I listened to Western Spaces by Steve Roach and Kevin Braheny while cooking dinner tonight. I bought it on CD in the mid 90s and still have it on my shelf.

I haven’t been in the desert (or anywhere in the western United States) since 2019 and I have been missing it.

We met my father-in-law and stepmother-in-law for lunch yesterday. Afterwards we sat at their house and talked for a while, and at some point my son asked them how they got the baby grand piano into their house (piano movers). Then we mentioned that my son took a piano class at school last spring and so my in-laws asked him to play something.

I thought he might be nervous and say no, but he sat down and started playing. I had never heard him play a real piano before… it was wonderful.

On the speakers right now:

Ran a few miles, did today’s New York Times crossword puzzle, ate a bit. Not too bad for a quiet Saturday morning.

If you don’t already follow Caroline Ross at her Uncivil Savant Substack, I encourage you to do so. I spent part of the morning catching up on emails and blogs/Substacks and, as often seems to happen with Caroline’s writing, part of it jumped out as immediately relevant and important to my life:

“No amount of individualised exercise can salve the windburned heart modernity has scorched. It cannot be healed by a life-hack, optimisation or positive-affirmations. We will need to join hands.”

– Caroline Ross, from The Drop, the Splash and the Ripple

“If you don’t fix it, you repeat it. Hence why abused kids are statistically more likely to end up in abusive relationships as adults. Wiring is wiring unless you’re willing to be your own electrician.”

– Gordon White, from All of this has happened before: the power of the reboot