Hi Everyone! It’s really hard to believe how quickly these weeks are flying by. I can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks since I got home and started writing my weekly updates from here in D.C. I’m still keeping very busy and still have plenty of things to do, but the days really start to mush together when I’m not out there on the road or at least making plans in that direction. The weather has been decent this week, and we’ve been spending some good time outside enjoying it, which has been great.
This week has been one of celebrations, which has also been really good. On Friday we celebrated another week gone by with our weekly “Forget About It Friday” party in the basement. This week I broke out my blacklight from college and went a hundred years into the future for a “future party”. We had some glowing gin and tonics and a few laughs and played a new-to-us card game called The Game which we all enjoyed. Saturday we all threw in together in the kitchen and created a huge and wonderful New Orleans inspired Italian meal. Monday we celebrated my folks’ anniversary with another nice meal and last night we had some tacos and margaritas for Cinco de Mayo. Because television and walks only boost your spirits so much, we’ve enjoyed these celebrations as an excuse to be together and enjoy something fun and different. The themes just give it some direction.
I got some good news this week from a wooden puzzle company in England who wants to use one of my photos of Cloudland Canyon in Georgia on one of their puzzles. I thought that was really exciting. They will come in 250, 500 and 1000 piece varieties and they are even going to send me one for free. I’ll let you know when they’re available and I think they’d make an excellent gift for the puzzle lover on your Christmas list. It’s nice to get some inspiration as I’m looking forward to trying to market some more of my work to a wider audience, and am getting closer to having a store on this site. I’m really looking forward to getting that finished. Even though all of my photos are available for sale and licensing, I want to have my own little corner store where things are just ready to go.
I have also been working hard to put together a virtual tour of Yellowstone National Park, somewhere near and dear to my heart and somewhere I’ve spent a decent chunk of my life. I’ll be giving a one hour talk and slideshow for a wonderful company called Walks in their series Tours From Home. I’ll update you next week on the exact time the tours will run if you’re interested in joining me, but I believe they will be May 19th and 26th at 7 p.m. EDT. You can click THIS LINK to check out all the tours that are being offered. I took one this week of Pompeii, and I really enjoyed it.
Beyond that, I’ve continued working on my book. I’m trying to get a solid hour of writing done on it every day, and so far it’s been coming along. I know that what I’m writing now is basically just a stream of memories as I try and put down the basics, and there will be a lot of editing and rewriting on the other side of this process, but it’s good to be getting some of it down on paper.
And on a personal level, I’ve been trying to keep up with my exercises even though I miss the heavy weights at the gym and the good habits and schedule I had developed there. I do get out and go for at least one walk on most days which has been good for my body and my mind. I’ve been exploring my neighborhood and wandering up and down streets I don’t normally use. I’ve found some great sets of steps to get my heartrate up, and at the top of one I found a tree marked as a direct decedent of Isaac Newton’s tree. What a fascinating find! I have been taking some photos when the weather has been good, but haven’t really had the time to put together a photo essay this week. Once I’m done with Yellowstone, I can get back on track with some of that.
Alright, y’all, enough of my blathering for this week. I hope you’re all staying safe and either being productive through this or giving yourself a break – whichever suits your needs right now. It’s been a learning experience for us all, and I do hope when we look back on this years from now that it’s a story that will have a decent ending. Stay safe out there and I’ll see you right back here next week.
-Mike