tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5107076362083366572024-03-28T22:29:34.355-05:00Tom Kepler WritingTom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.comBlogger641125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-85901332111139083312023-02-11T09:16:00.000-06:002023-02-11T09:16:05.216-06:00Wi-Fi Trail Cameras: a Window into My Rural Land<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRhRkdwPUhyLX8fqY3WH5cEbzm6w2mZO1bgGbfITQjQJMLwpUJF_HFvMr10hP2V-ufE8vyaKiSVS2376d6p6ZBNa28Iuq1OWAxD5OrxHBaafKL42eoW9Drm1-WTg6M6ZlUcDjJwgKakGbAWKThAthKLlKG57_cyy5RtVeHqfXO82rlpvfcsN4ZfZlkA/s1280/Trail.Cam1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaRhRkdwPUhyLX8fqY3WH5cEbzm6w2mZO1bgGbfITQjQJMLwpUJF_HFvMr10hP2V-ufE8vyaKiSVS2376d6p6ZBNa28Iuq1OWAxD5OrxHBaafKL42eoW9Drm1-WTg6M6ZlUcDjJwgKakGbAWKThAthKLlKG57_cyy5RtVeHqfXO82rlpvfcsN4ZfZlkA/w640-h480/Trail.Cam1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Photographs are memories, and I have many fine photos of my rural thirty-five acres of Midwest land that remind me of the good times that my wife and I have enjoyed on our land. Those photos are of times past, though; they are, indeed, memories of past experiences. Sometimes, though, when I'm at home thirty-nine miles distant from our land, the dawn rises bright and clean and full of promise. The air is still and the sky is turning from starry night to shades of blue, the horizon amber and orange with the rising sun. That's when I think, <i>I wonder what's going on with our land? What's it like out there?</i> What we've discovered is that although our trail camera with wi-fi linkage to our cellphone is not a live-streaming video, our Verizon-linked trail cam can provide us with a virtually real-time visual link to our land--when an animal happens to wander into the camera's motion-capture space. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNUDUasLOsAgu9IrJQPiJuZOKyefKNu7BDwbiIC3GhQ898xuHdiO8D501_Aq-5epxd3bqDIT2EmowVITLDWEsUC2kPfOy7jmCtTt_Or5sgHXfwHfSqnC-YaAjMilVf0ra9NlvESuZ4MoaQmZigmMOhcAL53-3A4BKX3Sx16iAjl7xuxogBvf0ifFwSw/s1024/GoCam200.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNUDUasLOsAgu9IrJQPiJuZOKyefKNu7BDwbiIC3GhQ898xuHdiO8D501_Aq-5epxd3bqDIT2EmowVITLDWEsUC2kPfOy7jmCtTt_Or5sgHXfwHfSqnC-YaAjMilVf0ra9NlvESuZ4MoaQmZigmMOhcAL53-3A4BKX3Sx16iAjl7xuxogBvf0ifFwSw/s320/GoCam200.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>At this time, our trail camera is a <a href="https://go.spartancamera.com/products/spartan-gocam-m-4g-lte" target="_blank">Spartan GoCam M 4G/LTE</a> which we have connected to an app on my cellphone. It's always a joy when I hear that little chime notification that a photo has downloaded from our land. Originally we placed the camera down in our bottomland near the creek, where our neighbor's cattle sometimes wriggle through gaps in the fence to gain access to "the other side of the fence," where, or course, the grass is greener! When winter arrived, we moved the camera up to top of our land near the driveway entrance. The wi-fi reception is better there, and also we had scheduled some construction work on the bottomland and wanted to get the camera out of the way. We're planning on buying a second camera soon so that we can have one camera up near our living area and one down by the creek. Spartan does manufacture a camera that can take photos or live video on command so that we wouldn't have to be dependent on an animal wandering by to receive a video; however, that camera is twice the price of the one we purchased.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkahDPzWrO9wgOOobLo6uXEUfzWMqKNLfDMLHrDBYgO_6Soj4ch4b3fxvyH3DVxUpN5dt2YrKbVtKL5MhpBDETi-Dk0zPMwAsBgcZRfvkgFji5b9GG2AwAPPr19HoOSx7VqEyLAAaLbxCl1lRvnTAI895pO4WJQcKwO8xjwCawNkLiJOw1aDDBs7DDNQ/s1280/Buck%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="1280" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkahDPzWrO9wgOOobLo6uXEUfzWMqKNLfDMLHrDBYgO_6Soj4ch4b3fxvyH3DVxUpN5dt2YrKbVtKL5MhpBDETi-Dk0zPMwAsBgcZRfvkgFji5b9GG2AwAPPr19HoOSx7VqEyLAAaLbxCl1lRvnTAI895pO4WJQcKwO8xjwCawNkLiJOw1aDDBs7DDNQ/w640-h326/Buck%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bottomland buck</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7if99o0CdAjq3wS0Yo1lHTPHEliSbGkeQJz0fbGH4L8GLnuwp3YA9iO7179m9J4Ka_nny1S92lHhC7RpS0Bri8GIwDcD8lYJ-4GeFn3u3qz_6TLqRTGx4YILJ4R7DRiL879ajJ6DpK9NwoIORd0qePNXlyEAHspSFFDTLmrL4BSOz-Ky9plg5irxIIA/s825/Trail.Cam4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="825" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7if99o0CdAjq3wS0Yo1lHTPHEliSbGkeQJz0fbGH4L8GLnuwp3YA9iO7179m9J4Ka_nny1S92lHhC7RpS0Bri8GIwDcD8lYJ-4GeFn3u3qz_6TLqRTGx4YILJ4R7DRiL879ajJ6DpK9NwoIORd0qePNXlyEAHspSFFDTLmrL4BSOz-Ky9plg5irxIIA/w640-h512/Trail.Cam4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A coyote?</td></tr></tbody></table>About half of the photos we receive are infra-red photos of animals out and about at night. The quality of these photos usually is not as good, especially if the animals are more distant. We have a lot of photos of what, after scrutiny, we feel are raccoons, and a few photos of what we think are coyotes or foxes. Since our main impetus for setting up the camera was for managing cattle that escape our neighbor's farmland, we will eventually have perhaps three or four total cameras to monitor the weak spots in the fence--which are mostly where the fence crosses the creek. Spotting wildlife will be an enjoyable "extra" to our land management plan.<p></p><div style="text-align: left;">My wife and I enjoy our little "window" trail cam app that connects us to our land when we aren't physically there. I find myself not only checking out the deer or raccoon in the photo but also just looking at the land, especially with the daytime photographs. Is there snow on the ground . . . or frost? I imagine the silence, the sense of space, the smell of rain and wet leaves. Eventually we may be able to have one "roving" camera that we will place in diverse, wilder parts of our land, moving the camera around to see what life is like in the more inaccessible parts of our property. I think this technological tool (and toy!) will not only come in handy in the future but will also provide us with a lot of pleasure. Whether it's a steer ambling across the trail cam's target zone, or a wild, strutting tom turkey, whenever that little chime alerts us to a new photo downloaded to our phone, we'll be sure to eagerly open to the Spartan app and see what nature has brought our way.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoncDgOjQUdvTQwmFaGLJZ8iHFtnOoDXaZvpD7xcCEXsIvsU1xJ5lQ2IxcXmfXWCsk4fFAbxHxjPiHXPGxm9NJHQo3kK4-xtOMTBrTPcm8iR47l-aSDn0ZwOtHzm4FehS8lV4gS48F9LPQLF2O9wfdlb3D4zY2u7lPSW0iNg3DH5UD_gBQPvMIhmWgQ/s800/TKW%20Email%20Avatar.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="800" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoncDgOjQUdvTQwmFaGLJZ8iHFtnOoDXaZvpD7xcCEXsIvsU1xJ5lQ2IxcXmfXWCsk4fFAbxHxjPiHXPGxm9NJHQo3kK4-xtOMTBrTPcm8iR47l-aSDn0ZwOtHzm4FehS8lV4gS48F9LPQLF2O9wfdlb3D4zY2u7lPSW0iNg3DH5UD_gBQPvMIhmWgQ/s320/TKW%20Email%20Avatar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0Mt Sterling, IA 52573, USA40.6178099 -91.93211649999999213.359828170498904 -162.24461649999995 67.8757916295011 -21.619616500000021tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-84589198402126811382023-01-18T15:13:00.001-06:002023-01-18T15:14:25.761-06:00I Am a Lotto Loser<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHXvMPfsijzRwYFmriyA1mBHR7R21mSRsyQzRmYT-ZImQRx3Be089Df2uH2UiHqAmvoZF7r3AYiFvH4KkStT3fXVKzlP-XVR04gzxH-Zd-jpbNadSWWJilI2mYTdM7sPPJ0GCRoFUlXHHeM3GPPqgUnVbNtk1kTquyBOkVq7Q5pnINkvRpMnS-YsAdw/s612/istockphoto-1226511957-612x612.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="612" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHXvMPfsijzRwYFmriyA1mBHR7R21mSRsyQzRmYT-ZImQRx3Be089Df2uH2UiHqAmvoZF7r3AYiFvH4KkStT3fXVKzlP-XVR04gzxH-Zd-jpbNadSWWJilI2mYTdM7sPPJ0GCRoFUlXHHeM3GPPqgUnVbNtk1kTquyBOkVq7Q5pnINkvRpMnS-YsAdw/w400-h225/istockphoto-1226511957-612x612.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />While driving home from our rural land and listening to NPR on the radio, I heard that there was a new lotto in town with a pay-out of 1.4 billion dollars. Well, I hadn't tried my luck for a few years, so I decided that it was time to once again splurge and dream the impossible dream. After all, the radio told me that the odds were only somewhere over one trillion to one!<p></p><p>Arriving home, I mentioned that I was feeling lotto-lucky to my wife, and she said that she'd been talking to her daughter about buying some tickets also. We decided that Hy-Vee was an auspicious location to pull God's finger, so I bellied up to the counter and said, "We want to win the 1.4 billion lotto ticket! How do we do this?" I know that sounds like I had no clue, but I lowered my voice when saying it so that I'd sound like Orson Wells or Morgan Freeman. We bought ten Mega Millions tickets for a total of twenty dollars. "Now, I don't buy these things to lose," I told the cashier, "so these had better be lucky!" She just chuckled to herself, amused by my comment--at least, I think it was a happy chuckle and not an evil cackle. . . .</p><p>For the next thirty-six hours my wife and I engaged in scintillating conversation, planning how we'd spend our seven hundred million in cash after taxes. We'd live off the fat o' the land. We'd give money to our children so that we'd never have to worry again about their cars needing tires or about leaky water heaters or the dog that chewed a hole in the sofa. Trust funds for the grandkids were a given; a charity to help single mothers was a heartwarming idea, and a gift to the local university would be a great way to share the love. </p><p>We had asked when we purchased our ten "Megaplier" numbers what was the procedure for verifying our win. The online dot com was the answer. Therefore, the morning after the ten o'clock PM drawing, I fired up my computer, typed in the ialottery.com URL, and checked for my winnings. Of course, the title of this article does spoil the climax for any lotto optimists out there. We hadn't won. Sad emoji :(.</p><p>I wonder, though, if perhaps even though I hadn't won big . . . perhaps I had lost big! I mean, if winning big is a rarity, then isn't it possible to lose big, too? What prompts me to say this is my experience playing solitaire on my phone app. Sometimes I lose in such a spectacular fashion that I ask myself, "What are the chances of <i>that</i> happening?" It goes like this: The solitaire app loads up my game. The face-up cards have no moves. I flip through the stack, and not a single move is available, not a one. I have lost the game without being able to move a single card. Now, that has to be unusual, at least it is from my experience! I didn't just lose the game; I epically lost the game!</p><p>The lotto ticket looks like a receipt from a cash register, about three inches wide, printed black on white paper with a side strip in red declaring "IOWA LOTTERY." We bought ten number sequences, labeled A-J, five numbers and then the Mega Ball number. I'm not sure if numbers range from 00 to 99 or from 01-99. I checked the winning number posted online with our ten series of numbers and discovered . . . of the sixty numbers (10 sequences) not a single winning number was on our stub. To win, I would have had to have six winning numbers sequenced in the winning order. I didn't have a single winning number on the stub, much less in the proper sequence! It's like I go catfishing with a friend and use axle grease for bait. No bites.</p><p>Have I learned my lesson? Of course not! Am I going to buy another ticket soon? Of course not! And if you're interested, I searched my articles and found this title from 2013: "<a href="https://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/2013/09/i-take-gamble-and-lose.html" target="_blank">I Take a Gamble . . . and Lose</a>." What I've discovered about myself is this: I rarely lose when I gamble . . . because I rarely gamble. However, sometime in the distant future when I try my lotto luck again, I really would like to win. Will it happen? Well, I'm not going to bet the farm on it, that's for sure!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2rdHaXuCBqzV1t92H6YMTEPossjZu7lidHgds5jodshUjyijrYg-MQ8mmrBx9TAouLorSjM52EM19f4tntV_DJ4Srr67ErU-ka1mTv_OIqBsW2H_s9dhUM13KUIpXyaAr40X9Kn5Kpuw10J9kRZ63d_krwa5IHTCT9JVFKkJ1Jne78RX6m-lFzecMQw/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2rdHaXuCBqzV1t92H6YMTEPossjZu7lidHgds5jodshUjyijrYg-MQ8mmrBx9TAouLorSjM52EM19f4tntV_DJ4Srr67ErU-ka1mTv_OIqBsW2H_s9dhUM13KUIpXyaAr40X9Kn5Kpuw10J9kRZ63d_krwa5IHTCT9JVFKkJ1Jne78RX6m-lFzecMQw/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-13767485844370698932023-01-02T14:30:00.002-06:002023-01-02T14:40:35.360-06:00A New Year on the Land<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEz0vc31FQAwzSBjrwJTbhUjO2Nr2mSb3WwtKT5IuSXl4wQKBE1_Xmz5lQR0K2jQGcCaSuGiP34ThUICblmAg-GUm32L_XMMiCLelIreN0FHAx6jrVljpx0jUDd-iQvYr1FfbSt8eQLFXeg2JpVTNK8QacvVtmFnRa2l4ylE49NZZJJAxH8ynSQwxJg/s3577/Dec31.2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3577" data-original-width="2554" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEz0vc31FQAwzSBjrwJTbhUjO2Nr2mSb3WwtKT5IuSXl4wQKBE1_Xmz5lQR0K2jQGcCaSuGiP34ThUICblmAg-GUm32L_XMMiCLelIreN0FHAx6jrVljpx0jUDd-iQvYr1FfbSt8eQLFXeg2JpVTNK8QacvVtmFnRa2l4ylE49NZZJJAxH8ynSQwxJg/w456-h640/Dec31.2.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">230-year-old White Oak</td></tr></tbody></table>The year ends and a new one begins. Whether this is one process or two is a matter of perspective, a matter of awareness, the ultimate arbiter of reality. Yes, 2022 ends; yes, 2023 begins; and, yes, this moment <i>is</i>, without beginning or ending.<div><br /></div><div>I walked our land today with my wife Sandy. We cleared a spot near our front gates for a trail camera, removing brush and mowing so that winds wouldn't whip the growth and trip the camera. Then we strolled a loop through our thirty-five acres, down to the bottomland and creek, then back up the ridge to our majestic white oaks and a trek skirting the fenceline back to the camping area. Because of the thaw, we stepped carefully to avoid stripping topsoil and moss from the steepest parts of the trail, the unseasonable melt creating mud rather than frozen soil. Not quite six months have passed since we have purchased this land, and in the tail end of 2022, we have accomplished one objective and begun what will be a continuing maintenance procedure of our land.</div><div><br /></div><div>One clear accomplishment has been that our "infrastructure" has been upgraded: gravel for the road to the camping area, electricity, water, and sewage storage. For the new year we will be able to camp on our land and not have to leave with our 16-foot Airstream Basecamp once a week for water or to drain the camper's blackwater tank; we will be able to use our water spigot and drain our camper's blackwater (sewage and graywater) into our sewage storage tank, which will be pumped out once a year. In addition to upgrading infrastructure, we've also bought basic equipment to accomplish quite a bit of the basic upkeep for the land--a shed, mower, and UTV, along with some power tools. Next year we hope to build a small shower/toilet building that will be connected to the sewer holding tank and electric and water lines. The shower house will allow us to more easily have guests and also, hopefully, keep ourselves from being bitten too much by chiggers. We'll have our own private campground, or to put it another way, we'll be able to use our small travel trailer as a "cabin" as we stay on the land.</div><div><br /></div><div>The "continuing maintenance" that we've begun has to do with our stewardship of the land. On-going procedures for regenerating or "re-wilding" the land include removing invasive multiflora rose, clearing the creek of downed trees to minimize erosion, maintaining fences (to keep the neighbor's cattle out), and thinning and nurturing tree and native plant growth. These procedures have begun in large part by hiring professional help for removal and planting grasses. We also plan to research, including hopefully advice from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, to determine what native plants to introduce and how we can include plants that provide food for wildlife. Right now, our land is mostly a bedding area for wildlife without a lot of plants available that provide food. Once we introduce more food plants, we should see a greater variety of wildlife. So far in 2022, we cleared much of our bottomland of brush and multiflora and also cleared some of our higher land, one ridge line also cleared. This next spring we'll have these areas planted to encourage grasses rather than multiflora and poison ivy.</div><div><br /></div><div>We hope to eventually create a haven not just for ourselves but also for the local wildlife. We're not adverse to planting some domesticated crop areas, "food plot," for the wildlife. We've been told that turnip greens are good for deer and winter wheat for wild turkeys. We have this frozen winter season to research options. We'd like to emphasize planting native plants as much as possible, such as native fruit and nut trees. We already have hickory and walnut on the land, and we know of some native peach and pear options that might be possible to establish with some care and protection. Wildflowers are a consideration, but we've been told that they are difficult to establish. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZY9bwrDSYbztoMw4mmuf4svYOHAuVIJmAL3vQFKzAoQKNKetzWcfrwmn1W8y4UTOcCsNAjZ5WIz1tKZadRTLRK5sJMZIwozocMENG5fLEMqRu5uKzUjnzM-vGUlnbG_zl4l5LFv7dcynLlEWVG5odzz41BNTH5Gs0glxomC4AuXp96yamSU7myr1eZQ/s4032/Dec31.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZY9bwrDSYbztoMw4mmuf4svYOHAuVIJmAL3vQFKzAoQKNKetzWcfrwmn1W8y4UTOcCsNAjZ5WIz1tKZadRTLRK5sJMZIwozocMENG5fLEMqRu5uKzUjnzM-vGUlnbG_zl4l5LFv7dcynLlEWVG5odzz41BNTH5Gs0glxomC4AuXp96yamSU7myr1eZQ/w300-h400/Dec31.1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>Our walk today reinforced our need to focus on minimizing erosion. This last week of above-freezing temperatures created a fragility for the soil. We didn't drive our UTV off the gravel, and even while walking we had to be careful with the soil. One major discussion with the DNR will be on soil conservation. Spring will be the most dangerous season for soil erosion when the creek runs high and muddy. We hope to eventually to drive on the land only for maintenance or construction; the rest of our interaction will be hiking. A basic consideration for creating a sanctuary for ourselves and local wildlife is maintenance of the soil. We can't very well establish a sanctuary without land! Soil, grasses, trees, and animals (and ourselves) to share the land.</div><div><br /></div><div>After six months of interacting with this bit of our planet, our most significant acquaintances have been the huge white oaks on the land, five of which are between 175 and 250 years old. They are teaching me to experience time on a larger scale--an afternoon, a day, a season? Measuring by eras is even a narrow perspective. Perhaps just an awareness of the eternal <i>now</i> is the real lesson that these living giants can teach us, that it's possible to allow the flux of the world to swirl around us if we root ourselves in the moment. I've noticed that when I'm on our land, silence seems more three dimensional, deeper. Silence within me expands, extending beyond my body; and I feel the silence outside enfolding me, including me within the stillness between earth and sky. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our thirty-five acres remind me that once there were no boundaries, no fences, no land titles. Boundaries are imposed by our minds, not by geography. A shore, a creek bed, a ridge, a valley--these are not beginnings and endings but are just part of the wholeness, a landscape of, as poet Gary Snyder wrote, "mountains and rivers without end." Winds swirl around our Mother Oak and around me; rooted in the earth, we abide. Joy this year and forever to the wind, the seasons, rain and snow, sun and shadow. I abide and lift my arms to the sky.</div><div><br /></div><div>For all articles about our land, follow this link: <a href="https://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/search/label/Landowner" target="_blank">Landowner</a>.