Tidbits from a Busy Week

Update from my cousin Charles, his partner Sean, and friend Chris who are coming to the end of their great adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail.  They now have less than 300 miles to go to reach the Canadian border, but winter comes to the PCT early.  They have been hiking in cold rain, sleet and snow and a couple of nights ago, after a freezing rain, their tent froze solid.  The views keep them moving on in spite of the hardships.Their photos are outstanding.   Check out 3gaycaballeros.blogspot.com  Figuring they hike an average of twenty miles a day, they should be heading for home within the next ten days. Then I expect them to begin work on a book of their adventures.

Wade Peterson and I have been working on our own book, a collection of our best short stories from a year of writing at http:blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com  On Tuesday, we settled on the stories, designed the cover, and figured out the logistics.  We hope to have an e-book by next week, followed by the paper edition a week later. I'll post the details here.  

Meanwhile, we have to keep on writing our short stories for the blog. I am scheduled to finish one by Friday, then Bettyann Moore takes the following week.  Here in Seymour, Sissy's Treats and Treasures, our local coffee and tea shop, now has wi-fi.  I think I will try writing there tomorrow for a change of pace. Or is it the cheesecake that pulls me there?   

Then there's my other career as a storyteller. For the past couple of weeks I've been contacting libraries in the southern states with hopes of doing a tour down to Mississippi in February. I never know if a tour will happen, but it won't if I don't make the effort. 

The October mini-tour in Illinois is a done deal with five performances. I am picking up nursing home and assisted living facilities here in Wisconsin in October and November.  I never get any work in December since schools, libraries and nursing homes have plenty of entertainment with the holidays. After Thanksgiving, I won't tell stories again until January.

I spent part of Tuesday with my friend Norma, who came up from Chicago to spend time with her mother at an Oshkosh nursing home. It seems Nadine's life is slowly coming to an end.  When I can I drive to Oshkosh and take Norma out to get some relief.  On Tuesday we walked to the point at Menomine Park to watch the cormorants fly and the waves crash in. The ebb and flow of nature has a way of putting life and death into perspective.