You have pea soup weather already? I'm so envious! I had to carry my gabardine jacket for tonight's meeting because I was sweating up a storm in it, it's still so hot outside. In the library we have hyper air conditioning, so it will feel good.

I haven't thought about fire wood, but I rarely do fires. I bought a pretty mirror last fall and propped it at the back in the grate, and I put in candles in front to be reflected. It looks good and I don't have the problems of it not drawing properly. It's poorly designed, I think. I had it cleaned when I moved in and I only do a couple of fires a winter.

A neighbor locked himself out before I left for work, so he came over to borrow a screw driver and a battery (his garage door opener had died). I was still, after all of this time of clearing, embarrassed to have someone come through. It looks better, but someone who isn't in here every day doesn't know that, to an outsider, it still looks cluttered. I have to speed this up and move it out.

More watchers on the dulcimer. Fingers crossed. It ends early enough in the evening (I planned it that way) that people should be up and around, it isn't one of those 2am auctions that no one wants to wait up to bid at the last minute.

SRS