August 20. Practiced piano. Progress incredibly slow. If it were just a matter of learning specific pieces, it would be easy to judge my progress. But I want to learn techniques that I can then use productively, on the fly. And am I making any progress with that? Either I can use the technique or I can’t, and as long as I can’t, it is hard to believe that I will, indeed, be able to use it in such a spontaneous way, eventually.

Back in Manhattan at eleven in the evening. Coming out of the subway, the unmistakable feeling that fall has begun.

Photos in which my daughter unexpectedly has the face of an adult.