Cool weather and rain crept in, and Nicole and I enjoyed talking a walk in its midst. We talked about the power of fear and possible rituals to keep ourselves healthy once school starts.

We are spending some quality time with my brother and sister-in-law Brian and Myra, and my mom Jane. Brian is the skilled member of the Overeem Brotherhood, and he’s initiating a project a day lightly upgrading aspects of Mom’s house. I truly enjoyed admiring the results, which is also my main role in the work.

Payday followed our having listened to a podcast in which our imaginary uncle John Waters gave the show hosts a tour of his Baltimore home, which is basically one of the most unique personal libraries in the country. As usual when he’s interviewed, he talked about what he’d been reading, so my fresh infusion of leisure income led to purchases of a new Julian Barnes novel and an art book of Brigid Berlin Polaroids for which Waters wrote the intro. Rex, thanks for the tip.

Speaking of books, I’ve been reading former Mizzou professor Walter Johnson’s shattering The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States for a month. It’s a relatively lengthy tome, but I’ve taken my time because the book’s so powerful I can usually only read a chapter at a time. State history as it isn’t but ought to be taught in school. On one hand, St. Louis has been extremely vital to what our country has become; on the other, St. Louis has been extremely vital to what our country has become.

Our cousins Melissa and Jim Hague and their bulldog dropped by for dinner. We chatted about many things, including the news that, in memory of our dad, his friends and relatives had donated $17,000 to his local Habitat for Humanity, an organization to which he devoted much time, heart, and energy. We also ate blackberry and peach cobbler, sampled some Don Julio and a little mesquite-infused Canadian whiskey (a seemingly bad idea that tastes weirdly like Scotch), watched some NBA, and finished our random viewing of the somewhat underrated Honeysuckle Rose, which boasts Les Blank-like local color scenes, excellent performance footage, and Slim Pickens.

Streaming for Strivers:

Yes, he’s