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| Autumn - 1987 |
It has been quite some time since I last posted to this blog. I offer no excuse for my absence for I certainly have been remiss…or perhaps simply lazy. I will offer in my own defense that I have been busy…very busy.
I suppose I write only when I feel like it, which fits in with the fact that I am not a writer (something I have never once claimed to be). My grammar is often slipshod and my subject matter, for the most part, strictly personal. Still, since I write only when I feel like it, it is obvious that I have not "felt like it" for more than half a year -- an unprecedented gap.
With that said, and in an effort to keep the above mentioned gap from expanding any further, I offer the following Midsummer Night's Ramble...
I will begin by acknowledging the fact that the month of August is nearly upon us, and that I (for one) am looking forward to being one calendar month closer to autumn (and the weather she brings). Here in the shadow of the Blue Ridge we were recently treated to a sampling of such weather. I walked out of my house last Thursday morning and found myself strolling through (what felt like) the beginning of an October day. There are few things capable of soothing my soul the way a crisp cool morning can, especially when you throw in some wind in the trees and a rustling of leaves.
I drove into work that morning listening to Loreena McKennitt’s newest CD, ”The Wind that Shakes the Barley". While I am proud of my entire European heritage, I cannot help but think it is the Irish part of me that springs to life when I first sense the approach of autumn. For myself it is no less special than the arrival of Frost's famous visitor, even if she arrives on my doorstep a month sooner than his. I really do look forward to pulling down my box of sweaters and preparing the fireplace for the season’s first fire. These are simple things, and the kinds of things I look forward to...in October.
On to other subjects…
College football begins in August. Here is found my one and only consistent TV sports interest. Saturdays in the fall begin with ESPN College Game Day and continue well into the night. I am truly ready to plant myself in my easy-chair and partake.
Frustratingly (for me at least) the federal workforce furloughs brought on by sequestration continue to disrupt the lives of normal folk like myself and my wife…20% less pay has us tightening our belts and wondering (if not worrying) about the future. For also looming just over the horizon is something else October brings -- the end of our government’s fiscal year, a time during which our government is capable of maximum calamity; especially while under the direction of an inept president and a dysfunctional congress (my opinion, my blog). Our plans to travel to the Adirondack Mountains are canceled; our hike up Cascade and Porter Mountains will have to wait…as will numerous other less extraordinary things. I know others whom are taking it much harder...all this while our president and his family prepare for an August vacation at Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts...on the heels of trips to Ireland and Africa.
As Mel Brooks might say, "It's good to be the President."
As Mel Brooks might say, "It's good to be the President."
My hiking here in Virginia is on hold. I continue to nurse an injury sustained in June along the Appalachian Trail, while hiking down from Mary’s Rock into Thornton Gap. Our 100 mile adventure is, for the time being, paused at the 43 mile mark. There will be more about this in my hiking blog. Soon I hope. I have also been remiss when it comes to posting there.
On the Apple software development front, the hacking and subsequent temporary closure of the Apple developer websites (perhaps you saw the news stories) could not have come at a worse time. Still I develop, still I write code. I always will. It is in me to do so.
