Tempus Fugit

Some say it crawls, but I say it flies.

My daughter turns 36 on Sunday. I can scarcely believe that eventful and exciting June night at Swedish Hospital in Seattle was way back in 1972, but there it is. Julie and I didn't have two nickels to rub together, but we managed to produce an issue who brings joy to the world and to everyone whose life she touches. And even at her advanced age, Rachel is still passes as "that Gypsy girl" most of the time.

Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the U.S. The first that I remember distinctly, Eisenhower, was the 34th.

On this date 122 years ago, the deposed King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg, near Munich. History books sometimes refer to him as "mad," but he was no crazier than you or I (I'm assuming that none of the readers of this blog are schizophrenics). He was merely an early prototype of the gay interior decorator, and had no sense of fiscal responsibility, which sort of goes with the territory. He built Neuschwanstein, beloved of travel poster photographers and the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. He also had a mouth full of black stumps instead of teeth, since he was addicted to sweets and dental hygeine wasn't very good in those days.

Also on this date in history, in 1934, Hitler met Mussolini for the first time in Venice. They made a cute couple, but Mussolini later referred to der Fuehrer as "a silly little monkey."