Happy days: last night I came down with a head cold that seems to have lodged itself in my right eye. I have a new Tobradex prescription; I hate giving myself eyedrops. At the office, we switched over the HVAC to heat today; I should have done the same thing at home but I was too cold and tired to crawl out of bed to slide the switch. Meanwhile, my dishwasher has stopped working. This has led me to drag the grungy dish drainer and mat out from under the sink, and to re-learn how to wash dishes by hand. I'm lucky I had still had a portion of washing-up liquid in a bottle by the utility sink in the basement.

And I'm wondering whether Art-O-Matic is really going to happen this year. I'm getting tired of checking the web site every three days. Rumor has it that it will take place in the old Children's Museum building, but nothing has been announced.

I usually enjoy the arrival of fall, but we never really had a miserable hot spell this year, the patch of heat that tells you that summer is here. So autumn seems inappropriate, somehow. I've seen squirrels eating the ripened flower heads of Joe-Pye Weed along the trail; I've never noticed that before.

Alberta the Explorer turned 11 years old and 165,000 miles recently. I'm still hoping for a new set of fuel-efficient wheels to join her next year, or perhaps '06.

posted: 4:14:32 PM