I’m sipping some coffee in Mom’s living room this morning, looking at her twelve-toed cat clean herself in the sunshine. I drove up to Syracuse after work last night to attend the service for my uncle Neil, who passed away after a stay in the hospital last week. He was a giant bear of a man who loved his family very much. They ran a marina on Cayuga Lake for years, and sold the business and retired about ten(?) years ago to a nice ranch away from the water. I’ll be working from her dining room table today and then tomorrow we’ll attend the service; Saturday there will be a celebration of life at an Inn in Auburn. It’ll be good to see the extended family but the occasion sucks. The girls are at home, as Jen has to drive her Dad to a doctor’s appointment on Friday, so I’m flying solo.

On my way up here I rolled the odometer in the Accord right outside of Syracuse.