Last week, my small part of the world looked much like this picture, bright, airy and colorful. This week, the temperature and the humidity have risen, and close, gray clouds have hidden our blue skies and glaring, angular light. In the land where the state song is "Home, Home on the Range," the skies are in fact cloudy all day now and then.

Lest I mislead anyone, I should explain that I am not speaking metaphorically in that paragraph. The weather has been drab, and life has been routine, but this isn't an entry about depresson. Life as I have lived it does not often resemble an action-adventure movie or a even a situation comedy, and I'm almost always grateful for that. The most interesting events in my life since I last wrote here have taken place vicariously in reading or in television viewing, or they have occurred in a classroom or in private conversations.

Otherwise, I've lived an unexamined life during these last few days, and it has been a life worth living, Socrates' admonition notwithstanding.

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Two quick notes for my personal record:

First, the brother-in-law who lives and works in Houston joined us for dinner on Sunday while he was in town for the weekend. He was in the area for an interview with an engineering firm in Kansas City on Monday morning.

Second, under the tutelage of his new (one month? two?) trombone teacher, Owen's playing has become much less flatulent, and his daily practice time has become more productive, perhaps because the instructor has spent the lesson time reinforcing some of the fundamental skills instead of teaching him the songs. Owen himself can hear the difference. The teacher and his methodical approach have made a remarkable difference in Owen's playing in a very short time. I'm pleased with Owen's progress, and (more importantly) so is he.

Reading:
Catching up old New Yorkers. How naive am I to think that that's remotely possible!

Watching:
Saturday evening, Texas Tech vs. KSU (23-28 in an outing possibly even weaker than KSU's loss to Oklahoma), and the longest World Series game I'll ever half-watch.

Sunday evening Ed. After that, I watched While You Were Sleeping. I've done things more painful than watch Sandra Bullock go dewy-eyed; nevertheless, I would have appreciated a script, but then I'm a whiner.

Monday night and Tuesday morning, I watched the highest scoring fourth quarter of football I've seen in a while, Dolphins vs. Jets, 37-40 in overtime.

Damn. Television is creeping into my life again.