OK.
Let me just cut to the chase here.
Today is my 63rd birthday!
Elephants do not have anything,
specifically,
to do with my birthday;
but it seemed somehow fitting to me
to post this bronze sculpture
of a baby elephant
by which I was taken by surprise
in Mesa, Arizona, a couple of years ago,
on my birthday.
When I was 15 years old,
a high school friend and I
decided we should begin collecting something.
I honestly do not remember what my friend decided to collect.
I decided to collect elephants.
Over the next thirty years or so,
I acquired several hundred.
I do not even know how many.
But then I determined
to unburden myself
of the majority of them;
so, by means of yard sales, eBay,
giving them away, and simply tossing some of them,
I got the collection down
to about a dozen of my favorites.
Then, almost four years ago,
the house we lived in
burned to the ground,
and we lost everything.
Now I have a couple of elephants again...
This little guy is glass.
He is a blotter - back in the days of inkwells
one often had to 'blot' the ink to help it dry faster.
He is about four inches long.
One would attach a piece of blotting paper,
then gently roll the elephant back and forth over the wet ink.
This is wood and metal sculpture that stands about 10" high.
My sister-in-law gave it to me.
So,
there you have it!
Me and my elephants.