Alexander "Sasha" Dalton - 2014 photo

I've been infatuated with Timothy Dalton since I first saw him in The Lion In Winter as King Philip, and then in Wuthering Heights as Heathcliff.  The man is a fantastic actor, enjoys acting, and is frequently described as being "over the top."  Being from my generation, I consider Sir Sean Connery as the ultimate James Bond portrayal, but Timothy comes a very close second as 007.   When he had a child with singer/dancer Oksana Grigorieva, I decided that I wanted to watch that child grow...  As the son of celebrities, and after the big Mel Gibson brouhaha, it's been difficult to find photos of Alexander Peter Dalton, also known as "Sasha."
    I have found a reference to an unauthorized party at his father's home - but otherwise, he's been pretty quiet.  These two photos are actually the same one, cut and pushed together.  They were taken backstage after the opening night of The Last Confession on 11 June 2014.  In the original, Timothy Dalton is on the left, David Suchet (a cast member) is in the center, and Alexander is on the right:

The photo-shopped picture, with David Suchet removed, is below:

A Few Stray Thoughts - and Chesapeake Bay Scenes

Isn't it amazing that, while humans are made up of, mostly, water, we are land animals?  And isn't it also amazing how afraid humans are of creatures that live in the water?  I'm sorry that "Sharks Are Terrorizing North Carolina Beaches" is a big media draw.  I am very sorry that people are being attacked and injured in the ocean - but humans are encroaching on marine life territories, when they swim and surf in the sea, ocean, whatever...  The population of sharks around the world has been greatly reduced by over-fishing (both for sharks and what are caught by accident by fish trawlers), and by the popularity of shark-fin soup.  It's sad, really.
  Sixty-nine to seventy-three percent of each of our bodies individual cells are made up of water - a compound of oxygen and hydrogen.  In actual breakdown, the human body is 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, 1.5% calcium, 1.2% phosphorus; and the other 1.2% is made up of potassium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, and magnesium, with minute traces of iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, iodine, selenium, and fluorine.
   If you're walking in a park - local, county, state, or national - you are not constantly in fear of fire ants, bee swarms, venomous snakes, or wild animals.  People are raised to believe that they are smarter than other creatures, and that they are, therefore, at the top of the food chain.  However, if one should be out, alone, and unarmed in various areas of the world, one can understand being aware of the possibility of a lion, tiger, bear, or mountain lion.  We are small creatures in a large wild world.  Why don't people realize that the same goes for oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes?  People put themselves at risk - and then are upset, when Mother Nature takes it's course.
  The water is a fantastic place.  It teems with life.  A lot of that life, humans do not understand.  But we share the planet with these creatures - sharks, jellyfish, barracudas, Portuguese man-o-war, sea snake and other stinging, biting creatures that normally live in the water.  We invade their space and then hunt them, when they are behaving normally for their species.  Humans still have a lot to learn....

Chesapeake Scenes

Irish Derby and Mother Goose Winners

Yesterday, the Irish Derby was run at the usual distance of one and one-half miles.  Jack Hobbs, who finished behind Golden Horn in the Epsom Derby, liked the turf at the Curragh better than Epsom.  Jack Hobbs won the race by 5 lengths, with Storm the Stars another 5 1/2 lengths back, and Giovanni Canaletto winning third by a half-length.
   The 1 and 1/16 mile Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park, yesterday, the chestnut filly named Include Betty won by a margin of 3 and 1/4 lengths.  Wonder Gal nosed out Chide for second.

