Don't mind me, I'm having a moment.

Oh...my..gawd.

I logged into Amazon and the front page was toting the Echo Dot Kids Edition in rainbow, no less.

Kids echo

But what's the first thing that popped into my mind?



The fecking Gas Tank... the one you see on the drive into Boston facing the Southeast Expressway on I- 93. The same one WBZ name drops when doing traffic reports. The same one that geeks me out whenever I see it because I'm reminded of home.

The tank!
Photo taken in 2018
on an iPhone 6S

So with being faithful to reminders, I didn't know it had an official name.  It's called "Rainbow Swash" and it was painted by a woman named Corita Kent, who was a political activist (and nun!). She not only is a local celebrity for Boston because of the gas tanks, she is a US celebrity because she created a "Love" postage stamp in 1985 (kids, ask your parents about stamps and if they remember this particular one).



I think I'm a little reminiscent of my youth, as I was texting a friend about wanting to sell my bicycle.

Bought in 1996, this Giant Boulder 550 has taken me to some great places in the 26 years I've owned it. From testing it out in the neighborhood surrounding the Schwinn store we got it from (in Providence, RI, no less) ... to riding it down busy highway in the summer after working summer school... to circling a local college down the street from my house... and stopping to read some books at said college (I read the Regeneration Trilogy a few times during my stops on a park bench).

It's sadly time to retire this thing as I've not used it since the winter of 2011... when we moved to
Florida. I think I rode around my new neighborhood and the blocks outside my community about 4 times in the months after moving to The Sunshine State. After December 2011, the bike started hanging by its wheels on a wall in the garage. And it stayed until I took it down today to end up selling it (hopefully) tomorrow.

Photo taken with my (still new!) iPhone 11 with "night mode" automatic filter. No other edits done. This s straight from my phone.

I guess that's it. I've got to check emails still and get to bed early. We're having a community wide yard sale tomorrow, I need to make sure all the duckies are in order and ready to quack.


Til then....


Cheers;







See also (aka books I mentioned:

• The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
• Regeneration
• The Eye in the Door
• The Ghost Road