Autumn Is Here

The autumnal equinox occurred at 5:23 this evening, Madison time. Precious little show of color in the foliage so far, and the day remained summery.

Elsewhere in the weather, Rita is inexorably making her way to Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Houston, and it just might do more damage in New Orleans. My sis and I have sent food and housekeeping items through the auspices of her church on a semi to the already stricken area and we may be sending items again.

This is Madison's "Chautauqua" weekend, which is its toneyest flea market, in my no doubt base opinion. My nephew and his wife, and possibly my niece, are coming for the occasion. Rosie and I already have a commitment to entertain her cousin, who says he will be here at 10:15, give or take a few seconds, on Saturday morning. At the church I've attended from time to time downtown there will be a concert of works for piano, alto sax, clarinet, and voice in the evening and we would like to attend that.

I have a son and a daughter who have blogs, which give me great pleasure to read and comment on. My son is a watchmaker who shares his enthusiasm for jazz, and my daughter is a medical doctor who is doing her internship; and her blog is vastly more interesting than ER. My other daughter has no blog but she lives close enough by that I have access to her charming person every now and then.

Today I rode my bicycle to the state park, parked and locked it, and walked several miles in the park, including on a trail overlooking one of the waterfalls. It was the first time I rode there as well as walking and it was quite a workout. The little park--Clifty Falls--is truly beautiful. The goldenrod and a blue flower the name of which I don't know were pleasing to the eye, and birdsong and the rustle of tree-leaves were about the only sounds I heard while walking.

It's past my bedtime. I'm listening to the Beethoven Satellite Network, with Peter Van de Graaf as the DJ. A wordless choir is singing right now--it might be from The Planets by Gustav Holst. I'm going to retire and start reading a few words of an Ed McBain novel. That is the nom de plume of Evan Hunter, which was in turn a pseudonym for Salavatore Lombino, I learned from his recent obituary in the New York Times, which was laudatory. He also looked nothing like Glenn Ford, who played the autibiographical teacher in The Blackboard Jungle, Hunter's popular novel of the 1950's. Then I read the book before seeing the movie. Anyhow, I'm going to work on the "police procedural" novel by Ed McBain tonight.

Good night and good luck.