Today the rain has lulled everything into a heavy green haze. It rained all morning and part of the afternoon and now the trees look fat and sated. Baka, the kitty (lovable schmendrick, destroyer of carpets), is sleeping with her paws folded neatly under her chin on a patchwork tapestry I bought in Philadelphia about five years ago. I ducked out of a sudden downpour into a narrow, cluttered shop on Chesnut Street (I think, or was it Walnut?) and haggled with the shop owner over the price. This is something I'll teach you. Haggling.

Wet tires whisper "shhhhh" on the street outside. I wonder why this sound is so comforting. I wonder if this is the sound you hear all day, the "shhhhh" of my body and distant, waterlogged voices.