The Harmony Fair is over, which means, I suppose, that fall is really here. The rain is pouring down, down, down; and all the eighth graders who are supposed to pick up cans and bottles on the fairgrounds today will be miserable. Meanwhile, I will be driving the embarrassingly ungroomed poodle to the groomer's and then returning home to catch up on the editorial minutiae that's accumulated on my desk--those end-of-project issues involving irregular reference dates and new figure titles and "sorry, can't open the file you sent me" emails. One thing I'm hoping to begin doing later this week is to can tomatoes. Another thing I'm hoping to do is to read more Zbigniew Herbert poems. We'll see.

By the way, I just received my schedule for the Bangor Book Festival. On Saturday, October 1, I'll be reading at Bagel Central, beginning at 9:30 a.m., which is perfect timing for a bagel. I'm not sure I've ever given a morning reading before. I wonder if it will be odd or if cream cheese and lox at a reading will be just as suitable as wine and little crackers usually are.