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrv17LmozRKv-Vz79rxVwtpNTq4W42kXp66kk1uArlZ4p6RNR0HCc79cx4jPZCY_3HbF92hlO5WpVg6VFGs5TpGn9J6xg8bcKqzMJXI8K0rVbBIlkVBgL5JmaDtQdRToZ6yO_vQFQgBICChHqzlO-3ktkDHvBWgdFPzja_yhVw800mWKK6oBTEC2gHuQ/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrv17LmozRKv-Vz79rxVwtpNTq4W42kXp66kk1uArlZ4p6RNR0HCc79cx4jPZCY_3HbF92hlO5WpVg6VFGs5TpGn9J6xg8bcKqzMJXI8K0rVbBIlkVBgL5JmaDtQdRToZ6yO_vQFQgBICChHqzlO-3ktkDHvBWgdFPzja_yhVw800mWKK6oBTEC2gHuQ/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-54216543581511474322022-12-12T06:11:00.004-06:002022-12-12T06:43:51.080-06:00A Neighborhood Buck in a Bit of Trouble<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBO_B-ntthQboeM-WQfFM-DG5177L1ty9L711uoDnKwcqILt5kKJ9qhIFST-u1bcO3SnLfJAsYlMyRY0APD2MAnSpyMFIrFL5e2JZtYDrPL2K0_1cTitE3_tXhdA3D9Ocz4V35bNN9Ve1z0xN4m9INH8GDQNLHY4U4LBDOqMNumC6YhFU9b6eLZ6wH6g/s1280/Buck%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="1280" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBO_B-ntthQboeM-WQfFM-DG5177L1ty9L711uoDnKwcqILt5kKJ9qhIFST-u1bcO3SnLfJAsYlMyRY0APD2MAnSpyMFIrFL5e2JZtYDrPL2K0_1cTitE3_tXhdA3D9Ocz4V35bNN9Ve1z0xN4m9INH8GDQNLHY4U4LBDOqMNumC6YhFU9b6eLZ6wH6g/w640-h326/Buck%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trail camera night photo</td></tr></tbody></table>My wife and I own our thirty-five acres of woodland and bottom land--we've got the title and it's all legal. However, for most of our neighbors, that title means nothing, neighbors we occasionally see but most often only see hints at their presence. Whether is a glimpse of a whitetail deer's tail as it leaps a barbed wire fence, the snakelike trace of a muskrat's tail in mud, or the tiny, almost-human print of a raccoon's paws at the creek side, we share our land with the animals that "possess" it as much if not more than we do. These neighbors aren't limited by property lines or signs proclaiming no trespassing or hunting. Their territory is determined by creek and ridge and hollow, by sunlight and acorn drop and seed set. Our most common neighbors are "wild" animals, although their behavior often is more predictable and reasonable than that of many humans. <p></p><p>Purchasing a trail camera that is connected to our phone plan has provided us a much better awareness of the animals that live on our land. The photos sent to us via our cellphone plan do give us a real-time glimpse into wild animal activity even though we have bought and mounted the cam primarily to determine if any cattle have escaped our neighbor's pasture. Our joke has been one steer saying to the other, "Why you want to escape and get over on their land? Our farmer's been treating us right, feeding us regularly. Why, he's even been fattening us up lately!" We haven't digitally captured any strays yet, but we have managed to catch images of a number of deer, a raccoon, a fox, and a heron with the trail camera, although most images are infrared taken at night. </p><p>Sometimes the image of an entire deer has been captured, and sometimes only a portion of the deer--the head of a spike buck, an ear, the south end of a doe heading north. Once a photo displayed no deer at all, only a landscape with some brush to the fore, and then we realized that the "brush" were the antler tines of a buck passing close to the camera. That was when we realized we had a good-sized buck that regularly spent time on our land. We became used to seeing images of the buck crossing our bottom land down by the creek. He became our most photographed citizen, with both black-and-white nighttime images and colorful daytime portraits. </p><p>Fall had arrived and deer had begun moving more, mating season and hunting season causing a stir, and that's the time when our neighborhood buck got himself into a bit of trouble. I'd been down at our bottom land along the creek with our tree guy, working on a plan to both clean up the creek of deadfall and to determine the run of a barbed wire fence to create a north pasture area. We walked the creek and checked out the places where fence crossed the creek, the weakest spots and most likely places for cattle to breach the fence. We made our plan, and I walked the man up the hill to his truck. </p><p>Heading back down the easement that skirts the gravel road a half hour later, the scene of meadow, creek, and bridge had altered; adding to the bucolic peace was our buck, he head stuck through the barbed wire fence and his antlers firmly trapping him between the strands. <i>Well, there go my plans for the afternoon</i>, I thought, realizing that I needed to rescue the animal. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgoW4io1gSAi1pK2rdiC7UBk6LGMy7rSdbd5Blqt9_DpT_nr78RZiVsJ_zeDcDhMBMTyvUuldL6meNpfkkD96liyG0rhnUyb9Dw9yDKjSMtHTRGWVizj-bsTEgKo0Ns8Fu0c8bjcOzMkhx4jPxF2we5CVdGYWOfBs1IRVMv8SmI4VDTVr2ovOWwUI1Q/s4032/Buck%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgoW4io1gSAi1pK2rdiC7UBk6LGMy7rSdbd5Blqt9_DpT_nr78RZiVsJ_zeDcDhMBMTyvUuldL6meNpfkkD96liyG0rhnUyb9Dw9yDKjSMtHTRGWVizj-bsTEgKo0Ns8Fu0c8bjcOzMkhx4jPxF2we5CVdGYWOfBs1IRVMv8SmI4VDTVr2ovOWwUI1Q/w640-h480/Buck%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buck caught in barbed wire</td></tr></tbody></table>I approached the buck and saw that it probably was the mature animal that our trail cam had photographed. Up close, my first impression of the animal was how solid and muscular its neck, chest, and shoulders were. Its neck was faintly colored with a red streak of blood where it had fought the wire. As I approached, the buck began to fight the wire, attempting to escape, jerking its head from side to side as it tried to back away from the fence, the wire bowing and the steel fence post loosening in the ground. I stopped, realizing the animal was increasing its injury, and as a new landowner realizing this animal was strong enough to destroy the fence. <p></p><p>I back away and considered what to do. Deciding first to talk to my neighbor who I knew was a hunter, I jumped into my UTV and jammed to his house, following the gravel road across the bridge. He wasn't home, though. Next I tried to call the local state Department of Natural Resources but received no reply. Deciding that the sheriff's office was my last resort, I called, and the dispatcher took my information but wasn't too enthused. Texting a message and photo to my wife, she contacted our neighbor--yes, the one who had been so negative to me the first time we met--and then texted me back that our neighbor was on his way, a quick message considering that the communication trail had been from me to my wife to the neighboring farmer's wife to the farmer himself. No direct link to Mr. Curmudgeon.</p><p>I arrived from camp back down the hill to the trapped buck to find my neighbor approaching the animal, which jerked at the fence mightily until my neighbor laid his hands on the animal, which then froze, not moving. Then with some jerking and pulling, the buck was free. As I walked down the hill toward man and deer, I saw that the buck wasn't moving but was just standing by the fence, still imagining that it was entwined in the barbed wire, I suppose. My neighbor shooed at it, and then it backed off and leapt down the creek bank and crossed beneath the bridge, following the stream bed to freedom. I saw that my neighbor had some scratches on the back of one hand--more blood given to the land.</p><p>This was my chance to thank my neighbor, who was the hero in this little adventure. After shaking his hand and providing thanks, he said, "I've been doing this for fifty years. It may seem heartless for you to hear, but I do it as much to save the fence as the animal." I replied that I understood, having seen how the buck had almost jerked a fence post loose when I had first approached the trapped animal.</p><p>I felt glad that the buck had been saved--and the fence--and that an opportunity had been provided for my neighbor and me to have one more interaction that was positive overall. Trust can be gained bit by bit over time, with patience and understanding. That's my hope, at least. </p><p>"I tried DNR first and then the sheriff's office," I said. "A deputy come out to help?" he asked. When I replied in the negative, he just chuckled. "Yeah, they didn't sound like they were coming with sirens screaming," I said. It was, after all, deer season, and the DNR in Iowa plans for between a hundred and a hundred twenty thousand deer to be harvested each year. A deer stuck in a fence? That's probably right up there with someone calling in saying there have been some old tires dumped along the road.</p><p>We're not at the end of the story, though. As my neighbor was driving off in his UTV, he stopped and gestured me over, saying that the buck was stuck in a thicket of multiflora across the road. These wild roses thickets can be brutal, and evidently the buck after his barbed wire experience psyched himself into thinking the thorns of the multiflora were barbed wire. My neighbor asked if we should shoo the buck out of the thorn patch.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZn9YmlHzWBd11sXcjB4fPMYo_vrLEte_J2VVSnKqeggXIdGwkbtQumaAlY6toOj8X531HNB3zg8H9UdGCr7TjeLUv4UUej32OCfTJ_7pAMCUClKYso-eaZxVWDPBNbwic0bI-do_Y3vpeWoaTKU3SlSOKCMQNCNsrHYinXffl1nlGNEnVkfjskYYCzQ/s1280/Tom%20trail%20cam.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZn9YmlHzWBd11sXcjB4fPMYo_vrLEte_J2VVSnKqeggXIdGwkbtQumaAlY6toOj8X531HNB3zg8H9UdGCr7TjeLUv4UUej32OCfTJ_7pAMCUClKYso-eaZxVWDPBNbwic0bI-do_Y3vpeWoaTKU3SlSOKCMQNCNsrHYinXffl1nlGNEnVkfjskYYCzQ/s320/Tom%20trail%20cam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early photo of me setting up the trail cam</td></tr></tbody></table>"He can get out of that," I said. "It's not like the barbed wire." I was thinking that this is a big buck during rutting season, and that now there was no barbed wire fence between us if it decided to get aggressive. My neighbor approached the buck again, though, and before he got close, it moved out of the multiflora and away, down the creek. We chatted for a bit while on the road at the bridge, the mailman stopped and chatted for a bit with us, and then we all went on our way. <p></p><p>Later I phoned my wife, and she said that the farmer's wife had texted reassurance, that everything would be okay. She was right! We had all cooperated in a neighborly way, and the buck had escaped the danger of the barbed wire just in time to deal with the opening of the shotgun segment of deer hunting season. I wonder now, a couple of weeks later as I write this narrative, how that buck has fared. He may be free, he may be venison for some hunter, food for the table, but at least he isn't stuck in that barbed wire fence, suffering his way toward a cruel death. We do what we can and let the wide ways of the world roll on. It's a good world, in part because of good intentions and unexpected heroes, some of whom arrive in a muddy UTV, wearing blue denim and Carhartt canvas. Actions speak more loudly than words.</p><p>Note: This is one of a series of articles written about the thirty-five acres of land my wife and I own in southeast Iowa. To read all the articles, go to the label link aggregate provided here: <b><a href="https://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/search/label/Landowner" target="_blank">Landowner</a></b>. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJ1k1pV09NDgl5offdQNYmN7ORHJaQLsW_6iRNwXpFpnTT5Jz0r860zNJhY770IiH57lkcB5a8WfpU_m3PWifKxrP3Lu7rAwfhzOys6s7Bw5-rxsGLGUxo6LwLNOgs75Dgf8M7sjlieHfkLKeuwEaJYmEhvac8SeEr88jKJVY7pKdpIeqkwUIDZBmKg/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJ1k1pV09NDgl5offdQNYmN7ORHJaQLsW_6iRNwXpFpnTT5Jz0r860zNJhY770IiH57lkcB5a8WfpU_m3PWifKxrP3Lu7rAwfhzOys6s7Bw5-rxsGLGUxo6LwLNOgs75Dgf8M7sjlieHfkLKeuwEaJYmEhvac8SeEr88jKJVY7pKdpIeqkwUIDZBmKg/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com1Mt Sterling, IA 52573, USA40.6178099 -91.93211649999999212.307576063821152 -127.08836649999999 68.928043736178836 -56.775866499999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-17389287091274647442022-11-21T05:57:00.002-06:002022-11-21T05:57:59.078-06:00Snow Falls and the World Changes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60Xch9iytnfk2iESEZOII_6FuzELD7Mlg1viGEeKcTllb5gIrvtnFIow97JJ8HY5YLfDxLUW2jW4GQyrUTbc5ylrKA8REyBwR_VQtn1ztWe4DUB12YmFvFhGyJlmmdhmEn6e5nbow3zV2YrlOuaF5A1GCQMk2bKczpymdASgXBnvXH2LZaeJROUnmFA/s4032/Nov%20Snow3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60Xch9iytnfk2iESEZOII_6FuzELD7Mlg1viGEeKcTllb5gIrvtnFIow97JJ8HY5YLfDxLUW2jW4GQyrUTbc5ylrKA8REyBwR_VQtn1ztWe4DUB12YmFvFhGyJlmmdhmEn6e5nbow3zV2YrlOuaF5A1GCQMk2bKczpymdASgXBnvXH2LZaeJROUnmFA/w480-h640/Nov%20Snow3.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />We awake to a cold, clean silence, a remembrance that if silence could have a color, it would be white crystals of snow drifting their serene journey to the earth. This pristine white, this cold, clean silence was our first snowfall on the thirty-five acres my wife and I now own, and we celebrated the morning with a walk cradled in quiet contemplation of the beauty surrounding us. The trees were draped with snow which accumulated and fell in feathery clumps--one down my neck, providing an early-morning wake-up! Our footprints painted the canvas of the snow as side by side Sandy and I walked the familiar yet newly-created trails across ridges and down hills to the bottom land. <div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-QoeYqKHdNX_4F69Qg_aWvuHARius-kYMcLWxSvD38JTgTjvCKvLWeXla9w4L4HjTtfSb0okNMVoE7vhNBeMq_QDa6PIgDicVusRAXIS1Ae0D2L-dJDeI7GNM0DWd9QheIu15WknrOPgK1tYXBttL9QUTbBu_WGGWRzOmHZhkse_2sUWMTNragtQdg/s4032/Nov%20Snow2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH-QoeYqKHdNX_4F69Qg_aWvuHARius-kYMcLWxSvD38JTgTjvCKvLWeXla9w4L4HjTtfSb0okNMVoE7vhNBeMq_QDa6PIgDicVusRAXIS1Ae0D2L-dJDeI7GNM0DWd9QheIu15WknrOPgK1tYXBttL9QUTbBu_WGGWRzOmHZhkse_2sUWMTNragtQdg/w480-h640/Nov%20Snow2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Ours were the only tracks on the land, the animals we shared the land with bedded down. No squirrels chattered at us, hiding behind the gray, shaggy bark of hickory trees. No ground hogs lumbered across the gravel to the safety of brush across the drive. We had evidence in our Airstream Basecamp travel trailer that a mouse had moved in, and Sandy, while sipping her morning tea, had even seen the little critter moving around behind a smoked plastic cabinet door in the kitchen area. It was a quiet morning, though, and would be a quiet day, the insulating blanket of snow absorbing and muffling sound until it slowly melted as the morning advanced to afternoon.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRn5DsYfDjo6xNawEJDJtu9ZLvVD5rK6gW0c7S97t4C6NRrsVOY8wLLBmdKKkwZoQQNNh52MOIK07677V1xWIsSmqk2iboh9GEC7jMErZJPPkcHju2UPxR7x6x8wzZgOF1dYz28oitJorCGpTgJrgaTq1dm6YrWwSRjOKw00J9aUPVapFStkAWW0kG6A/s4032/Nov%20Snow1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRn5DsYfDjo6xNawEJDJtu9ZLvVD5rK6gW0c7S97t4C6NRrsVOY8wLLBmdKKkwZoQQNNh52MOIK07677V1xWIsSmqk2iboh9GEC7jMErZJPPkcHju2UPxR7x6x8wzZgOF1dYz28oitJorCGpTgJrgaTq1dm6YrWwSRjOKw00J9aUPVapFStkAWW0kG6A/w480-h640/Nov%20Snow1.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />That evening we sat outside beside our campfire, enjoying the crackling of the fire that accentuated the silence of the evening. It was then that we shared a moment on the land with a creature other than ourselves--and that wild citizen of the woods turned out to be a spotted white and gray domestic cat, some neighbor's pet ranging wide and making its way to us. We called to the cat but it would not approach, staying tucked safely and half-hidden at the base of a tree about thirty yards away. Sandy stood and approached the cat, calling reassuringly, but the cat, although curious, was also cautious and slid away into the darkness. Perhaps it will be more trusting with its next visit.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wilderness writers have described the "cathedral of the forest," the forest as a place to awaken the spirit or to enliven the spirit on the level of the senses. The bare limbs of trees or the umber of oak still retaining fall's russet splendor; all the shades of autumn's fallen leaves that carpet the forest floor; the rich smell of the moist earth; the sharp, cold breath of wind as it whispers across the crowns of the trees; the swaying of limbs and the hollow, sodden sound of clumps of snow falling from sun-warmed branches--to be a part of this morning, this first snowfall--to be a part of this world rather than a stranger who intrudes--this means all the world to me. It puts me in my place, where I feel at home, reassured by the continuity and continual rebirth of existence. There is no ending that there is a beginning, no heartbeat without the silence between. The unique beauty of a snowflake drifts the silent sky and falls upon a tree branch. I see that beauty, a frozen moment in time, and become it. 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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com2Mt Sterling, IA 52573, USA40.6178099 -91.93211649999999212.307576063821152 -127.08836649999999 68.928043736178836 -56.775866499999992tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-37556863695934589822022-08-28T06:51:00.002-05:002022-08-28T07:22:18.821-05:00When Buying Land, Do We Own a Bit of Nature?<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MO8W0i0FBIVMq2b5AGwheSycGsJuKhz6qkspTkO-BYcRCl5EP4bFRN0RmAnPHPaKMCFnrZu2LQ48PwV8TbTCh4vAiYMQujgsNf8XABut8jbdCq9_VbADAROeFjDw6LsuRlyxfAr8tE2CRgiGuAc7gjVL8pB4dc6TgnvDvAH-EL_9XGVhPqEuxpoKCQ/s4032/IMG_9407.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MO8W0i0FBIVMq2b5AGwheSycGsJuKhz6qkspTkO-BYcRCl5EP4bFRN0RmAnPHPaKMCFnrZu2LQ48PwV8TbTCh4vAiYMQujgsNf8XABut8jbdCq9_VbADAROeFjDw6LsuRlyxfAr8tE2CRgiGuAc7gjVL8pB4dc6TgnvDvAH-EL_9XGVhPqEuxpoKCQ/w640-h480/IMG_9407.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />How do we <i>own</i> land, how do we <i>possess</i> it? Right now my wife and I possess legal documents that say we own thirty-five acres of farmland in southeast Iowa. The abstract for the land will be our narrative of ownership, a record of the first owners, a thread of ownership down the years. For me, I've been engaged in a process of defining my ownership of this land, and so far I've found it possible to accept the idea stewardship rather than ownership.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our thirty-five acres are mostly defined to the north by Big Indian Creek. The defining features to the east are the county gravel road and the rural electric easement that skirts the road, a strip of land cleared of trees, threaded with power poles and lines. The land rises from that northeast corner of creek, road, and bridge uphill to the south border of our land, higher and drier ground. Most of the thirty-five acres are covered with trees, the land dropping off from the south mostly to the north and east, down to the creek. The configuration of the land on the map is roughly a rectangle, but walking the land with its several ridges and ravines still is somewhat confusing, that confusion exacerbated not only by the lay of the land but also by the thickets of multiflora rose, which inhibit straight travel. There are sections of the land we haven't seen yet because of barriers of multiflora and poison ivy. Our first impression of our stewardship of this land is that we have to begin clearing out the invasive multiflora and the noxious poison ivy. We expect this to be a never-ending battle, not one we accomplish, check off the list, and then forget about.</div><div><br /></div><div>My first connection with the land--and I believe also my wife Sandy's--has been to the several large white oaks that extend along the east and south sides of the property--about a half dozen that are easily over a hundred years old. Two or three are truly massive, a shading, abiding, gnarled presence on the land, whose presence seems to attract (or radiate) silence and stillness. I cannot help but pause when I stand beneath either of the largest two, both on the south end of the property. I feel myself rooting to the ground, extending both into soil and into sky. Am I embracing the world, is the world embracing me? Those ancient oaks allow me, remind me, that I am more than a bundle of frenetic, scampering simian activity. I can stop, cease my busyness, and just abide--<i>be</i> for a time, and perhaps if I visit and share the silent existence of the oaks often enough, I can expand my sense of self and become both the tree scamperer and earth abider simultaneously. </div><div><br /></div><div>To become one with the land is our highest sense of ownership. When <i>ownership</i> identifies as <i>obligation</i>, then our legal title to this patch of land begins to make sense to me. We humans have changed the land, shaped the face of the world. On this patch of land, I will have a chance to "unshape" the world, to rewild our bit of earth by removing that which is alien and by adding a bit of civilization by building and landscaping in a sustainable manner. I don't hike this land in the same manner as I hike in one of our state parks. Sometimes I will hike with a trekking pole, but sometimes it will be with a long-handled shovel so that I can remove multiflora root balls. Next spring I want to hike and discover blackberry patches, to mine the motherlode of morel mushrooms. I want to build a tiny eight-foot by eight-foot house that overlooks one of our small ravines, situated so that I can sit and allow the vista to take my eye to the horizon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Camping in its purest form is the process of interacting with the land yet leaving no trace, to move across the land like a deer or a fox. The deer has its copse of trees and its form in the grasses where it sleeps and rests. The fox has its den where it waits out the storm and where it raises its kits. Sandy and I will have our little Airstream Basecamp for staying on the land, some small shelters we build to keep us dry and warm, and eventually a small home. Sometimes we'll hike with trekking poles, sometimes with shovels. I have a lot of research and learning to do. I want to learn the names of all the varieties of trees on our land. I want to learn which variety or varieties of grasses are the best seeds to spread. Most of all, though, I want to balance my civilizing and "uncivilizing" of the land with abiding on the land. I think if it as a partnership, for the more I live on the land, the land will live in me.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEojb69cgiOsBzm7065ZO67TBru6NTx4WyEGVcarIiL8pm-nfnl93UvIvwQI3e1589AViWkQQ5dUdwwLkH2KoHvgclY2DHCtaAZtkfj0wH4BWqtBE7tRk51iQ-pghd4zx5QyaN9hWrhj6jznJvuwGnfsAWZiQmNlqhy5bF9LniAWE_ncMO600kWF8fw/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEojb69cgiOsBzm7065ZO67TBru6NTx4WyEGVcarIiL8pm-nfnl93UvIvwQI3e1589AViWkQQ5dUdwwLkH2KoHvgclY2DHCtaAZtkfj0wH4BWqtBE7tRk51iQ-pghd4zx5QyaN9hWrhj6jznJvuwGnfsAWZiQmNlqhy5bF9LniAWE_ncMO600kWF8fw/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-84257333531729627472022-05-20T16:23:00.006-05:002022-05-20T16:37:44.311-05:00My Love/Hate Relationship with Zane Grey's Writing, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji_wuhYlkKevh-_SoZaWR5ag_BaaQdy0zNfe6DWcQOOheSDDP-kA9u3eP0Z2uKXauHLjhYfDs7GR0yFFSy3BThHVlzC1CDB47g5gtLVoaBBzchZebo3f2mf9MfAnP0FqVPnBvZnURuDZ3CPaEfKd-qVhhAAI-snO4fzYF5GfR2KyQvpPyptcE-Vj4RPA/s429/grey.