Growing up I learned Schubert impromptus but not his piano sonatas or pieces for four hands. Richter's recording of Sonata No 18 and Mitsuko Uchida's recording of Sonata No 21 are not to be missed. His Fantasie in F Minor for four hands, especially the Lulu/Perahia recording is serene.

I'm having trouble with the idea that time is a construct that is not in alignment with the way things really unfold. Parallel universes and simultaneous everything are of no help either. Are you saying there is no history, no record of the linear progress of the universe? Geesh.

Calamity is the mother of prevention.

Six inches or more of snow on the ground. Then 50 degree temperatures for two days leaving slush on the ground. Below freezing temperatures overnight turning slush into slippery ice everywhere. Time to try out my new Icebug boots from Sweden with built in metal traction nubbies.

Three more days and then the hours of daylight will start increasing again. A good reason for a little party, or at least the playing of a bagpipe. No?

It’s been snowing a wee bit . . .

A day for a good meal, a walk with Odie, good music on the stereo, some leisure reading by the purring wood stove and some libations. Thankful.

All of my days are yesterdays. Capiche?

Being non-verbal, I am plus, plus, plus . . .

I'm available in lots of 20 . . .

Yesterday, the movers managed to get my furniture from Stowe to my cabin in Adamant with only one bookshelf dropped and badly damaged. I consider that a victory. A screwdriver, some wood screws and about 15 hours of trying to figure out how to put the bookshelf back together should fix the damage.

Years ago my parents surprised me with the git of a Steinway piano. The piano has followed me from our family home in California to Stowe and now to a cabin in Adamant, Vermont. I had the piano refurbished and it is like having a new piano again. I had to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming

The sound of geese on the pond below . . .

Are we at an impasse?

I found a lost shadow in the woods and took him in. I had lost my shadow only a year ago when I moved to a cabin in the woods. What a moment of kismet; a shadowless man finds a manless shadow at a time of mutual need.

A day full of the colors of Fall here in Vermont with sunshine promised for later in the day to boot.

Out for a row.

Having a puppy to entertain, feed, exercise and water is cutting down on my social media availability. I'm just going to have to learn how to squeeze more out of my day.

Confession: My love of beauty and nice things has led me to abandon Plato's Cave in favor of Aladdin's Cave.

Dog curled up at my feet. Feeling the love.

Jolly Roger ordered to be hoisted during raids on unsuspecting canoeists and kayakers on Vermont's ponds. Just acquired a used handmade wooden dory made by Lowell's Boat Shop which has been making dories since 1793. It can be configured as either a rowboat or sailboat. Arrr matey!

Odie doing the "Indy 500" around the yard.

Where’s Odie? (a tribute to Where’s Pip?)

My constraints have fallen away like dead leaves in the Fall.

Adulting can be injurious to your health.

I sit like a cat in the window watching the world go by.

Back from a week long rare book dealer seminar held at St. Olaf’s College. Great people, great course, learned a lot.

Overheard: “The math maths.” Or, alternatively: “The maths math.”

Let me introduce the newest member of the family, Odie. Technically, she will be arriving July 22nd but we've already had our first vet checkup with lots of treats.

Living in the forest underscores quite early on the need for daily - if not twice a day - broom sweeping of the downstairs parts of the cabin.

Confession: I think of myself as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme, only without the jealousy and insecurity.

I happen to things . . .

Summer is finally settling in here in the Northwoods.

Sometimes I feel more like a philosophy voyeur than a real philosopher.

Overheard: "The memory you've memorized."

Overheard: "We are the evil in the world. We carry it with us in our shadow. It is part of who we are. Turn and face your shadow. Study and come to understand it. Evil impacts the world only through those who fail to face their shadow."

"All explanations are partial . . . The archetype is inexhaustible."  - Ursula le Guin

My complaints are of this world yet no bigger than a grain of sand on a beach.

Apparently, we are not born virtuous. Virtue is like a vegetable. It must be cultivated.

Coffee - hot, warm chilled or room temperature - but always coffee.

You buy cut flowers, bring them home and place them in a vase. A number of days later they catch your eye slowly wilting. Sort of sad, really. Imagine visiting your flowers each morning, trimming the fading parts, giving them fresh water and attention. Readjusting them. I must enjoy my flowers more.

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” ― Blaise Pascal, Pensées

When it comes to work, I'm a hobbyist.

'If I belong to a tradition, it is a tradition that makes the masterpiece tell the performer what to do, and not the performer telling the piece what it should be like.' - Alfred Brendel

Remember yesterday June 14th, No Kings Day. There have been national protests in the past, but there was a feeling yesterday of urgency and acknowledgment that we live in perilous times that I have not witnessed before. We all need to invest in and fight to preserve our democracy lest we lose it.

This bears repeating.

Yes, dragonlords and wizards have a bit of overlap in their skillsets. But let me tell you that dragonlord training has made me realize that having dragons in the mix raises the difficulty level to the max.

Norse legends mention several dragons. The dragon Fafnir was once a human and later became a dragon.