I-CUMEN. ALREADY.

I didn't sleep easily last night and I know I will be going for a supplemental snooze later today, but it was so amazingly quiet last night. I lay there wondering where my nocturnal symphonic cacophony was, such a stark contrast to a night or two before. This morning, up in the quiet, there is only the wave of cicadas in the distance and the sharp, short click of Cooder's bell as she moves around looking for an appropriate sunspot. (Yes, it is not a very bell-ish bell.) Albert has the best place in the upstairs hallway.

Today, two words for y'all. Nick. Lowe. M, J, and John and Melinda all met up at the lovely Damrosch  Park adjacent to Lincoln Center in Manhattan for a free show. We ended up with very nice seats in a very pleasant venue. I was surprised to see that the Lincoln Center crowd as neither as young, nor hip, nor stylish, nor racially diverse as the general crowds at Celebrate Brooklyn. And there were many many more much older people. My route to the restroom took me in front of the stage and there in the first row was a quite elderly woman, snoozing away as the band (Jason Isbell) blasted away. 

Nick was solo which was a treat, although by the end, I kind of wished for some solid backing to rock out on What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, And Understanding? 

Later that same day.

Ah Nick's voice! He's kind of a Sinatra-Wee-Small-Hours-of-The-Morning crooner, a little less smarmy, a smidge smug and smiling, with a slight twist of rockabilly. He did my current favorite Nick song, Lately I've Let Things Slide. (This version doesn't really do it justice. The first time I heard it, at City Winery a few years ago, devastated me.) Here, listen to Cruel to Be Kind. It's better. Plus, he is cuter in this video.

All in all, kind of nice weekend. I very much enjoyed the pizza and wine debacle with M, Brett, and Kristin, even if it made some of a tad slow yesterday. The show at Lincoln Center was thoroughly pleasant. I listened to another book (David Rakoff's Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish and got a good start on another one, Lois Lowry's Gathering Blue. And no, I haven't made much progress in The Brothers K. 

Sodom Reservoir, Brewster, New York.

Yes, I walked today. I even drove over to Danbury to find a park, thinking that while I could find new places to walk, the weather permitting and all, I should as it won't be too long before that will not be convenient or even possible at times. But, Google maps let me down again, so I couldn't quite find it. I just gave up and went back to one of the local reservoirs.

Sodom Reservoir, Brewster, New York.

The signs, I wrote about them a couple of weeks ago, they are getting to be more frequent. Summer, I hardly knew ye.

Autumn is icumen. Already.