The evening is cooling rapidly, though the day was surprisingly warm. I had the windows open until I went shopping, and the house is up to almost seventy degrees, so the furnace probably won't come on until after midnight. When I woke up today I was sneezing so much that I thought I might be coming down with a cold, but I haven't sneezed since, so it was probably just a seasonal allergy of some sort. It wouldn't have been the worst time to get a cold, though, as the weather will be mild until at lest the end of the week. It is turning out to be a very mild October. I might even have to start irrigating the plants again, so no rain is in sight.
From the color of the sky after sunset I can tell that an autumn haze has developed, so the meteors will have that to contend with as well as the moonlight. The haze is unlikely to lift in the hour before the moon clears the mountains, so if I'm going to see any meteors tonight they will have to be pretty intense. I think I'll wait dinner until the moon has risen. I've got some frozen spinach and ricotta cannelloni, so cooking will be a minimal chore. There is fresh romaine and tomatoes for a salad, and some broccoli crowns and a couple of heels of bread for garlic toast. I wish I'd remembered to buy some Parmesan cheese. To me it just isn't fully Italian until the stinky cheese goes on it.
Sunday Verse
Echo Room
by John Burnside
All night, the long-eared bats
flicker from tree to tree
through the scent of rain;
The luckiest survive for fifteen years,
quick, in the swim of the air
or skimming the earth
Where cats from the village
pluck them entire from the darkness.
To the Ancient Chinese
they meant luck;
to the Flemish, affection;
But here, what they most resemble
is desire:
All skitter and echo,
gathering, then forgetting.