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="429" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji_wuhYlkKevh-_SoZaWR5ag_BaaQdy0zNfe6DWcQOOheSDDP-kA9u3eP0Z2uKXauHLjhYfDs7GR0yFFSy3BThHVlzC1CDB47g5gtLVoaBBzchZebo3f2mf9MfAnP0FqVPnBvZnURuDZ3CPaEfKd-qVhhAAI-snO4fzYF5GfR2KyQvpPyptcE-Vj4RPA/w400-h235/grey.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Oddly enough, "<a href="https://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/2010/12/zane-grey-my-lovehate-relationship-with.html" target="_blank">Part 1"</a> of my love/hate relationship with Zane Grey's writing was posted on this blog twelve years ago. So in the last twelve years, have I reconciled my conflicting perspectives of Zane Grey? The short answer is no; I am still conflicted. Seeking wider perspectives, I searched for other articles about Grey's bigoted writing, the racist and sexist elements in his writing. An article posted on Literary Hub, "<a href="https://lithub.com/in-praise-of-racist-books-notes-of-an-immigrant-reader" target="_blank">In Praise of Racist Books: Notes of an Immigrant Reader</a>," drew my interest, written by Black scholar and professor Louis Clude-Sokei. (A hit on my "Part 1" Zane Grey article also was pulled up, always a hoot to find myself on the internet.) <div><br /></div><div>Clude-Sukei grew up reading whatever books he could get his hands on, most of them by default White writers writing for a White audience. A first his reading simply matched his life experience--it was a bigoted, racist world he lived in, and the books he read were consistent in vision. Then Clude-Sukei grew more sophisticated and grew "to enjoy the <i>frisson</i> of contradiction." He writes about how "those damned racist books": "taught me that we are all shaped and rendered impure by racism, colonialism, and various forms of inequality, all the time and in all texts. Who or what we would be without those forces is unanswerable." The racism and gender rigidity in Grey's novels are historical footprints of times past (and present). </div><div><br /></div><div>Here are a few concepts from the article that resonated with me:</div><ul><li>"I’ve [Louis Clude-Sokei] lived by Joan Didion’s evergreen dictum, 'Writers are always selling someone out.'”</li><li>"Not seeing myself in any of the characters enabled me to identify with all of them, so innocence was impossible. And suspecting that the author might have been hostile to someone like me only made the dance of interpretation more exciting. This all taught me to find freedom even in narratives hell-bent on my erasure."</li><li>"One can love a work of literature while vehemently disagreeing with it. This seems so obvious it’s hard to believe it must now be defended. To teach students the opposite is to hobble them with a need for innocence."</li><li>"To cleanse the past, though, is not only to rob ourselves of the prickly pleasures and unique challenges of such works. More importantly, it can aid in the removal of evidence from the scene of crime."</li><li>"To make sanctuary in hostile or indifferent territory is a necessary skill."</li></ul><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqnad1B7cZgZVftnXyAYHF1ZyfxajEeEQv4LpYeJ50BTnn3uT1m34vvYOmZLeQ3jRA-OsPrNTYqOcBxxpRZQaMsrPfNltaXxus427ltikIy3k5cYukxHErKId4GNm7_rL5DHBmZ4Ps0aiHBjeI-VKPQy95oCwk6vQ0Ev2tKlUatBEDRkGilISHS63oA/s2000/stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1564" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqnad1B7cZgZVftnXyAYHF1ZyfxajEeEQv4LpYeJ50BTnn3uT1m34vvYOmZLeQ3jRA-OsPrNTYqOcBxxpRZQaMsrPfNltaXxus427ltikIy3k5cYukxHErKId4GNm7_rL5DHBmZ4Ps0aiHBjeI-VKPQy95oCwk6vQ0Ev2tKlUatBEDRkGilISHS63oA/w313-h400/stars.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><br />My recent foray into Zane Grey's world was his romance <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/121264.The_Light_of_Western_Stars" target="_blank">The Light of the Western Stars</a>. </i>In the novel, Madeline Hammond leaves the privileged world of the East, seeking her brother in the wilds of New Mexico, during the beginnings of the revolutionary times in Mexico in the early 1900s. She experiences the vivid roughness of the environment and the people who live there. Action includes lightning storms, fast horses, wild cowboys, gunfights, and of course love. Grey's ability to describe the Western environment is at times sublime.</div><blockquote><div>Rain fell steadily. The fury of the storm, however, had passed, and the roll of thunder diminished in volume. The air had wonderfully cleared and was growing cool. Madeline began to feel uncomfortably cold and wet. Stewart was climbing faster than formerly, and she noted that Monty kept at her heels, pressing her on. Time had been lost, and the camp-site was a long way off. The stag-hounds began to lag and get footsore. The sharp rocks of the trail were cruel to their feet. Then, as Madeline began to tire, she noticed less and less around her. The ascent grew rougher and steeper—slow toil for panting horses. The thinning rain grew colder, and sometimes a stronger whip of wind lashed stingingly in Madeline's face. Her horse climbed and climbed, and brush and sharp corners of stone everlastingly pulled and tore at her wet garments. A gray gloom settled down around her. Night was approaching. Majesty heaved upward with a snort, the wet saddle creaked, and an even motion told Madeline she was on level ground. She looked up to see looming crags and spires, like huge pipe-organs, dark at the base and growing light upward. The rain had ceased, but the branches of fir-trees and juniper were water-soaked arms reaching out for her. Through an opening between crags Madeline caught a momentary glimpse of the west. Red sun-shafts shone through the murky, broken clouds. The sun had set.</div></blockquote><div>I enter Grey's world as an immigrant, a time traveler. The author has his "boxes" or perspectives that inform his writing: the sensitivity and intuitions "unique" to women, a "let's bash Mexicans" box, the insipid anemia of Easterners and the childlike impulsiveness of Westerners, the regenerative qualities of nature (which at times Grey romanicizes until it becomes a cliche).</div><div><br /></div><div>I love Grey's description of the natural world, and I love his passionate characters and storylines, even with their brittle characterizations and moral binary development. As an immigrant reader, I enter Grey's novels, recognizing that I'm entering territory that will sometimes be hostile to my world view. I enjoy the <i>frisson</i> of being on guard, of advancing into a perspective that I at times will vehemently disagree with. Like all travelers, I advance cautiously into the "history" of the writing, the world at times beautiful and at times ugly, a stranger in a strange land--a situation not all that different, actually, from every time I walk out my front door. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLegcYgUiWdqpXoFOxx0GeGfJay7LnqmRz2wg9L5INoUjyBChN1-Qf6B5S4z5-QBNQs11inczkFTwCmGksSJr8_metjAsR4xdynf7azyw9KJyJ-LuZ1-_CMhEmnZiIIFbUY5FFTKWHjFc14Sq-ptDCqNVfQf14ORBu-oftDTeSpyLTxTyRTPSBtenBQ/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLegcYgUiWdqpXoFOxx0GeGfJay7LnqmRz2wg9L5INoUjyBChN1-Qf6B5S4z5-QBNQs11inczkFTwCmGksSJr8_metjAsR4xdynf7azyw9KJyJ-LuZ1-_CMhEmnZiIIFbUY5FFTKWHjFc14Sq-ptDCqNVfQf14ORBu-oftDTeSpyLTxTyRTPSBtenBQ/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-73782395288399954412022-04-03T11:04:00.004-05:002022-04-03T11:26:50.466-05:00Upping My Travel Writing Game<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2EKyLlmNBPlLjrNcAgDr_FHCBBiQVzc-q_zMZthdVVbr87mcEbxeM-PrMOeDd3AhY6kqsr5J1rx4UGu_mG7M_9Ki0RqQLDH9VcWns9uh1PrMYcTE2aZASoeFfbnQYrQL_SuN4GscG0TKPz3OOOKUTwIfT8xzOiLKKlJJR8Z84-fBYIK3k6y7SvIGvw/s790/tepui-venezuela-46.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="790" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2EKyLlmNBPlLjrNcAgDr_FHCBBiQVzc-q_zMZthdVVbr87mcEbxeM-PrMOeDd3AhY6kqsr5J1rx4UGu_mG7M_9Ki0RqQLDH9VcWns9uh1PrMYcTE2aZASoeFfbnQYrQL_SuN4GscG0TKPz3OOOKUTwIfT8xzOiLKKlJJR8Z84-fBYIK3k6y7SvIGvw/w640-h448/tepui-venezuela-46.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.ggpht.com/-OY4QNWoAK3s/UY3ZUz_Z-MI/AAAAAAAAoXA/I8l3nthcAKk/tepui-venezuela-46.jpg?imgmax=800" target="_blank">Guyana Highlands of South America</a></td></tr></tbody></table>"Tom, why don't you plan out a route to California?" My wife Sandy asked me this question after lunch last week--when we had been planning a camping trip that same morning to an Iowa state park a half hour's drive away. That required a shift in mental gears, I can tell you--not a bad shift but certainly a significant change of perspective!</div><div><br /></div>By happenstance, my step-daughter had recently given me the new issue of <i>National Geographic</i> magazine, the April issue, and I was reading the article "Up the Mountain, to a World Apart," about a "venture into a remote part of Guyana with no roads and no guarantee of getting out" to a region of "sheer-sided, flat-topped mountains known locally as <i>tepui</i>." A scientific expedition would climb these unpopulated, untrammeled environmental time capsules to learn more about the process of evolution.<div><br /></div><div>Reading the article was an eye-opener for me, a reminder of just how powerful and immediate travel writing can be. The opening paragraphs place the reader right next to conservation biologist Bruce Means. </div><blockquote><div>"Grasping a sapling in one hand for balance, Bruce took a shaky step forward. His legs quivered as they sank into the boggy leaf litter, and he cursed his 79-year-old body. At the beginning of this expedition, Bruce had told me that he planned to start slowly but would grow stronger each day as he acclimated to life in the bush."</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Later in the article, writer Mark Synnott places us deeper in the bush, describing the conditions that the explorers were facing. </div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">"For days we'd been trudging across a swampy floodplain through ankle-deep mud that almost sucked our boots right off our feet. It rained incessantly, and even when the sun poked through the low clouds, it never penetrated the dense canopy overhead. Down in the steamy understory, mosquitoes and biting flies reigned, and our sweat-soaked clothes, slick with mud and ripped by thorns, stuck to our rashy skin. Every day we crossed countless tea-colored rivers and creeks via precarious log bridges. The slow-moving water, which was also our drinking source, was stained from decaying vegetation--something that no amount of purifying could remove."</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Ah, what lovely, descriptive prose! The writer follows the most basic and important descriptive writing axiom: show, don't tell. He uses "sense words," words which connect the reader's experience to the description, not ideas but physical sensory input. Look at the touch words: <i>grasping</i>, <i>shaky</i>, and <i>quivered</i>, to name a few. The sentence that begins with "Down in the steamy understory" is rich with sense words: "steamy understory" with touch and vision; "mosquitoes and biting flies reigned" evokes sight, sound, and touch; "sweat-soaked clothes" evokes, of course, smell. Taste? With every breath filtered by steamy jungle air, with sweat on the lips and mud everywhere, how could one not be tasting the jungle? The sentences weave together our life experiences and imagination to place us in that jungle--all while we sit comfortably in our chair at home, perhaps a cup of tea (with sugar and milk) beside us. Travel writing at its best!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw2jDcWylTFZ9pLer5X5GTUJfgNDMLQ8CWk6hzPrktjJxHAt_PFeaFmi8t9GyIEJiH7eYUBzJ0oHSpVT8tZYW88w9yO1-tfQ52QOXLDnhV37V6gVr-UGNEfrHTvLGXXsC3AunlR7zUWFasMoIznbbThcOK50OK1URzATXUaPGcygYLVbOb5lnlNxwNvQ/s4032/IMG_9011.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw2jDcWylTFZ9pLer5X5GTUJfgNDMLQ8CWk6hzPrktjJxHAt_PFeaFmi8t9GyIEJiH7eYUBzJ0oHSpVT8tZYW88w9yO1-tfQ52QOXLDnhV37V6gVr-UGNEfrHTvLGXXsC3AunlR7zUWFasMoIznbbThcOK50OK1URzATXUaPGcygYLVbOb5lnlNxwNvQ/w640-h480/IMG_9011.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canary-yellow writing pads and Ticonderoga #2 pencils, and I'm ready to begin the planning!</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Now as I sit at the kitchen table planning my route, my old habit of planning with tablets and pencil to make my lists prevails: a list for food, a list for last-minute preparations, lists for our children as they keep an eye on the house for the month we'll be gone. We're packing for our five-nights out, knowing that we'll have food stores available at our destination. We'll be driveway-mooching at Sandy's parents, hooking up to 120v electric power to run our 12v refrigerator and lights.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The pencil scratches its way across the page, either adding an item or crossing one out. I'm glad I had the wheel-bearings packed last month at a local RV dealership. I've listened to the pounding of my little air compressor as I've topped of the trailer's tire pressure, and I've leaned on the torque wrench as I've checked that the wheel lugnuts are tight. I'll be de-winterizing the trailer next week. I was on my hands and knees yesterday, scrubbing the interior and removing my gear from this winter's 1-3 night local camping outings. </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" height="450" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m58!1m12!1m3!1d11343.859174983452!2d-117.36096266672573!3d33.157352611010495!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m43!3e0!4m5!1s0x87e66613d91aafab%3A0x8c687cb45a4c0997!2sFairfield%2C%20Iowa!3m2!1d41.007611399999995!2d-91.9636914!4m5!1s0x87ebd56c8d1e1239%3A0x8fdd6e2c7e03f31f!2sNine%20Eagles%20State%20Park!3m2!1d40.5882949!2d-93.7541801!4m5!1s0x87badecbb8834e51%3A0x170dd08f9b5bc83b!2sAll%20Seasons%20RV%20Park%2C%20West%20Maple%20Street%2C%20Goddard%2C%20KS!3m2!1d37.679586!2d-97.520623!4m5!1s0x871b565b73c6b011%3A0xaa5fc3c41f6471ae!2sTucumcari%20KOA%20Journey%2C%20Quay%20Road%20Al%2C%20Tucumcari%2C%20NM!3m2!1d35.1713198!2d-103.66753!4m5!1s0x872fa87729a7a6b1%3A0x766fddf63281d50e!2sHolbrook%20%2F%20Petrified%20Forest%20KOA%20Journey%2C%20Hermosa%20Drive%2C%20Holbrook%2C%20AZ!3m2!1d34.9226202!2d-110.1432935!4m5!1s0x80d5aeea81ba372d%3A0x2ce29554c2c633f6!2sOasis%20RV%20Park%20at%20Aztec%20Hills%2C%20South%20Avenue%2066%20East%2C%20Dateland%2C%20AZ!3m2!1d32.804578!2d-113.501542!4m5!1s0x80dc73453f3bee59%3A0xa4cb5592fcf65d2f!2sCarlsbad%2C%20CA!3m2!1d33.1580933!2d-117.35059389999999!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1648994370491!5m2!1sen!2sus" style="border: 0;" width="600"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've spent the time in front of the computer screen, studying Google Maps and locating possible campgrounds and RV parks for overnight stays on our trip. Since Sandy will need a strong phone signal for her online work, I've called the overnight sites to inquire about connectivity. Of course, I'm not naive enough to think all the information I receive will completely match our needs, but it's a beginning. After that, it's just take it one day at a time. Our longest mileage planned is a little over four hundred miles, with most days ranging between 250 miles and 325. We hope to leave early enough so that Sandy will have some time to work in the late afternoons if necessary. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I may very well be writing by hand in my daybook as we journey, skipping the computer and just taking notes and writing down impressions, details that I can include when I finally do post about our journey on my travel blog, <a href="https://www.greengoddessglamping.com" target="_blank">Green Goddess Glamping</a>. A few notes, a few photos, pleasant conversation with Sandy while on the road. Audiobooks have been strongly recommended for us while traveling, but Sandy and I are looking forward to just looking out the window and chatting. I've traveled before by myself on a trip off to the Carolinas, chronicled on my traveling blog under the label <a href="https://www.greengoddessglamping.com/p/green-goddess-expeditions.html" target="_blank">Green Goddess Expeditions</a>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've researched and written before about writing and travelogues, so long ago, in fact, that the original blogs I read for inspiration and direction are now defunct, the links no longer active. Mine are still available, though, the most recent being "<a href="https://www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com/2019/09/travelogues-and-tiny-trailer-travel.html" target="_blank">Travelogues and Tiny Trailer Travel</a>." I'm excited to travel with my wife Sandy. The last time we traveled the Iowa-California route was from west to east when we drove a much loved yet worn 1975 Ford F-150 from my parents' home in California back to Iowa, a gift from my parents to my son. That was quite an adventure, considering the worn steering linkage and the lack of heater or windshield defroster. I remember how the engine would cut out and stall at stoplights on the continental divide because the old carburetor wasn't fuel injection, and the high-altitude air was too thin for the carburetor adjustments. I just feathered the accelerator, though, and once on the road we were okay, especially when we dropped out of the mountains. We made it, finding peace of mind on the trip by deciding that if the old orange "Pumpkin Wagon" broke down, we'd just have it towed to the nearest gas station, hand the owner registration title to someone willing to take it, and then take a bus home. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4Q0Uagqa_sI5SRK0GGl0PLF16xLqjuHU9QDvIk4wfBoM_NPGNMX1LBrUYzvKRzI7NgE0JBbHLNARdwk7RSgGDau6Dw7RmT4I6fx_GEBPgp-BpjQwJqks9dd_NG_yMr9CNALdIzbqUNJ8VRTO57B20BCQhSwTl6uJ2IYi85sKnNT4skcacUzDjqfRyQ/s400/LD400.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig4Q0Uagqa_sI5SRK0GGl0PLF16xLqjuHU9QDvIk4wfBoM_NPGNMX1LBrUYzvKRzI7NgE0JBbHLNARdwk7RSgGDau6Dw7RmT4I6fx_GEBPgp-BpjQwJqks9dd_NG_yMr9CNALdIzbqUNJ8VRTO57B20BCQhSwTl6uJ2IYi85sKnNT4skcacUzDjqfRyQ/w640-h480/LD400.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On an early winter overnighter with our Airstream Basecamp</td></tr></tbody></table>This trip should be more pleasant with our 2021 <a href="https://www.greengoddessglamping.com/search/label/Airstream%20Basecamp" target="_blank">Airstream Basecamp </a>and our 2018 Nissan Pathfinder (with only just under 18,000 miles on it). I'm looking forward to sharing our time together. Sandy even wants to learn how to drive while pulling the trailer, and I'm sure there are some not-so-busy stretches of highway on the trip that will provide her with some low-stress experience. Travelogue writing is a skill that I'm continually developing, and I plan to focus this trip on sharing those travel moments the best I can, those moments of flicking the turn signal and then pulling off the interstate freeway, heading for the night's campsite, having rolled down that long, lonesome highway, a song in my heart and my wife by my side. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Follow by email my travel blog, <a href="https://www.greengoddessglamping.com" target="_blank">Green Goddess Glamping</a>, if you'd like to read about my travel adventures. Follow this blog by signing up below if you'd like to learn more about my life of writing. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0iXwGGFmuaBFXfTNDfsnFf_Kj3fRVrD3XGhdDlgoFpRN5cbPwLSBABcj3b86uiuAR5vMjMmhzZr5Bd9SEugL_QnYKgcNeAKoMyvLOhzCdrxkMnX60--7u5Di4UUvimNTSiIWypCgRFhdoBsVHsavjqlHF-RewQOuyL2gOG_BQ5ln4YzblWOykZCO3w/s136/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0iXwGGFmuaBFXfTNDfsnFf_Kj3fRVrD3XGhdDlgoFpRN5cbPwLSBABcj3b86uiuAR5vMjMmhzZr5Bd9SEugL_QnYKgcNeAKoMyvLOhzCdrxkMnX60--7u5Di4UUvimNTSiIWypCgRFhdoBsVHsavjqlHF-RewQOuyL2gOG_BQ5ln4YzblWOykZCO3w/s1600/TKW%20Email%20Avatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-34225836194713127282022-03-15T15:17:00.002-05:002022-03-15T15:17:52.569-05:00The Cozy Mystery: Kick-A** Women in Corsets <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEil4VTShdHqZUp1W-w9dKU20VJcmVMQm3PtpaOfkcxR_QEiDmoZN2xMrMbAoAyGyjoouCm_xWh48egilpwwFKprRnoUdpCCxDNB9W-EhTGPB0SEsme3rx_YwD9NxNo15Tx-wtOi45zOD_3C3LWa5MbWMpcP13w980rrlJnmU1mStMvxEOdWW6KOE8egew=s512" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEil4VTShdHqZUp1W-w9dKU20VJcmVMQm3PtpaOfkcxR_QEiDmoZN2xMrMbAoAyGyjoouCm_xWh48egilpwwFKprRnoUdpCCxDNB9W-EhTGPB0SEsme3rx_YwD9NxNo15Tx-wtOi45zOD_3C3LWa5MbWMpcP13w980rrlJnmU1mStMvxEOdWW6KOE8egew=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div>I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries this winter--and enjoying them. My wife and I have formed a book club of two, and we've spent a good deal of time reading side by side or discussing the books we've read over a meal or cup of tea. Sometimes I'm a book or two ahead in a series, and sometimes my wife leads the way. Sometimes I've read a series that my wife's chosen to skip; sometimes it's the other way around. You might say we're easy with the cozy, or cozy with our easy-going reading schedule. However cute I want to get with my syntax, it's been a good winter in terms of our reading arrangement. We've read some good books and had some fun talks about those books.Therefore, it seems perfectly reasonable to share some of our conclusions regarding cozy mysteries beyond the two of us--hence, this article.