10/27 Hartford. Some two hours through the dark, the lanes tubes of light, just keeping up with everybody means going decidedly over the speed limit.

10/26 Many days of constant traveling. I have lost track of when who of us was in the city or in Newburgh over the last few days, and we’re only going to keep moving. Drove into the city this morning for an MRI for J, stayed just long enough to have an Upper West Side brunch in the early afternoon, came back to Newburgh at seven-thirty. Tomorrow’s a concert, after which we’ll drive to Hartford for an audition on Monday, then back to the city, just in time to get our stuff packed for the flight to Sweden Tuesday night. We’re staying two days longer than usual, and will try to do some Halloween, apart from celebrating both kids’ birthdays.

10/25 Markus had pointed his iPhone upward and snapped a picture of the clear night sky near Berlin. A picture that looked as if a bucket of stars had been emptied out over it. I pored over the photo for an hour or more trying to identify a few, with some success: Cassiopeia, Mirfak, Deneb, Andromeda. It was actually the first time I’ve ever seen the Andromeda nebula, because I had never known what to look for.

10/24 Gave a mini talk at work, as if I had flown to the moon and just came back. I’m good at this. I should spend more time with that hobby.

10/23 Venus, while I’m running, in the clear evening sky, indistinguishable in brightness and color from the landing lights of the airplanes. You have watch closely for a few seconds to see them move.

10/22 You’d think they do basically the same, but it’s more like the opposite: opera seems to freeze what happens, while musical speeds it up.

10/21 It’s familiar by now that I can search my photo library for any text that appears on a photo, but I was still surprised when I realized, yesterday, that this also works for handwriting.

10/20 There may not actually be any predictable way to learn my instrument. Only after I’ve learned something will I be able to describe the way in which I did. And this in infinitely many iterations.

10/19 The result of this election is already clear: It’s close to 50% and that may not be recoverable.

10/18 Random House won’t allow AI to read their books.