Well I’m Back

Sunrise at Mather Point, Grand Canyon, AZ

Sunrise at Mather Point, South Rim, Grand Canyon

“But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

When last we met I spent time musing about the purpose of, and my need for, this blog. Since that post, I’ve been there and back again.

If you’re just catching up, I am recently returned from our Old Man Bucket List Road Trip (OMBLRT ™). For sixteen days my best college friend and I traveled west, saw the heights and the depths and had many adventures. There’s more coming but just what, and when, that will be is to be determined. For now, go to Instagram and search #oldmanbucketlistroadtrip to see our posts from along the journey.

While I love the above quote, when I returned on Saturday there was, thankfully, no fire and, perhaps just as thankfully, no three-year-old to put on my lap. Still I was warmly greeted by my wife and son who were in the midst of preparing him for his journey to spend a semester in Japan. He few out early yesterday morning.

And I do mean early.

I spent yesterday regrouping, doing laundry, unpacking equipment, and making lists.

We’re rolling right into Spooky – Turkey – Santa Season and I’ve got places to be.

Still, in the times that I had to ponder I thought about my return to the blog. Early in the trip I thought I’d come back and blog about the various aspects of our journey. But that’s morphing into something else, so you’ll have to be patient a little while longer.

All that to say that I’m back. Here, on a semi-regular basis until I figure out exactly where this is going.

In the meantime, I’m juggling my other projects.

Those include the response/follow up from the trip, my graphic design work, and Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion which kicks off in two weeks. More on that when I can.

Of course you can still buy my books. Think early Christmas shopping. Get them all at Amazon.

And, today, I’m back at the day job, if I can find my office.

I’m still letting the sights and experiences of the trip sink in. But one of the most significant of those was a morning at Mather Point on the South Rim watching the sunrise.

The phrase that kept coming back to me was “The majesty and glory of your name” from the anthem by Tom Fettke.

Sitting there I was again struck by the absurdity of viewing God’s creation and actually thinking that nothing banged into nothing and poof, canyons, or dinosaurs, or…well, you get the point.

Alleluia.


 

Unclaimed Real Estate

I have a blog and I’m not afraid to use it. But, will I?

Hook will always be one of my favorite Robin Williams movies. And I love the scene where Peter comes to the realization of who he is and the lost boys start to recognize him.

Let’s not get too deep into the meaning of that. I chose it because of the phrase “there you are.”

Because, after an extended absence, here I am.

Bless me father, for I have not blogged.

For more than twenty years, I’ve had some sort of presence on the Interwebz. I’ve had multiple versions of a blog. I’ve written for other websites. I’ve been on all sorts of discussion boards.

It took us a while to learn how to use the Web. We won’t get into the fact that some still haven’t learned.

I’m glad that in the early days I posted mostly under a pseudonym.

Of course, nothing is really anonymous and if you really wanted to know, you could connect the dots. You’d be wasting your time, but you could do it.

Let’s just say that I will not be accepting a nomination to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.

In my absence from this space, I’ve been evaluating and re-evaluating where I spend my time.

June 22 – July 14, 2023

Truth is, I initially wrote this post for June 30, at the half-way point of the year, but I just wasn’t ready (motivated?) to post.

My show closed at Firehouse Theatre on Friday.

Sound of the Guns was an amazing experience and I was honored to be a part of it. You should have been there.

That means that I no longer have to run my lines every time I’m in the Jeep which, in turn, means I have more time to think.

Also, in June I finished and published my latest book in the CAT and PIG series. Get them all at Amazon.

I’ve done three significant graphic design projects for friends. One is still in the final approval process.

SIDE NOTE: I’m raising my rates.

It’s not like I haven’t been busy. Yet I’ll occasionally ask myself if I should be blogging.

There’s a tension between the desire to blog and feeling the need to blog. In full disclosure, neither is very strong right now.

That makes me wonder if I should even keep the blog. Am I wasting the space I have reserved here on the web?

I’m comfortable blogging. But I get far more engagement on Instagram and Facebook. I know there are many other platforms out there for the tech-savvy (a.k.a. the young), but I only have so much energy. Not to mention only so much capacity to learn yet a new thing.

Am I considering returning to the blog on a daily basis? Maybe.

Will it happen before the Old Man Bucket List Road Trip (OMBLRT ™) in August? It will not.

Of course there’s always the struggle between spending time writing here or working on my unfinished novels or the next CAT and PIG book.

I only have so many hours in the day. Just like you.

Speaking of the road trip, I’ll be posting that mainly through the above mentioned Instagram and Facebook. You’ll want to be following me.

Will I come back from the canyon with a hankering to get back to daily blogging? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll let you know in September.

In the meantime, despite all the rain, and I do mean ALL the rain, I’m having a pretty good summer. And, the rest of the year holds promise. The remainder of 2023 basically looks like this for me:

Canyon – Spooky – Turkey – Santa

If you know, you know. If you don’t know, follow me on my other social media and you’ll see what I mean.

As for this blog…