Courtesy my Dad: a spectacular picture of my maternal grandfather, Herman Brackbill (aka Pop-Pop), ca. 1939. His hairline is about where mine is today...

Pop-Pop was with my parents for a few weeks and by all reports is doing much better than he has been for a while. Esta reports that at my cousin's wedding he was in great form, cracking jokes and generally having a good time. I look at how he's doing in his eighties, and remember how my great-grandmothers on that side of the family both were--essentially non-responsive, at least as far as us kids were concerned--and I feel even better about how he's been.

If the rain doesn't come soon and put an end to our outdoor chores, I may end up dead. I spent about an hour or so on the roof today cleaning the gutters. Most comical thing found in the gutters: a peanut. Still trying to figure out how that got there.

Our late summer lettuce crop crossed the inflection point in the last week. We now have more arugula, frisée, and other mesclun-type stuff than we can consume. Time to start making friends at the office by handing out produce. We just planted some more lettuce, and Lisa transplanted the basil and rosemary into indoor containers--with a little luck we can keep them going all winter.