This will be the last announcement precisely of its kind.

Today is my birthday. I am 50, a half-century, on the down-hill slope. I have learned a lot about gravity since I was 40. There will never be another statement of this kind on this blog. Ever.

Today is also Charlie's hatch day. He is two. He has learned a good deal about gravity in the past several months, too. We'll keep track of this handsome boy.

Charlie and I are working on a birthday tape for his fans.

Oh, and I woke at 6:30 this morning from a dream in which I was at a large party with music and dancing. I had three possible dresses to wear and was wondering whether I had proper white heels to match a dress, when I found myself standing beside the bar stark naked and bare-footed with nothing but a piece of poster board for cover.

Does it come down to thinking of wearing white shoes between Labor Day and Easter? Down here I certainly wouldn't be dressed if I did.