Heliotroops (that is, my fellow co-editors of Heliotrope, a journal of poetry) came to Edgefield last weekend for a retreat. We put together Issue #5 of the magazine, due out before year-end; we gave a sold-out reading at the Genealogical Library on the town square, sponsored by the weekly newspaper, the Edgefield Advertiser (thank you, Edgefield Advertiser); we met with the Augusta Poetry Group; we swam, we talked and talked, we relaxed, we drove around. It was a wonderful weekend for me and, I think, for everyone concerned. Great to hear those New York accents in my house again after all these months; even greater to have those New York conversations!

Two days before the arrival of the Heliotroops, a bobcat, originally thought to be a cougar, killed a pet pit bull who was tied up in the yard of a home about seven miles from here, near North Augusta. The bobcat has not been caught.

On the same day, a deer somehow wandered downtown and, spooked by Main Street traffic, leapt through the window of Tidwell's Jewelry Store!

Never a dull moment around here, I'm telling you.

And yesterday, as I looked up from the pool, the sky was so blue, I swear to you, it was purple. As if a lilac bush had bled its color into the firmament. (Purple prose being appropriate to the moment -- and to the recently departed and much missed Heliotroop!)