I was going to write about how I can't seem to plan my way out of a paper bag today and how concentrating on making things work only seems to make them worse. Then I got a phone call which revealed that what I thought was a significant blunder on my part turned out to be a medical emergency on someone elses's part (nothing too terrible -- a bad rash resulting from a newly purchased pair of pants). This call was reassuring after an embarassing slip-up earlier that was clearly and entirely my fault.

I did not sleep well last night, and a personal logistical collapse seemed like a direct outgrowth of this. I need to find some inner peace (and perhaps get used to sleeping through heat and humidity).

Nonetheless, I've had a pleasant day. David and I (with Elizabeth in tow) had lunch with Paul Park at a Pleasantville restaurant we'd never eaten at before. (Elizabeth got her first taste of squid.)

Yesterday, I got Peter's Fun Ride set up in his circle of stumps. It is one of the traditional backyard recreations: a trolley you hang from on a wire between two trees. So far, I give it favorable marks. However, given my level of manual dexterity, I found it a bit hard to set up. I kept losing little parts in the woodchips down there.

It's been pleasant weather, but a storm system is moving in: it's getting dark out rather quickly and I hear distant thunder. And now the rain has come. There is a severe thunder storm watch on for the next two hours.