December 26 as a Monday was a fairly sleepy day all around. No posts on this blog during the 24-hour period proper, for example. And when I ventured out of the house a couple of times during the day, I found a downright profound quiet on Portland's streets. No mail carriers, no commuters, no delivery people. It felt a little like a Sunday, but in fact it was less than a Sunday, because the churchgoers could stay home, and it looked as though they did.

The south side of Lloyd Center was seeing some action -- the day-after mallgoers and the holiday movie crowd converging on the place. But cars were zipping right through.

An evening run down to the gym was interesting. Next week at this time, you won't be able to squeeze yourself in among the new year's resolution set and the lapsed fitness buffs reawakening from a long, late fall layoff. But on Monday the 26th the place was a ghost town. No waiting, no jockeying for position. Only a handful of folks working off the weekend.

Perhaps it was just as well that there was no one to look over my shoulder as I stepped onto the scale in the men's locker room. Egad. Well, at least I was there trying to do something about it. And when I came home to a 2,000-calorie plate of out-of-this-world Christmas dinner leftovers, I skipped the gravy.

By far the highlight of the day was a brilliant rainbow that appeared in the northeastern sky in late afternoon. The kids and I pulled aside the shade and drank it in for a good, long while. Nothing better.