This morning I woke up and it was raining hard. I had looked at the paper a couple of days ago and saw a great extended forecast. This is New Orleans, however, and the paper always lies about the possibility of rain during Mardi Gras.

This month has been surreal. DW and I reversed ourselves regarding placement of our oldest son in a residential school for mentally retarded and autistic children. We agreed on a temporary placement, which will give us time to get our youngest son's autistic behaviors under control while the school does the same for our oldest boy. I'm uneasy about the whole thing, but it seems like the best we can do under the circumstances. Oldest son looked terrific in the suit we purchased for him to attend Sunday mass. He didn't care much for the Yankees and Hornets caps I bought for him.

I've been browsing on the Internet for statues of the Buddha to use in my nascent meditation practice, but I can't quite bring myself to purchase one. I'm fascinated by the Buddhist philosophical approach to life and the meditative techniques, to the extent I understand them, but there's something about using a little statue, as opossed to a picture, that seems so ritualistic somehow. Nevertheless, I purchased a Buddhism-in-a-box deal today to help with meditation.