This has been a magic week, new everything, like the live version of a long shower with peppermint soap suds and water hot enough to steam the whole bathroom. And since when does the late autumn bring renewal like this? It's the season of rehashing old pain and while I have been doing some of that too, I'm glad for so many beautiful distractions.

Today I am sitting in my new room sorting things and not being very successful at finishing because I keep finding stuff. I am staring out my new broader window onto the shiny white roof across the way, reminiscent of the chimney sweep dance in Mary Poppins. I am trying to figure out a better window treatment than this gaudy hot pink embroidered scarf from the Netherlands that I have strung across at the moment.

I am listening to Gardens en Villa and remembering the first time we saw them, stomping and whirling to the slow chimes of a golden boy with a flute quiver. I am getting excited to see Becky this weekend and drink in cocktail bars and dive bars and Bills bars and talk about deep sadness and the West side and books and football and how to make art and change.