So it goes...

I started back at my writing class last night. It was good to be back around heady writing types again. We're a motley bunch, but we all understand each other. We encourage each other, point out our redundancies, point out our redundancies, give each other hints and point out our redundancies. It is a great climate to work in. No one is overly critical in part because Kathie won't have it. She said we need to be critical, without tearing down. No one benefits when a person gets insulted to the point where they question their ability. We've got a little of everything in the class. Memoir, poetry, and lots of fiction. It is fascinating to follow the stories from week to week and see how they develop. It's a bit like I'm reading 10 books every week. (Or a chapter for 10 different books each week.) We listen as characters get killed, experience death and divorce, morph into zombies, grow old or die young. While we work hard, we have a lot of fun in class too. The c...

Today was a good day. Today was also an emotionally hard day. It was filled with good stuff. Coffee with a new friend. The farmer's market for a loaf of good bread. Football equipment hand-out for my 13 year old son. A little house cleaning. A bit of editing. A long bike ride. Saturday service at church. Brennans for some goodies with Donna and Ben. A beautiful evening walk with my iPod and my dog. A dinner with the good bread from the market. And yet there was this cloak of sorrow that prohibited it from being all it could be. It could have been a completely satisfying and perfect day. Only it wasn't. It was almost perfect. People have told me there would be days like this. Days where you try to run from the pain and sadness, but you can't seem to outrun it. You try and keep real busy thinking life is all normal. And it's not. A thought comes along and there I go, wailing like an Iraqi. A song plays on the iPod and there I go again. Today the sig...

Installment two of my vacation blog. After our two days in the beautiful Adirondacks, we headed due west toward Thousand Islands Park . Donna had arranged for a two day stay at a friends' vacation home in the park with 5 of her college friends and a few kids. All together there were 13 of us in a beautiful 4 bedroom home. The TIP (Thousand Island Park) settlemen t was developed at the turn of the century and I must say that when we got there I felt that we had gone in a time machine back to the turn of the century. The houses are (for the most part) meticulously maintained. The roads are for the most part gravel, which is fine, because most people get around by biking, walking or golf cart. It was surreal. Everyone was courteous and seemed carefree. I was telling Donna that I kept expecting to run into Katherine Hepburn or Humphrey Bogart or something. Even the stores were surreal. The supermarket just had a sign that read "Grocery". Another read "Ice Cream Pa...

Just back from our week in Upstate NY. It was a great week, all things considered. Tons of driving, but we broke it up pretty well so there was never too much, with the exception of the 14 hours there and 13 hours back (traffic and construction). We stayed the first 3 nights at my sister in-laws house in Auburn, NY. They have a great old house that has a pool that kept the kids busy, and all of us cool. Wonderful hosts. The second leg of our journey was to the Adirondack Mountains outside of Lake Placid.  It rained most of the trip, but stopped in time for us to see the downtown area and get some crummy lunch at Pan Dolce . John got a "medium well" burger that was still moo-ing, the kids said their chocolate milk was not good, and the service was sssslllllloooowwww. A much better meal was had a couple of days later by John's family at Big Mountain Creperie and Deli , where they served both breakfast and lunch crepe-based sandwiches. After a quick run-through of so...

It's day 3 of what is shaping up to be a great vacation in upstate New York. While the weather is hot and muggy, John and Jill's pool has been a lifesaver. It's actually made for a very relaxing vacation thus far. The kids are getting along so well that we hardly notice they're around most of the time. They occasionally show up for food or a quick minute of adult conversational stimulation before they run back to their cousins and resume playing with their cousins. Trips to see the Neufang side of the family is much like our trips to Minnesota where they have cousins on my side of the family. They get along great with all of their cousins and it makes our trips here and there so nice because the adults can sit and talk without having to worry about entertaining the kids like we once did. A good example of this was yesterday when we were sitting by the pool and Sarah and Halle came up and said they wanted to sing a song they'd written for us. The song was built a...

It seems there's a phenomenon known as a heat dome that is sitting over much of this great nation. It's resting on the country's mid section like a sumo wrestler in no hurry to go. It could be worse, it could be February. People need to stop complaining about it and deal. Heard that my brother got in the pool this past weekend. He had help from the family and got to sit on a raft for about an hour and enjoy his pool. Thank God for small miracles. When I saw the pictures, I was almost overwhelmed. I admire his (and his family's) willingness to try and get the most out of this time. He went fishing the day before and caught a couple bass. Another small blessing. Much of the family was there to witness the pool time as they celebrated the engagement of my nephew Nick.There are times I wish I was closer to home, and this was one of them. I guess we'll see him in a few weeks, but still... Had to listen to the Women's World Cup Finals on ESPN radio on my laptop ...

I've been back from California for two days and am still suffering from a bit of jet lag. It doesn't help that it's a feels-like temperature of 105 or so. This kind of weather makes me wilt. I lose all ambition and everything becomes a chore. Luckily today was Sunday, so I didn't feel too bad taking it kind of easy. San Diego was wonderful as usual. Lots of sun, 70's, and ocean breezes. It is the closest place to heaven that I can picture. I haven't been to Hawaii, but am guessing it would be even better. Conferencing is exhausting. You're either on your feet, walking, sitting in uncomfortable chairs, eating rich unhealthy food, or networking day and night. I love/hate it for a number of reasons. I ALWAYS learn a ton at these things, way more than even a 3 day ESRI training class. At the same time, I am usually shot by Wednesday morning and want nothing more than to sleep for 14 hours. I wouldn't trade San Diego for anything though. I went to Bas...