Dinner was going so well...

until an old glass baking dish decided to explode, through no fault of the cook at all. Fortunately, no one was hurt--it was in his hand when it shattered, and thank goodness YKWIA had glasses on. The only thing left to do was order Chinese food and let this mess cool before cleaning it up. I didn't actually witness the event, as I was off at the store buying some fettuccine, but I'm told it was spectacular. Cats disappeared, husbands practically teleported away in a tizzy, and dogs had to be gated away from the kitchen due to a penchant for finding a shard or two left after the sweeping. I must admit, it was a fairly exciting evening, although YKWIA is extremely frustrated. The green beans were cooked perfectly al dente, and then the glass spoiled everything.

Sad

Report: Lexington firefighter failed to yield right of way in fatal accident; charges unlikely to be filed

A Lexington firefighter driving a city-owned engine truck failed to yield the right of way to a pedestrian he then struck and killed in a crosswalk at Main Street and South Broadway on Saturday, according to police documents.

The documents, released Thursday afternoon in response to a Herald-Leader open-records request, were the first to reveal who had the right of way when the accident occurred. Earlier, police and city officials would not say whether Lauren Roady was in the crosswalk or whether the pedestrian crossing signal indicated it was safe to cross.

An accident report and diagram revealed that Roady had a "walk" signal when she was crossing South Broadway at 10:04 p.m. Saturday. At the same time, the Lexington Division of Fire's Engine 9, which was being driven by Christopher Presley, was making a left turn from Main Street onto South Broadway.

The report noted that Roady, who was 5-foot-3 and 120 pounds, was wearing dark clothing and was "not visible." It was raining at the time.

Here's the latest on the woman killed this weekend

Update: Identity Of Woman Hit And Killed By Fire Truck Released

which I wrote about earlier. Her name was Lauren Woodall Roady.

There's also a more in-depth look at the case in the Lexington Herald-Leader. She was married just about two months ago. Such as shame. My thoughts are with her husband and the rest of her family during this difficult time.

Woman killed by fire truck was Washington lawyer in Lexington for running championship

I woke up

After sleeping for about three hours. The reason I am writing is that I had two interwoven, detailed and vibrant dreams involving returning to work and also seeing someone hit and killed by a car. The latter, I know, has to do with a local news story where a woman was fatally struck by a fire truck downtown the other night. Coming a short time after my own accident, I suspect it's weighing on my mind because things could have been much worse for me. I am not saying it's been a picnic, but I could have died. I could have had a head injury, or at least some other horrible injury. The ankle and foot are bad enough.

I don't want to have you think it's all about me. It's just it hit home just how lucky I was. I'm so sorry to hear she died. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of this woman. I know one friend was terribly bothered that her body lay on the ground in the rain for three hours while they investigated. I guess I see the body as just a shell after death, so it wasn't a great concern to me. But it might pain her family, and I would think somehow they could have marked the position, even in the rain, for that time.

An exercise becomes, sadly, a reality

A bright life, a needless end

Zuckoff, an author and accomplished former Globe ­reporter, gives the same assignment to every student on the first day of feature writing class: write your own obituary. Christopher completed his on Sept. 5. It’s an exercise that allows the students to express themselves and the professor to learn about his students. Nobody could ever have imagined it to be real.

Christopher’s was an expansive, fascinating journey that never should have ended when it did. His self-penned obituary is below. It’s ­included in the hope that every motorist might think about his life and slow down. It’s included in the hope that every cyclist might think of Christopher and tame the urge to rush. It’s ­included because nobody knew Christopher better than he knew himself.

It's a very touching obituary, giving a glimpse of a young man with a lot of promise, cut down, unfortunately, when he was struck on his bike in the designated lane by a semi-truck doing a wide turn. RIP, Christopher Weigl.

What would you write in your obituary?

Yesterday was

the one-month anniversary of the accident that has left me stuck at home for the most part and often bored out of my skull. But at least I know that barring any complications I will be back at work soon, and the memory of the pain and boredom will eventually fade. I'm thankful for that.

Today I am going out; I have a doctor's appointment. I was very ambitious this morning and had a full-on sponge bath (no baby wipes this time!) Then I washed my hair. It's not something I think I could do every day easily, but I managed this morning. I got some of the old skin off, washed and rinsed everything I could get damp, put lotion on the dry skin, and got dressed. I may have gone 32 days without a proper shower, but at least I'm as clean as I can be. I've also taken my medicine. About the only thing I haven't done is eat. I'm just not hungry yet.

It would have been nice to sleep a little more as I had a period of two or three hours where I was wide-awake in bed last night, but I'd forgotten to turn the heat on, had run the fan, and woke up to a chilly apartment when the temperature outside was something like 25 degrees (and that's Fahrenheit). We would be going out on the coldest day in awhile. The entire rest of the week is warmer, at least somewhat, and we're just coming away from a weekend in the 70s.

Wish me luck--the stairs are always a challenge.

Believe it or not...

I got up at five this morning and did four loads of laundry, including the bedclothes. In the process I enjoyed the relatively cool weather, with a robin singing merrily and a heron flying overhead as the the rosy fingers of dawn began to spread across the sky. It was in the 50s this morning and just got up to the low 80s. Thursday is projected to be 102 and Friday 101, so we should enjoy it while we can.

I nearly hurt myself getting ready for work. The clothes came out at 7, and I needed to leave by 7:30. I had just told myself that I had to slow down regardless of the time, when I did something I almost never do--I put my foot up on the ledge of the tub so I could dry my leg off. Usually I put it on the toilet lid or go into the bedroom and put it up on the bed, but no, this time I put it up on the tub, and of course it was slippery. My foot slipped out from under me. I did the splits, straddling the tub. Fortunately I didn't fall completely; I would probably have wound up hitting my head. Then there would have been the crawling into the bedroom to call 911 and wait for EMTs to come and get the naked woman who is a danger to herself (but rarely others) off of the floor. But I was a little sore on the way to work.

Work was good. I got a good start on the filing. Lunch was good--tortilla-encrusted tilapia with herbed and wild rice with almonds, grilled vegetables, and macaroni and cheese. Not bad for cafeteria food.

I weighed myself today. I am three pounds from 300. That's scary.

I got a ride home, and I had Simon & Garfunkel in my head, so the first thing after I put my bags down was put Pandora Radio on and now I'm listening to them and to related music (right now it's Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al') and eating pine nut hummus.

Okay, I guess I should go fold the laundry. It's on the bed and I laid a few things out flat that would otherwise wrinkle, but the rest is just sitting there waiting to be folded and put away.

Gee, I thought I was prone to freak accidents

This man takes the cake.

US gardener survives being impaled in eye with shears

An 86-year-old US man impaled through the eye socket with pruning shears in a freak gardening accident is expected to make a full recovery, doctors say.

Go the story for a x-ray showing a handle that went through the man's eye socket and down to his neck.