<p></p><p>The website cozy-mystery.com has published an article describing the qualities of a cozy mystery, "<a href="https://cozy-mystery.com/definition-of-a-cozy-mystery.html" target="_blank">What Makes a Cozy Just That</a>?" The identified characteristics in this article are as good as any other articles I've read. (Plus the website includes alphabetical lists of cozy authors.)</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"The cozy mystery heroine is usually a very intuitive, bright woman." (A newer cozy series that features this is Sherry Thomas's <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/LSS/the-lady-sherlock-series" target="_blank">Lady Sherlock series</a>, which cleverly recreates the Sherlock Holmes mythos.)</li><li>"The occupations of the amateur sleuths are very diverse"; that is to say, usually the female protagonist is not a professional private investigator. (In Rhys Bowen's <a href="https://cozy-mysteries-unlimited.com/molly-murphy-mystery-series" target="_blank">Molly Murphy series</a>, though, the protagonist does become a PI.)</li><li>"Although the cozy mystery sleuth is usually not a medical examiner, detective, or police officer, a lot of times her best friend, husband, or significant other is." Anna Lee Huber's <a href="https://www.annaleehuber.com/books.php" target="_blank">Lady Darby series</a> features the "anatomist" plot feature.)</li><li>"Cozy mysteries are considered “gentle” books… no graphic violence, no profanity, and no explicit sex." As the cozy article additionally mentions, authors sometimes push those boundaries. (Julie McElwain's <a href="http://Juliemcelwainauthor.com" target="_blank">Kendra Donovan series</a> is an example of where the "gentle" mystery becomes more gritty. The character Kendra Donovan is an FBI agent who time travels to Regency England, where she solves murders.)</li><li>"The cozy mystery puts an emphasis on plots and character development." This is why cozies become series--the journey of the main characters becomes as significant as solving the cases--or they become entwined. Often the romantic interest is a more modern-thinking male who assists the female protagonist, eschewing the social restrictions of the times regarding women. (A great example of this characteristic is Andrea Penrose's <a href="http://andreapenrose.com/the-wrexford-sloane-series/" target="_blank">Wrexford and Sloane</a> series, with one of the finest assembly of interesting characters of all the cozies I've read.)</li></ul>My wife and I have a few other comments regarding the cozy mystery. One is that I'm trying hard right now to remember if any of the cozy series my wife and I have read were written by men, but I'm coming up blank. I do know, though, that I've seen some male authors in the book lists I've read. One casual reference was to John Grisham, that his novel <i><a href="https://www.jgrisham.com/Books/the-pelican-brief/" target="_blank">The Pelican Brief</a></i> could fit the cozy definition, although it relies more on action than many cozies. <p></p><p>Another point to make is that cozies repeatedly put the female protagonists in conflict with the restrictive sexist views of the times, whether it's Regency England, Victorian England, or American and Europe in the times prior to (or during) World War II. Most of the cozies I've read pit the female protagonist (and often the male partner) against the extreme limitations that were imposed upon women. The concept that women are only meant to be eye candy and heir-producers is a common conflict in the novels. A common theme is how far we've come with gender equality--and how we haven't come very far at all. </p><p>A third quality of cozy mysteries involves the literary device of <i>anachronism, "</i>a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists." Although often used to mean something inordinately old-fashioned in a modern world, the anachronism in cozies is a modern, self-reliant, independent woman living in times where women are socially and legally without power. Often the female protagonists fight two conflicts at once: solving the murder mystery and struggling to act independently in a social milieu that represses a woman's independent spirit. Since issues of women's rights still resonate in today's modern world, this social conflict resonates for modern readers.</p><p>One of the pleasures my wife and I experience, now that we've read many cozy mysteries and quite a few series, to to determine and discuss how well the authors work within the boundaries of the cozy framework. Some authors are better at the social issues, some better at realistically portraying the romantic conflicts, and some shine at creating unique and interesting characters, including minor characters. This sub-genre of cozy mysteries is a safe and enjoyable environment to return to after a long day's work. The novel format rather than TV series medium highlights curiosity and mystery as a precursor to action, and in the end we are intellectually satisfied and not just stimulated by non-stop action. </p><p>Soon I'll be heading out this spring to garden, camp, and bike and hike. I'm looking forward to more activity and fresh air. It's been a good winter, though, in terms of reading. I've discovered new writers that are a pleasure to read, and I've learned a few things, too. Welcome to the world of the "gentle" mystery--a cutthroat world where "gentle" is a facade that must be maintained in order to exist and broken to survive.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9MxeqPGGqyk0bCUTIsOkLgblNDUJxk9NDbGuInxdPn765Tp2cofGXpZel2N0pvR8s_soEV2BB4dy0dYQ-HM19gqbnj1GNpsx8b8jltn74mveSumhSeTQFCvCNla4dgKHGnPKa48tO5iO9-ap20D3MTQGT0ICW59PazGbhrE5fQqcQaSqe4jjluKs4OQ=s136" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9MxeqPGGqyk0bCUTIsOkLgblNDUJxk9NDbGuInxdPn765Tp2cofGXpZel2N0pvR8s_soEV2BB4dy0dYQ-HM19gqbnj1GNpsx8b8jltn74mveSumhSeTQFCvCNla4dgKHGnPKa48tO5iO9-ap20D3MTQGT0ICW59PazGbhrE5fQqcQaSqe4jjluKs4OQ" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-59521327822539779542022-03-05T06:33:00.004-06:002022-03-05T06:33:41.032-06:00Read My New Flash Fiction Story Published at Every Day Fiction<p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLu6qKIB_gCp2oUs2ayudOtgUSqi2ZdrlgZU37x7pi36gt8mxBEMfCEIHzfomZpSPhHZ3l4_0x2hb1Q7u2OT1iC0jIzuSbm45jAdjPOjmQb1sk4wP_8yMxFaYU6lOKfYWO10luHAdKG5uHcvUyZXgSc2rmTEPBLJfhXESK24TeLJpWDFBG98F3f-yBoQ=s259" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLu6qKIB_gCp2oUs2ayudOtgUSqi2ZdrlgZU37x7pi36gt8mxBEMfCEIHzfomZpSPhHZ3l4_0x2hb1Q7u2OT1iC0jIzuSbm45jAdjPOjmQb1sk4wP_8yMxFaYU6lOKfYWO10luHAdKG5uHcvUyZXgSc2rmTEPBLJfhXESK24TeLJpWDFBG98F3f-yBoQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></i></div><i><div><i><br /></i></div>"He saw her reflection in the chipped mirror on the wall."</i> That's the first sentence of my short story "<a href="https://everydayfiction.com/out-with-the-old-by-tom-kepler" target="_blank">Out with the Old</a>," published at the online website magazine Every Day Fiction on March 3. Flash fiction of a bit over six hundred words in length, it's a story of reconciliation and rebirth. <p></p><p>I wrote the story in the dead of winter at a time when "the dead of winter" literally felt just like that, frozen and lifeless. Waking up before dawn with the story idea (and in the depth of winter it's not so hard to wake up before dawn), I sat down at my laptop and wrote the story in one sitting, finishing as the rose fingers of dawn caressed the eastern horizon, to paraphrase a Homeric epithet. The flash fiction story is not, of course, epic in length, nor is it an embodiment of a people as is Homer's <i>Odyssey</i>. However, writing the story was satisfying and even healing for me, representing my belief that we have great power over our lives, and that choosing the right action at the right time is one of the great benefits and opportunities that human consciousness provides.</p><p>"Old with the Old" was written in one sitting, revised a couple of times in the next week or so, and then revised on a few technical points, based on the Every Day Fiction editor's comments, then resubmitted. Every Day Fiction publishes one new flash fiction story every day of the year, paying its authors a whopping three dollars. Twelve years ago, I published another story for EDF, a Halloween story titled "<a href="https://everydayfiction.com/spider-by-tom-kepler" target="_blank">Spider</a>," which one reader's comment was "A great, creepy tale for Halloween!"</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJkn4jRgd2mjRPDh4Jda6o11klgdf3Nj2FuH2E7qndRtYt06HQstdqdXfmPTvDdsELvUObmeLbfnXJTarAsqxysVDAFCVHDGiY0O2rlUOCjZHNU4_pboD_-XqDqbc-Viar6I3iZ4BSHRqJa58zN8cAs55qZOxPf7T2hSd9YnG8-TUPKCfxzchda8YSg=s475" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEJkn4jRgd2mjRPDh4Jda6o11klgdf3Nj2FuH2E7qndRtYt06HQstdqdXfmPTvDdsELvUObmeLbfnXJTarAsqxysVDAFCVHDGiY0O2rlUOCjZHNU4_pboD_-XqDqbc-Viar6I3iZ4BSHRqJa58zN8cAs55qZOxPf7T2hSd9YnG8-TUPKCfxzchda8YSg=s320" width="202" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Three flash fiction stories are compiled in my Amazon ebook <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tri-Odd-Flash-Fiction-Stories-ebook/dp/B07P1C4CHN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26K4LG3PKML3R&keywords=Tri+Odd+Tom+Kepler&qid=1646481590&sprefix=tri+odd+tom+kepler%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Tri Odd</a>, which besides "Spider" also includes "Cull," a mildly macabre story about a retired English teacher (go figure!), and a science fiction genesis story, "In the Beginning." All three stories have been published in online magazines over the years.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFwmWooevS2m-3iwckPbJ71sMHVVPMCmKJLzd8YlbEAOAy8LRdNj4fzfdmLok7Wmdhx_IG0cJN1rrU9bSm1loVtdPVOa2nnCoJ_QvNrdfx-IyocKF_yMMTiE9w6Yh5fKBhk6o1c_Thwp8qvFGj5pjSuxRgMAlbQ3Wosn9AaYhs9wS7KqLgb1T-3RpEDQ=s648" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="432" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFwmWooevS2m-3iwckPbJ71sMHVVPMCmKJLzd8YlbEAOAy8LRdNj4fzfdmLok7Wmdhx_IG0cJN1rrU9bSm1loVtdPVOa2nnCoJ_QvNrdfx-IyocKF_yMMTiE9w6Yh5fKBhk6o1c_Thwp8qvFGj5pjSuxRgMAlbQ3Wosn9AaYhs9wS7KqLgb1T-3RpEDQ=s320" width="213" /></a></div><div><br /></div>In addition to flash fiction, I also have published at Amazon another three short stories from my <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Dragon-Tom-Kepler-ebook/dp/B005W9TSYS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39TX2P8738U49&keywords=The+Stone+Dragon+Tom+Kepler&qid=1646482321&sprefix=the+stone+dragon+tom+kepler%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Stone Dragon</a></i> universe--<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074WDYVE/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i4" target="_blank">Who Listened to Dragons</a>. </i>These short stories emerged from a map from <i>The Stone Dragon</i> novel. I looked at the map and asked myself, "I wonder what's happening <i>there</i>?" And thus the stories were born. I have several other unpublished stories written that are set in <i>The Stone Dragon </i>universe, and when enough are written, I'll publish a short story compilation, <i>Tales of the Stone Dragon Inn</i>. <p></p><p>Getting back to "<a href="https://everydayfiction.com/out-with-the-old-by-tom-kepler" target="_blank">Out with the Old</a>," it's a story I submitted under the "Spring" category at EDF. It does have that sense of a breath of fresh air about it, one that I created for myself by writing the story--and if you're ready for a bit of spring yourself, follow the link to the story and enjoy!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFPE5IT3jdAlz85Yzuon-V2gWvrIqu79SGGy1x7hmczbbGNeohuKWt5Gy8E0FKyLfwsD_emR8xALo3Tlo5gVqGDeKTq1vZyg3iqauvdiEVpWaMWOX6zYK2YaWx6RYPpRKscKbsyqufMr1jFkZ6rQVjrXKFzMKsmHu-mLiKTcVy-pCl6jSJ_aNg4lmy-Q=s136" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFPE5IT3jdAlz85Yzuon-V2gWvrIqu79SGGy1x7hmczbbGNeohuKWt5Gy8E0FKyLfwsD_emR8xALo3Tlo5gVqGDeKTq1vZyg3iqauvdiEVpWaMWOX6zYK2YaWx6RYPpRKscKbsyqufMr1jFkZ6rQVjrXKFzMKsmHu-mLiKTcVy-pCl6jSJ_aNg4lmy-Q" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-49455657896777784802022-02-17T11:45:00.001-06:002022-02-17T11:45:21.850-06:00"70" Is a Compelling Number--and "Septuagenarian" Is a Mouthful<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglVFL_yremPEGosW6IRcGINLiqkAhw3jP7GmTJwMaM6Uz9WNeyKL_ud1WPxT_7MzeiGIr39CirgaEwRry8rpbpqfAddAUGJIzOfB3tGPJ0nR2UYai4oA7HaWx23eEssPrqArl_iiAYMuduqlUiP8Z-dPI20CVM_hMR7HwIZjeu5jyNWK4sZCPnKhFkIg=s1012" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="671" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglVFL_yremPEGosW6IRcGINLiqkAhw3jP7GmTJwMaM6Uz9WNeyKL_ud1WPxT_7MzeiGIr39CirgaEwRry8rpbpqfAddAUGJIzOfB3tGPJ0nR2UYai4oA7HaWx23eEssPrqArl_iiAYMuduqlUiP8Z-dPI20CVM_hMR7HwIZjeu5jyNWK4sZCPnKhFkIg=s320" width="212" /></a></div>I graduated from high school in the 1970s and survived my 20s during that decade. It was a significant time, especially if we back the time up a little earlier to 1966 or 1968--political assassinations, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, the space program and a trip to the moon. Now, it's a half a century later and I'm celebrating another aspect of the 70s; I've now lived that long. February is that month where I become a septuagenarian, and just passing that mark leads me to some reflection. What I'm realizing is that many of my core beliefs have remained with me all my life and that now in my retirement I find them no less powerful and no less compelling. There is a certain timelessness in that--that what we are is not lessened by time. The times we may find distracting, but inside us there is a timelessness that remains.<p></p><p><b>I find myself increasingly compelled to listen.</b> Yes, I still have things I want to say, ideas I want to share, but the necessity and need to listen has grown in my life. It was always there. I remember when I was eighteen years old on my high school's "senior skip day," a bunch of us guys got in our friend's old Packard and drove to Sacramento, California, (about an hour and a half drive) to visit one guy's parents and to watch the movie <i>Woodstock</i>. My friend was living with another friend's parents so that he could graduate his senior year with all of us. His parents had moved because of a job transfer that could not be postponed. Part of our excursion to Sacramento was a trip to a local park, which happened to be a gathering place for the homeless, many of them alcoholics. One Black man who called himself "Johnny Walker the shit talker" regaled us with stories, wowing our naive young selves with entertaining stories . . . and then he hit us up for our spare change, which we happily gave him. He asked for us to give, to us as a group and then individually without being pushy. When "Johnny" got to me, he said, "And how about you--you with the wise eyes?" Of course I contributed, but even then at eighteen years old, I realized what the man was saying. We had made eye contact several times during Johnny's story-telling, at a deeper level than that of audience and raconteur. There was the jive, and then there was the humanity. What I was doing was <i>listening</i>, with both my mind and my heart. I was including the old alcoholic in my world, considering him and the moment significant. We need to listen to one another, to include and absorb the perspectives of others into ours. I intuitively knew that when I was young and appreciate the importance of listening and inclusion more consciously now that I am older and have the benefit of my years of experiencing listening . . . and not listening . . . and the ramifications of each.</p><p><b>Researching a situation prior to engaging is increasingly important for me.</b> Listening, of course, is an important aspect of research; in fact, it's primary research. In a world increasingly polarized, I want to bring balance to my decisions and actions. Research is an important way I learn, too. Therefore, by considering all sides of an issue, I can bring a more balanced approach to moving forward in my life, one that involves both intellect and emotions. Even after research and consideration if I find that my perspective hasn't changed, I might find a more positive and integrative way to act or speak. I'm thinking that this approach might seem "old person conservative," but to me it doesn't feel that way. There's a lot of creativity and discovery in considering many possibilities--and then there's the advantage of spending time in that field of all possibilities. Coming to a decision actually erects barriers and boundaries. Why rush to do that?</p><p><b>My family is a powerful defense against alienation and isolation. </b>I am fortunate to be surrounded by my family--my wife, our blended family of three children (in their 30s), and our five grandchildren. I remember in my first years of public school teaching in the early 1980s that statistics determined that single parents or blended families had finally exceeded the number of nuclear families (mother, father, and genetic offspring). My mother was adopted, my son was adopted, and my entire life I've been taught and lived the truth that families are formed in many ways. "Family" is not a matter of blood but of spirit. My wife and I are fortunate to have our children and grandchildren living in the same town as us. However, I also realize that if this were not the case, we would create a family of friends and activities to keep us involved with people and engaged in vital activities. As Bob Dylan sang, "Those not busy being born are busy dying." My family provides me with an easy means of engagement with life--sometimes a bit too much, in fact! Then I pack up and go camping for a while. It's important, though, to live in the present and to not feel that our best years have already passed. I'm excited about my daily activities and my future hopes and plans. Having my family around provides many opportunities for participation in life. Extending family to its greatest scope, when "the world is my family," then how can there be alienation and isolation?</p><p><b>Freedom, variety, and creativity have increased in my life.</b> Retirement has provided more time for me to choose my daily routine, to structure my time more around fulfillment rather than survival. I don't have a lot of needs. There isn't an outstanding list of things for me to buy and do--snowmobiles and trips to the geographic wonders of the world. It's not that I'm against owning a snowmobile or a new Ford F-150, or that I'm against visiting the Grand Canyon or Mayan ruins. The <i>need</i> isn't that great, though. I don't have a Santa's list of things I want or a bucket list of things I have to do before that bucket gets kicked. Possessions or accomplishments are not the ultimate summit of achievement. Fulfillment for me is an inner state, a state of being which cannot be located by gps or deed. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that we cannot find a better world by traveling because we take our old perspectives along with us when we take off. I'm so grateful and fortunate to be practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique twice a day--and to have been doing so for forty-nine years. Being healthy and dynamic is a gift, but it is in many ways a gift that I have given myself by lowering my stress and developing my inner potential by practicing TM. I look forward to meeting the joys and challenges of each day, just as those in business enjoy the market, having first stopped by the bank. </p><p><b>We must be kind--both to ourselves and to others.</b> When I was a full-time public school teacher, I once had a colleague tell me, "I was talking to a student the other day and the student mentioned you and the kind of teacher you are. He said, 'Mr. Kepler is a kind man.'" My response to my teacher-friend was, "What better legacy than that?" I once had a student--a 7th-grader--ask me about gay rights, whether being gay was right or wrong. I told her that many people had debated this question, and after listening to all the arguments for each side, I had finally realized that for me the "right/wrong" debate about others wasn't the most important point for me. What I realized was important for me was the following question: "Do I want to be the kind of person that makes other people suffer, that hurts the lives of others?" I told that young student that I chose not to make others suffer because of my beliefs, whatever they were. I felt this was a good answer for a public school teacher, where children come to school from families with many different perspectives and beliefs. Any parent with any belief would have a hard time condemning me for telling their children to be kind. It was also an American answer, too, because I was telling the student that we have a right to live our lives according to our principles, but others with different principles also have that right in the USA. Nurturing ourselves and others is not just a good idea, I think. It's an essential idea, a survival trait for our species. We are such an intelligent species, human beings, yet we have to temper our cleverness with wisdom. We have to look beyond our immediate desires and fit ourselves and our dreams and actions into the greater wisdom of the world.