One chance...

Today a navy ship spent the entire day going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in the shipping lane; in and out of the harbor. See that ship in the background? That ship. If it were a zoo animal, we'd say it was stressed or bored. I bet this crew on this ship was bored, at least today, doing this. I don't know why it sailed back and forth. For practice? Just in case that person ever had to take over command of the ship? Or maybe some new ship's pilot was learning the ropes? Or did each and every person on board get a chance to make the run, and it just took all day? I had to wonder, too: were they practicing staying in the lane, or making the U-turn at each end? Perhaps a reader can enlighten me why ships make stereotypical movements.....

The plants in the foreground are Shaw's agave. It blooms only once, at maturity, which can take thirty or forty years. The flower emerges from a stalk around 12 feet tall.

It looks kind of like a giant asparagus, and in fact it's related to asparagus. The bloom looks like this. Pretty spectacular.

And then after it blooms, the whole plant dies.

Some things you only get one shot at in life.