Hello again

Notes from all over:

1) I made jelly! And it gelled! We have a lovely grape arbor in our backyard, which means that, in early fall, we are suddenly innundated with pounds and pounds of Concord grapes. And they're actually harder to use than you'd think -- you can't really make grape muffins or grape pie, so you're pretty much left with jelly. For my first batch, made a couple weeks ago, I followed the directions on the pectin box religiously and ended up with several jars of grape syrup. So, this time, I disregarded their timetable and just boiled the tar out of my grapes and it worked. Six whole jelly jars worth. And there are still enough grapes out back that I could probably get another batch in. Yay. The true victory will come when I eat the homemade jelly on homemade bread this winter. Mmmmmmmmmm.

2) School goes well. Not quite up to first week levels of stylishness and confidence but a hell of a lot better than I was doing a year ago this time. Various scheduling demons are conspiring against my production this fall, but I feel, perhaps due to the 2 beers I had with dinner, that the show will emerge victorious. At the very least, I don't hate my play yet, so that's nice.

3) The cold is better. I actually did the mature thing and stayed home from school, instead of being brave and carting tissues everywhere and dragging the whole thing out for weeks. So, I mostly feel fine . . . except I still have a window-rattling chest cough, that prompted the following exchange this morning.

Me walking down busy street: Cough Cough

Dude on cellphone walking past me: Blah, blah, blah . . . . Wait, hold on a sec.

Me: COUGH COUGH COUGH

Dude (clearly annoyed that he might have to save my life): Are you, like, okay?

Me: Cough. (Nod). Cough. (Nod).

Dude (back on his cellphone): So, anyways, then I said . . .

4) Wonder dog is back in obedience school, in the hopes that he will become even more wonderful. And, God willing, learn to walk on a leash without dislocating the shoulder of whoever happens to be walking him. So far, my favorite thing about it is I'm forced to remember where he was, obedience-wise, in January, when we first signed him up and how far he's come since then . . . for example, we couldn't even leave him in the house alone uncrated at that point. So that feels nice. Even if he's a yanking machine on leash.

5) I like fall. Always have. Comes from being a nerd, I think, and enjoying school-supply shopping a little more than is socially acceptable. Also sweaters and apples and everyone's birthday. And lots of holidays and the good kind of Daylight Savings. It seems appropriate to be bustling around and getting things done, as opposed to February where all tasks except for the most nesty seem onerous, and I really just want to swath myself in flannel, read dense Russian novels, and wait for spring.