I’m sitting in the dark, writing on my phone as the long still moments of the dusk slip into night. My favorite human is asleep on the couch, finally home from vacation and business travel.

Sophie-dog is laying by the sliding glass door, watching out hopefully for another groundhog to blunder into the yard. She got one on Tuesday, and now her surveillance of the back yard is eternal.

Poppy-cat is likely on the dining room table, based on the sound of the little bell on her collar. I don’t have the heart to shoo her down tonight.

I’m not sure where Mojo-kitty is Mojoing at the moment, but that’s hardly unusual. Mojo is our timid baby and slinks about on his own schedule.

I should probably start the process of putting the house to bed, but there’s something comforting about everything being right in the house after weeks of displacement. I just want to sit in the stillness, in the dark, and appreciate it for a few more minutes.