The river that is just across the street from the cottage. I took this picture because Don had ventured out for a ‘short walk’ and when, an hour and a half later, he still hadn’t returned, I got a bit concerned. He was going to visit the river and then take a short walk. The river is a steep drop from our neighbor’s property, so I went there first to see if I could find him.

No dice.

Then I debated whether I should get in the car and look for him. While I was debating – and I was only concerned because he didn’t have his phone with him and he could have fallen – I walked around our property and took this picture:

Winter milkweed.

Finally, I grabbed the car keys and pulled out of the driveway. I ventured about 500 feet down the road and there he was, walking stick in hand, headed back to the house.

New rule: Take your cell phone with you.

He lost track of the time. I’ve taken to calling him Huckleberry Finn. Or should it be Tom Sawyer?

Speaking of the cottage, and picture taking, and Don, and adventures, today is the 12th anniversary of this blog. I hit publish on this date in 2008. Who knew I would still be going all these years later? I’ve been writing this blog for more years than I’ve worked at any job, whether it was that stint in an office in Detroit (7 years) or grad school (3 years), or another office job while I was applying for teaching positions (2 years) or various temp office jobs, or teaching at Boston University (5 years) or teaching at the University of San Diego/Old Globe MFA program/coaching at the Old Globe (8 years). I’ve been freelancing for the past 19 years, but that involves a long, long list of all sorts of  jobs.

I haven’t been writing daily for all 12 years, but I’ve been doing it for at least 7, maybe 8, years. I’m proud of this blog, which began as an experiment and still is in a way, though I’ve settled in rather nicely.

I won’t belabor this anniversary by writing too much as I’ve written about it in the past. But I do want to thank you for being there, for visiting this little corner of the Internet. If you weren’t there, I’d just be writing for myself and that’s nearly as much fun as chatting with you.

Sending all sorts of love on this February 17th.

Happy Monday.