Pinkeye

Johanna's finally getting over her conjunctivitis. She's not sleeping so much, and no longer looks like she was in a fight. I admit, with a little guilt, that there was something nice about that two-hour nap she took on Tuesday while I held her. It was only the illness that made it happen.

Itzhak Perlman

We saw Itzhak Perlman perform last night at the South Dakota State University Performing Arts Center. Anyone who knows where that is might ask "Huh? How did that happen?" Yes, Perlman played in this small town, and we were in row H center. We had terrific seats, and I found the performance to be spellbinding.

I'm no acoustical engineer, but I thought the violin sounded great and the piano accompaniment (Rohan De Silva) sounded a bit muddy. My friend Dave, who has a better ear than I, was in the front row of the balcony, and had the same impression. De Silva is obviously a wonderful musician, and I wish the sound of that Steinway had been a lot clearer, but face it -- we came to hear Perlman play his fiddle, and it sounded very good indeed.

Twice the audience applauded in mid-piece. I guess we hicks from the plains don't know Adagio from Allegro (or from Pistachio, as Dave says).

Well, that stinks

The Cubs lost. As usual. Did I really expect Prior and Wood to do in 2003 what Sutcliffe couldn't do in 1984?

Yes. Yes I did. I expected exactly that.

Fox has got to be crying about this -- unless Boston can beat the Yankees, nobody's going to watch the Series.

Uh-oh

Just keep telling yourself "This is NOT 1984. The Cubs will NOT miss three chances in a row to win National League pennant."

Cubs win! Cubs win!

Holy cow! The Cubs win a post-season series for the first time (as George Will says) since Tolstoy was alive.

Turf 101

I supose there's some lesson to be learned about soil compaction, or something. Where the giant trench in our font yard was filled in, the grass grows like crazy. We now have one long stripe of turf that looks as good as our neighbor Phil's whole lawn. On either side, where the turf was merely scraped away or crushed by the excavator, it looks more than a little thin. In other words, like our whole lawn always looks -- bare and weedy.