Powerful wind blowing across the river this morning, out of the west. Tide was turning, so the river had no current. Wind and boats' wakes multiplied each other; with no current to fight, they made whitecaps and waves strong enough to break over the wall where I was sitting. Bright sun, the river green in shadow, blue in highlights.

Speaking of highlights, you might want to read my mouthpiece's blog entry, "Today was like having 50 conversations with my grandmother." At least those of you who share my politics might. Tikkun olum, indeed.

And the stock market dropped more than 1/2 a point in October, and the Redskins lost today. Historically, these are both infallible correlatives to an incumbent's loss. And the Red Sox won the World Series, under not a blue moon but pretty damn close.

And I just saw a cat walking down the street holding hands with a skunk, but that might be because it's Halloween.