Bob's Almanack

I'm not who I used to be... I'm who I decide to be.

~ Robert

New from Outside In Print

From directly overhead, a barefoot man floats face-up with arms open as a dark indigo watercolor shadow dissolves beneath him and the blue-violet current brightens toward rose-gold light.

Who I Decide to Be

A path bends out of sight, and an old identity loses its vote. This affirmation puts today's direction in the choices made now.

An anonymous person leans over a wooden footbridge as a pebble strikes dark water and blue, gold, and rose light traces the widening concentric ripples.

Spiritual Being Physical

A glass of water, a morning walk, and a pebble bring spirit into daily life. The piece finds creative power in breath, attention, and choices that spread outward.

An anonymous person steps from a shadowed riverbank onto sunlit stones that curve across calm water and disappear into luminous mist.

Correct as I Go

The whole river crossing never appears at once. This affirmation starts with the next stone and leaves room to adjust when the path turns.

An unmarked cork shoots upward through blue-green water toward a sunlit surface as an open hand recedes below.

Let go, Rise up

A cork rises as soon as the hand opens. The piece releases yesterday and tomorrow long enough to live the day in front of you.

This Week's Virtue

Tranquillity

Tranquillity travels on a bending road. Feel the stone under your foot and let the water settle after the pebble falls. Notice what changed without handing the whole day to it. Calm leaves enough of your attention free for the next choice and the adjustment that may follow.

One Number

3.4%

Consumer prices for all urban consumers rose 3.4 percent over the 12 months ending in July, before seasonal adjustment. In July alone, the index rose 0.1 percent after seasonal adjustment; shelter made up about two-thirds of that monthly increase. source

One Document

Differential Pay for Prescribed Wildland Fire Activities

U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2026-08-14

The final rule adds prescribed wildland-fire work to activities covered by hazardous-duty or environmental-differential pay. It authorizes a 25 percent differential for General Schedule and Federal Wage System employees on firefighting crews whose fireline work directly carries out or controls prescribed burns. source

Results

Shreyas Royal, 17, won his first British Chess Championship with 7.5 points from nine rounds, half a point ahead of Michael Adams and Luke McShane. source

Records

Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, became the youngest British Women's Chess Champion. She and Trisha Kanyamarala each scored 5.5 points, and Sivanandan won their rapid playoff. source

Final Bows

Billy Slater will leave the Queensland Maroons head-coach role after five seasons and will not return for the 2027 State of Origin series. source

Obituaries

Zhu Rongji died at 97. He became China's premier in 1998, and his term ended in 2003. He led economic changes before the country joined the World Trade Organization. source
Bishop Rainey Cheeks died at 74. A taekwondo grandmaster and Black LGBTQ+ community leader in Washington, he helped establish Us Helping Us and founded Inner Light Ministries UCC. source

He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.

~ Poor Richard

Worth Reprinting

Do The Thing Today

Read this July musing beside Correct as I Go: it gives delay a visible object, names the next move, and returns the hallway to the people who use it.

I move boldly, and I correct as I go.

~ Robert