The air is cool, the windows are open, the neighborhood is quiet except for the mutter of flight--a passing plane, a gull. I've got stuff to do today--grass mowing, errand running, meeting a friend for lunch--but there's no rush, no rush.

Nonetheless, I'm feel unsettled, worked up . . . I got a phone call with a job offer yesterday that threw me for a loop--not a call I expected to get: not a bad call, it could even be seen as cathartic, but it brought up some old business that I thought was behind me, and now I feel like I've swallowed a thistle, or have just discovered I'm sitting in a patch of burs.

Friends who are smarter than me are useful in such situations. I spent a few hours hashing it out with Teresa, with Tom, and while I'm still perplexed, I'm starting to untangle a few threads. But the knot is tight.

Anyway, here's a day ahead of us! Here's a day! Tom is already out somewhere, taking pictures in first light. The cat just stalked in after an early-morning prowl. I'm drinking my second cup of coffee and watching a rim of blue sky peep from behind the clouds. And none of this is going to help me pry that knot.