I long ago quite watching my emails as though I was getting nuggets of gold. Mostly, I was getting told about things I needed to do. When I retired that stopped.

Well, I’m back at it. More music yesterday plus a doctor visit for an unexplained pain, which got explained and at least it’s nothing serious. The music was in a hot hall, and when I say hot, I mean hot as in oven hot.

After a day and night of music on Saturday, I took Sunday off. Slept in. Didn’t write. It felt good. I used to take the entire weekend off. I may go back to that.

I fell into a book yesterday and didn’t come out until dark. What an unexpected pleasure. I guess I should have suspected as much, however. It’s a science fiction book, set way in the future, about a library that deals with all the interstellar alien messages SETI has received.

God bless the afternoon thunderstorm. I have no idea where they’re getting the energy to fire up, given how dry it’s been, but they’re firing up. Yesterday, I got a tenth of an inch on the homestead.

I slept right through my alarm this morning. It seems an odd thing for a retired guy to say, but it’s true. I set my alarm for 5:30 because I enjoy the morning. The dark then the light.

I sure have dreamed a lot lately. Usually, they happen in the second half of my nightly sleep, the part that comes after I wake in the middle of the night. I don’t recall dreaming this much in the past.

Good morning. I had good day yesterday. Over the course of the day my spirits steadily rose. Good old Facebook contributed its avalanche of birthday greetings.

I was going to give myself the day off for my birthday. So, I slept in, loitering beneath the warm sheets. Then I got up, made a cup of coffee, and the next thing you know I’m sitting here in front of the computer, trying not to slouch, and starting to write.

Well, well, well. My little town of Johnson City has an upgrade. Highway 290, as it travels about five blocks through the city, now has a turn lane. Big improvement.

As I rode to the doctor’s office the other day for my post-cataract surgery visit, I sat in the passenger seat and looked at the face of my friend Larry.

20/20. The new eye rocks. Well, technically, the new lens rocks. It’s the same old eye, the lens is new. It even comes with its own spec sheet if I need to explain to someone what I’ve got.

There are sparkles around the outer edges and clarity is making its way to the fore, but it appears the second cataract surgery is a success. Although we’ve yet to reach the 24-hour mark, I am optimistic.

Heading in this morning for the second cataract surgery. Today it’s the left eye. I can hardly wait. I was apprehensive beyond belief for the first surgery. This time, knowing what to expect, more or less, I’m all in and ready to go.

Whew. What a weekend. The temperature stayed in double digits. There were clouds. And music. And friends from New Braunfels, to Luckenbach, to Grapetown Road. At the end, we danced.

My big crape myrtles have yet to bloom. Strange. The peaches on the peach tree are tiny. Stranger still. A spring and summer of no water? Or perhaps the trees are old. Hard to tell.

Ate Ramen noodles for the first time last night. Unsure about the nutritional value, but they were tasty. On the recommendation of a friend, I used the beef.

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that can make for a happy day. A call from friends to join them for drinks. An afternoon swim. Music. Talk of music.

It’s too hot to work outside. So, I stayed inside, read a book, and worked on a song I was writing. There was a time when I’d would have never admitted I was writing a song, because it sounded a little pretentious.

Went to bed at my normal hour. 9:30. Woke at 12:30, worried I’d never get back to sleep. Got a drink of water. Read a bit of a book. Fell into a sleep so deep that I dreamed.