Up before six. Got in a good mile walk through the neighborhood, then home to the keyboard for revisions, etc. Looked after small things mid-morning. Read second N story and made notes. Need to try and get the critiques off tomorrow before anything new drifts in. Spent the early afternoon policing the yard and catching up with the neighbors. Afterward, went off to the dump to jettison what I can only hope will be the last of the major yard cleanup. Air cooled toward late afternoon and some rain fell--those big, sloppy drops--and I held my breath that it wasn't going to be a hailstorm. Which, mercifully, it wasn't. Cooked up a pot of spit pea soup in the midst of all these doings, and by virtue of that small accomplishment am calling the day a winner.

Journal