I watched Keith Olbermann the other night on CSPAN's Q & A. He made the comment that the difference between, say, a weekly column and a blog is that you only have to blog when you have something to say. A good guideline; hence, why occasionally I disappear off the map for a while.

***

I will say, the past few days have been pretty damn pleasant. We got up to the mid-sixties here in Ohio (don't worry, we're back into the mid-40's today); and I spent a good part of my weekend relaxing and reading. Lest you think I'm letting my brain turn entirely to mush, I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which weighs in at well over a thousand pages. I started it last week and am around page 230. It's written very well.

Apparently, I'm in the midst of a World War II kick. The book I read before this was a collection of Eleanor Roosevelt's columns; next will be a book of Franklin Roosevelt's speeches. Just the way the books were stacked...

***

Having the windows open and being able to spend a little time outside did wonders for my soul, I'm happy to report.

On the other hand, I do have a problem. The condo where I'm living has no outside porch. There's a "porch," by which I mean there's sliding glass doors and you can open the windows and let the air in, but you still have a roof over your head. In additions, the places in the immediate vicinity to sit outside are relatively few, at least until the swimming pool opens.

And, on the subject of the swimming pool: I hope someone can tell me there is an officially-sanctioned way to close your pool for the winter while leaving water in it which becomes quite dark and frightening, because that's what they do at the condo. I at least hope they drain the damn thing before it's open for business.

***

I also continue to work at unpacking enough stuff in my guest room, which will eventually become my home office, that the door to it is no longer permanently closed. I was surprised by how it changed, to some degree, the character of the whole condo.

***

I mentioned a moment ago I hadn't had anything to say in a while but, after this rather inane update, I'll be preparing a post about something I have a lot to say about. How much I can put on a family blog is debatable, but, anywho...

***

EDIT: Good God, people. I posted this, and two minutes later, it's SNOWING. SNOWING, for Pete's sake. Not 18 hours ago, I was sitting outside sunning myself.

Ah, the joys of being in Ohio.