The First Monday in October

My blogging mojo has obviously flagged over the last couple of weeks. Sorry about that -- it doesn't reflect anything bad going on. Here's what has been happening. Since I last wrote, I turned 46; painted my kitchen ("Golden Delicious"); became preoccupied with World War II (my father's war); grew my goatee back and embraced the gray (see "I turned 46") because facial hair is almost always a good thing; made a peace offering to a coworker I unintentionally offended (an incident from which I learned it's a bad idea to try to catch up on work at 11:30 at night, the time when cranky e-mails happen); read the best Washington Post Style section celebrity profile I've read in years; read a great article in the New Yorker about Leica cameras, which was so beautifully written and inspiring that it made me wonder if my long-abandoned calling as a photographer was the right one all along, continued to enjoy, while walking the dogs four times a day, podcasts of the best program on NPR (it was broadcast in Washington for about five minutes a couple of years ago, which is how I became acquainted with it); and, the other night, met a charming, warm, and radiant young woman while walking said dogs who told me that she's seen me with them many times and, because of our slow-as-molasses pace (set by the beagle), says to herself whenever she sees us: "Here come the old ladies." (Yet only one of us is actually female.) I intended to blog about each of those things over the last two weeks, but this will just have to do.