Catch-up

I've been a busy little bee lately, working to get the house ready for the upcoming winter after a lackluster summer season here in Vermont. What happened to our usual measely few weeks of 90 degree+ weather that we usually get? Tsk. No such heat this year. Ah, well. I'd have missed it anyway, since I've been inside working two jobs. Damnable heat costs!

Anyway, I shouldn't have too many stretches of non-posting as long as this last hiatus. And good thing, too; check out these tidbits I almost missed:

• Dave Freeman, co-author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die,” a travel guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators, died after hitting his head in a fall at his home. He was 47. (Moral of the story: be careful what title you give your book--which reminds me, the tentative title of the novel I'm currently writing is: Immortality, Riches, and Greek God Stableboys: A Recipe For Excess)


• Evidently, Jesse Jackson wanted to cut the nuts off of Dr. King as well: I have the same feeling now that I had standing in that crowd 45 years ago, listening to those words of challenge and inspiration from Dr. King.


• Bill Clinton is one of those bitter white folks we heard about: He wants to return to the elder-statesman role, friends said. But his own grievances from 2008 — toward the news media and toward Obama — are an obstacle. . . Bill Clinton believes the Democratic nominee, far from practicing a unifying, transformational brand of politics, has the political instincts of "a Chicago thug," one longtime associate said.