Wet Halloween urchins; a memory of first seeing the fairy-castle beauty of a hollow crown formed by an exploding liquid drop; where in the ridges and swirls of the brain does such a memory hide; kitty hide-and-seek and new party tricks

Halloween. If any urchins wander the dark streets tonight, they will have to be dressed in wetsuits for it has rained almost continually for the last 24 hours. It has varied from brief periods of drizzle to extended lengths of bombastic drops.

My one trip into the outside world was in mid-afternoon for a late lunch at Swensen's. I sat next to the window and watched the cars splash water in the street. The water seemed to be draining to the south, but with each passing car, it would flow to the curb and quickly eddy back. Raindrops would hit the water's surface and burst into tiny pinpoint fountains.

I remember as a kid when I first saw the microscopic images of the hollow crown formed by an exploding liquid drop. It was in one of those weekly or monthly magazines that grade-school-kids received; and it was on the right page in the the middle of the right column. But milk not water. It had that fairy-castle beauty that kids dream of. What a delicious memory!

Several times before, I've mentioned how intriguing memory is and my curiosity about what happens in the brain. Maybe, we do indeed store everything we encounter in those swirls and ridges. It sits waiting for the right trigger to bring it to the surface again. Yet, at the same time, I'm slightly suspicious of some memories. Are all memories trustworthy?

The cats decided to play hide-and-seek last night around midnight. Lots of leaping and racing from room to room. They would slip behind the ceiling-to-floor curtains in the bedroom and wait to pounce when someone went by. When Minerva and Athena were younger, they would scamper up the curtains and prance on the rod. They were just light enough not to bring the whole business crashing to the floor. One of their newest party tricks is to the open the stereo cabinet and sit on the turntable cover. In the process, they usually hit the play button much to my annoyance.

May the week ahead be to your liking.

PAX!