Saturday

A somewhat sullen, overcast, chilly day. I've been turning the heat on in various rooms.

This afternoon I mowed the side yard and most of the back. Every so often, I'd stop and just look at the house, thinking, for some reason, about the kid who stayed with us last year. Not sure why looking at the house made me think of her, but it did. I'm sad that we weren't able to strike up a friendship. I really thought we would. I'm not kidding when I say that we liked her so much, we'd have adopted her. We did strike up a friendship with her parents. At least, I think we did. The mother is very poor at responding to, or even looking at, email, and it doesn't take much to make me think maybe they're ignoring us. Maybe they've changed their mind about us. I know, thats's stupid. Still, I hope that they follow through with their stated plan of coming here next year. I'd really like that, and not just because it sort-of gives us a place to stay if we go back there. (Would we go if we didn't have it? Um...)

Our daughter has a track record that in the beginning of a school year, or just before, she gets really nervous, and she manifests this in two ways: by being really irritable at small things, and picking up books and toys that she'd used when she was younger. This weekend, she looked for old coloring books and did a couple, and she's re-reading one of the Magic Treehouse series. (This is the kid who just read Beowulf, and loved it.) She'll get over it, but its always surprising to see. I wonder what I do when I get nervous, that I don't know I do?

Did the bike again this afternoon. Six days, 32 minutes a day. This time, I was really tired when I was done, and my shirt was soaked. So I got changed, and laid down for a nap. Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang. I noticed that the handset said CHECK BATTERY. Hmm. We just changed that battery. Crap. Are we going to have to get a new charger? I think from time to time that I'd like to expand the number of handsets, but this system's limited to three. And I haven't noticed where anyone seems to sell customizable ones, with as many handsets as you want. At least, not for less than hundreds of dollars.

Cat thought it'd be fun to knock over a plant, and while she was looking down at the damage, knocked over another one.

Last night, we had burgers for dinner. For some reason, I decided to have a bit of salsa on mine. It was really good. I plan to try something called French Burgers, which apparently originated with Julia Child, some time. They take a bit of effort. I hope they're worth it.

I've noticed a lot of web sites dedicated to women and exercise. Not so many for guys -- and those that there are seem to be mostly for guys in their twenties who want to, oh, get the perfect six-pack, longboard down Kilimanjaro, that sort of thing. The remainder seems to assume that you're of a certain age, so you really need to talk to your doctor before exercising, take it slow, be gentle with your joints. Well, maybe I am, and maybe I should - but I don't feel like it, and I hate getting treated that way. Even when it's justifiable.

I continue to study French. I'm not sure why, sometimes, particularly when I am having a hell of a time with the accent. I recorded myself doing a reading, and I sounded leaden and clumsy. I think I'll get better, but I'd like it to happen faster.

So that's Saturday.