The weather has turned cold these last few days. This morning, in fact, I laid out my heavy corduroy pants to wear to school, and I plan to wear one of my heaviest sweaters. The temperature won’t be plunging to the teens, but it will stay in the low forties all day, which is about twenty degrees colder than it was last week. Autumn, I surmise, has agreed to pass along the crown to stately and frosty winter.

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I have long since reached the “grandfather” stage at school. The students now see me as a kind, erudite, and sometimes bumbling old gentleman – someone they do not want to offend. They wouldn’t want to upset their own grandfathers, and they feel the same, I think, about old, sagacious, and fragile Mr. Salsich.