It was chilly yesterday; even Terry and Karen were in jeans.  Fall is definitely right around the corner.... at least here!  Same thing happens every summer, right before I leave - and does make it easier to go.

Of course it will be a "little" different when I get home on Wednesday...

It's been a brutal summer, shattering all sorts of records.

Yesterday Peter and The Wolf played on WQXR (one of the few classical pieces to which I can put a name) and then last evening we watched the animated 2007 video.  While I didn't remember seeing it before, once it started I realized Terry had played it for me during a previous summer. 

A stunning visual art, puppet animation perfectly in tune with the score composed by Sergei Prokofiev. The Polish-British co-production was awarded the 2007 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.  The film was produced in a classic stop-motion animation technique, and is an adaptation of the musical tale by Sergei Prokofiev of the same title from 1936. 

Woke several times during the night <sigh> and then was up for good early this morning.  Soaked in the Lower Apple, and (with plenty of room for social distancing) I invited the next person who appeared to join me.  He knew me by name, though I didn't recognize him.  Turned out to be Marc Cunningham, the "resident" astronomer, and we chatted about eclipses.  He'd been in Kansas for the one in '17, where the weather did not cooperate at all, naturally incredibly disappointing to him.  (We were lucky in Wyoming, with perfect weather!)

Later this morning we're doing another delicious family brunch here, 

with Elinor and Richard joining us.  

Terry informed me that tonight we will be celebrating my birthday (tomorrow evening, my last one here, we'll be busy zooming book club) and asked, in keeping with house traditions, what special dessert I'd like her to make.  

Assuming she has the ingredients, 

I've asked for angel food cake with chocolate frosting.