on friday, i saw the new native shrubs fallie planted outside his front window, blueberries, beautyberries, and a shrubby st. john's wort. he's slowly digging out the privet and english ivy around his house and replacing them with stuff from the native plant rescues where he volunteers. i'm looking forward to watching how it changes over the months and years

he and i sat for a while and ate faux-fil-a, drank a fruit punch four loko out of hurricane glasses with little umbrellas, and shared our stories from the week

i've lost the ability to appreciate the spectacle of the fireworks. maybe it will come back if i don't hold on too tightly. probably, i will be ok either way

we had thousands of lightning strikes in the area on saturday night. i woke up to find boba tucked hard against my pillow. when she was little she slept there every night, but she outgrew it years ago

i'm trying to stop using some words that mean too many things. words that've grown broad i can't be sure what other people are hearing, so diluted, they've lost all taste. just a handful of words. it's nothing serious, just a game, or maybe an experiment. watching what words fill the gaps

we walked up stone mountain early sunday morning. we had company, unaccustomed to the climb, so we went much slower than i usually would. i wandered all around while they rested on the way, and i got to notice things i hadn't seen since the kids were little. it was a nice morning

last night, i dreamt that there was a delivery man on the street in front of the house. he needed the neighbor's signature before he could leave, but the neighbor was missing. some people thought the neighbor was just out taking a walk, but others thought maybe in the hospital, speech stolen by a stroke, or maybe in europe on business. after a few days the delivery man looked ragged from sleeping on the ground outside his van. i emptied out the garage and built him a little room. when it was done he laid down on the little bed in the little room, went to sleep, and in the dream at least, he never woke up