One of those liminal Deepest South Nachsommer days--- maybe 80, but with strong winds out of the north, slate-grey skies all morning and heavy rains through the late afternoon. Still... channel the Small Psyduck iPod through speakers, open a bottle of Sofia Coppola faux-champagne, and sit on the upper deck with a lovely companion and watch the storm clouds. That wouldn't be a bad way to spend the evening.

I have this sudden urge to re-read John McPhee's "The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed". I'll have to have the library get me a copy.

Thinking about science books tonight. The lovely and fiercely intelligent Audrey at cadenceme is a fan of Lisa Randall. I know I read Randall's "Warped Passages" back a couple of years ago--- I'll have to take a look again.

I know I've read things by Brian Greene and Michio Kaku, but my favourite science books have always been about things biological--- biochemistry, palaeontology, evolutionary biology. Even the books I like on chaos and complexity theory come down to looking at biological systems. The science books I've loved--- things like Jacques Monod's "Chance and Necessity" or Horace Freeland Judson's "Eighth Day of Creation" or Dawkins' "Blind Watchmaker" are about living systems. Which is odd--- the one science I ever considered reading at university was geology. And, yes, McPhee's "Annals of the Former World" trilogy is a favourite. But it's palaeontology and evolutionary biology that I do love.

History of science, too--- things like Bronowski's "Ascent of Man" or histories of the search for human origins. But then, yes--- I'm an historian by training and vocation. I want to read about the history of science: Lisa Jardine on the Royal Society, James Gleick on Newton. I always loved things like Erik Trinkaus on the history of how Neanderthals have been described and analysed, or Roger Lewin's "Bones of Contention".

One day I do have to find a couple of good introductory accounts of environmental design or environmental engineering. There must be a good generalist account out there--- something from an "environmental science for liberal arts majors" class. There are issues out there that I would like to be able to discuss should ever I finally work for an NGO doing human rights or development issues.

Travel Channel just did a piece on Peter Luger's in Brooklyn--- legendary steakhouse. I've never been. Smith & Wollensky, yes. But I do have to do Peter Luger's. Oh, yes.

Unsettling afternoon. I had to drive to the outskirts of the city and get signatures from a client. Depressing enough--- she was signing her will, and she was too depleted from chemotherapy to be brought downtown. I drove to her house--- scary enough. A big 1920s house that must've been expensive and well-furnished once upon a time. All decayed now--- just the one sickroom really cleaned or maintained. The client was obviously desperately ill and weak. There were a dozen little dogs about--- the kind of little yappy dogs dowagers carry about. Bad smell in the house--- sickness, decay, medical odours, the dogs. She was alone except for one nurse's aide and some ill-at-ease hipster-kid grandchild. Some kind of CSI marathon on a television. The nurse and the grandkid signed as witnesses. The client was still lucid--- certainly lucid enough to sign the will ---but she won't make it to November. That much was clear. I notarised the signatures and gave the grandkid a copy to put somewhere safe and kept a duplicate original for our files. I charged her pretty much nothing--- one hour of my time. She was too weak to make out a check. She had me fill the check in and then signed it. I drove home and then walked back to my office. Black skies all the way, wind picking up. I got to my office just as the rains started. The will was depressing enough--- she had a huge old house and substantial real estate to leave, but what concerned her, what she insisted on having me read over, was that the family portraits and photo albums were all properly divided up.

Back at the office one of the partners was doing depositions. His client was in the military, and in uniform--- the pale green Army digital ACU pattern. Young and uneasy--- dealing with depositions and being a plaintiff and probably on his way overseas. I looked at the uniform and thought of...what? I've always liked military camouflage--- I have no idea why. I have a couple of M65 jackets in a couple of desert camo patterns ("I live in a cultural desert, after all"). I remember giving Lacey a grey/black urban camo shirt--- she'd stand there in urban camo and say, "I look just like a small city in this!" She asked me once if real urban camo wouldn't look like peeling placards and spray-paint tags and subway station signs.

The pale-green ACU pattern... It does make me think of Kelsey at clush. I wish I could read about her ROTC experiences and her military plans. I've seen one photo of Kelsey in ACU drag. Now--- I take it for granted that she'll be a fine officer one day, and that she'll be seriously competent at leading troops in combat. (And, yes, Kelsey at 22 takes it as a given that she will get to see combat in Afghanistan) But that photo of her in uniform, all cheekbones and blue eyes... Yes: I do imagine her in just an ACU shirt, standing in a doorway with a glass of iced shochu...or walking topless and barefoot in ACU trousers around a rooftop pool in summer sunlight. I'll never see that, of course. I won't get to look at her reading lists--- and more's the pity. Kelsey is a fine writer and fiercely bright. I'd love to be able to read her again and talk politics and lit and films.

I wish there were expat novels about Japan set in Sapporo or Hakodate. We need more Hokkaido novels. We really do need more Hokkaido novels. I need to talk to Cynthia Gralla about that. Or Noboru Watanabe.

I know Miss Ginny at ginny_mccoo has read Gralla's "Floating World" and Hanrahan's "Lost Girls and Love Hotels" and Shuker's "The Method Actors". (Jill at pacificlolita is reading "Lost Girls", too) But I must ask her if she's read Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters" or Kawabata's "Snow Country" and "Beauty and Sadness". If she hasn't...she must. Really--- she must. And, yes--- I will re-read "Snow Country" next week...just as the weather definitively cools off.

Kelsey at clush was reading lots of history and political science at GoodReads last year. I would like to hear her thoughts on politics and the world. I think that is one key thing I miss, too, about Lissy at emigree: talking about politics and the world. I pretty much think of myself as a European social-democrat these days, though with a few twists. The last time I stayed up 'til after midnight talking politics and history and ideas over drinks was...when? A year ago, at Sevilla on W. 4th--- pitchers of sangria and talk of the election. I miss that. And I wonder where Lissy's own political views and thoughts are now. I'd like to hear Miss Ginny at ginny_mccoo talk about the world, too. She's Canuckian--- a different perspective, a different history. I really do miss conversation--- Alessandra and bel_ebat was good at that, too. I miss long, free-form, wide-ranging conversations fueled by intelligence and good drinks.

Feist and Jane Birkin are singing "A Simple Story". Lovely voices.

I still have a copy of Herbert Enderton's "An Introduction to Mathematical Logic" on my shelves. The old dark-green edition. Caterina and I each had one at New Haven. One of the very few classes we took together--- early, early MWF class. I can't remember a thing about the Intro to Logic course--- just the book, and Caterina and I getting ourselves out of bed to go to class. I do wonder if anyone else remembers the book.

A Kobe beef hamburger at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in NYC. That's very much on my list.

Fela Kuti singing "Water No Get Enemy"--- a recommendation long ago from Miss Ginny, and something played here on a rainswept night.

I really do miss conversation. I miss voices and laughing over black-and-tans or pinot noir or Estonian vodka. I miss being able to talk about ideas. I miss feeling part of something. Books I do have--- books and DVDs. I just wish I had interlocutors and partners and companions.