San Francisco Fire Department

The news that China is developing a navy comprised of supra-capable fighting ships is disturbing to the same sort of people who were disturbed when the USSR was developing a nuclear arsenal in the 1950's for the sole purpose of wiping out the US, which it turns out the USSR wasn't, though the people now fearful of China, who either weren't yet born before or during the Cold War or, if they were, swallowed that myth, still choose to believe in the notion that having an enemy makes one stronger and is very good for business.

Spectator sports are a pallative in much the same way Flaubert called the notion of hope "the great alleviator", but a viewer can't help but admire the way soccer players celebrate a goal by sliding across the grass on their knees, as was the case this weekend with the teams of Portugal and Germany. And though many knowledgable golfers believed an 'international' player would win the US Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, an American named Webb Simpson won parring the last 4 holes while wearing a blue POLO cardigan by Ralph Lauren.

Old age is

a flight of small

cheeping birds

skimming

bare trees

above a snow glaze 

William Carlos Williams wrote in a poem, "To Waken an Old Lady."

I note the beginning of old age thusly: not being able to sleep when I  want to sleep and sleeping when I  least expect to, as in falling asleep with the TV on while the Miami Heat are playing the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA championship.

The Sunday morning bikeride to the Great Highway and beyond was memorable, as was stopping to watch the SFFD on manuevers in the parking lot at Ocean Beach, keeping watch over the Pacific for all of us.