Early afternoon, just before two, I’m back in the rocking chair in an empty house. M, N, and M’s mother are off shopping. She’s visiting through next Wednesday. The less we speak of the visit the better. This blog is public, you know.

This has been a decent cool-down week. The weather is much improved, close to forty, and some of the snow has melted. The sidewalks are brown with runoff. Shadow and I walked the cemetery a couple times. Maybe we’ll go again before I pick up the boys from school. This morning I woke before five, after falling asleep early last night, and stairmastered before 5:30. After a quick breakfast and shower I left for work. The sky was gunmetal grey, like yesterday’s cemetery sky, beautiful and Midwestern, heavy and low, like the earth reaching down from above you instead of lying under your feet. I cleaned up the office, filing stacks of leftover papers, and I’ll continue on Monday with organizing my computer files. Rock and roll. I also burned some discs for friends and helped a colleague with budget issues. Budgets are your friend. Repeat after me. Later I met another colleague for coffee. We drove to Alterra’s and hung out for a couple hours. Well, he had coffee, too, while I alternated between hot chocolate and Italian soda. We gossiped about the U and talked about Italy. After I dropped him by his car I drove home. Today’s the boys’ last day of school, and I promised them smoothies or Italian sodas (their choice) after I pick them up. Later I might read Murakami and keep a low profile. I’m thinking of hitting Chicago Sunday. More later. I’ve got time.