the cats stayed out all night

For the past three of four nights, the cats stayed out all night. You could say they were kept out. With overnight temperatures in the fifties, or just barely dropping into the forties, I put out a plate of food, instead of having them come in and then hoping they would go straight back outside during my bathroom runs. I wanted to better ensure a good night's sleep, and a catless house helps.

We may as well take advantage of this almost ideal weather, as rare as it is. After the weekend, another round of wet and near-freezing weather is forecasted.

one should be out with friends

I am not suffering a sudden change of heart about sticking with my Dickens, but a strong feeling in my gut tells me that one should be out with friends, talking together, doing things together, creating one's own living narrative rather than reading novels and watching videos.

overlooked nostalgic weekend

While getting ready to do my afternoon news-harvesting at RealClearPolitics, I realized that I overlooked nostalgic weekend and my Blurty entries again, for the second weekend in a row. I was mindful of it this morning, but it got crowded out of my mind.

Again: how can I be so busy when I am not doing nothing?

one should be out with friends 3

I keep going round and round on the question of "Our Mutual Friend", which is not a good sign for the book in my reading life. If I'm going to put in some more effort on a novel, shouldn't I go with Solzhenitsyn's "Cancer Ward"? But if I go 'thumbs down', what then?

I cannot afford "Cancer Ward", nor any other book at this time. I doubt it will be available at the library, and besides, I'm another three weeks away from a library trip. Do I pick up my Iliad or Metamorphoses? I don't think so.

So, I'm going back to the original plan, to just read Dickens's novel straight through, without any sketchy outline, and just pick up what I can as I plow ahead. It's not like I cannot appreciate the humor of most of the little scenes that he creates, even if I am failing at connecting the dots.