By 1899, we had learned to tame the darkness but not the Texas heat.

It means that we should celebrate today's failure because it is a clear sign that our voyage of discovery is not yet over.

But my mother's life was a never-ending round of maintenance. Not one single thing did she ever achieve but that it had to be done all over again, one day or one week or one season later. Oh, the monotony.

It is better to travel with hope in one's heart than to arrive in safety. . . . We should celebrate today's failure because it is a clear sign that our voyage of discovery is not yet over. The day the experiment succeeds is the day the experiment ends. And I inevitably find that the sadness of ending outweighs the celebration of success.

Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.

We had been so close to missing each other, he and I. He had turned out to be the greatest gift of all.

It was too bad, but sometimes a little knowledge could ruin your whole day, or at least take off some of the shine.