Rainy Days

Ah, finally a little time to blog again.

It's been a busy few weeks, obviously, since I haven't had the time post anything since September. The good news is that the contractors are well on their way to getting the new floor down and the house put back together after the great Water Heater Flood of '09. Hagy's Photography's schedule is rapidly filling up with weddings and a couple of simple portrait thats are keeping us hopping, so there hasn't been a great deal of time for leisurely pursuits.

Patrick and I did make some pretty sweet kabobs Saturday evening that are worthy of note and we'll probably make again someday, only next time we'll have a clue what we're doing.

We're getting the first glimpse of winter here in western Virginia. The trees all say its fall, but the cold temperatures and colder rain speak more of Old Man Winter. The high today didn't break 45 and there's been a steady, chilling rain falling since late this morning. The forecast is warning of the first wintry mix of the season, so it may be a long winter.

But before we bid farewell to fall there's still plenty of photo opportunities left out there. In fact, I plan on visiting Roaring Run at least two more times before winter really sets in, the first of these trips Friday. I went last week, which was when I made the image posted above, and focused specifically on the area above the restricted fishing line. I also climbed above the main falls and went up the creek a ways, a photograph I'm saving for the next post.

I discovered another cascade worthy of photographing and I'm told there's another one beyond that. Last Friday I was pushing the limits of light and had to leave so I could see my way out, so hopefully in the next two weeks I'll be hiking farther than I've been before along Roaring Run Creek.

Been working on Bob Seger's Against the Wind for the past two days. It isn't too hard to play, but switching in and out of a barred Bminor is giving me some trouble. I'm also playing it against the CD and learning to sing with it too. That may be harder than anything else, but oh well. It will all come with time.

Now that the fourth season of Bones is finally out on DVD we try to squeeze in at least an episode a night. I've been hard pressed to find another show that well written with character interplay that complex and well done. The acting is excellent and they're living up to the story lines they are being given. I'm pretty excited about seeing where it all goes.

I'm also finally getting around to reading The Eagle, the last of Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles. I love historical novels and this series details Arthur's Camelot the way it may really have been as a group of former Roman citizens try to survive the fall of the Roman Empire in Britain. Whyte does an excellent job in grounding Arthurian legend in historical fact and it's an excellent read. There are moments in these novels that will give you goosebumps.

Work continues on Blood and Steel and The Crownless King and now also The Sixth Sword. I'm aiming for a Christmas release of The Crownless King and hopefully a January release of The Sixth Sword. Soon after, work will begin on The Sea of Souls and I would think that by this time next year I'll have Blood and Steel out as well. All these writing projects going at once is pretty exciting, though two of them are in the painful revision stage that seems to drag on and on.

And speaking of those revisions, I'd better get to work.

Until next time...