderful building. Reminds me why I like architecture. (Pix are from CoCoTimes)

This is a super execution.
(and I'm not a Roman Catholic.)

Daddy, Where's Our House?

Hurricane Ike

Missing Them Already

Gosh! It's quiet around here.
Anyway, from earlier this week, that's Mark and Henry (George John is behind the camera), Cousin Randy, and the Wondrous Hanako.
(Randy is into computers, and speaks in tongues with Rudy. Sigh.)

Friday lunch

 

Quick Friday lunch, leaving Daughter & her 3 boys at home. Sister-in-law suggested Persian, so we headed into Walnut Creek and found Bijan Restaurant 1. Service was slow, slow, slow (the place was understaffed, it appeared) ranging from C to B-, but helpful and friendly when the waiter finally had time to show up.

Started with a delightful, hot, fired hot bread and an assortment of dips/wraps, including cilantro leaves, fresh onion, goat cheese, and olives. A separate plate of mushed eggplant. Great stuff!

Accompaniment was a bottle of 2006 Wente Reisling from their Arroyo Seco vineyards down in Monterey County. A bit too sweet for my tastes, but perhaps I shall learn. Perfect wine for a sunny lunch with Mediterranean food.

Two kabobs, beef and chicken, with saffron rice and lima beans, and a further combination of dipping goodies, made up the lunch.  Good choices, all.

Food A, ambiance E (knotty pine indicates an earlier incarnation for the building).  We shall return.

Politics . . .

I know, I know. We try to avoid politics here, particularly during an election year.
However, I've been hearing more and more from beyond the Pond, that the EU really is rooting for Obama to win this one.
I checked the electoral vote map. This is what I found:

We may have to answer this one by ourselves.