I do hand it to the mightly caterpillar. I do.

Those friends who've been following the never-ending saga of my New York condo non-closing (to recap: why of course the building will be done in March — just kidding!; closing will happen by end of May — just kidding!; closing is scheduled for June 29 — just kidding!; we're postponing it a few days to July 2 — just kidding!; we've confirmed a closing date of July 27 — just kidding!; we're looking now at August 20 — just kidding!), and who have heard all about my provisional living arrangements (which were supposed to be for three months, tops, but have stretched to six+ months, and yes, my hosts are the Saintliest of Saints), may be amused by my Vanity Fair horoscope this month:

You've got to hand it to the mighty caterpillar. Now that your ruling planet has completed its passage through your solar 8th house, you should be feeling empathy for any creature that has to remain encased in a coffin-like shell it has already outgrown while waiting patiently for a sign that it is time to break out. Claustrophobia and a screaming case of death anxiety aside, you've got to be pretty damned happy that you can finally spread your wings and fly away.

Of course I don't really believe in such things, but applied to the Condo Non-Closing Hell, which has indeed resulted in claustrophobia and a screaming sense of anxiety of various kinds, this makes oh so much sense.

Meanwhile, in another case of the stars aligning strangely yet happily, I must give a shout-out to the Canadian artist Marc Bell, whose "Shrimpy and Paul and Friends" provided the inspiration for a blog-post title some months back ("The Goose Is Greedy"), and who I'm tickled to say wrote me a very brief but utterly delightful e-mail recently, in an Internet-style reach-out-and-touch-you moment. Hi, Marc! Verily this pitiful blog shall be forever and eternally grateful to thee and thine. Yay.