OUT OF REMISSION

I’m back. No, I haven’t been diagnosed once again with cancer, but I have been remiss. I have been quite busy lately, and that has prevented me from catching up my blog.

Therefore, I am “out of remission” and posting something new. I will try to be more proactive and blog more often in the future. I have no idea how many people are reading this beyond myself since nobody clicks “LIKE” at the bottom of the entries, but I will continue with this even if I am indeed the only one reading. It’s a cathartic action on my part and hopefully a pleasant reaction on the part of anyone who falls upon this and reads it.

That said, here is the interesting part of doing this. You see, I apparently DO have readers out there. Some I may know, and some I almost certainly don’t know, unless the IP address is giving me a wrong location on my Analytics page of this website.

Some people in China are reading my writings. I know absolutely nobody in China. Someone in Oregon near the border with Washington has read me as well, often visiting my page numerous times over the course of several days or weeks. China IP addresses show up occasionally. Recently, someone in Illinois spent quite a bit of time on my website, reading from various pages. Furthermore, in the past week I've had readers from Maine and Maryland visit my page. It does make me wonder at the reach the internet provides us.

China isn’t the only foreign nation represented in my analytics. I’ve had readers from India, Ireland, England, Germany, and even Russia. So, while my friends might not be visiting my website, total strangers are, and perhaps that’s even better.

Okay, enough on that. I’m just rather impressed that complete strangers are reading my blog.

If you aren’t following me on Facebook, you might not know that I won an award recently for a short story I wrote. I am the proud recipient of the Golden Nib Award for my story “As Luck Would Have It.” The judge’s comments follow:

“The story was very engaging. The police procedural work reflected a high degree of realism. I also enjoyed how seamlessly the POV shifted from the daughter to the mother to the lead detective. The story was impossible to put down. Once you started it, you had to follow to see how it ended. “

I will be posting the story eventually on this website, but not today. I have to keep something for the future, right?

And . . . enough of that as well. It’s a good story, if I do say so myself.

Finally, the holidays are upon us, and that is a time when thoughts of family pervade. I spent Thanksgiving Day in Winston-Salem with my niece (who prepares the meal the way my mother always did). The meal and company were wonderful, and it gave me time to reflect on how lucky I am.

However, I wasn’t finished there. I returned home early on what is called “Black Friday” and made a broccoli casserole to take to yet ANOTHER niece’s home for Thanksgiving dinner with my wife, Dee’s, family. We enjoyed a great time together, and I was even treated to a fabulous oyster stew as a side dish to the turkey and trimmings. YUMMY!! Dee’s niece, Tera, is married to a wonderful young man, Rick, and his father and stepmother were down as well with their family.

It really was a great time, and the joy of family made everything even better. Not only that, but I ate TWO Thanksgiving meals this year! To top it all off, my sister-in-law, who had recently finished reading Floating Twigs, was talking about how wonderful it was, and Rick’s father and stepmother bought two copies of the book—one for themselves and one for her mother, who loves to read.

Christmas is now on the near horizon, and it will be special as well. The sad part is my “turning six in January” granddaughter figured out on her own that Santa wasn’t real. She’s a smart one. Her parents—my stepdaughter and her husband—told her she was right but admonished her NOT to tell any of her friends or her little sister (once she’s old enough to appreciate the existence of that spry old elf). Alex agreed it would not be nice to spoil their belief in St. Nick. Again, she’s scary smart.

Well, that’s it for now. I have to save something for my next post, which I hope will be in another week or so.

Take care, everyone! And Happy Holidays to you!