Hello to whoever might be reading this. It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. Everything is fine with me – but it just seems that there are not enough hours in a day to do all of the thing that keep coming along and sitting down to write too. I keep having many thoughts that I would like to express in my blog, even writing many of the ideas down so I don’t forget. However, by the time I get around to them either they lost their compelling “energy,” I lost the list yet again or my notes are so sparse that I can’t recall the topic. I keep promising myself that I’ll make time on a regular basis to write. Of course, every single day that comes along is filled to the brim with “things” that have a higher priority. An example is my taking the time to make this sketch:

It is a sketch of my little barn viewed from my back yard. My family had a family Christmas gathering at my place a week before Christmas, with one of the requirements being that everyone was tasked to make a gift to share. I decided that a sketch of our barn would be enjoyed since my kids and grandkids grew up with this as a backdrop to much of their lives. During 4-H years we kept animals in it, now it contains my wood shop and a pottery studio. It was always a place to play and do things. The drawing was a hit! I am pleased that they liked it. The grandson that selected it (“stole” it from his father – my son) promised to make prints for others. This is an example of the sort of important things that keep getting in the way. 

Another major time sink has been my year long attempt to purchase a new home in my home town of Sonoma (California). My current home near Sacramento is very nice, beautiful and comfortable (and paid for!!) – but with a five acre back yard it is more than I will be able to maintain in the future. I am looking for an alternate place to stay that is closer to town. However, I am finding this to be a daunting task because my needs/desires are somehow very squishy – I make a list of what I need and don’t need, want and don’t want – thinking it will help find the “right” place. But once there, walking through a potential new home, I find new things I want or don’t want, or find that the priorities are different from what I thought they were, or it just “doesn’t feel right.” Of course there is also the matter of money (affordability), but I don’t seem to be able to settle down enough on my priorities to even worry about that. 

I get bogged down in crazy sorts of concerns. It turns out I like “funky” (but not too funky, and not too time consuming to create and maintain), I also like simple and plain (but not too simple and not too plain), I like a nice yard (but easy to maintain and not too small), I like upscale fancy stuff (but too much shine and glitz is too sterile for my taste). Some need a LOT of help because of years of neglected maintenance – and I get excited about doing all of that as a fun project, until I remember how much work and expense that will be. I am being Goldilocks. Each new opportunity ends up taking another day to visit, view, discuss and eventually turn down. It is frustrating, so much so that I often just give up and resign myself to staying where I am – until another potential opportunity pops up and I am back into search. 

I have been so busy that I haven’t even had time (or the inclination) to keep up with politics for the first time in fifty years or so. I hear snippets of news, such as Trump being rejected in some States because of his involvement in the insurrection – but don’t follow up because I am certain that will all be overturned once it hits the Republican dominated Supreme Court. I hear great things like California’s plan to install up to 200 new hydrogen fueling stations by 2025. Good news, maybe. It all depends upon where the hydrogen is coming from. There are many other topics that get my interest – but I still don’t seem to settle down to writing about them.

My proposed new year’s resolution is to become more consistent in my writing – writing everyday or perhaps every other day. I also resolve to make more time in my life to talk to great friends and interesting strangers – sort of a continuation of my experiences while traveling across the country. Of course I don’t have much confidence in those resolutions making any difference – I already make the promise to myself to write every morning before I crawl out of bed. I mentally set aside time to be with friends and meet new people — and then the world happens.