S.O.W.

Oh my, life has been so crazy that it's been over a month since I posted. That's definitely not fair to my faithful readers, although it would serve me right if I didn't have any of those anymore. My deepest apologies to those of you who keep checking but find nothing new.

And, no ... S.O.W. doesn't have anything to do with pigs; it stands for "state of the writer." The writer is not only apologetic for her long absence from this blog but also very grateful for every reader. A big welcome goes out to my nephew Eric, who informed me last weekend that he reads this blog! What a sweetheart he is; I suspect not too many 23 year-old guys would read their auntie's blog.

He told me this after I had put him to work helping me set up a bedroom in my parent's (his grandparents) new condo that we were moving their life into last weekend. That's part of the reason there have been no new posts here recently. I usually add my posts on the weekends and I've been gone a few weekends helping Mom pack, visiting Dad in the hospital, and finally helping the move to happen. And then, because I'm still working four days a week, of course work had to get really busy, with lots of meetings and extra clients.

Of course, it didn't help that I took a couple of weeks holidays in the middle of September to go tour the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Niagara Falls area with my husband. But, oh my, did we ever have a good time. I was really pleased that my knee injury (see last post) didn't prevent any of the things I wanted to do and see from happening, although I was pretty sore at the end of some of those days of touring, especially when more walking was required. 

                   
                             (Here's a shot of me with the Horseshoe Falls in the background.)

                       
                        (And one of the two of us as we approached the much more impressive
                                                    Canadian side of Niagara Falls)

I've also been busy with my regular writing assignments for our local newspaper and picked up a delightful assignment from ChristianWeek, a Winnipeg based Canadian magazine. My article about depression at Christmastime should appear in their December issue. I submitted it last night and now I finally have time to get back to this blog, which I have missed writing.

In the end, the state of this writer is apologetic, grateful, and happy to be writing for you once more. Thanks again for your patience.