it used to be Pacific-August

this summer, the length of it, has been very rainy, cooler and rainier than normal.

In my youth there was some magic to "August" the month, the place, on the coast of California...less fog, warmth at night, a sensual feeling to the climate. Now, here, older, in Illinois, it--August--means a tilt of the seasons, as summer becomes autumn and autumn then becomes winter with all that that entails, ice, cold, bare trees, discontent. Coasting into eight years here! Amazing.

My friend Robert Joseph has been diagnosed with cancer of the colon; surgery, he has opted, as least for the present, to avoid chemotherapy and radiation and yesterday flew from Nevada, where he lives, to Tijuana, California Sur, Mexico, for some vegan sort of treatment at a clinic there.