</p><p><b>What quality of life am I living? </b>A current buzzword is "intentional" living, and although I'm not entirely comfortable with that word, since it seems to somehow and to somewhat disparage spontaneity, I do understand the basic idea that we should think about what we want and what's important to us in order to make choices that will be more fulfilling. Even Joseph Campbell's "follow your bliss" is in many ways advocating an intentional life--if I actually understand what people who are living intentional lives intend the word to signify. Some choices are not easy, perhaps because their impact on others creates complications, or perhaps because some choices require a level of self-scrutiny and honesty that cuts close to the bone--a kind of <i>intentionality noir</i>, as it were. I wonder, though, if the intentional life becomes easier in some ways as one grows older. Energy and activity slow a bit; lifestyle choices and routine expand a bit in retirement; and if one has any level of self-awareness, then experience will impact one's choice and priorities. Since wisdom is knowledge tempered by experience, perhaps an intentional life in one's elder years is simply learning to pause and wait for wisdom. </p><p>I think all the above are part and parcel of a meaningful life--being a part of our natural and social world, being true to ourselves yet still honoring and cherishing the differences in others, speaking out for what is true and right yet still allowing for differences in others. Integration of life, integration of opposites, holding the entire world within ourselves and not just one tiny part: this has been my lifetime goal, to live an integrated, balanced life of fulfillment. I feel I'm getting better at this as I go along, and I'm thinking that living the decade of my 70s will be just as exciting as when I lived my 20s. What about the fifty years in between those two decades? Fifty years is half a century, and yet somehow it feels like it's been no time at all. Let me reflect on that a bit--perhaps consciousness exists <i>in </i>time but is not <i>of</i> it? In the end, though, I tend to enjoy and pursue more simple, productive and nurturing activities. It's like Voltaire said at the end of his play <i>Candide</i>. As one translation put it regarding the frenzy of life--"That is very well and good, but let us tend our gardens."</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSfO2e2UtaViL-5GaMXl6-V87QdA6ePFM_iNV4NyAdQpqG5fBmc6gUh8mFu7hOvSwvKoFWat0W1KxRH4y0CVavUwxGPn7Qlp6mIsIGEmoyhWB-lrMWissdYBYZWV3gBqU1_KsifjmMajky9uFNqIbKFTVPBSRkrjD0eweEOSFi80pomM2L6f25lTphVg=s136" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSfO2e2UtaViL-5GaMXl6-V87QdA6ePFM_iNV4NyAdQpqG5fBmc6gUh8mFu7hOvSwvKoFWat0W1KxRH4y0CVavUwxGPn7Qlp6mIsIGEmoyhWB-lrMWissdYBYZWV3gBqU1_KsifjmMajky9uFNqIbKFTVPBSRkrjD0eweEOSFi80pomM2L6f25lTphVg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-89515557971389118972022-01-20T06:37:00.004-06:002022-01-20T06:37:36.985-06:00Deborah Harkness and her All Souls Trilogy (Discovery of Witches)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsRFVDNz601f4u5HFqApQm8y3kPb6Gf4X34qcxU-fpg0jKKReCV0mcjsuNocdE6CHqwit1nSDIe2WeDtfdpnfRDlgXHLiX5misyOs23HjWbG8kHktl9ksBwjghMYQbX65VS58CZkAlhSwjN3i2qkuouLpxN-6UUckfPLjkKfddqr1oKNG6kZmqCbBY2A=s300" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsRFVDNz601f4u5HFqApQm8y3kPb6Gf4X34qcxU-fpg0jKKReCV0mcjsuNocdE6CHqwit1nSDIe2WeDtfdpnfRDlgXHLiX5misyOs23HjWbG8kHktl9ksBwjghMYQbX65VS58CZkAlhSwjN3i2qkuouLpxN-6UUckfPLjkKfddqr1oKNG6kZmqCbBY2A=w400-h224" width="400" /></a></div>The word <i>verisimilitude</i> means something has the appearance of being true or real. In literature, it means the author's world-building skills are such that the reader believes the reality of the work and is not pulled out of the "reading reality" by too great a stretch of the imagination. We, as readers, willingly suspend our disbelief and enter the fiction, wide-eyed and believing. Novelist and scholar <a href="https://deborahharkness.com" target="_blank">Deborah E. Harkness</a> in her fictional All Souls Trilogy creates a believable reality with credible characters that include witches, daemons, and vampires . . . plus a few charismatic plain old humans. <p></p><p>As the pitch for the trilogy (and the TV series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177461" target="_blank"><i>A</i> <i>Discovery of Witches</i></a>) emphasizes, magical creatures exist among us--in plain sight. Having read the trilogy a long time ago, I decided to try the Amazon Prime free first season of the TV series, especially when I realized that actor Matthew Goode was cast as the character Matthew Clairmont. I've always appreciated Goode's work when he's popped up on the screen through the years. In many ways the TV series is just as enjoyable if not more so than the books, the drama playing out in the series without shading toward melodrama. </p><p>Finishing the first season lickety-split (it is winter outside, after all, and conducive to sitting on the sofa), my wife and I immediately bought the second season via Amazon streaming. Then when we finished and decided to buy the third season, we discovered that it was still streaming week by week. We decided we didn't want to subscribe to another streaming service (available via Amazon), so we tried out Plan B and decided to just read the third book of the trilogy. Then we decided that rather than waiting and checking the book out of our local public library, we would choose immediate wish fulfillement and bought the Kindle ebook. I'm happy to say that the move from TV series to book was seamless, with just a few minor changes noticeable. </p><div style="text-align: left;">I've ripped through the third book of the trilogy and now have the fourth book, <i>Time's Convert</i>, on hold at the library, which I'll check out today. The fourth book continues the saga but isn't necessary for closure, which Harkness supplies at the end of the third book of the trilogy, <i>The Book of Life</i>. I've enjoyed sharing this trilogy with my wife--our little book club of two. We're both happy with this series, which manages to combine magic with romance without descending into "bodice-ripping," gratuitous explication. And, of course, when the third season of the series is available as a unit, we'll enjoy that, too. In fact, we've discovered that the first two seasons of <i>A Discovery of Witches</i> is available at our good ol' public library, so when they acquire the third, we're good to go!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2Kz8vATSidt0IO14Z6e3WHxBfKstvn5i_7VquT0UM8oYPyGcFuTs4nxxtjNCogkhszag_buEm4vAU5n1H9DYgHyfYL_Pm9W6Mj8vizsD-LNvPhibqQxf7RoGqTEv_8rp7BYpYKVRzRH5FbmcxtdUgtaxLVJel0SzY6B3qNGeejQbDUh3p4ulzOFU9Lg=s800" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="800" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2Kz8vATSidt0IO14Z6e3WHxBfKstvn5i_7VquT0UM8oYPyGcFuTs4nxxtjNCogkhszag_buEm4vAU5n1H9DYgHyfYL_Pm9W6Mj8vizsD-LNvPhibqQxf7RoGqTEv_8rp7BYpYKVRzRH5FbmcxtdUgtaxLVJel0SzY6B3qNGeejQbDUh3p4ulzOFU9Lg=w200-h147" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-88727652309189892252022-01-11T06:13:00.001-06:002022-01-11T06:13:59.511-06:00A Flash Fiction Experience<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiS9axVT73Vc-pmcaeDb8x3Blcyu2yzlYnYcDloJ5fdBNXciUm5Z26S7jgl3a0vOZlU-VVAE_i2R8PPKJ8GBzZD0lMvaYqP6Fz1c2pvc_e0Tq8qt9xjjj8j8BmHMwkruuhZixbZnM4rtDOek8f6SQQi-LyiJKKf0YU9fW7svcbRRuvZRP9DYsrs0GIBFA=s480" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="480" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiS9axVT73Vc-pmcaeDb8x3Blcyu2yzlYnYcDloJ5fdBNXciUm5Z26S7jgl3a0vOZlU-VVAE_i2R8PPKJ8GBzZD0lMvaYqP6Fz1c2pvc_e0Tq8qt9xjjj8j8BmHMwkruuhZixbZnM4rtDOek8f6SQQi-LyiJKKf0YU9fW7svcbRRuvZRP9DYsrs0GIBFA=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This has been an interesting winter, what with a front tooth extraction (tooth #9). The experience literally put me off my feed, and it also motivated me to give myself a break and to take it easy for a while. Funny things can happen, though, when stepping back for a little rest--good-funny things. Writing a flash fiction story recently was one for me.<p></p><p>I woke up at dawn, which is not unusual for me, but I had this scenario in my head, this story, this moment when reality shifts. And so I got up, sat down with my laptop, and wrote out the mind event--680 some words. The storyline is about an elderly couple checking out a new "antique shop," aka junk store, for some new finds. The theme, though, is about reawakening and rejuvenation. Set in spring, my subconscious must have already been looking past this winter while I slept. I'll take the gift. </p><p>I revised the story about four times over a month, working with my comfortable routine of writing and then letting the work sit for a time before coming back to it. One thing I like about flash fiction is the quick return on my effort. The satisfaction of saying, "Yes, it's done!" doesn't have to be put off for a year or two. That's a good feeling.</p><p>I've submitted the flash fiction story to the online literary website <i>Every Day Fiction</i>. Theme submissions seem to be my flash fiction forte (alliteration!) for this website. My previous publishing here was a Halloween story called "<a href="https://everydayfiction.com/spider-by-tom-kepler" target="_blank">Spider</a>." My submitted story, "Out with the Old," is submitted for the March theme of springtime. </p><p>Until March arrives (and if the story is accepted), feel free to read "<a href="https://everydayfiction.com/spider-by-tom-kepler/" target="_blank">Spider</a>." I had wanted for years to write a creepy story, so writing a Halloween story was a fun exercise. Another flash fiction story, published on New Year's Day in 2011 at 365 Tomorrows is "<a href="https://365tomorrows.com/?s=Tom+Kepler&et_pb_searchform_submit=et_search_proccess&et_pb_search_cat=4%2C12%2C1&et_pb_include_posts=yes" target="_blank">In the Beginning</a>," a science fiction story. I do seem to flash on specialty themes. This sci fi story is a twist on the Adam and Eve narrative.</p><p>Now for me it's on to writing more on my science fiction story that I've been posting on Amazon's Vella, titled at this point <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09CNZWL2Z" target="_blank">Grav Board</a></i>. I started this novel during an emotionally challenging time, just sitting down at the keyboard and letting myself slip off into another universe, exploring another planet. Great fun! I've taken about six weeks off from this story, so now it's time to get back! Cheers!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjafspUk3bh0TUTo7ExblR-kRGCh4XEG5uE5Tb_LlU3iOSiyPIeqTTUmDWcXmEwq9h1JId-QdRzZSH5LUQEIC_kx-HVCiknMUHF8VVeGPrF2yUyCp873N9ZcBG8T7WKhcVbwyqI86g-h-mnw2JZAdiwrm7nAYhy3nfD0nj9Ib69OJcpwEDhnLAX7oRGnQ=s136" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjafspUk3bh0TUTo7ExblR-kRGCh4XEG5uE5Tb_LlU3iOSiyPIeqTTUmDWcXmEwq9h1JId-QdRzZSH5LUQEIC_kx-HVCiknMUHF8VVeGPrF2yUyCp873N9ZcBG8T7WKhcVbwyqI86g-h-mnw2JZAdiwrm7nAYhy3nfD0nj9Ib69OJcpwEDhnLAX7oRGnQ" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p><br /></p>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-59762818423029221762021-11-19T07:02:00.002-06:002021-11-26T14:29:19.253-06:00Six Books on Our Relationship with Nature<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2sV9xktduk/YZaKLPcc5EI/AAAAAAAAQyI/lhKN54YkWSw0ps1PEfz9OTpE8lHrcRErQCLcBGAsYHQ/s569/earth%2Begg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="569" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G2sV9xktduk/YZaKLPcc5EI/AAAAAAAAQyI/lhKN54YkWSw0ps1PEfz9OTpE8lHrcRErQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/earth%2Begg.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Recently I've been interested in reading about the relationship we can develop with nature--or should I write that with a capital, <i>Nature</i>? What I've discovered is that most of the books I've run across that I want to read are not at my local public library because they are not heavy hitters in terms of sales. Kindle has become the go-to purchase choice for me, and it's pretty convenient, I must say. Here are some of the books I've purchased that I've either read or are on my winter reading list. As you'll see, they represent a broad perspective of how people, and specifically how I, can interact with the natural world. <h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wilding-Returning-Nature-Our-Farm-ebook/dp/B07M5R25S9/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Wilding&qid=1637239107&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&sres=B07M5R25S9%2CB08WCJ72RX%2CB0043D2CY2%2CB002IEUV2S%2CB07QGHCCZH%2CB07QC9L7LZ%2CB07QC9JD4Z%2CB01BU39O3Y%2CB07QHH9SMP%2CB07SFXHGKY%2CB01DH6T770%2CB07QFCC175%2CB09LYN1GPZ%2CB09LYK3MBQ%2CB09HKCQQF7%2CB09M77JJYT" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm</span></a></h2><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SA-Hfsr9fFQ/YZaNCNG48kI/AAAAAAAAQyY/J_lzj01lih0U3CL-CeIs_5ZTrBpkoGqGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s612/wilding.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="612" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SA-Hfsr9fFQ/YZaNCNG48kI/AAAAAAAAQyY/J_lzj01lih0U3CL-CeIs_5ZTrBpkoGqGgCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/wilding.jpeg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span>Author, Isabella Tree. I was surprised to discover that this book is heavily researched and documented, so a lot of background information is provided and also support for the concept of allowing nature to coordinate how a piece of land is "managed" for best ecological results. It really is an eye-opener and also provided me with hope. On Knepp Castle Estate, an ancient, English estate, Isabella Tree and her husband (the inheritor) decide to "re-wild" the land. Their ecological, social, and legal journey includes the return of weeds and trash brush, the introduction of wild cattle and hogs, and the return of many birds that are in danger of extinction in Britain. It's a fascinating read.</span><p></p><p><span>Of the books I've purchased, <i>Wilding</i> is the only one I've completely read so far. The others I'm reading a bit at a time. In fact, the next four I'm reading concurrently, as my mood dictates. I'll read a bit in one and then another.</span></p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-unbounded-ocean-consciousness-questions-ebook/dp/B08Z7C9WHB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=G9P84EV0Y7M9&keywords=one+unbounded+ocean+of+consciousness&qid=1637239652&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sprefix=One+unbo%2Cdigital-text%2C183&sr=1-1&sres=B08Z7C9WHB%2CB08YXYRSPD%2CB08LZV1551%2CB08YRNW7K2&srpt=ABIS_EBOOKS" target="_blank">One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness: Simple Answers to the Big Questions in Life</a></span></h2><p><span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPyykYZHwgs/YZaNVA6_LII/AAAAAAAAQyg/NUpwc2YKsPY5wjZW4jRANoWwDS7BDQrogCLcBGAsYHQ/s299/nader.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="168" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPyykYZHwgs/YZaNVA6_LII/AAAAAAAAQyg/NUpwc2YKsPY5wjZW4jRANoWwDS7BDQrogCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/nader.jpeg" width="299" /></a></span></div><span>Author, Tony Nader. Dr. Nader is the head of the organization that teaches the Transcendental Meditation technique. He was taught and appointed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the meditation technique and the Vedic understanding of the nature and range of consciousness to the Western world over sixty years ago. Because Dr. Nader is a medical doctor and researcher, he provides a comprehensive look at the relationship of consciousness, reality, the world, and ourselves. He connects Vedic wisdom and the historical and most current scientific understanding of what existence is and how human consciousness interacts with reality. His basic premise is that everything is consciousness, and his development of this concept from both Vedic and scientific perspectives is comprehensive. One of the most interesting results of reading this book is the discovery that our everyday understanding of our relationship with the world is quite limited (and probably outdated); even science has a much more expanded and "cosmic" perspective of how we perceive the world. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/House-Rain-Tracking-Civilization-Southwest-ebook/dp/B000OT7U78/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11NZ01KVPFLDZ&keywords=house+of+rain&qid=1637240815&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sprefix=house+of+rain%2Cdigital-text%2C266&sr=1-1&sres=B000OT7U78%2CB08Z2ZJSR3%2CB09M6F9V4N%2CB08SKF1F17%2CB085BVSXS9%2CB09LSCS6GN%2CB01LOWN78Y%2CB07ZN51NL3%2CB09LZ1LS8Z%2CB09CN4DNCP%2CB08GQHFCTB%2CB07NKP3JL4%2CB07R5YVHL9%2CB0871LKPJ3%2CB000OCXH8G%2CB07YBK826L&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank"></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/House-Rain-Tracking-Civilization-Southwest-ebook/dp/B000OT7U78/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest</a></span></h2><p></p><p><span><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SuuHjodiPpU/YZaCJOgvXQI/AAAAAAAAQxI/SfSigeTEtxAG5LCurIhmhUTElzZrmnLcACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SuuHjodiPpU/YZaCJOgvXQI/AAAAAAAAQxI/SfSigeTEtxAG5LCurIhmhUTElzZrmnLcACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="160" /></a>Author, Craig Childs. One of my personal goals is to make the journey to the American Southwest with my Airstream Basecamp trailer and spend time exploring the ancient cultures of the Anasazi. And, by the way, this book <i>House of Rain</i> has informed me that the word <i>Anasazi</i> is not the preferred term any longer; meaning "ancient enemy" in Navajo, the indigenous peoples of the Southwest preferably to not choose to refer to their ancestors as enemies. “Ancestral Pueblo” or “Ancestral Puebloan" are preferred terms. This book combines the author's personal experiences with his explorations of the ruins and his research of these ancient cultures. What has touched me most so far in my reading is how the construction of the cliff dwellings was so intimately connected to nature--the seasons and the path of the sun, the topography of the land and the situating of the buildings. There is an alignment with nature. This is something that is certainly not common in modern building and community planning.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transcendentalists-Their-World-Robert-Gross-ebook/dp/B08NH9S2VP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1044B0QHTER4R&keywords=the+transcendentalists+and+their+world&qid=1637241699&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+transcen%2Cdigital-text%2C207&sr=1-1&sres=B08NH9S2VP%2CB000OI1AGG%2CB07TY62KS5&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank"></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transcendentalists-Their-World-Robert-Gross-ebook/dp/B08NH9S2VP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2G5P9WB52LZYH&keywords=the+transcendentalists+and+their+world&qid=1637255861&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+transcendentalis%2Cdigital-text%2C185&sr=1-1&sres=B08NH9S2VP%2CB000OI1AGG%2CB07TY62KS5&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank">The Transcendentalists and Their World</a></span></h2><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QQI5ZY2PrlI/YZaCaISWgmI/AAAAAAAAQxQ/TsNGNoZ_JlUXzSWAvyAV857YqFRlOOMhACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QQI5ZY2PrlI/YZaCaISWgmI/AAAAAAAAQxQ/TsNGNoZ_JlUXzSWAvyAV857YqFRlOOMhACLcBGAsYHQ/w133-h200/image.png" width="133" /></a></span>Author, Robert A. Gross. Forty years ago, Robert Gross published <i>The Minutemen and Their World</i>, an academic study of the Minutemen of Concord, Massachusetts, and their community. It's been reissued, and Gross has also published now a look at the Transcendentalists and how they lived and interacted in their community at Concord. I've started reading this and am excited to discover how such a profound and individual vision of personal freedom and spirituality as Transcendentalism bubbled up at Concord. From what I've read so far, the citizens of Concord, for instance, looked at our dear Henry David Thoreau with a mixture of pride, awe, and quite a bit of puzzled head-scratching. I'm looking forward to a more complete understanding of the cultural milieu that produced this world perspective.</p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Love-Medicine-Wildness-Wellness-ebook/dp/B071H48V16/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Nature%2C+Love+Medicine%3A+Essays+on+Wildness+and+Wellness&qid=1637251074&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&s=digital-text&sr=1-3&sres=B071H48V16&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Nature, Love Medicine: Essays on Wildness and Wellness</span></a></h2><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aBnI2xEr0F4/YZaCq2F8dNI/AAAAAAAAQxY/8NP1JOx-C5A58ED18WH4kY2MPcHyFD1eQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="182" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aBnI2xEr0F4/YZaCq2F8dNI/AAAAAAAAQxY/8NP1JOx-C5A58ED18WH4kY2MPcHyFD1eQCLcBGAsYHQ/w132-h200/image.png" width="132" /></a></div>Editor, Thomas Lowe Fleischner. This book of essays focuses on the theme that if we find a way to integrate with nature, then we become more integrated, healthy, dynamic individuals and communities. From what I've read so far, the essays include a mixture of personal experience and scientific and medical understanding of the benefits of getting outside and developing a connection with the natural world. Not only are the effects on individuals in nature explored but also how communities benefit when local governments consciously include green zones and such in city planning. One essay I read included medical and crime statistics. Because this book includes a collection of authors, it provides multiple perspectives of why we should get out in nature as a regular part of our daily routines. According to my Kindle app, I've only read 13% of this anthology, so I've got some good reading and reflecting ahead for this winter season.