You all should know that one of you reading today will be visitor number 7000 to this ongoing project. Which reminds me of what I forgot to tell you during Sunday's brief celebration of that other numeric milestone: thank you, as always, for being here.

Falling asleep last night, I knew, even from under my layers of blankets, how cold the night was getting: somewhere behind and above my head scritched the scratch of a mouse searching for warmth in my walls. Or perhaps it was a raccoon--which is a story for another day. For now, extricating myself from a warm bed, covered with blankets and books, handily wins the title of project least likely to enthuse, this sun-chilled autumn morning.