Long time no post! And now the proverbial returning-to-blog phrase: I hope to keep the posts coming and frequently! How've you been? In short, things have sucked, but may have been much worse, and are improving here...

The past few months have been ... well, they have been. Work problems, housing problems, health problems, car problems, all circling and swirling, slooping and slopping together as so many clothes and detergent bubbles in a Maytag washer cycle. And yes, they're clearing up slowly. Like line drying clothes. And like line drying clothes, I suppose these things are better to have happen in summer and autumn, than in winter. Challenges are inevitable, but sometimes they bunch together, and become oil gathering on the surface of water. At moments, I have felt like that otter, like that duck, going about his business when a banana-peel-slip on the bridge of an oil tanker leads to disaster. And somehow, unbeknownst to me, my fur, my feathers, have a coating of crude petroleum that won't rinse, lick, or shake off. But now an environmental cause that cleans beaches and wildlife after oil spills, has begun to work on me and my world. And through each of these lumps to the head, my wonderful woman has been steady and true, even and straight. For this, I am so very grateful. And I am grateful for the invisible hand that has kept me from steering into the rocks of disaster.