For those of you still limping your way to the end of Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale, I remind you that "end" is the key word. We're almost done: and as soon as Paul and I are awake at the same time, he and I will triumphantly finish it. So my friend Lucy wonders if anyone is interested in a second group reading project. It would not have to be Shakespeare: it could be a novel, a poetry collection, an essay anthology, a play by another playwright, whatever you might want. If you have thoughts or suggestions, feel free to comment or send me a note.

In other news, yesterday was a day of irritations. First, I had to undo several scandalous grammatical errors that had been copyedited into one of my manuscripts. And second, while I was working in my brussels-sprout patch, I stepped on a yellow-jacket nest hidden under the mulch. Fortunately I escaped with only two stings, but now I have no idea how to get rid of the nest or even exactly where the thing is hidden. Gardening seethes with terrors.

On the good side, however, Red Sox rookie Ryan Kalish hit a grand slam, I ate an excellent slice of devil's-food cake, and I wrote 10 more lines of a poem. Also, I am rereading P. G. Wodehouse, which is making me feel like I'm about 13 years old.

And by the way, I've been meaning to share this link to a source for good, cheap art. Tom will be one of the featured photographers.