Let's see -- what's been going on around here? House guests, for one, which was fun and strange and delightful. Also illuminating in just how much social ground you lose in extended isolation. Teddy was in doggie daycare when they left and was not happy to come home to an empty guest room. She hopped on the bed and looked sad and could only be comforted with a dog treat.

ALSO, something so unexpected and implausible happened, it sucked up an entire week. My mom was among the countless older adults who get burglarized in their retirement homes each year. She lost several lovely pieces of jewelry, including her engagement ring and a bracelet that my grandmother had custom-made in Paris in 1944. It's quite distinctive and I've been searching for it online ever since.

Last week, after almost two years, I actually found it. Sent the link to family and friends, asked for extra photos, compared them to photos of my grandmother and then my mother wearing the bracelet over the years and decades. No question, same bracelet. Told the detective and the DDA on the case that I had found it, but no interest. Impossible to prove they said. So I bought it. It arrived yesterday and it's unmistakably my mother's bracelet. It's shocking that we got it back. Seeing it is like having her in the room again. I hope she somehow knows we found it. She would be so happy.

Meanwhile, the marine layer is still keeping things cool.