<p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Feral-Rewilding-Land-Human-Life-ebook/dp/B00MJW7RFI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FH0SJB1E7W0I&keywords=feral+rewilding+the+land%2C+the+sea%2C+and+human+life&qid=1637251740&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&sprefix=Feral%3A+rewil%2Cdigital-text%2C258&sr=8-1&sres=022632527X%2CB01FOD9P58%2CB08M9VM6ZZ%2C014197558X&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank"></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Feral-Rewilding-Land-Human-Life-ebook/dp/B00MJW7RFI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LUO2739H9G4R&keywords=feral+rewilding+the+land%2C+the+sea%2C+and+human+life&qid=1637256065&qsid=131-3111772-9995466&sprefix=feral+rewil%2Cdigital-text%2C210&sr=8-1&sres=022632527X%2CB01FOD9P58%2CB08M9VM6ZZ%2C014197558X&srpt=ABIS_BOOK" target="_blank">Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life </a></span></h2><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p7mRFHJmYQQ/YZaC-ncB8bI/AAAAAAAAQxg/OfOoE2x4Q68CBf_KShjfzdoT3x4Vu4ZIQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p7mRFHJmYQQ/YZaC-ncB8bI/AAAAAAAAQxg/OfOoE2x4Q68CBf_KShjfzdoT3x4Vu4ZIQCLcBGAsYHQ/w133-h200/image.png" width="133" /></a></span>Author, George Monbiot. I've only read three percent of this book so far, but I'm looking forward to engaging with the content. Monbiot is an environmentalist who has written quite a few books about how humankind are devastating our planet. This book provides an optimistic note that the natural world can regenerate if provided a fair chance by humanity. The book blurb explains: "An optimistic approach to environmentalism that focuses on the wonders of rewilding, not just the terrifying consequences of climate change." The author shares with us a vision of "how, by inviting nature back into our lives, we can simultaneously cure our 'ecological boredom' and begin repairing centuries of environmental damage. Monbiot takes readers on an enchanting journey around the world to explore ecosystems that have been 'rewilded': freed from human intervention and allowed—in some cases for the first time in millennia—to resume their natural ecological processes." I'm looking forward to reading this book.</p><div style="text-align: left;">As you can see, I'm currently reading books about making a connection with nature, both inner and outer nature--as if there's any difference. Yes, I realize it's somewhat ironic that I'm connecting with nature via the medium of ebooks and the Kindle, but I do feel that we can find a way to combine our technological advances with living in harmony with nature. These books provide me with hope and also current, pertinent information on how to live a connected life with and within our world. Good reading to everyone, and perhaps your winter reading will include one or more of these books.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VefaTl3q-tU/YZaLxNWV0BI/AAAAAAAAQyQ/5KY71gjH5vIaIlGvCTI1qeAHAaHmFPAaACLcBGAsYHQ/s136/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VefaTl3q-tU/YZaLxNWV0BI/AAAAAAAAQyQ/5KY71gjH5vIaIlGvCTI1qeAHAaHmFPAaACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-18457406410998126952021-09-23T11:12:00.000-05:002021-09-23T11:12:17.025-05:00The Serialized Novel on Kindle Vella--What's Going to Happen Today?<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-draOnbGn59M/YUygMyq5waI/AAAAAAAAQnA/AKlA743v_Sc5GKaV4tzuKeptP1oMC7EVgCLcBGAsYHQ/s850/skater-catching-air-at-sunset_t20_XQEV23.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="850" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-draOnbGn59M/YUygMyq5waI/AAAAAAAAQnA/AKlA743v_Sc5GKaV4tzuKeptP1oMC7EVgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/skater-catching-air-at-sunset_t20_XQEV23.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/how-to-create-stunning-skateboarding-photography--photo-10878" target="_blank">envatotuts+</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table>I grew up waiting for the next episode of <i>Star Trek</i> or <i>Dark Shadows</i> or, heaven help me, <i>Bonanza. </i>The weekly episodes of my favorite series have been a big part of my entertainment life. During the time of Charles Dickens, serialized novels were also the standard procedure--sell the novel episode by episode and then publish the novel in its entirety. Alexandre Dumas also serialized his novel <i>The Three Musketeers</i>. In fact, to read the entire novel would take several volumes of reading; the novel we usually read--one book--is an abridged version of the original serialization.<p></p><p>This episodic approach to writing is something I'm trying now on Kindle Vella with a science fiction novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09CNZWL2Z" target="_blank">Grav Board</a>.</i> Most of the episodes are between one thousand and two thousand words. Right now, I've written a little over 20,000 words about four teenagers, two Human and two Wolfen, who are a part of negotiations between the two species, which have recently backed off from a bloody war. <i>Grav Board</i>? Well, yes, there is also the teens' implementation of anti-gravity technology to skateboarding.</p><p>I have a good idea of how the novel is going to end, but I haven't plotted out each episode. I write an episode, save it, and then come back a week or two later (or more) and read and revise and then publish. To be honest, it's a more casual approach than I usually take with my fiction, perhaps influenced by my years of active blogging. Usually my primary focus is on the story; with this novel, I'm also focused on the process and the enjoyment it is bringing me. Imagine that--not the suffering artist!</p><p>I know where I'm heading with the novel, but after completing and saving an episode, I go on about my daily business, the idea of the story in the back of my mind. Possibilities arise, some unexpected and delightful. When I sit down again at the computer to continue the story, that's when I ask myself, "Okay, what's going to happen today?" As I'm writing, new unexpected possibilities arise and insert themselves into the storyline. It's great to have the story to begin to tell itself. </p><p>And so at this time my novel writing is process-oriented. My procedures so far have been to keep a one or two episodes ahead of my weekly publishing on Thursday. I'm enjoying the process, and the weekly publishing provides enough incentive to keep at the writing. With the intense nature of events that surround us right now, I'm finding being able to leave for a while and imagine life in my created reality a great refuge. Am I writing a perfect story? Well, I can "perfect" the story by revision once I complete its serialized telling. </p><p>Until then, you're invited to read along on on Kindle Vella the adventures of Cletus, Kama, Garr, and Daga . . . and Salan, the <i>Chinari</i> . . . and how two space-faring civilizations manage to save themselves from mutual annihilation. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lJ0vtGyNDqI/YUylGcpOT8I/AAAAAAAAQnI/f51NiyTJ2bE0GG0sbZCEMEgAMl_un_ayACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1000" height="166" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lJ0vtGyNDqI/YUylGcpOT8I/AAAAAAAAQnI/f51NiyTJ2bE0GG0sbZCEMEgAMl_un_ayACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h166/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B09CNZWL2Z" target="_blank">Grav Board</a> </i>on Kindle Vella</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzb40Hzr0QU/YUylej0ftJI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/dmLJw-Q16gwVtJrKeMbOTbKj0j1MK1r-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s136/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" height="100" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gzb40Hzr0QU/YUylej0ftJI/AAAAAAAAQnQ/dmLJw-Q16gwVtJrKeMbOTbKj0j1MK1r-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="136" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup-->Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-4146289872380070532021-08-16T07:37:00.004-05:002021-08-20T11:17:27.826-05:00I Decide to Publish on Kindle Vella<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z4rB322vAo8/YRpNuDLBS9I/AAAAAAAAQdg/1byjhCNFOzoNES-hQu5BCnxabpIIPoQ-wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1000" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z4rB322vAo8/YRpNuDLBS9I/AAAAAAAAQdg/1byjhCNFOzoNES-hQu5BCnxabpIIPoQ-wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I don't know about other writers, but I think this is generally true--we get an idea and tuck it away for later. Later, of course, is a very fluid concept. <i>Later</i> can time out at a week, a month, or for me, over ten years. I don't even remember how long I've packed around the idea of how skateboards and anti-gravity technology would interact in the future. I've had the idea for a long time but haven't acted on it. And then <a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella" target="_blank">Kindle Vella</a> came along, and I decided to use that platform as a writing incentive for <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grav-Board/dp/B09CNZWL2Z/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tom+kepler&qid=1629475117&s=falkor&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Grav Board</a></i>, a serialized, episodic story about a teenager on an alien planet who likes to skateboard.<br /><br /><span style="text-align: left;">Here's the story description:</span></div></div><blockquote>It was a brief, bloody war between the Wolfen and us--two planets destroyed along with a fleet of warships from each of our kind. Then sanity overcame aggression and a planet was chosen--Haven, a home for the diplomats and us, their kids. We were "gestures of good faith," hostages of a sort I guess. The Human and Wolfen kids were told to never interact, that we weren't old enough and smart enough to deal with First Contact issues. We nodded and said "yes," and of course, ignored them completely.</blockquote><p>I've focused almost exclusively on blog and non-fiction writing for the last three years but have been wanting to get back into fiction. I had tried Wattpad some years back, another storytelling platform, but eventually threw in the towel. What I was writing didn't really match with the readers, I felt, but mostly in order to be successful on the platform, a lot of time had to be spent massaging the website to gain traction--more time than I was willing to spend. In my understanding, it was both a social and a publishing platform, and I wasn't either competent or inspired to spend the time at Wattpad necessary to highlight my writing.</p><p>I wanted to start writing fiction again, and this skateboarding story had always fascinated me--a blend of science fiction and growing up story, a story about friendship. The episodic nature of the platform suits my needs right now. I've written eight episodes so far, published five, and now have the opportunity to write regularly--daily--and to publish episodes to a schedule that will allow readers to expect "the next exciting installment."</p><p>It's a different experience for me because the platform (for me, at least) will lend itself to writing a rough draft, reading it over once, and then publishing it. I usually revise much more. The platform will allow me, though, to write the first draft, let it sit for a while, and then to revise and publish. I'm okay with the seat-of-your-pants style of publishing. Maybe it's the blog writing I've been doing the last few years. </p><p>What I need right now is to write fiction. I'm finding it soothing, and I think that's because I'm investing more in the process than the outcome. If writing is a journey, then right now I want to enjoy the journey. What with all the turmoil in the world, having a reality that I control completely (as much as any writer <i>controls</i> the process) is reassuring. It's a safe haven that I can return to again and again, a Rivendell of creativity that nurtures me in times of trouble. </p><p>Kindle Vella stories allow the first three episodes to be read for free. Then readers use tokens to gain access to following episodes, the number of tokens determined by the length of the episode. For instance, the fourth episode of <i>Grav Board</i>, "Hunt," is 1,459 words long and "costs" 14 tokens. Each episode has to be at least 600 words in length. Kindle provides each reader the first 200 tokens for free to get you reading. </p><p>If you're a writer, then you know that "at least 600 words" for an episode is a nice little length for a sit-me-down writing session--and we can always write more, you know! It's kind of a wild leap into thin air for me writing on this platform. Perhaps the subject of alien skateboarding is an appropriate metaphor for this time in my writing life. </p><p>If you want to read along with me as I write, please do so! After Kindle Direct Publishing informed me my first episodes were live, I went to the Kindle Vella site and tried to find <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grav-Board/dp/B09CNZWL2Z/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tom+kepler&qid=1629475117&s=falkor&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Grav Board</a></i>. Couldn't find it while searching categories. That's my biggest concern--the story drops into the immense ocean of platform content and disappears into the depths. </p><p>This blog article is a bit of self-marketing. If folks who read my blog articles or books are interested, go to my story, read and hopefully enjoy, and then provide a response--a review or a thumbs up. You can also share via Facebook or Twitter. Also, collect those free tokens so you can read more than the first three episodes for free. I figure that with the first three episodes being free and with the free tokens, you can read around the first twenty episodes for free. After that, I think the next two hundred tokens would cost you something like two bucks. </p><p>I've enjoyed writing the first three thousand words of this story. Getting back into the routine has been fulfilling. It's always great to have reader support, though, so follow along. It never hurts for a writer to remember that there's a reader hovering over your shoulder. It may not keep me completely aboveboard, but writers should feel free to plumb the depths for mysteries. Follow along (and, yes, there is a "follow story" button) and you'll be the first to see what treasure arises from the oceanic depths, still streaming with whatever water of creativity I can muster. </p><div style="text-align: left;">Just be sure to enjoy. <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grav-Board/dp/B09CNZWL2Z/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tom+kepler&qid=1629475117&s=falkor&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Grav Board</a></i> won't feature the news of the day. 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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-53500090777446627312021-07-26T07:01:00.001-05:002021-07-26T07:01:54.573-05:00Is the Amazon Kindle Vella the Right Publishing Platform for Me?<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M5sTDiOXKdM/YP6iQk8RrqI/AAAAAAAAQVA/GrF3zblKH1YGNXUo7t4QOYAw_LSfjZ3dACLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M5sTDiOXKdM/YP6iQk8RrqI/AAAAAAAAQVA/GrF3zblKH1YGNXUo7t4QOYAw_LSfjZ3dACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/photo-1616352360961-cce3fb07d8ad.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo @ <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/pID2dO4p7fo" target="_blank">Unsplash</a></td></tr></tbody></table>As a Kindle Direct Publishing author, I've been receiving emails from KDP promoting its new publishing platform <a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella?ref=kv_acq_g_127347564120_kwd-1387445383873_a0" target="_blank">Kindle Vella</a>. Here's a brief description they sent about this new program.</p><blockquote><p>Kindle Vella is a new storytelling option from Kindle Direct Publishing to self-publish serialized stories, one short 600–5,000 word episode at a time.</p><p>To begin, we recommend publishing at least five episodes before Kindle Vella is available to readers. Then publish regularly to keep your followers coming back for more.</p></blockquote><p>I researched online some regarding opinions of this new online publishing option. One article that was particularly informative for me was from the Reedsy website, "<a href="https://blog.reedsy.com/kindle-vella" target="_blank">What Is Kindle Vella? And Should You Join as an Author?</a>" The article provides an overview of Vella, describing how it works, the audience, and how authors will earn money for their writing. Bottom line, it's a lot like <a href="https://www.wattpad.com" target="_blank">Wattpad</a>. </p><p>I tried publishing on Wattpad for a while and then finally removed my writing from the platform. The reason is that serialized writing is something that you have to keep at to keep your audience. The most known authors on the platform are those who publish to their stories regularly . . . and therefore develop an audience of engaged readers who wait (hopefully with bated breath) for the next installment. The audience is mostly young readers--defined as readers who have grown up reading a lot on their phones.</p><p>I quit Wattpad because my writing routine didn't fit that pattern, but now here comes Kindle Vella, and I'm asking myself again, "Is this something I should do?" Off the top, my answer is a "no" and now I should move on. That was my perspective for about two days, and then I remembered something.</p><p>I have an idea for a young adult science fiction novel that I've been carrying around for many years. Now I have to ask myself, "Could I write the novel in a serialized form on Kindle Vella?" The Reedsy article characterizes Vella in the following manner: "Kindle Vella is Amazon’s foray into the 'serialization market,' currently dominated by established apps such as Wattpad or Radish, and with a readership consisting mostly of young readers." It sounds like Vella--or the other platforms--could provide a good incentive for me to write my tucked away story about space travel, aliens, kids (including alien kids), and skateboards that are hopped up by new technology. </p><p>I've wanted to write this novel for a long time. I think it would be fun, and having a readership to keep me encouraged and regularly writing would be great because writing is work, at least after the first ten thousand words. 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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-1655999947596797402021-07-08T05:54:00.000-05:002021-07-08T05:54:26.079-05:00I Fulfill a Request for a Signed Copy of My New Book: RTTC Bears in the Wild<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boVPwfCPI28/YOWbNJjnUxI/AAAAAAAAQOg/cC_czdxL0e05J-vIQWS3pZnzxSlUPUo3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s483/Bears%2Bfront.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-boVPwfCPI28/YOWbNJjnUxI/AAAAAAAAQOg/cC_czdxL0e05J-vIQWS3pZnzxSlUPUo3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Bears%2Bfront.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/RTTC-Bears-Wild-Teardrop-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0942XKXQV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2I4JO1QRK5IZC&dchild=1&keywords=rttc+bears+in+the+wild&qid=1625660146&sprefix=rttc+b%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-2" target="_blank">RTTC Bears in the Wild</a></td></tr></tbody></table>I can see why authors participate in book signing events. Not only does it promote the book, but such an event also is good for the author's sense of accomplishment. Readers show up and not only buy a book but also want it signed by the author. Of course, this is all true only if readers show up! I've read accounts of the opposite happening; when no one shows up to a book signing, then we must look deep into those waters of personal motivation.<p></p><p>Recently, I was asked through Facebook Messenger for a signed copy of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/RTTC-Bears-Wild-Teardrop-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0942XKXQV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2I4JO1QRK5IZC&dchild=1&keywords=rttc+bears+in+the+wild&qid=1625660146&sprefix=rttc+b%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-2" target="_blank">RTTC Bears in the Wild</a></i>. The reader had given her copy of the book away to a friend and contacted me asking for a signed copy. It had been a long time since I'd done this, and since I knew her from online, I told her I'd mail her a book and then contact her about how much it would cost.</p><p>The cost of printing <i>RTTC Bears in the Wild</i> is about two and a half times more than a book of similar pages but without the color photographs. When determining the cost of the little book, I had to factor the increased printing cost, of course. Also POD (Print on Demand) costs are higher than traditional mass printing. I like the POD publishing model, though, for a several reasons. One is that there are no upfront printing costs that the publisher and author must then recoup. Another is that there are no storage issues for the books--500 or 5,000 books take up quite a bit of space, and then there are also the issues of protection of the book, too, to ensure that water, humidity, and insects and rodents don't damage the book. Finally, there is the environmental plus with POD publishing that only those books purchased are printed. Trees are cut down to print books that are never read; energy is needlessly spent for printing that isn't needed. All these issues morph, of course, when discussing ebooks. The environmental discussion still deals with energy consumption, though.