In our yard this morning . . .

Lens says it is a Pleated InkCap.

Groundhog Day, circa 2001

 

Zak's first masterpiece

That's Tiny, one of the greatest dogs ever. The groundhog, Derwood Dan, apparently didn't see Tiny's shadow in time. Early Spring that year!

Puerto Rico 70!

Sunrise on my 71st year.

We completed our coastal tour of Puerto Rico this year for my 70th birthday. BD66 was the north coast, especially including San Juan. BD67 was the east side - Vieques. BD69 was the west coast - Rincón. This year, for the south coast, we stayed on Punta Pozuelo, south of Guayama.

With us this time, we had my brother David, along with Hallas family Kathy & Michael, and Zeta & Sean. 

Here is the birthday unicorn:

and his stable (except his mare that took the picture):

We had a local Paella dinner one night (and a couple days after)

We also had a revolving pack of dogs, up to seven at a time.

They took turns being the alpha protector dog, keeping other dogs from bothering us. There was no way to avoid them because the fence around our houses was full of holes.

The dogs couldn't protect Eleni from the greatest danger of all - Kathy's fingernails. Kathy grabbed Eleni's arm when some dogs threatened her during a walk. Here is the result:

David's main function was to make sure I drank enough beer. Here we are leaving the bar at the marina, ready to drive back to the house [RELAX! It's posed!] David's job got easier towards the weekend when more spots were open.

We waited all week to visit the only brewery I could find on the south coast - Papa Rupe in Ponce. Despite great reviews, we were unimpressed with most of the beer we tried, except for a sour that David proclaimed to be exactly what a sour should be. For this pose, I was instructed to look sexy. This is what a 70 YOM looks like when he tries to be sexy.

We visited "the big city" Guayama for 3 King's Day. The plaza was full of decorations and people. We had to escape when all the kids that got electric scooters for Christmas began the blind gran tour of the plaza. But before that, everyone else posed:

Along with Papa Rupe, Ponce had one of the fanciest firehouses I have ever seen

Eleni was instructed to look sexy posing in front of the fountain in the plaza. She was better at it than I:

Here is Michael's impression of what Teddy Roosevelt would have looked like if he spent some time in Puerto Rico:

Please feel free to suggest other captions in the comments.

Puerto Rico is always about the beaches. Here are the floaters

and Kathy sitting in just one of the little hide-aways where one can get out of the sun

Sunset on my 70th birthday week in Puerto Rico:

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A Slight Miscommunication

 Not the correct ingredients for Thai food:

Fashion Police Patrol Middletown

 Eleni took this picture to report me to the fashion police. I am posting it to just bite the bullet before it is fired.

What's wrong with a little inventive wardrobery?

Countess Kathy lifts a leg

Kathy strikes a RenFaire pose

Wait - weren't these soldiers fighting for the king?

It took me a few moments, but I noticed the "Revolutionary War" soldiers in the Trump Birthday Parade were dressed as the side fighting for the king. Hmmm. 

I hope they don't get their hands on those tanks!

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Another year, another Boston Cream Pie!

Update: Well, the trend ends. While I was at a brewery in Puerto Rico for my birthday, and happy for that, no BCP until a month later. It came from the store and I was eating it alone (Eleni is in CA this week). 

Dad had yet another birthday, looks like this is becoming a trend.

Dad had his birthday on the fifth! He's realllllly old now. As every year, he gets his Boston Creme Pie. We also went to the fancy movie theater in Santa Fe to see Aquaman and drink beer. Fun!
         Here's last year's cake picture:

And the year before:

And the year before (frown due to pain from surgery):

And the year before:

I think there's usually a lot of beer involved. We have quite the tradition.

Puerto Rico 69!

 After a one-year hiatus, we spent my birthday week in Puerto Rico again. This time we had Zak's family with us.

Eleni had so much fun she stayed behind when the rest of us went home, though she did return on the 18th.

We did the west coast, specifically Rincón. Rincón is famous for surfing,

which we don't do. There are more food trucks per square mile than anywhere I have seen. And just as many restaurants. That was good, because we do like to eat on vacation. 

Most beaches have rocks just in from the shore. These would not be such an obstacle if the waves were not so violent.

There was a beach just a half-hour walk 

John is ready to walk to the beach

away that was very sandy and calm, so we tried it. Definitely more like the other places we have visited in PR. Everyone else drove 5 minutes in the car to get there.

We rented a townhouse "Steps from the Beach." It was about 120 steps from the driveway to the sand and only a few more to reach water. There was plenty of shade, which was nice. If you braved the waves and got out far enough with snorkel stuff, there were plenty of fishies to watch. No pix of fish.

For my birthday, I visited the town plaza:

Sat with my granddaughters:

And I was serenaded (happily not "Happy Birthday") at a brewery that also had some of the best food of the trip, and certainly the most percussion:

Puerto Rico is very supportive of wall art:

Zach & Kaitlyn spent an entire beach visit with goggles on collecting shells and other interesting stuff from the ocean floor. Zak also found a "message in a bottle" that turned out to be a list of names.

We finally remembered to catch the sunset on the last evening.

And yes, we saw some big iguanas: