Happy September! This is the time of year when I wish I lived someplace that had a proper autumn, with falling leaves and woodsmoke and a little bite in the air. (I miss Boone, mostly -- the North Carolina mountains in autumn are lovely.) Still, I can enjoy the ongoing sunshine here, and we're hopeful that the weather will be nice on Sunday for our barbecue. We're also hopeful that the work going on in the backyard will be done. The landlord is having a new washer and dryer put in his apartment, and the old washer and dryer moved to the garage, so we don't all have to share anymore. Which is reasonable. Except the guys doing the work are s-l-o-w. They were supposed to be finished two days ago. As far as we can tell, they haven't done anything for the past two days, though they've been back there. There's still a big trench in the back yard, where the pipes were laid, and various bits of crap piled everywhere, along with furniture from the laundry room. It's not very pleasant right now, though there's not actually stuff piled around the grill or the patio furniture, so even if they don't finish, we can cope. It's just less pleasant to cook out when there are big appliances sitting on the grass nearby.

I'm in a better mood these past couple of days. I must have caught up on my sleep, finally. Things seem much less dire, and I'm very much looking forward to the long weekend! Next Wednesday is my day off, too, so I only have to work Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Should be a breeze, and I expect to get some good work done on my writing. I'm hoping to plow through a fair chunk of the Dream novel, and get some good momentum going on it.

Reading-wise, I've been bouncing from book to book these past few days, waiting for one to really hook my interest. Lately I'm switching back and forth from The Unblemished by Conrad Williams to The Other End by John Shirley. They're very different from one another, but both promising so far. Heather and I are watching season 3 of The Wire on DVD, and it's a very fine show -- maybe the best cop show around -- though I wonder if it's giving me a skewed vision of Baltimore. The place can't be that unredeemably bad, right?