The light of the silvery moon

Last night I was in a fabulous mood; today I'm emotionally hungover. I've entred the final fugue of anxiety before my trip abroad. My latest dark fantasy is that we'll get to the airport next weekend and find that, somehow, they have no record of our ticket purchase. I've been meaning to call the airline just to confirm our reservation, but I keep putting it off because I don't know what I'd do if they didn't.

But that was the furthest thing from my mind as I rode on the train yesterday evening, giddy with relief after a day of concentrated exertion, to meet my beloved. I was disappointed that I hadn't left work early enough to see the bright beautiful moon rise over the lake, but then it occurred to me that if I had, it would've been hidden behind brownstones and treetops for my trip home. Instead, it was in full view almost the entire way, and I could hardly concentrate on my reading because of it.

That more than made up for the disappointment of getting to the deck on Tuesday night and finding a thick veil of clouds hanging over the horizon. The moon still made a brief, gauzy appearance through a gap in the thickest cloud cover about an hour after its rise, long enough for us to toast it with méiguìlù, in any case. Plus the showers had frightened everyone else off and we had the deck entirely to ourselves all through dinner and dessert.

I only realised afterwards that we'd forgotten to photograph the moon. However, if you want to see pictures of us toasting (not to mention engaging in a little-known tradition involving pomelo skins), you can find them by following the link to monshu's page that I gave earlier.

True patriotism

I haven't seen any crowing on my Friends list yet about Judge Aiken's stinging decision in the Mayfield case. I confess, I feel a bit vindicated, because my general reaction to the more outrageous provisions of the Patriot Act was that they wouldn't hold up in court, but we've had to wait longer than I would've hoped in order to see them struck down. In any case, here's a money quote for you:

By asking her to dismiss Mayfield's lawsuit, the judge said, the U.S. attorney general's office was "asking this court to, in essence, amend the Bill of Rights, by giving it an interpretation that would deprive it of any real meaning. This court declines to do so." (Source: AP)

Oh, SNAP!!

So take heart: Even if our Congress is still spineless, our Judicial branch is notably less so.