When I was a kid my mother had certain bowls that were only used for specific purposes. There was the gravy bowl, which was not a gravy boat, but rather a cracked and crazed grayish white bowl with some sort of blue design on the outside. There was the green Fiesta bowl that was used for vegetables, and which I thought was the ugliest piece of dinnerware I had ever seen (now I have a collection of Fiesta, both old and new). My grandmother, who lived next door to me when I was growing up, had bowls that I only remember ever being used for ice cream. Now I have very few pieces that only serve single duty. There is one small white bowl that I bought at a yard sale for $1 which sits most of the year in the cupboard that houses most of my white dishes. I only use it to store blueberries once they've been rinsed and drained. Tonight I used it for ice cream and it seemed... oddly out of place.

I went back into work today for a meeting and it also seemed strange, as if I was out of phase with the pace. Vacation will do that to you.

Exercise: None.

Books: The Da Vinci Code. Also read the first sentence of Small Town by Lawrence Block. He came to my bookstore to sign this, but I was rushing around the day he was there and I didn't get a chance to have a book signed. I remember him looking older and grayer than his book jacket pictures. I suppose we all look more faded and aged than any photo of us that would be used on a book.

Music: Bought Gillian Welch's new CD, Soul Journey, at Chester County Book and Music Company.

Movies: None.

Cats: Tabitha is covered with mats. She won't tolerate having them brushed out, but will sit still so that we can cut a few out at a time. More spring up like fur mushrooms every day.

Dreams: No memories surface today.