1. If something in your car is intermittently making a shrieking sound it is a good idea to get it looked at because it may indicate for instance that you only have five percent functionality in your front brakes.
2. And so then when I was waiting for the bus because now the car is in the shop I overheard part of a family’s conversation and was pleased to be able to translate this reaction from a kid to seeing one of the little Car2Go cars:
“Parece como un zapato.”  (“It looks like a shoe.”)
3. The bus was crowded but companionable, people smiling as we jostled to adjust to more new riders at each stop. I was taking it to get to Jen Violi’s winter solstice writing retreat. I’m very glad I did; it was an opportunity to pause and reflect on the year in a rapidly-formed small community. More like this.
4. I saw this wreath on the way there, and liked the contrast of the scribbly-looking spiraling branches with the severe squares of the windows.
5. And because the car is still in the shop, we walked into work this morning and were ambushed:
If you cross this cat’s path there is no help for it: he will leap onto your shoulders and bump his head against your face and purr.
But we’ve seen him enraged. In fact, we’re pretty sure he’s the one with whom our cat Snag most often fought, before we decided we needed to keep him inside for his own good. To be fair, Snag may have brought these violent altercations on himself with his aggro behavior. Then again, perhaps this cat simply has a philosophy: Love up on humans. Destroy other cats.