STRICTLY POSITIVE

It's that time of the week again. Friday can never come too soon. Well, unless you work weekends, I suppose. Sorry if you do. What follows are some fun and/or positive things I read, saw, or heard this week that helped me make it through a bit of a whirlwind. I hope they give you a little lift going into the weekend whether you're working or relaxing or playing hard.

Exhibit A:  This is a pretty cool video from 2006, apparently just surfacing from Brazil. Will the lion spent his entire life (13 long years) in a cage or on concrete while he was with a circus. The video is of Will enjoying dirt and grass for the first time following his rescue. Sucks to spend 13 years like he did, but I'm glad to see he got 5 good ones. The GIFs (HARD "G") are ok, but the full video at the end is worth a view.

Exhibit B: Can you imagine taking care of people in your 90s? (I'm just over half-way there and I'm already sick of people.) SeeSee Rigney is an operating room nurse in Tacoma, Washington and is the oldest practicing nurse in the United States. She's been serving others for almost 70 years. SEVENTY. In any event, they threw her a big party at work for her 90th. Party? She deserves a pipe and slippers and bottle of bourbon.

Exhibit C: As a photography and animal nerd, I am a sucker for anyone who puts the two together well. These underwater shots by Jorge Cervera Hauser are fabulous. There are 16 available to view if you click on the link, but here are a few favorites:

Exhibit D: This story is so fantastic I can hardly stand it. Hero dog stories are the greatest. Derik Hodgson's dog Badger is being inducted into the Purina Hall of Fame this year. No big deal, he only saved Derik's life by pulling him home from a frozen lake, where Derik had fallen and broken his leg badly enough he couldn't walk. I suppose Badger had never forgotten that Derik had rescued him from the side of the road almost 11 years ago. The video is worth watching, but below is a still shot of the hero and his pal Derik at the induction ceremony:

Exhibit E: I'm not sure if this video is great or creepy, but each time I watch it trying to decide it makes me laugh. And creep out a bit. But the posture is simply to die for:

Exhibit F: This touching video was sent to my attention by Elizabeth weeks ago and it got lost in the shuffle. Alice Barker was a chorus line dancer "during the Harlem Renaissance of the the 1930s and 40s. She danced at clubs such as The Apollo, Cotton Club, and Zanzibar Club, with legends including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Although she danced in numerous movies, commercials and TV shows, she had never seen any of them, and all of her photographs and memorabilia had been lost." Now, at 102-years-old, Alice is getting to see herself dance for the first time. Don't worry, we'll all wait until you get some kleenex:

Exhibit G: My friend Kristin posted this picture of her and her son "practicing their lion moves," and I love it so much I want to take it out behind the bleachers and marry it. T is a lucky kid, Kristin is a super cool mom. And you can't see much of him, but isn't what you can see of that little lion adorable? I can attest the rest matches.

Exhibit H: Oh. My. A boy hugging his chicken. This video wins everything.

Exhibit I: Goat vine! (Some days you're the parkour, some days you're the parkoured.)



Obligatories: Most of you already know Bird had her pictures taken a couple weekends ago (because I've been bombarding you with annoying pictures from said photo shoot). But in case you've been under a rock and missed it, she had a grand time, Amanda Jones did a great job, and the proofs that came back this week include, among other great shots, this one:

So with the photo shoot and all the attention, B now rolls like this:

Just kidding. Work included inspections again this week, which means she got to go to work with me, and the contractor experts all love trying to get her to lose her zen facade. They fail. The girl is unflappable.

That's all for this week, folks, hope you have a grand weekend.