Merlin’s favorite times of the year are the fall and spring, simply because that’s when windows can be open and he can watch (and smell) the birds and squirrels that he’d like to be outside chasing. Here, he peers intently at the back yard through the open window right next to my desk earlier this week. Merlin is the one who disappeared for a couple of days after an escape through a screen about two years ago. He doesn’t seem to eager to leave the comforts of home behind after that adventure.

Maturity sees world’s ugliness with more melancholy than anger
City rushes to demolish $4.5 million transit station after only 13 years
Can’t we all get along? Why is the liberty movement so fragmented?
Political systems built on coercion will always produce cheats, liars
Noise of culture isn’t evil, but it drowns out what really matters
Widow: ‘Things that mattered yesterday do not matter today’
When life becomes too passive, we stop earning our self-respect
Things you do in life determined by who you decide you want to be