A weekly note

Happy Halloween! 🎃

Three days in a row of walks with a mid-weight flannel, a light jacket, and a wool hat. It’s already November tomorrow!

A feeling hits during this time of year that I’m still trying to put into words. I think I can assign it to most of September, October, and November. It’s not ennui. It may be as simple as wistfulness. A lot of it is attached to weather, place, and people, so maybe I can sum it up as: specific weather reminds me of times with people in places and not being able to repeat those moments at will.

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A friend from high school stopped by for a driveway visit after the WSU (Cougs) BYU (Cougs) game last Saturday. We haven’t seen each other in over 20 years. It was great how easy it was to catch up. Everything has changed and nothing has changed.

Once thing that struck me is how much the scale of time changes. I’ve previously run into people I hadn’t seen in 15 years, 10 years, 5 years. But 20 years! That’s a whole new level.

It has me wondering who I’m going to run into 10 years from now. Exciting!

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I’m almost half-way through Dune as part of book club. It’s fun finally reading it while knowing a new movie is hanging out waiting to be watched.

Because I’m looking at everything through the perspective of a new parent, I’m amused that infants aren’t (yet) mentioned when describing water conservation efforts on Arrakis. Like, this kid wets his diaper 10 times a day and is constantly consuming breast milk that is 87% water. How is this compatible with life on Arrakis? What suits and tools did they use?

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The NY Times republished their 1922 review of Ulysses and it ages fairly well. I don’t think anything in it is necessarily wrong, though it was definitely considered a lot more perverse then that it reads now.

Finally, I venture a prophecy: Not ten men or women out of a hundred can read “Ulysses” through, and of the 10 who succeed in doing so, five of them will do it as a tour de force.

I am one of the five. But which five!

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An overtired A was screaming in my face as I was trying to get him oriented for a nap after a feeding and a change.

I explained to him that he and I had a plan and that it involved three attempts to put him in the bassinet. After the first and second, he would cry again and I would go get him to try again. Then, after the third, he would go to sleep.

It worked! And reminded me of a quote I highlighted in Dune earlier in the day:

A plan depends as much upon execution as it does upon concept.

Well done, team.

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I was trying to think of the word “plodding” and instead wrote “plogging”, which didn’t look right, but is actually a thing—jogging while picking up litter. People are great.

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Anyhow. Today is Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. Tomorrow is Monday.

Keep it up!🚶🏻