The Weather Turned

Smug in my warm Austin, I was surprised last night by the cold bitter wind. I opted for a sweater under my blazer. This is Austin after all. I didn't get out a scarf or overcoat. Oh, well, the fronts make it here now and again.

I have a busy day in a country club sort of way. Tennis. (I hope the wind has died down.) A meeting about a country club project. And voting. The lines I saw at early voting while running errands gave me pause. Maybe during the day while other people are working? Then I have to work on taxes for me and my in-laws.

Today's picture is our reflection in the Steuben Glass window in New York. Many mes. Many FFPs.

I'll be back when I have more to say. I stayed up too late reading a friend's new book. Yeah, the one I asked for at New York stores and didn't find. Rob has a reading on Sunday at the Arboretum Barnes and Noble and I decided to just go ahead and buy and read the book before the signing so when I was out that way, seeing about my dad, I bought a copy. I wanted to read it all last night and, although a follower of his blog will know a lot of the stories, it makes a pretty coherent and touching narrative. It feels a bit strange to hold a book about something that had been online 'ether' writing that could disappear. Also, made it hard to be objective about the book.

I would say that Rob is my friend (in fact I did in the last paragraph and I called him a 'buddy' the other day). But, reading the book, I realized that I am merely his reader. We've had a couple of personal encounters. Even a drink. (Sadly, friends often become so over drinks in my world.) But I realized while reading the book that we are too far apart in our experiences. We have friends his age. Some a lot younger. We have friends with kids. We both like music and books and joking around. But there is something that has made a friendship a non-starter. (And the fact of that turns an online reader into a stalker if you aren't careful!) The funny part? One of his best friends is someone I consider a friend even though I never ever see her since she moved away, got a fancy pants job and became a stepmother (minus the wicked part).