Getting Sentimental

(and sometimes just plain mental)

No, really now... browsing through the site meter on occasion during these last couple of weeks it's nice to see certain people continue to check in here on a regular basis. Great to have some new readers and friends, too. Some regulars from early days have begun to come back as well; nice to see. You all know who you are....

Probably the best thing about having begun to blog a couple of years ago is making some friends along the way. What you share on your sites expands my world, stimulates my mind and touches me. Whether it is personal stories or fiction, music, art or photography, or an appreciation of the written word I appreciate your talents and your ability to convey it so well. I also appreciate it when you care to comment on what you see here. The more the merrier, I say.

Things are getting quiet in blogland with the holiday season kicking into high gear. If you are celebrating the season with Hanukkah or Christmas I want to wish you peace and joy and good times with family and friends. I'll be around when you stop by here with some new tale to tell.

Upcoming Blog Birthday

Come Monday it will have been two full years since I started this gig - amazing! It came about by stumbling on some folks blogsites and beginning to follow them through their posts. After a couple of months of that I came to the conclusion that hey! I can get in on this too. Away I went.... and here I am.

Along the way I've posted some opinion pieces about the things I care about - a bit about recovery, a fair lot about music and more recently books. (There has also been quite a lot of straight-up day-to-day news that I'm sure is probably pretty boring for some but it keeps me occupied.) I was helped through some difficult times by blog friends - mainly regarding Lynda's and my break-up, time apart and reunion. Good times too - with our grandson Owen and the births of my kid's kids, Zeph and Madison. Through these things I've been fortunate to have made some damned decent friends and I feel fortunate to be a part of this ever growing on-line community. (Seems I've made another friend this week in Martin at hstbooks.com. Hello Ireland!!) You all mean a lot to me and on those occasions where I felt I could be of help, I've tried to be. Lord knows you've helped me.

I never fail to be amazed at the number and variety of talented people 'out there' offering up their work in words, photos and artwork. That and the appreciation, support and encouragement that flies back and forth between parties. Awesome. Maybe I'll dig through my archives to see what all is in there. Whenever I do that I always come across something I had forgotten about ever having written..... surprise, surprise. (Senior's moments already.)

And for anyone interested I'm having my last intended cigarettes tonight - I'm going to try and lay them down for good again. See, one thing I've hated about smoking for the last few years is having to smoke outside in cold weather. I was just outside for one and I bet it is down to 0C/32F out there - freezing!! One more motivating factor, by geez. Wish me luck. BTW - it is a beautiful still clear night. The stars are shimmering like diamond dust on blue-black velvet.