I am tempted to blame the Blogger upgrade thingie (this is the technical term, yes?) for my absence. I'd also love to say that I couldn't post because I was too busy canning pickled peppers and peaches. Then there's also the travel excuse, but that's even flimsier than the others (although I did really can a bunch of peppers, not to mention peaches, and pickles) because I was only away for five days of the last month. No, the lack of posting can be explained by one thing.

I was practicing saying "No." The end of two client projects - one protracted and pleasant, the other intense and rather not pleasant, two quick, ill-planned end-of-summer trips, the start of Brainiac's fall travel season, a friend's scary health news, the start of kindergarten (oh my God, don't get me started on this) and a few other upheavals and I just had to take a month of saying No. No to that next project, no to another weekend trip, no to the blow-out keg kill party, no to anything requiring me to change out of my frayed jeans (by now ready to stand on their own), return phone calls, conduct elaborate and/or painful grooming rituals or make small talk.

It was nice. Of course, I've ended my period of renewal with the sending of Branianc off to a conference, hearing of another friend's scary health news (what? are we getting older or something?), the arrival of an au pair from the Ukraine, the Boy Wonder's birthday and impending party, throwing my sis-in-law and her husband a little to-do to celebrate the arrival of their baby boy, signing up for the pre-school fundraising committee, running afoul of the kindergarten room mothers, talking with a client about a possible long-term project and just generally acting as if the last month hadn't happened at all.

So I may as well blog, right? As it happens, despite the eagerness with which I threw away my newfound peace and the resulting chaos, it appears that some calm is on the horizon (knock wood, salt over shoulder, etc., etc., etc.), which is lucky because a girlfriend of mine has asked me to show her how to make and can applesauce. I'm happy to do so, of course, and then there are Halloween costumes to finish, an article on comparing the various interpretations of the meaning of Classical Education (i.e., chronological history, basis in literature, active Latin/Greek study, and so on) to complete, a book to edit, kids to raise, a house to clean and a life to live. Oh! And some pre-fab dinners to make (I'm scheduled!) and cookbooks to review.

The season of No is over.