Finished reading “Mick and Amanda and Reesa and Craig”, “Mick and the Spoonbender”, “Mick and the Fit”, and “Like Uber, but for Monsters”, new short stories by Greg Stolze. Like much of his work, it’s well-crafted, unsettling, and sticks with you for a while.

Finished reading The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. Stars a minor character from The Goblin Emperor; this book’s main character is as fundamentally decent as the previous book’s. It was a pleasure to read, and to watch all the pieces come together at the end.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: butter chicken and naan.

Finished rereading The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian (Aubrey–Maturin, book four). Not quite as enjoyable as H.M.S. Surprise, but still a delight, including some choice bits about coffee, and a harrowing description of a hurricane.

A dark-eyed junco couple is building a nest in one of Meghan’s hanging baskets in the carport.

Family came over for a picnic dinner yesterday. It was so nice.

Finished rereading The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. I’d forgotten how much I’d enjoyed this fish-out-of-water story. The invented-language names were constantly baffling, but once I started aggressively using the glossary and cast of characters as a reminder, the book was smooth sailing.

It only got to 86° yesterday, and the forecast is for the lower 80s today.

Finished rereading H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O’Brian, the third book in the Aubrey–Maturin series. If you’re interested in reading any of these books (perhaps you enjoyed the movie?) but aren’t ready to commit, start here (but read the Wikipedia plot summaries of the first two before you start).

105°.

Reached 99° today. Bracing for tomorrow.

It reached 97° yesterday; it’s 84° right now. Mom stayed with us last night, and will again for the next couple days.

It is not yet 9am, and it is 79° outside.

Got the air conditioner out of the cellar. It still works.

Finished reading Kindred by Octavia Butler. About slavery and its effects on everybody (but especially the enslaved), it’s brutal (but intentionally less than it could have been) and compelling, with a spare style that suits the story. You should read it, but only when you’re prepared.