A moment sans Kodak

I have to get out to an early eye appointment today, so this will be brief. And I didn't have my camera out, so there's no picture. But I just had to share.

We picked up Ben and Ken last night (their flight was only an hour late, and Delta hadn't lost their luggage, so we considered that a high-five), met them with drinks and beads and came home in a drizzle -- which turned into a downpour.

Up early this morning, with coffee on the porch, I saw Skip, from the hotel down the street, carrying a huge plywood cutout to work. Obviously it was a decoration for their balcony, overlooking Duval Street.

"Looks like a gnome," I said.

He grinned, stopped and turned it around so I could see.

"Gnomes, Toads and White Rabbit Tea Parties," he said, quoting this year's Fantasy Fest theme.

The gnome was portly, cute and naked except for his conical cap. His right hand held a teacup, in which a white rabbit sat. His left was holding a toad in a strategic spot.

And of course there was a twinkle in his eye.

Postscript: As we went down Duval later in the day, there he was -- and I did have my camera this time.