A Slight Sense of Justice - and the Winds of Time

This has been quite a week. It's now been shown that the Blue Wall of Silence may be developing some cracks. I do hope so, because I think it would be good for our country if that were to happen/ Then again, I am not holding my breath.

I have been doing a little artwork for a change, on a freelance basis. It's nice to get back to it, even if only temporarily. Otherwise I've been hacking away at a short story and submitting finished ones. A couple of my wife's sisters are coming to visit for a few days beginning this coming Friday, so there has been much cleaning of the house and sprucing up of the yard. Otherwise things proceed apace.

Of late I have been feeling the shadows of my life growing longer. There have been mental shifts and upheavals as I plan for the next few years of creative effort. How much will I get done? I want to get back to painting, but that requires a certain mind-set that I haven't managed to work my way into just yet. God knows what sort of dog's breakfast of stuff I'm going to leave behind. Like so many creative people, I have explored many avenues but haven't succeeded in making a well-marked map.

I hope I get another life or two to sort it all out. The most I can reasonably hope for in this one is another 20 years, and right now I don't feel like I have a handle on it. Planning an end-game to this life I've led is a daunting thing. I have things I want to do, yes; I want to revise some of my earlier novels; I want to complete at least one trilogy; I want to paint. So far I've been pretty lucky with my health despite some blips (stroke, seizure, undiagnosed vascular issues).  One wonders how long one's luck will hold.

I can hear the wind-chimes in the neighbors' yard. It's a windy night, and the temperature is supposed to dip into the 30s -- chilly for a spring evening in North Carolina. We have a small garden in a bird bath: petunias, verbena, and pansies, along with a lovely old brass statuette of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha, a meaningful deity to me. I lugged the plants in to protect them from the cold. That bird bath weighs about 40 pounds, but I'm not letting those blooms get frost-bit.

And to close, here's a photo of my little bird bath garden, with Ganesha overseeing his kingdom. He's hard to see, but he's in there.

Ta for now.



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