I am once again a member of the North Carolina Peace Corps Association. (I served in the Republic of Vanuatu from 1997 to 1999.)

Cold, windy day here in Chapel Hill. I started the morning cleaning out the garden boxes, feeding the chickens, and walking the land.

Happy for my younger brother, who purchased his first home yesterday, in Austin. I’d like to get something fun, from a locally owned business, delivered to his place. Cookies, cake, tamales? Suggestions? @manton any friends I can support?

Deval Patrick is running for president. Makes me think back to how I serendipitously wandered into his victory celebration in Boston in 2006. Same day I talked about storyblogging with Ethan Zuckerman. I blogged about it.

Updated mistersugar.com for first time since 2015, to point to my current (and original) blog at zuiker.com.

More live music last night, this time the New Pornographers at Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, NC.

Went to Cat’s Cradle with my daughter last night for The Dip, fun band from Seattle.

Is there a trick to taking an Overcast-generated podcast clip share and embedding it into my blog (either Textpattern or Micro.blog)?

Shed my week’s allotment of tears courtesy of the latest episode of This Is Us. (Had to reach over to the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary to check spelling of allotment. Love that dictionary.)

My latest blog post is about the communications strategic plan I’m writing at work, and what’s inspired and informed the styles of communication that guide my work.

Thankful for the excellent Textile reference site. What’s Textile? It’s a markup language (like Markdown) for formatting text in a blog or a content management system.

The Hedychium ‘Daniel Weeks’ ginger lily purchased from Plant Delights Nursery and planted in front garden last year bloomed for first time this week, just in time to beat the first frost we expect tonight. Out back, we had fragrant white ginger, too.

Dinner party tonight with super cool friends, so I reached into the pantry for a jar of the cherry pie filling I put up this summer. Also got a load of gravel to fill the holes on the drive up to the house. And cleaned the leaves from front yard. I am ready to eat.

Hiking With My Brother, Joel

On the Little Mountain Falls Trail in Fairy Stone State Park, Virginia.

The goldenrod along our gravel lane makes me slow the drive up to the house and savor the moment.

Early to the Carrboro Farmers Market, coming away with 20 pounds of tomatoes for canning and 20 pounds of grapes for juice. Thought of @ron at sight of big pile of long beans.

Stayed home today to attend to some family needs. Went for a short run, then a walk in our woods. Saw a hawk swoop low, later a black snake, its flickering tongue smelling my sweat. Came in for a shower and a refreshing glass of soda water with roselle syrup.

At the Carrboro Farmers Market yesterday, I bought scuppernong grapes, yellow tomatoes, roselle calyxes, a cedar bluebird house, goat cheese, rye bread, an almond sour-cherry babka. Grapes now cooked down to 2 quart jars of juice ready for the Thanksgiving meal.

A Nobel-Winning Economist Goes to Burning Man

A Nobel-Winning Economist Goes to Burning Man: At Levi’s bar, we were given cups of something cold and orange and alcoholic. Mr. Romer, in a comparable act of generosity, then offered Levi his email address. He would happily write a recommendation for grad school, he said. Levi, floored, went in for another hug. Very interesting article. Read it on the front patio as a pileated woodpecker and blue jays called from the trees above.

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Erin will soon be home from the county animal shelter, where she’s exchanging the rooster for a kitten. Rooster will probably go to a good farm, rathern than my pot for coq au vin.