■"North Koreans Claim to Extract Fuel for Bombs," by James Brooke, New York Times, 12 May 2005, p. A1.

■"Bolton Asserts Independence On Intelligence," by Souglas Jehl, New York Times, 12 May 2005, p. A1.

■"Off-Course Plane Leads to Tense Time in Capital," by James Brooke, New York Times, 12 May 2005, p. A1.

Weird. Having dinner with America's top negotiator on North Korea Tuesday night while all this news breaking on Kim and his nuclear carrying-ons. Sitting with Kerry Wednesday morning and here he's rattling Bolton's cage effectively with his written questions. Walking out of Russell Senate building at 1130 from Kerry sit-down and missing this weird errant plane situation.

History happening all around me and I am blissfully wandering through it unaware. I feel like Chauncey Gardiner in "Being There": "I like to plant flowers. I want to move to Indiana and tend to my garden."