that is my seat!

I planted the dahlias in a planter behind my bench on my deck. As you can see, they've claimed my seat.

Today's pictures of the dahlia were in focus. I've been playing with my lensbabies so much I haven't played with my vintage radioactive lenses in ages. I only have 12 extras left or I'd share more. (I was hoarding them for the Iceland trip.)

I'm not super confident that I will be able to go to Cape Town this month for work after all. OMG the bureaucracy!!! 

Putin has an airplane with a gold toilet. I saw a picture. Really, it is only the lid that is gold-plated. Ok, the sink is too. 

The Kerch bridge was really important to Putin. His outrageous response shows how badly his ego was hurt. When it was built he called the bridge a miracle. Not only did he drive a truck across it when it was built - an orange truck - with Russian flags - imagine how badly it clashed - but he also rode across it the next year when the train line was laid. The attack was not only a personal blow, it was not only a strategic and security failure, it was embarrassing. 

Russia has trained dolphins defending Crimea. (This is so wrong.) Even the super-villain trained dolphins and anti-sabotage boats couldn't protect the bridge. 

2019 a beluga whale got Norwegian fisherman to get some GoPro mounts off of it. If you think the whale put them there himself, “St. Petersburg equipment” was embossed on the harness clips.

"Russian army leaders recently ordered their troops in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk to temporarily stop fighting amid low morale and desertion, according to Alexander Štupun, the Ukrainian spokesperson of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."


Finally, Russian soldiers are starting to resign and prematurely terminate their contracts.