THIS IS A SIGNIFICANT WEEK for Michael and for me. Neither of us has joined the Chinese army, but that didn't keep us from horsing around with the cap I got in Beijing a few years ago. He is going off to the university (UC Santa Cruz), and I am going off into my seventy-sixth year. Today was my birthday. I am three quarters of a century old. I have self imposed rules which must be followed. Rule number one is that I must press the shutter release myself or I can't count the photograph as my photo du jour, so I held the little Lumix camera at arms length and shot myself.