Turned on the new heat pump for the season sometime last week, maybe September 29 or so.

Finished reading The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer, the third book of the series.

This was a faster, more intense, I think better book than the first two, which (aside from the faster part) is saying something. I don’t know if it’s due to my growing familiarity with the baroque setting, the improvement of the author’s craft, rigorous editing on the part of her and her editor, or the plot itself.

Very much looking forward to the fourth and final book, which will be published later this month.

The carport gutter got clogged, so it pulled away from the carport, so Greg helped Meghan and me jury-rig a fix. Then I cleared the clog, and the rush of water from the downspout overwhelmed the rain barrel and spilled onto my legs and feet.

Greg and kids came over, and the dude and I played Magic with them in the carport.

Last grilling of the season, probably: brats in sauerkraut, with zucchini and squash.

Walked home from Edmonds, a little more than seven miles.

Went to Tom and Mari’s for brunch, with a whole bunch of Meghan’s family.

Set aside The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon about a quarter of the way through. I wanted to like this, and probably would have finished it if I’d read it ten years ago, but today it feels more drawn-out and portentous than I’m willing to tolerate.

The bedtime conversation with the bambina covered Bose–Einstein condensates (I was on uncertain ground) and the Kelvin temperature scale (more confident here).

Current earworm: the piano bit from the second half of “Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt” by Pharoah Sanders.

Finished reading The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. A couple quibbles aside, I loved this book, set in Manhattan c. 1900. It felt like a puzzle where all the characters ended up fitting together just so (and I think the quibbles are where I didn’t feel like the fit was quite satisfactory … but they were minor characters). Recommended.

Serious insomnia last night.

Finished reading The History of Jazz (3rd ed.) by Ted Gioia. This was kind of the flip side of A History of the World in Six Glasses: I wish it hadn’t been quite so long, but I was fascinated by every part of it, and wouldn’t cut much if anything. I now have a lot of listening to do.

The dude played in the band for the football game, and managed to only get wet while waiting for a ride home.

Both kids were home sick (not covid) from school this week. (Makes me wonder a bit about the schools’ anti-covid measures.)