NEW LEAF

It was an artsy sort of weekend for Your Humble Narrator: Friday evening I stopped by Willo North Gallery for the opening of Grace and Gravitas, a show of buoyantly joyous work by the great sculptor (& great guy) Lawrence McLaughlin (seen here with Moi):

…as well as intriguing work by the young sculptor Eric Cox.

Then The Wife & I spent Sunday wandering around the Tempe Festival of the Arts. While I was there, I got the chance to test-drive the Nissan Leaf, their upcoming all-electric car—the Fest was a stop on the Leaf’s “Drive Electric Tour” (it’s in Tucson next week; you can register to drive it here).

It was basically just like...well, driving a car, except that it was seriously quiet, to the point where, we were told, an artificial motor sound effect is going to be added to the actual production vehicles (these were pre-production) so that people will hear it coming!

Aaargh! The Diamondbacks have traded third baseman & slugger Mark Reynolds to the Orioles, presumably on the petty, unimaginative grounds that he led the team—and the Majors—in strike-outs. Admittedly, he rarely hit the ball, but when he did it looked like it was headed for orbit, & he had some panache on defense, too. I will miss his Godzilla-high homers, & The Wife may just boycott.