As in?

We have our guitar lesson tomorrow and, starting this morning, we're going to come up to speed on this finger picking thing and polish off memorizing Something for once and for all. I like the song a lot, I'll continue to play it when the lesson is long and forgotten and in, oh, say, another year, I'll have it down. Cold. I will. Lightening fingers, up and down the frets.

Later. A bus downtown to go by the ATM, always a good motivator, on then to the City Center for a cup of coffee out in front of the bagel shop after passing a chorus line of people doing some kind of more spiritual than athletic exercise under the trees near City Hall, at least half a dozen security people nearby looking on. They were doing little movement things with their feet and their hands, an instructor facing them leading them along. Very low key, I wondered what the security people were thinking, watching them as closely as they were.

Anyway, a brief ramble then around the old town, back on a bus to the apartment thinking I'd head on over to the morning café for lunch, but after stopping at the apartment to drop off the winter jacket. It's still quite cloudy, but it's warm and, more to the point, quite humid. Winter jackets and humid are not good, they'll get us off a bus for a lighter jacket every time.

A dry mouth there for a while, an hour's lie down to listen to the news on the radio, dozing off, but not quite. So the day has started much better than yesterday started, we're up for that, here in the black mountain mining neighborhoods north of Lake Merritt.

Later still. A second task, on our list of tasks this morning after going by the ATM, was to visit the campaign office of a candidate I liked and ask for their advice on who to vote for in the second and third choices on the rank ordered ballot to give their candidate the best chance of winning, but couldn't find her office. So I noted the campaign signs in the Oaksterdam pot club windows along Broadway and figured I'd at least take their advice on the City Attorney candidate and take a chance on the rest.

You went by a pot club for electoral advice?

You have to be creative as you can no longer trust any of the ads/mailers/phone calls you've been throwing in the trash. I did talk with two of the candidates while out shooting at two of the recent street festivals, but briefly and to no good effect.

Anyway, dropping the now finished ballot off at the post office on the way to the morning café for ice cream and lemonade, the only two items on their menu I figured I would eat. No sugar shortage in the diet, at least.

Alone, sitting out on the patio, no other tables or people outside, I took a picture to document the scene when a couple entered from the sidewalk. They were as absorbed as any fashion photographer and his model in taking a portrait of the lady with a iPad (or whatever tablet, could easily have been another brand).

The picture doesn't tell the story, something I've been thinking about lately, but he took his time in setting up the pose, smoothing and settling her hair into place before taking his photographs. I say “something I've been thinking about” in that I took the picture, yes, but I wasn't aggressive enough and didn't take the time I had available to get it right. It doesn't say anything about what they're doing, it's just, well, a snapshot.

As I said, they were paying absolutely no attention to me or to anyone else, so I had whatever time I needed, but I hurried, not wanting to be caught and didn't take a second shot. You know you're not pushing to find the edge in getting the picture(s) you want if you're not getting caught.

Hi, ho.

Hi, ho. You learn, even over lunch.

Evening. Another hour's nap. Just, you know, took a nap. No complaints, but this is the third one today. Hey.

Another one of the Italian police procedurals at six, another in the series that started Monday. What the hell, I got in a good lot of practice playing along on the guitar. The evening goes well, we'll get to bed early and see what's up tomorrow, maybe go by the Art Murmur in the early evening, something I haven't done in a while.