I don’t think anyone knows the artist who created this 12 foot statue of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, but it is now sitting at 14th and V Streets NW, in front of Busboys and Poets, at least for a while. There is, I understand, a larger story behind the displaying of this statue, but guess what? I don’t really care.

By the way, for what it may be worth, when I went down to take a photo of the statue, which as you may know is in a very busy area filled with people in their 20s and 30s, there was a small crowd doing the same thing. The average age of the picture takers was probably about 70. Make of that what you will.

Today is a very special day in the world of artis80.blog. It is the blog’s 4th anniversary. And, because I have not missed a day, this is blog post number 1,097. If the average post would be  2 or 3 pages in print, we would have about 2500 pages of printed text, or about 8 volumes at about 300 pages per book. Just sayin’.

We celebrated the anniversary last night by having a grandchild sleepover. We watched the Adam Sandler animated film Leo. No one had seen it of the four of us. I really liked it.

Leo is a pet lizard kept in Ms. Malkin’s 5th grade classroom, along with his friend Squirtle the Turtle. They have been in this classroom quite some time. Leo is 74 years old and learns that lizards live 75 years. He panics, and decides it’s time to spread his wisdom to the kids.

The unique thing is that Leo and Squirtle can talk, although nobody knows it. They keep that trick secret. But when Ms. Malkin decides that every weekend  Leo should go home with a child, Leo tells each child he can talk, but swears them to secrecy.

Each child has a problem. One is shy, one a bully, one never stops talking, one is very rich and thinks she should get everything she wants. Leo helps each of them deal with their problems.

Of course, there is adventure, too. Leo must be rescued after he is dumped in the Everglades, for example. And that’s not easy.

This morning, they turned on another film to watch while we’re getting ready to ship them off. This time, it was the Minecraft movie, which they seem to know almost by heart. I wasn’t paying close attention, but it seemed to me just an awful film.

One reason I didn’t pay close attention to the film is that I did a 7:15 a.m. run to Bethesda Bagels. A great time to go. You can actually park right on the street and the line was only 1 person long. But it sure operates like a factory with important deadlines to meet. The kitchen and counter filled with people, each multi-tasking with beginning of the day energy.

We hope to have a quiet day today. The schedule tomorrow is fuller. Probably too full.

Until then….