</p><p>I have a downstairs cupboard full of copies of my books--mostly my first three books. I've learned my lesson, though, and no longer buy a hundred copies of a new book. Ten copies will do, and I can always order more. I don't do promotional book signings, especially in my home town. I guess I feel that I just want to connect to readers online and not have to put my local friends through the decision-making process of "Oh, should we go to Tom's book signing? Do we have to buy a book? I don't want to hurt his feelings by not showing up." I have placed my books in a local book store, though. That was easy and seemed reasonable. I've also considered selling my books at the local Farmers' Market. I could set my table up next to a friend and spend a fun Saturday morning maybe selling a book but certainly chatting with folks. And I could buy a week's worth of zuchini--or maybe manage a swap!</p><p>It turns out that it's less expensive to buy a book from me personally than buying it online from Amazon. When a reader buys a copy of one of my books from Amazon, I receive sixty percent of the sale price. The rest goes to Kindle Direct Publishing for printing. KDP describes it as follows: "KDP offers a fixed 60% royalty rate on paperbacks sold on Amazon marketplaces where KDP supports paperback distribution. Your royalty is 60% of your list price. We then subtract printing costs, which depend on page count, ink type, and the Amazon marketplace your paperback was ordered from." This sounds pretty good--six dollars in royalties for a small book using black ink. However, those distribution marketplace costs are taken from the royalties, so in truth a ten-dollar book would maybe get an author two dollars for royalties. Here is a link from Martin Publishing Services (<a href="https://melindamartin.me/publishing-advice-resources/print-costs-and-royalty-structures-for-createspace-ingramspark/" target="_blank">click here</a>) if you're interested in learning more. </p><p>Another reason that it costs less to buy a book from me, rather than from Amazon (for the three books I've published exclusively via KDP) is that I do the packaging and mailing. If I were to charge for the hour it takes me to package the book and then take it to the post office, then . . . well, I really can't even consider that if I want to consider economics. It is fulfilling to mail a book off, though. There's a personal connection established by writing in the book and then mailing it off. If I were doing this all day long in order to make my living money, then I'd have to raise my prices. Occasionally mailing a signed copy to a reader? That's a gesture of respect.</p><div style="text-align: left;">Henry David Thoreau once commented on his publishing of <i>Walden</i>, something along these lines--"I have a library of one thousand books, of which nine hundred are the book I wrote." I've managed to not "save money" by privately printing a large number of books, where each book printed would indeed cost less than POD publishing. However, I have cut my upfront costs to almost nothing and also don't have to stare at a roomful of books and wonder, "What am I going to do with all those darn books?" The good news is that rather than worrying about how I can sell more copies of my recent camping book--I'm just going camping!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-11099477546737680512021-07-01T06:03:00.001-05:002021-07-01T06:03:32.990-05:00Creating and Publishing a Book on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Using a Chromebook and Google Drive<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktLQl9J0fyQ/YN2edNa5fCI/AAAAAAAAQHI/E9WVQxPhX781r69CPxD_figc1HVUamGHgCPcBGAsYHg/s476/IMG_0734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktLQl9J0fyQ/YN2edNa5fCI/AAAAAAAAQHI/E9WVQxPhX781r69CPxD_figc1HVUamGHgCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_0734.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PO2BSBY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2" target="_blank">A Day Out with Mom</a></td></tr></tbody></table>That's a pretty long title for this article, especially since this article isn't going to be a long and detail-filled exposition of step-by-step how to put together a book using the online-centered Chromebook and Google Drive platforms. The truth is that it's not that difficult to independently publish your own book using Kindle Direct Publishing's program. I've used the KDP platform to publish three small books (around one hundred pages) that have been based on blog articles I've written. My last book, recently published, is the first one, though, that I've put together using Google Drive's online word processing rather than Microsoft word processing and a fully independent laptop. The bottom line is that working online with a Chromebook was a bit slower at times, that the Google Doc word processing program was a bit more limited than Word, but that once I realized the differences, I was pretty much able to do whatever I wanted to create the book. </p><div style="text-align: left;">Here are the three books I've published through Amazon's KDP, available both as paperbacks and as ebooks:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/RTTC-Bears-Wild-Teardrop-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0942XKXQV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9JDVGOA0R0N2&dchild=1&keywords=rttc+bears+in+the+wild&qid=1624962295&sprefix=RTTC+Bears+in+the%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1" target="_blank">RTTC Bears in the Wild</a></i> (2021)</li><li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PO2BSBY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2" target="_blank">A Day Out with Mom</a></i> (2014)</li><li><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HCMG18/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3" target="_blank">I Write: Being and Writing</a></i> (2012)</li></ul>KDP allows an author to sign up and then begin creating a book, walking the author through the steps of "Creating a New Title":</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Book Content: You can upload a manuscript, or use our free creation tools to create children's books, educational content, comics, and manga. Get started with Kindle content creation tools.</li><li>Book Cover: You can use our online Cover Creator, or upload a cover of your own. Creating a great cover.</li><li>Description, Keywords and Categories: Tell readers about your book and help them find it on Amazon.</li><li>ISBN: Get a free ISBN to publish your paperback. Kindle eBooks don't need one. More about ISBNs.</li></ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oIiiplNQFvc/YN2fHmRdGjI/AAAAAAAAQHU/T8uq1fjQIscyvUmCmxSsGxWKksin2b2cQCPcBGAsYHg/s454/IMG_0733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="301" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oIiiplNQFvc/YN2fHmRdGjI/AAAAAAAAQHU/T8uq1fjQIscyvUmCmxSsGxWKksin2b2cQCPcBGAsYHg/w213-h320/IMG_0733.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HCMG18/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3" target="_blank">I Write: Being & Writing</a></td></tr></tbody></table>For each step, Amazon KDP provides guidance, and there are also usually online blogs and YouTube videos that provide insights. What I've found about Chromebooks, which don't have the memory capacity of traditional computers because information is saved online, and what I've found out about working on Google Drive's doc platform, is that there are a few speed and capabilities limitations. However, for a traditional book layout, these boundaries are more occasional nuisances than deal breakers. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've put together eight books since 2010 (see my <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Kepler/e/B004J1ARPO/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1" target="_blank">Amazon author's page</a>), using Adobe, Microsoft, and Google Doc word processing programs. The first book, a poetry book, was compiled using Microsoft Word, the next two used Adobe's InDesign, and the last have used KDP with Word or Google Doc templates. I had a friend who helped me <i>a lot</i> with the first three books, and we also designed the book covers using Adobe Photo Shop. For the later books, I used KDP's book design templates.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here are some of the nuisances and limitations I've discovered using KDP and Google Docs on a Chromebook.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The KDP downloaded templates have a set number of chapters when downloaded. Because of my limited word processing and designing expertise, I found the process of working with the sections, rows, and columns to be a challenge, especially since I only put together a book every few years. I did manage by fiddling around to learn how to widen certain cells or add more rows in the table of contents section. I learned how to add more chapters to the book and table of contents. If I knew more, I probably could have been more efficient, though.</li><li>Some of what I learned through my experience with Word had to be massaged to understand for Google Docs. For instance, adding anchors for ebook navigation in Word (moving from the table of contents to the chapter and back to the TOC) was not exactly the same for Google Docs. "Bookmarks" is the Docs designation for anchors, and the possibilities for use seem to be limited in Docs. I say "seem" because it wasn't always clear. I'd read an article online of how to set up an ebook's table of contents for the Amazon Kindle platform using Docs, and then some of the directions from the article met up with the Docs platform just not having the "go to" or "click" steps available. </li><li>As my book grew in length--as I inserted chapters and photos--saving the program grew a little longer. I had moments of panic when I received a message from the Kindle draft viewing function saying that there was an error in saving. What! Had I lost the entire manuscript? What I realized after a time of panic was that the movement of the manuscript from Google Drive to Kindle might take a bit and to not jump right from compiling the book on Drive to checking out what the book will look like on the preview section. The process was not instantaneous. That scare did lead me, though, to regularly making copies of the publishing draft and saving them under a new name, such as "Bear March 25," which provided the assurance that if all my compiling work did get lost or corrupted in the ether, that I'd have a copy of what I'd created.</li></ul>These few insights leads me to the need to reiterate that my last three books have been collections of blog articles that I've compiled into books, listed earlier in this article. Creating the book wasn't just copying and pasting the articles into the book template, though. I mean, well, it was that, but a book is different than a blog; book chapters are different than blog articles. Time flows differently in a book than in a blog. Words like "here," "now," and "today" don't play out the same in books as in blogs. Therefore, the final manuscript for these books was significantly different than all the blog articles put together. The books are unique documents, and losing a manuscript because saving in the cloud didn't work would be a real downer. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My blog articles were in a very real way just drafts of an upcoming book that I've shared with readers. For my first blog-to-book adventure--<i>I Write: Being and Writing</i>--I didn't even have the idea of putting the articles together into a book until while talking to a friend about a series of articles I was writing he said, "Hey, you know, you could put those together into a book." That may seem pretty obvious, but it was a revelation to me at the time. The concept isn't new, that's for sure. During the 1800s, Dickens and others first serialized their novels for periodicals prior to publishing them as books.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vZTr8gPx8g/YN2fV2JKy-I/AAAAAAAAQHY/hDdRvtoC02MHpMOvvYJHLI_IJtNCSvTFACLcBGAsYHQ/s241/Bears%2Bsmall%2Bfront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="170" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4vZTr8gPx8g/YN2fV2JKy-I/AAAAAAAAQHY/hDdRvtoC02MHpMOvvYJHLI_IJtNCSvTFACLcBGAsYHQ/w226-h320/Bears%2Bsmall%2Bfront.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/RTTC-Bears-Wild-Teardrop-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0942XKXQV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=rttc+bears+in+the+wild&qid=1625136245&sr=8-1" target="_blank">RTTC Bears in the Wild</a></td></tr></tbody></table>My final thoughts on using laptops that word process primarily from online platforms--and then coupling that with online independent publishing platforms--is that regular creation of backup files of the manuscript (even if backed up online) is always a good idea. It will provide you with a sense of security. A second point is that there may be time lags sometimes, that you can't just jump from one step to another quickly. Be patient. And finally, the Google Doc word processing program may have some limitations that can probably be worked around but which might cause some frustration or even necessitate some adaptation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These are just my experiences, but most folks are like me, not wizards at all the ins and outs of whatever word process and publishing platforms are being utilized. It's like fixing something in our home. You fix or replace something, and then ten years later you have to do it again. "Now how did I do that?" you think, and then you have to go back and learn all over, at the same time realizing that in ten years <i>things have changed</i>. Oh, well! I've managed to produce a nice little book, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/RTTC-Bears-Wild-Teardrop-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0942XKXQV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=rttc+bears+in+the+wild&qid=1625136245&sr=8-1" target="_blank">RTTC Bears in the Wild</a></i>, which I think provides some good reading and good color photos this last time around. It was a great experience to research this little camping book, to write the blog articles, and then to put everything together and make available both as a paperback and an ebook. Although not the only game in town (KDP only publishes on Amazon), I've found my Chromebook, Google Doc, and KDP combination to work fine for me. 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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-36400485214363616472021-06-20T06:23:00.004-05:002021-06-20T06:23:54.179-05:00A Blended, Extended Family Father's Day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv0HOeRhzFY/YM8ir8JGzRI/AAAAAAAAP5M/MmzFymjbsAwBNBBQ8xAqyYhX9JrwPV5xACLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/happy.fathers.day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="919" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv0HOeRhzFY/YM8ir8JGzRI/AAAAAAAAP5M/MmzFymjbsAwBNBBQ8xAqyYhX9JrwPV5xACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/happy.fathers.day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />It's funny how things change. When I first moved to Iowa in 1984, it was just my first wife and me. My parents, brother and sister, and all my relatives were in California. Most of my wife's parents were in Washington state. Now, thirty-seven years later, my first wife has passed, her parents, my parents and brother and sister, and all my aunts and uncles except one. <p></p><p>This is not a Father's Day lament, though, about my isolation and old-age angst. I am very fortunate. I did remarry, which was actually a wonderfully funny surprise to us both . . . but that's another story. Over the last sixteen years, there were many comings and goings of our children, my wife Sandy's son and daughter and my first wife Barbara and my son. At times we were alone with our children scattered across half the continent, but on this Father's Day I can say that happily that is not the case. </p><p>All our children are now here in town with us, having settled here--along with the children of Sandy's daughter and those of my son and his wife. Also with Sandy's son and his girlfriend, that makes us a total of thirteen: Grandpa and Grandma (Sandy and me), three children and their partners, and five grandchildren, including my son's blended family. On this Father's Day, I am definitely not living in isolation, sitting on my porch and watching other people pass by, walking or driving or bicycling, living their lives while I increasingly dwelling in the past.</p><p>I am sitting in my living room at dawn right now, the window open for a while before the day heats up, and just from where I'm sitting I can see the dynamism of my family interactions. Over below the TV table is a galvanized tub filled with odds and ends of toys we've brought over from Sandy's daughter's place. Sitting kind of in the middle of the room is a box full of food staples that we had too much of and Sandy's son is coming to pick the food up. Beside the box of food is a burlap carrying bag that my wife uses for swimming necessaries when she heads up to the city's local lake. Along with towels, she'll stuff it with juice boxes and snacks for the grandkids. </p><p>To my right next to the sofa is a stack of books I researched on our local public library's website and then checked out for Sandy. You see, I'm heading out tomorrow to a local campground for a week in our new Airstream Basecamp travel trailer, and I wanted to make sure that Sandy has plenty of reading material on hand. We're planning on Sandy coming to camp with me next weekend, if not sooner, depending on what her business requires. Speaking of reading, I'm on my computer and realize I also have regular communication with my first wife Barbara's family in Washington. It's a big, connected world.</p><p>I am surrounded by family, planted deeply in the rich soil of family (even if sometimes we wonder if we're planted <i>a</i> <i>little too deeply</i>), and am as busy and connected as I can possibly be. This evening when it cools, my son and Sandy's daughter's husband are coming to fix a leak on the roof. When I'm gone camping, my son will keep the garden watered. Later this summer I will buy a big load of firewood, and I'm pretty sure and hope to god "the boys" will come over and help me stack it. </p><div style="text-align: left;">On this Father's Day, I wish to celebrate the idea that "families are made in many ways." My mother was adopted; my son is adopted. Right now Sandy and I are the paterfamilias and materfamilias of our extended, blended family that includes thirteen wonderful souls. We all have many opportunities to create family, and it doesn't even have to be through marriage or partnership. It has to do with reaching out and giving and receiving. It has to do with including, not excluding--reaching out rather than pushing away. I am lucky, I am fortunate. I am so far away from "lonely" that I'm looking forward to a little quiet camping time. It is summer, though, so Sandy and I won't be at all surprised if our little quiet camping getaway is interrupted by the arrival of at least one car full of kids and grandkids. And that will be just fine. Happy Father's Day, Tom.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQib31H4ZAI/YM8hp_I5LRI/AAAAAAAAP5E/68Ul78dvWJE7kmR2BgNlsW4VEqmLXGn1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s136/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQib31H4ZAI/YM8hp_I5LRI/AAAAAAAAP5E/68Ul78dvWJE7kmR2BgNlsW4VEqmLXGn1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-62078801808910949982021-06-14T06:40:00.002-05:002021-06-14T06:54:02.666-05:00Giving Books to My Local Public Library<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpkGRkNuS_Q/YMc-t33wCbI/AAAAAAAAP30/N31YlBgDsxojoW2ZB6VMynYbEUxL-6v-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/191262_standard.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1324" data-original-width="2000" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qpkGRkNuS_Q/YMc-t33wCbI/AAAAAAAAP30/N31YlBgDsxojoW2ZB6VMynYbEUxL-6v-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/191262_standard.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>When our local public library closed because of the pandemic, that didn't stop my wife and me from reading. It did affect how we acquired our books, though. I learned how to browse the public library's book list from the online catalog and, thankfully, was able to check out books via their curbside delivery program. <p></p><p>I discussed my online browsing and curbside pick-up in an earlier post: "<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/510707636208336657/212030839250223446" target="_blank">My Local Public Library Has Only Curbside Service--How I Learned to Browse Online</a>." Learning how to browse for library books online has been a fun adventure, especially when browsing for books my wife might like to read. I've discovered some new sub-genres (such as the <a href="https://cozy-mystery.com/definition-of-a-cozy-mystery.html" target="_blank">"cozy" mystery</a>) and some new authors, in addition to forming what really amounts to my wife and my very own husband/wife book club.