   - I hate moving! -

Chincoteague Scenes

Assateague Island Photos - Maryland and Virginia

Surf Queen and her last foal by Surfer Dude

Various Photos

Squidworm

Scissor-tailed flycatcher

German alpine picnic area

Dewey, a Maryland Assateague pony

Jamaican lovebirds

White tail deer and great blue heron

Elephant encounter

Away For a Few Days

I'll be taking a short break from blogging, as I start clearing out my apartment tomorrow, Saturday, and must be completely out by midnight June 30.  I've put some easily handled things into storage already - will be working my buns off (I wish!) in moving all but four major items out of the apartment by Sunday evening.  I'll pick up a van at 3 on Monday, and have to return it by 3 on Wednesday.
   My friend Beatrice and I have been applying to several different places around Boulder - we figure that if we can both pay $750 per month for ourselves and have less than 500 square feet, then we could get a two bedroom,  one-and-a-half  (or two) bathroom together and save a little bit more money.  Four places have told us we don't make enough money to qualify, and one has said we make too much.  I'm still hoping to get into a new complex on 28th Street - at the moment, the only thing holding us back from approval is a verification of Beatrice's retirement income.  (The form was sent to her this evening.) Beatrice plans on printing it, signing it, and faxing it as soon as she gets into work tomorrow.  
   Maybe I'll know by Monday evening where I'll be moving on Wednesday morning....  If we get into our chosen place, I should be able to begin blogging again on Thursday.  Otherwise, I (and the cats) will be staying in a friends mother-in-law suite in North Boulder, until we find a different place to move.  I won't mind staying at  Len and Susan's, with Lola, Cooper, Tipsi, and Pounce, but I don't know how Lovey will react to having other cats on the other side of the French doors.  If Lovey, Nedi and I end up at Tamarack Court, I'll blog whenever I can, but it probably won't be regularly.
   Enjoy your next few days without my rambling mind intruding!

Critters

Beaver

European wild cat

Irish pine marten

Great blue herons fighting

Squirrel at Yosemite National Park

Canada geese at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - photo by Deb Iddings Noll

Mexican ground squirrel

Huge Storm in Denver

While there was a tremendous storm in Denver yesterday afternoon, right at the height of rush hour traffic, Boulder escaped with clouds, thunder and lightning, and a few drops of rain.  We did have threatening clouds from about 3 p.m. until well after 10, as storms passed overhead and dodged around us.  Nedi spent most of the time curled up inside his closet hidey-hole, while Lovey went back and forth between my lap and the window.  We didn't even have enough rain to dampen the grass thoroughly.
   Denver, on the other hand, had torrential rain, lots of funnel clouds, and lots of hail.  Depending on where a person was located in metropolitan Denver, they got anywhere from .25 inches of rain, to 2.25 inches of rain in less than an hour.  Most of the hail that fell was the size of quarters, while some areas saw hail the size of golf balls.  Multiple funnel clouds were spotted in various neighborhoods, and photos were taken.  Straight-line winds knocked trees down, and/or  broke them in half.  Because of the deluge of sudden rain, there was localized street flooding - and the local creeks and rivers overflowed their banks again.  The hail stripped leaves from trees, and decimated flowers and gardens.
   Yesterday was Bike to Work Day throughout Colorado.  A lot of businesses had set up refreshment tents along bike paths, in parks, and in other open bike-riding areas.  They had served folks on their way in to work in the morning, and most were still set up to offer water and refreshments for the ride back home.  Most of those tents and pavilions were destroyed by the rain, hail, and wind yesterday.  Weather forecasters were begging people to find cover and stay there until the storm was over - and also warning that it might take several hours for traffic to clear enough for people at home to drive into the downtown area to pick up the stranded bicyclists.

Tree toppled in Commerce City

 Leaves, hail and flooding at Williams St and Colorado in Denver

Colorado Blvd in Denver

View from office building near Cherry Creek in Denver yesterday

Chincoteague Island Scenes

 This Chincoteague pony gelding is named Lightning.  He swam the Assateague Channel as a foal in the 1988 Pony Penning.  He is now 27 years old, retired, and lives at the Rodeway Inn.

 The Chincoteague Fireman's Carnival will open Friday night.  The Chincoteague Pony 4-H Club has been working hard to clean up the grounds and the rides.

Island Creamery is now offering Strawberry Sundaes in waffle-cone bowls - Yum!

Chincoteague Island has a large duck population - please be sure to brake and stop for both large and small groups crossing any roads - this is Main Street.

Ponies taking a snooze on the marsh

Beautiful island sunset