Incident reports.

Last night, getting dinner with a friend, the woman at the register told me to enjoy my meal.

"You too," I said on reflex, before my mouth caught up with my brain.

And perhaps half a second later, in a voice of dawning comprehension, I slowly and dramatically said, "Hey..."

And by making my own folly a source of amusement rather than embarrassment - "You must get that a lot" - I made her laugh, and improved both our evenings.

Also, last night,I learned a nearby independent 24-hour grocery store has night cats. Not day cats, because I've never seen them around during daylight hours with lots of people tromping in and out, buying cucumbers and ice cream. Just night cats, when it's getting cold and there's almost no one around. One deigned to allow me to shower it with affection, and the other merely tolerated it temporarily before walking out the door and underneath the outside fruit displays - sizable enough to provide shelter for night cats who come inside to warm up a bit.

It's getting colder all around, to the point where I'm beginning to wait for the building to turn the heat on. In the meantime, it's fuzzy socks and a sweatshirt indoors, and very much enjoying mug after mug of tea.