Thursday. Another get to bed early and lights out early night to awaken too early again at six. OK, awake, take my time, let the minutes pass, let the sun come up a bit more behind the clouds before walking to breakfast on another overcast morning that looks as if it's going to break up later and turn into a sunny day. Hey. (Don't mention I said hey, please. The drought, you understand. We're running on dry.)

We'll all be saved in the next couple of months by El Niño storms!

Bite your tongue. Mostly they come, sometimes they don't. Do not offend the Lady in Charge.

Later. A bus downtown taking the camera in the backpack again, getting off at Latham Square and shooting another set of photographs before going by the pharmacy and picking up a prescription refill. A walk then to the City Center, detouring by the City Hall when I saw there was a large crowd gathered to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a gathering I'd shot three years ago when they'd celebrated the 63rd. Had no idea this was scheduled when I set out.

I hadn't brought a long lens camera and so shot some half hearted pictures before crossing the street to the City Center where I had a turkey and Swiss sandwich and coffee outside at a table at the bagel shop. So far, so good, although the nose had been stuffed up all morning, running after eating or drinking as it now so often does, but more so this morning than usual. Slows you down. Slows me down.

A walk back to City Hall to take one or two more pictures, my heart still not really in it, although I rather liked this one. The young lady, when she saw me taking her picture, immediately turned around and sat down beside her father. Good. Youngsters that age shouldn't encourage old nearby strangers with or without a camera. Still, nice picture.

A bus to the 7-11 look-alike for an ice cream bar and a small box of Good & Plenty, eating the ice cream bar as I always do while walking on to the apartment house construction site to take pictures and then walking on to the apartment tired, this day done. The stuffed up nose a little better. Took a look at the pollution index app I have on the iPad, but it wasn't out of range, so whatever caused this nose to act up wasn't pollution. Unless it was.

The sun came out in the late morning, early afternoon, and so it had been overly warm returning home in a t-shirt and light jacket, but otherwise now feeling better, perhaps because I'm sitting down.

Later still. I've been to the Umpqua Community College campus in Roseburg, Oregon, where nine students were shot to death this morning. Visited someone I met over the Internet in the early days of the journal.

Roseburg was known back when, if it was known at all, as a place you avoided in the sixties and early seventies if you had long hair. A friend found that out the hard way when he pulled off the highway for coffee on the way to San Francisco. Having been there, having taken pictures there, brings it closer to home )not that you want it closer to home).

Evening. Watched the first few minutes of Midsomer Murders at eight before bailing, went to bed, didn't even think to wait until nine-thirty to check out Vera. Maybe not a good sign this behavior has become habit.