September 15, 2003

• Cute Nut and Pennies Envy
  
  I walk home from the hospital every day, and there’s this one part of the sidewalk that is covered with little green heads with fuzzy green knitted caps with fringes. Today I picked up one of these heads, and it had an arrow that went through the top of his hat.
  
  Isn’t he cute???
  
  
  
  Here he is posing again.
  
  
  
  And for scale, here he is posing with 3 American quarters and a New Zealand 50-cent piece.
  
  
  
  What does this have to do with sailing? (All my posts should have something to do with sailing.)
  
  Well, if you look closely (because my camera doesn’t do closeups very well), the US quarters all have little sailboats on them. Well, the Virginia coin in the lower right has 3 sailboats, actually — perhaps the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria which were sailed by Columbus when he “discovered” the New World. Maine in the upper left has a lighthouse and a large clipper ship offshore. The Rhode Island coin in the lower left has an interesting gaff-rigged sailboat taking up most of the back of the quarter. And in the top right is a New Zealand 50-cent piece with the ship called The Endeavor on it, which was sailed by Captain Cook. That’s Captain Cook, not Captain Hook. I really don’t know why I have a New Zealand 50-cent piece. I’ve never been to New Zealand. It’s amazing what you can find when you clean out your glove compartment, eh? (And I bought my car new.)
  
  While I was outside in the driveway taking pictures of my nut, the postal lady came by and asked me what I was taking pictures of. I showed her my nut, and she goes, “Oh! It’s an acorn.” And then I told her I was also taking pictures of the 4 coins she was standing on. She moved her foot and saw them, and then she apologized. I imagine that walking as much as she does every day, her feet are tough enough not to notice what she’s stepping on.
  
  She told me she found a World War II penny the other day. The interesting thing about WW II pennies, she says, is that they have absolutely no copper in them. They were completely made from silver, because at the time, all the copper was being used for military equipment. And then she handed me my package from Bunches of Books which includes A Manual for Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests. I highly recommend this book as it explains very succinctly the purpose and diagnostic utility of certain kinds of medical tests, in particular, those dealing with blood.
  
  

  • 3:11 am
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