@mavarin
Bookkeeper, editor, fantasy novelist (pending), Democrat, Tucsonan, Whovian, sometime birder, & amateur photographer. One husband, two dogs, no kids, no cats. Bots, p*rn accounts and strangers who DM me will be blocked.
Apple Butt and Kito hang out with me as my birthday begins. Also: see those dumbbells? Recently I’ve been taking the 3 lb ones to the gym to use in exercises. Tonight I left one home so I did those exercises w/o them. My shoulder likes that much better so the dumbbells will stay home for a while.
Just a Sunday sunset at Park Place Mall.
Friday evening at Kon-Tiki. Featuring my friend and fellow March baby, Cynthia.
The Disneyland Marching Band and friends, a month ago yesterday.
Disneyland after dark, as viewed from the Mark Twain Riverboat. February 2026.
Is anyone surprised?
Still more from Cactus Forest Trail a week ago. #sagauros
Irish stew at Canyon’s Crown Pub. I went in expecting to order their other seasonal menu item, corned beef and cabbage. I gave away what looked like excellent bread, and took most of the stew (with lamb!) home to eat another time. Probably two other times.
Eisenhower
More from Cactus Forest Trail on Thursday. #saguaros #TucsonSunsets
After yesterday’s crummy shots of Heritage Flight training,m, I got a few good ones today from my driveway, also by iPhone. Two of them may be among my best to date. The iPhone screen goes so dark that I have to point in the general direction and hope, and crop severely if the planes are there.
Heritage Flight training over Tucson 2026. Just a few quick, distant shots with my iPhone. Today is the last day for seeing four mismatched vintage planes linking up overhead.
Tonight at Kon Tiki Restaurant in Tucson. 2 friends & I were supposed to get together with another couple, but we got the date wrong. We had dinner together anyway, and next week we’ll do it again. Then on the 10th, John & I will go, because we always eat there on my birthday. Then maybe on John’s!
I left a gym workout early to drive out to Saguaro National Park for a sunset hike. Good decision! I went back to the gym later, but it was great to get out and do this after weeks of seemingly nothing but home to church to gym plus occasional shopping. And it turned out to be a pretty good sunset!
We can go together!
I should add that when my family went to the New York World’s Fair in 1964, the single attraction that impressed 7-year-old me the most was a “dancing waters” show. I still get a little thrill from stuff like this, over 60 years later!
World of Color: Happy at Disney’s California Adventure, Feb 3, 2026. I was standing next to the Lamplight Lounge, where I’d had a nice meal that was *almost* too spicy for me.
Sleeping Beauty Castle during the Wondrous Journeys light show, 2/4/2026. No fireworks that night, it being a weeknight during the slow season. #Disneyland
In the Adventureland (Swiss Family Robinson) Treehouse. I would not have attempted the climb a year ago. Now it’s no problem, except that I am very slow and careful. It’s extensive and elaborate, but the way every room is roped off kind of ruins the views (and the photos).
The Jungle Cruise, and a selfie experiment. Disneyland, 2/5/2026.
Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #BirdsInTheirElement go see
@alan678.bsky.social and @robcrank68.bsky.social for more details! 🦆
#Birds!🦉 #Birding #Nature #Woodpeckers
"Always, always, always concentration camps are an end run around the existing legal system. These people that are getting rounded up because whoever’s in power wants to do something that they can’t do using the letter of the law..."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/o...
Losing 100+ lbs has required many components. There’s my gym, which is about to close for a refurb. There’s my food scale, to log food accurately. There’s my Ozempic, and numerous supplements. And there’s my Apple Watch and workout journal to track my exercise. It’s a lot of work, but so worth it!
100.3 pounds lost since 4/20/25! I still need to lose 24.5 lbs to qualify for knee surgery, & would like to lose 40 lbs after that. Also, I’m 11 days behind my pace of 10 lbs per month. I have a theory and will make an adjustment. But meanwhile, woo-hoo! 3rd photo is my “before” picture from April.
Paint the Night! Disneyland, 2/4/2926. Part 1.
It may be modern and very nice inside, but the dichotomy is jarring. Still, imagine being able to tell people you live at Rivendell!
Housing complexes often have names that have little to do with the property, so I didn’t expect ancient splendor in a hidden river valley, nor halls of stone under a mountain. But the contrast in this case was next level. 2/3
Wednesday night I left my workout journal at the gym on Golf Links, so today I went to get it. On the way I saw a sign for “new homes” at a place called Rivendell. “Turn right at Oakenshield Way!”
(1/2)
I discovered while driving through Gila Bend, Arizona last week that there are at least two of these delightfully quirky signs, at both ends of town. I spotted the second one a little too late to easily turn around and photograph it.