</p><p>Often, though, an author we discover online has only one or two books from a series that our library has on the shelves. We've had to purchase books, used or new, to fill in a series we are reading. As an example, the author <a href="https://maryalicemonroe.com" target="_blank">Mary Alice Monroe</a> has written a trilogy set in the Carolinas called the "Lowcountry Summer" series. Our library had the first two books in the series but not the third, which we bought. It also had one book from Monroe's "Beach House" series, so we bought the other books in the series, plus some of Monroe's standalone novels. </p><p>Another author whom we've bought quite a few books from is <a href="https://www.annaleehuber.com" target="_blank">Anna Lee Huber</a>. Huber has written nine books in one series and four in another, and our library had the last book from each series. After researching Huber, my wife and I decided to buy the first book in each series to see how much we liked the writing. We ended up buying all the books in each series--except the last, of course, since our LPL had those two on its shelves. </p><p>The question arises, though, of what to do with all those books we've bought, especially since they are "just one time" reads. And the answer, of course, is to donate them to the library!</p><p>When I mentioned to the librarian that I had some books my wife and I had bought that filled in missing books from some series that the library owned, the librarian's response was somewhat unexpected, even though on second thought it made perfect sense. She said that not all donated books make the shelves. I knew this, since the library holds regular book sales and even has a section of the library that holds used books for sale.</p><p>The librarian also said that even if a book donated completes a trilogy, as my "Lowcountry Summer" example mentioned earlier, the book still might not make it to the shelves. It seems that it would; after all, why not complete the trilogy? What the librarian explained was that if the two books in the trilogy had only been checked out once--say in the last five years--and that once was by me, then rather than completing the trilogy, the two books on the shelves might be discarded and included, along with my donation, to a regular library book sale.</p><p>It doesn't really matter to me, though. Either way I am supporting the library, either by improving the quality of the books to loan or by adding to the library's coffers when they sell a book I donated. That makes me happy. As far as I'm concerned, free public libraries are among the most nurturing, positive institutions that were ever imagined. Read on and prosper!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZbUmhl9iA6A/YMc7ZOASCaI/AAAAAAAAP3s/3bET0DZjwkkVmCOpjDH3bP4nSZpMv3jzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s136/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZbUmhl9iA6A/YMc7ZOASCaI/AAAAAAAAP3s/3bET0DZjwkkVmCOpjDH3bP4nSZpMv3jzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-57057229645850677952021-06-03T05:53:00.002-05:002021-06-03T05:53:18.205-05:00My Canceled WordPress.com Blog Misadventure<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N7uXMVgUilo/YLiyks7lOyI/AAAAAAAAP0E/VKIu25AM4kwX8fFn55nO4mAzvrUOfWCKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s298/download.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="298" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N7uXMVgUilo/YLiyks7lOyI/AAAAAAAAP0E/VKIu25AM4kwX8fFn55nO4mAzvrUOfWCKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/download.png" /></a></div>It all started when Blogger's Feedburner "Follow by Email" was scheduled to be shut down. I needed a new email subscriber service, so I decided to move to WordPress.com, with their Premium $96 a year plan. Boy, was that a mistake!<p></p><p>I had been at Blogger with my Green Goddess Glamping camping blog for three years. I've had this Tom Kepler Writing blog at Blogger for over ten years. The composing process is pretty easy, what used to be called a WYSIWYG site, a "wizzy-wig" or What You See Is What You Get set-up. Pretty easy to use. The WordPress Premium level platform did have some more options, along with a learning curve--but I felt all was within my capacity.</p><p>Then I imported my three years of blog posts from Blogger and discovered that everywhere that I had used an single quote or double quote, the text came out including a backslash, such as <i>can/'t</i> instead of can't, or /"Follow by Email/" instead of "Follow by Email." I like the WordPress online chat service for problems, but didn't like the news I received. When I reported that I had written over 250 articles in three years and all the articles included this problem--and also page titles--I was told the Premium plan could not help me--I could go to the $300 a year plan, though! The "Happiness Engineer" chat comments are below.</p><blockquote>By manually removing them, WordPress will display the titles, content, etc without the backslash character. I don't think there is an automatic way of doing this on the Premium plan but let me double-check for a moment.</blockquote><blockquote>Another idea that will work is creating a local version of your site, using search/replace plugin on the local site to clean up the unnecessary characters, then import or do a search and replace on that setup, export that site and import it here.</blockquote><p>I have to admit that after researching online and finding out that this issue has been around for over ten years and that WordPress.com hasn't found a fix for this for the $96 per year plan (or the free, entry-level plan, for that matter), that pretty much tripped my trigger. </p><p>I researched my original problem of finding a new "follow by email" service and found that Mailchimp has a great platform for free (with under 500 subscribers). I activated that service for this blog and then decided to move back to Blogger with my Green Goddess Glamping blog. </p><p>In all fairness, I imagine the $300 a year option for WordPress.com is wonderful. For my little one-person blogs, though, I don't want to pay that amount for each, not when there is another way to go. WordPress.com is probably a good way to go if you're starting a blog out from scratch. Importing, though? Beware!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llgKFPXY-Bc/YLi0QBERfvI/AAAAAAAAP0M/8Av0ecDjtVs7_-PPD2D4W34mtrxhjbyeACLcBGAsYHQ/s136/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llgKFPXY-Bc/YLi0QBERfvI/AAAAAAAAP0M/8Av0ecDjtVs7_-PPD2D4W34mtrxhjbyeACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/TKW%2BEmail%2BAvatar100.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><!--Begin Mailchimp Signup Form-->
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<!--End mc_embed_signup--></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-19190456501892270572021-05-12T07:30:00.002-05:002021-05-12T07:30:39.258-05:00Anna Lee Huber Historical Mysteries: Her Wily Characterizations<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4KdrDbYI9gs/YJvHPcu5w8I/AAAAAAAAPyM/fbeQD-MnFXIu-tC92h5cYdnjTCEAbB48ACLcBGAsYHQ/s208/anna_lee_huber_portrait_medium_facing_right.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="175" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4KdrDbYI9gs/YJvHPcu5w8I/AAAAAAAAPyM/fbeQD-MnFXIu-tC92h5cYdnjTCEAbB48ACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/anna_lee_huber_portrait_medium_facing_right.png" /></a></div>I enjoy writing about what I'm currently reading, and my current binge will probably rate several blog posts over time. I've been reading what one blogger at <a href="https://bookriot.com/historical-mysteries-nevertheless-persisted" target="_blank">Book Riot</a> has described as "feminist historical mysteries." I've taken each of those three words and analyzed them in the context of what I've been reading, and have gained some new insights.<p></p><p>Over the winter I began gathering books from our local public library for my wife's reading. Why didn't she do so herself? Well, I'm retired and she's still working, the library was closed for browsing (only curbside pick-up) which meant browsing was relegated to online catalog search, and I enjoy browsing (whether online or eyeballing the shelves). I also like to do nice things for my wife. What I discovered in my browsing is that there is an entire sub-genre out there of women mysteries. This is nothing new for me to discover, of course. After all, <a href="https://www.agathachristie.com" target="_blank">Agatha Christie</a> is one of the best-selling novelists of all time, and she wrote stories that included not only male detective Hercule Poirot but also strong female sleuths. <a href="https://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/09/agatha-christie-four-heroines-that-make-her-an-unlikely-feminist-icon" target="_blank">One BBC writer</a> affirmed that Christie "fought Victorian literary conventions, which saw women painted as frivolous and focused on men, to bring the public gutsy females with great minds," listing four heroines that made Christie "an unlikely feminist icon." </p><p>What my wife and I have been noticing and appreciating in our current reading is that "feminist historical mysteries" include some very good reads. <a href="https://www.annaleehuber.com" target="_blank">Anna Lee Huber</a> is one writer who is currently publishing intelligent, adept mysteries that include strong female protagonists. </p><p>Why attach the word "feminist" to her books? Huber is publishing two mystery series, the Lady Darby mysteries, set in the early 1800s, and the Verity Kent series of mysteries, set in the World War I era. Both women protagonists are intelligent "inquiry agents," yet also have to work within a melieu that severely defines and restricts the "appropriate" behavior of women. These women protagonists also are paired with love and work partners who are more open to having equal relationships with women. The result of Huber's characterizations is that not only are the gender limitations of past eras seen but the challenges that face our current times are also illustrated. I like, though, how Huber characterizes the success of the couples as being based in mutual respect and honesty. The main characters are developed in a balanced manner so that gender depictions don't skew into stereotypes. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SJRJsL-wHeE/YJvHuf8NHYI/AAAAAAAAPyU/mqwhPjS5xiUMp0gVKqOIC6HRF0z7kGWNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s329/this_side_of_murder_cover_medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="216" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SJRJsL-wHeE/YJvHuf8NHYI/AAAAAAAAPyU/mqwhPjS5xiUMp0gVKqOIC6HRF0z7kGWNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/this_side_of_murder_cover_medium.png" /></a></div>These are historical novels, and Huber does capture the essence of the time and place. Her descriptions of castles on the moor or descriptions of the streets of London feel authentic, as do her details of the fashion of each era, whether in clothes or architecture. I especially appreciate, though, how Huber is not heavy-handed in her inclusion of historical detail and relevant background information. Such detail is assiduously woven into the narrative so that its inclusion doesn't interrupt the flow of the action. In the Verity Kent series, I found myself stepping into the WWI era in a manner that I hadn't before, feeling the overpowering stress of the trenches on the war front and also the stress of wives and families back in England, hoping against hope that the boy on the red bicycle doesn't arrive at their door with a telegram from the war office. <p></p><p>Huber applies the "mystery" of these feminist historical mysteries with a deft hand. The clues arrive with due diligence, and the suspects are sufficient to keep us guessing. I honestly didn't know who the real culprit was in many of the novels until the very last few pages. As each series progresses, the protagonists become more skilled in their inquiry skills; in addition, the working relationship between the protagonists and their partners deepens. This provides not only the satisfaction of following the trail of bread crumbs the sleuths have to follow but also the engaging in the increasing richness of the relationships as they evolve. The Verity Kent series also adds the mystery "pearl" of a Moriarty-like character to the series. Just as Sherlock Holmes and Watson had their arch-villain rival in Moriarty, so Verity and Sidney Kent have their evil plotter--who shall remain unnamed to avoid spoiling the fun of discovery.</p><p>One standard I use to determine an author's skill is whether or not that author is able to credibly develop characters, no matter what gender. Do those characters seem real? Do they come alive on the page? The ability to create believable and relatable characters is one of Anna Lee Huber's strengths as a writer. I've come to realize she's just one of many women writers who have tapped into the interest in "feminist historical fiction." Huber and other writers tap into that fascination by readers that Mark Twain tapped into with his novel <i><a href="https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/174/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court" target="_blank">A Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court</a></i>. Beyond Twain's satire is just the simple allure of a character displaced in time with special knowledge and abilities. Huber has created her women protagonists to have skills, abilities, and predilections that are more modern than the times in which her stories are set. The struggles of these characters--and their partners--to find fulfillment in their lives are not so different than our own (except possibly multiplied by an "x" factor), and that is one secret of Huber's success as a mystery novelist. Because we want to prevail, we want her wily main characters to prevail. If they can do it, then maybe so can we.</p>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-39319068115041307662021-05-03T05:54:00.000-05:002021-05-03T05:54:03.616-05:00The Joy of Spring Gardening<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--agMIDBHyX4/YI_VX0c1IYI/AAAAAAAAPxM/TgXEk7WNMM06Itmp812eWc9CsWK1xsKIQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1030/Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1030" data-original-width="918" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--agMIDBHyX4/YI_VX0c1IYI/AAAAAAAAPxM/TgXEk7WNMM06Itmp812eWc9CsWK1xsKIQCLcBGAsYHQ/w356-h400/Garden.jpg" width="356" /></a></div>Chives, arugula, radishes, kale, cilantro, and asparagus. The spring garden is beginning to produce, but that "produce" isn't just the vegetables my wife and I eat, even though our fresh food is a substantial part of what we gain.<p></p><p>The first positive gain each year from our garden is just getting outside into the fresh air and open sky. After a long year inside, being outside is uplifting, and physical tasks in that fresh air are invigorating to the system even when there is some fatigue. Even when "getting outside" means being in our mini-greenhouse, there is still the smell of fresh soil, the warmer temperatures, and the promise of what is to come at a later date outside.</p><p>Every spring brings for me a sense of renewal--and it's not symbolic but actual. The earth thaws and can be worked. The soil is ready for planting and watering. The physical activity and the participation in the spring cycle of the seasons is like jumping on a streetcar. We are moved along with the plants; we are uplifted, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. By engaging in the process of planting and nurturing the seedlings, we enliven within ourselves that same dynamism that drives the plants from the seed--stem and leaves to the sky, roots deep into the soil. As poet <a href="https://poets.org/poem/force-through-green-fuse-drives-flower" target="_blank">Dylan Thomas</a> wrote: "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower / Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees / Is my destroyer." Beyond and deeper than mind and intellect, we are one with nature.</p><p>We cannot minimize the simple act of working the earth, though. <i>And it is work</i>, getting our hands dirty in order to get the soil ready for a new season. There is an inertia to the cold, dark, sleeping months of winter that working in the garden can dissipate. For every sore muscle and blister, there is the inspiration of the seeds and of sap uprising that calls us to get the job done, to not miss the planting time, and once the seed is in the ground and the garden plot watered, I find it impossible to not lean on the rake and admire the beauty of sun warming the soil, the joy of handing the job over to nature, to sun and rain and soil.</p><p>The garden can be a mandala, circles within circles, cycles within cycles. To attune ourselves to the grammar of our garden is to learn the language of nature, to discover within the simple syntax of the garden the cosmic song of life. We have to be receptive, though, and to pay attention. If we give ourselves to our garden, our garden will give us back ourselves. We are the sun and rain and earth and wind--and the underlying unity from which all the elements arise. I am never alone in the garden but share a common bond, breathe the common air, knowing in my bones that there is nothing common about the miracle of spring and the sweet fragrance of peach blossoms blowing across the awakened earth. We are bees in flight. Let us do our work, according to our true nature; let us find the nectar in the flower and celebrate our time on this beautiful earth.</p>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-510707636208336657.post-76699882789252221482021-04-24T04:22:00.001-05:002021-04-24T04:22:31.554-05:00A Covid Parable, a Parallel Tale<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hCRx5QKofw/YIPeEAkG6DI/AAAAAAAAPr0/VwNspX6wJvYfbWoDMbxtVRcS1T4v9fVFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/seatbelt-1024x683.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9hCRx5QKofw/YIPeEAkG6DI/AAAAAAAAPr0/VwNspX6wJvYfbWoDMbxtVRcS1T4v9fVFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/seatbelt-1024x683.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I'm calling this a parable or a tale, but this is actually a true story. It's the correspondences, the connections which make this story resonate beyond its simple premise.<p></p><p>My neighbor for many years was an elder lady who lived by herself. Her husband had passed away long ago, and her daughter was old enough to be a great-grandmother. Margaret was almost ninety years old when she told me this story. Still living independently and driving her car herself, my son and I enjoyed her quiet, steady, unflappable approach to life. Come winter, we would always shovel her sidewalk and driveway for her. Come spring, Margaret always gave me some fresh rhubarb from her backyard for rhubarb coffee cake.</p><p>Margaret had driven a car for so long that her driving experience pre-dated the use of seatbelts. Those vintage autos just didn't have seatbelts--and don't even think about airbags.</p><p>"For a long time," Margaret told me one day, "I didn't wear seatbelts, even after cars started coming out with them. It wasn't that I didn't believe in them. I'd known people who had been thrown through windshields in a wreck."</p><p>The question I asked, of course, was if she knew that seatbelts were effective, then why hadn't she used them . . . and why did she use them now?</p><p>"It wasn't that I didn't believe in seatbelts," Margaret said. "It was just this one thing that kept me from buckling up. You see, I was afraid that if I was in a crash, my seatbelt would get stuck, and I would be trapped and die in a fire. I was afraid of burning up in a car fire. That would be such a terrible way to die, and it has happened to people, you know."</p><p>"So what changed your mind?" I asked.</p><p>"It was just time, really," Margaret said. "More and more people used seatbelts. More and more information and facts came out about seatbelts and how they made you safer. Eventually, I realized that there was no doubt that seatbelts saved many people from dying from automobile accidents. I couldn't argue that."</p><p>She said, "I thought about my fear of dying by fire, trapped in a car, and I realized that was a possibility. It did happen. I also came to realize, though, that many, many people died in car crashes. You could almost call it a <i>common</i> occurrence. Being in a car crash, the seatbelt sticking, and then having the car catch on fire and you dying in the fire--now, that was a <i>very rare</i> happening, a very small part of the deaths from car wrecks. I just came to realize that it was much more likely that I'd die in a regular crash than from a fiery crash that I couldn't escape because of my seatbelt. I just had to face my fear and choose the safest course."</p><p>Margaret chose the safest course of action, the safer of two possibilities--seatbelt or no seatbelt. She chose to wear a seatbelt while driving. "It took a while for me to be comfortable wearing that seatbelt," she said. "I knew I was safer, though, and that got me past my fear."</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Additional Information</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.nghs.com/2021/02/10/how-is-the-covid-19-vaccine-like-a-seat-belt" target="_blank">"How Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Like a Seatbelt?"</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">--from the Northeast Georgia Health System blog</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/news/health/coronavirus-health/experts-talk-normalcy-after-second-dose-of-the-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank">"Experts Talk Normalcy After Second Dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine"</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">--8CBS News Show, Las Vegas</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Tom Keplerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11213713830938688817noreply@blogger.com0