Little Chuck had his first Bad Day yesterday. He got too excited about a fly and broke a flowerpot in the bathroom while I was teaching, then wailed outside my study door so I had to let him in and wiggle distracting peacock feathers for an hour while also trying to lead a class. Fortunately, having raised two boys, I am able to do five things at once. But I do have hopes that nap time will arrive earlier today and I will do less kitten-roping.

This morning Chuck is back to his usual post-breakfast coziness. We are sitting together on the couch, and C is purring and admiring my hair, and I am purring and admiring his hair, and one would never know we'd had words yesterday over a flowerpot. Chuck just doesn't think straight when a fly is involved.

Meanwhile, T was dealing with a pile of new acquisitions. He's been working on the same massive house build for years, but the job is finally winding down, and that means, among other things, that many over-ordered materials and unwanted items that would otherwise be headed for the dumpster are being offered to employees. So now, in addition to a massive pile of foraged lumber, a new ladder, a roll of window screen, etc., we are the bemused owners of a weird-looking coffee table that apparently cost $3,000 new. I thought I might hate it but I don't. I actually kind of like it, and it's encouraging us to think about getting a rug to go with it, and maybe another lamp, and turning the living room into a comical mod space.

So while I was teaching/Chuck-roping, T was replacing torn window screens, and cleaning the basement to make room for some of the foraged lumber, and putting junk on the curb to see if anyone would take it, and cogitating over the coffee table, and otherwise figuring out how to deal with his building-material harvest.

Now, at first light, the seagulls are screaming over something or other, and a pale breeze is creeping through the new window screens, and a kitten is coiled in my lap like a doughnut, and I am thinking about the dream I just had: I was eating lunch at a restaurant with my friend Gretchen when Taylor Swift showed up and starting hugging and kissing us like the dearest of old friends. Everyone else in the restaurant was amazed but Gretchen and I tried to stay cool, like this sort of thing always happened to us.