What Cool Breezes Do

Fay was a killer storm. Yet now she’s disintegrating over land somewhere to the north and east of here, and we’re being gently lashed by cool breezes and mild drizzling rain.

It doesn’t feel like August in New Orleans, not by a long shot.

This is a dark time of the year here. August used to be my favorite month of the year. Not anymore.

But at least we have these cool breezes. I can’t help thinking how these same breezes that cool my flesh have killed people I never knew. There’s an aphorism that applies here but it’s just too damn obvious.

We seem to have a lot of local politicians and power brokers going down in flames hereabouts. But what do you do when you see that happening to a friend? I’ve seen one too many people go down like that. Our response as a society, as a community, as fellow human beings, is troubling to me. We seem to let people slide until they become a threat to themselves and others, then we step in with harsh punitive measures that often seem to make matters worse. I never know quite what to do in such situations.

I can’t believe how cool it is. We’ve turned off the AC and opened some windows.

A friend up in Indiana sent me some apples hand-picked in his yard. He also sent all the ingredients for apple crisp. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole nutmeg before. Reminds me how I dosed up on nutmeg once, oh so many years ago. A melancholy three-day trip. Seems like ancient history now. Anyway, I’m baking apple crisp today. Perfect weather for it.