Pretty Fly for a Wifi

2 colors of dwarf irises

San Vitale mosaics that I had turned into a canvas wall hanging

The Grand Canal at sunset, another canvas

this will be a glass cutting board

Yesterday at a coffee shop, I scrolled through a list of possible wifi  networks in search of the free one and came across the title. Clever. The free one didn't connect but no matter, Steve and I were there to discuss Things that Needed To Be Done. We are very different people but in some aspects we are the same in that we tend to put things off, which is how we are in this Money Pit hell now. Baby steps taken yesterday. Much bigger steps needed but we both are easily distracted.

Instead we bought a bunch of equipment needed to turn our patio into an avian paradise. It was a cloudy day and birds seem to be active only when it's sunny. A flock of purple finches (5) did battle as the sun was setting. They seemed more intent on making sure the others didn't eat than eating themselves which reminded me of a podcast I heard recently on the duplicity of humans highlighted in a bygone British game show: The Golden Balls.

Towards the end of the show, a bunch of possible prize money has accumulated and the two remaining contestants are each handled two golden balls, each has a ball that says SPLIT and STEAL. They are allowed to discuss among the two of them, with the audience listening in before each choosing  one ball. Here are the 3 outcomes:

1. Both choose SPLIT and the money is split equally between the 2 of them. Usually in discussions, they both promise each other to do this.
2. Both choose STEAL. They both end up with nada..
3. One chooses STEAL; the other chooses SPLIT. The greedy one who on most shows promises on his mother's grave to choose SPLIT, is rewarded with the whole pot of money. The nice one, or the sucker, or the freier, gets nada.

The reasonable choice would be 1, but there wouldn't be much of a show then. The entertainment is the empty promises that the two give each other with the audience trying to guess the more duplicitous one and they are usually wrong. Towards the end of the year long run the show had, a contestant showed up with a completely different strategy: he told the other that no matter what, he was going to select STEAL so it would be in the other's best interest to select SPLIT. He then promised to share the winnings after the show. It took more than an hour of convincing (this tape is on Youtube) and has been edited for the show, the person who said later he was going to select STEAL. They both ended up selecting SPLIT.

Pretty Fly for a White Guy...There has been a couple of parodies of this song. Let's think of some....
Any rate, The Offspring (who sang this song in the late 90s) were just a part of collection of Mom's Road Trip Music cassettes. I had lots of them. These were only played when Steve was not around as he would painfully wince for a minute or so before demanding they be turned off. He can be No Fun. He, por exemplo, had no idea what 'fly' meant in the 90s or why this name was funny. But as I took the kids to various sports tournaments or white water rafting trips or camping trips, I would play these for the kids loudly. These were happy memories. Now we have no cars with cassette players. Do I even have a cassette player? I did rescue the cassettes though.

Lots of rain came through last night as it will all week. Tough on the kids who are out of school on vacation. I am waiting before running as the hills can be very slippery when wet. There is always the pavement next to the busy road but...

purple and gold finches. And maybe a female cowbird