Chilly but I put on shorts anyway because I know it will be 85 and I plan on getting some good hammock time in.

He gets the donuts and I brew the coffee. Everyone is awake but quiet and in their own rooms and that’s good for me right now.

She asks what we have to do today. I tell her that I want to do as little as possible. Maybe go to the farmstand for tonight’s veggies. But that’s it. As little as possible.

I leave a bottle of wine with the burner. A thank you and an apology for being so tardy in returning it.

I get there just as it opens. An older black woman is there. She gets one pound of San Marzano tomatoes and a cucumber. She and the woman checking her out talk about the ways in which one can cook them. “Sliced, skin on, with a little bit of shallot, butter, and olive oil.”

He asks if I bought the delicata squash just because it’s pretty.

These dogs won’t stop barking.

I pull the hammock to the middle of the patio so that I’m half in the sun and half in the shade. I read the latest issue of Fast Company before closing my eyes for a nap.

Noses turned up at the delicata squash. Oh well.

He says something about how different it feels knowing someone who is actually a fireman out there fighting those fires. How it’s different knowing that their children are in your house almost every day. How it’s interesting how perspective shifts once a situation becomes personal.

You just pray.