I have had a brisk few days. The filing cabinet left the building on Saturday, gone to a newly immigrated Syrian family with a small business, and the too-tall bookcases departed today, three to an ex-Marine (another recent immigrant, I guess), and the last two to an old military colleague of my brothers. After garbage day, I can probably start parking in the garage.

Sunday dinner was Norwegian lamb and cabbage (fårikål) for the family, with the table fully expanded — both leaves — for the first time since before we moved to Stratford more than eight years ago.

Since even the cheeriest day needs a dash of the opposite (to make us count our blessings), about 30 minutes before the guests were due I discovered that someone had coughed up a large hairball on one of the dining room chairs. It wasn’t recent, either, so clean-up was no mere wipe with a paper towel. Ah, cats — such a good thing for them that they’re cute.