The last few months have been a real rollercoaster ride for me. I haven’t posted anything since June of this year. And I had a post in progress that I hadn’t completed (which I will do shortly). I so love writing my blog and sharing my adventures with everyone, but life gets in the way sometimes, and it really has for me over the past few months. Here is a quick recap of the recent months.
- My June writing had paused because I had a small accident when my fuel pump died on my Lexus SUV. It was stuck in a neighborhood intersection at rush hour. Nobody would assist, so I finally had to get out and try to push the vehicle out of the road. There was a slight downhill and the huge car threw me four feet into the air and I landed in a heap in the middle of the road with a bloody elbow and knee (the same knee that I have struggled with over the years). Ultimately, the car careened out of control down the hill and ran over two mailboxes and then almost t-boned another car. Thankfully a young man ran and jumped into the moving car and got it stopped before it hit anything or anybody. The repairs to the Fuel Pump were quite costly. Insurance covered the mailbox repairs.
- Also, in late May my Nikon D5200 finally bit the dust. I had it since my 60th birthday…so 9 years. Needless to say, I was devastated. But, a hero came out of the woodwork. One of my photographer friends, Matthew Patrick, from Winchester, had recently gotten a new mirrorless camera and he had a Nikon D500 gathering dust. He offered to give it to me. His kindness and generosity will always be something I am grateful for. And I am using that camera a lot!!
- My son Solomon got engaged and ultimately married his online sweetheart Bibi Kynclová from Czech Republic. They were married on July 11 at the lovely Snug Hollow Farm Bed and Breakfast in Irvine, KY
- Literally the next day, for a three day period, we moved on to cabins in the Red River Gorge for a family reunion. Solomon, Bibi, Bibi’s parents and her friend visiting from Czech Republic and my sister Sherry and her husband Brian from Texas all joined us. We spent a day on Laurel Lake with a pontoon boat and did a few other activities and fun was had by all.
- During the reunion, I contracted a cellulitis infection in my right leg. Two days after the reunion ended I was rushed to the Emergency Room with a high fever and was ultimately hospitalized for one week and then moved to a rehabilitation facility for a week, finally being discharged on July 30.
- On my arrival home form Cardinal Hill, I tripped on the front step going into the house and injured my big toe. Later that evening we again headed to the ER to discover that I had a non-displaced fracture. They sent me home in a boot. Funny thing… I was discharged and got the boot on the same day!!
- With a broken toe I was basically relegated to the house for a few days. Finally, when OK, I began wearing crocs (due to the wide toe box). I was then able to drive and take Miles to the dog park.
- Later in August, Julianne went to Czech Republic for the wedding celebration over there. Obviously, I was in no shape to travel.
- With Solomon and Bibi in Czech Republic for an extended period, Solomon’s dog Dahlia was left with us (since Solomon and his father-in-law Jiří had completed our back fence). Dahlia is at four-year-old mixed breed. A big girl at nearly 70 pounds and very strong. Anyway, I tried to include her in a couple of dog park visits, but she became very aggressive with other dogs, so she had been relegated to remaining at home in the basement or in the backyard. Sad for her as she was used to running free on the large farm that Solomon had been living on in Ravenna, Kentucky.
- With all of this going on and me trying to find work (something I had been trying to do for many months), I was very fortunate to get a call from Louie Keen, the owner of the Uranus Fudge Factory stores (three of them – Missouri; Anderson, IN; Richmond, IN). I had done some work for him in 2024. He just wanted me part time and I was happy with that as I could also work from home on my schedule. I really do like working for him. It is mainly database type stuff and I am also doing a lot of the ordering for the stores. But, this is keeping me quite busy.
- Seemingly, with all of the things going on, all we needed was for Dahlia to go into heat and our still young, intact and virile Miles having to deal with a hormonal rush out of control. It was all we could do to keep them separated for nearly two weeks. And Miles went bonkers!! Fortunately, our vigilance will most likely result in no puppies!!
- Then came my 69th birthday. It is always fun and we had a nice birthday breakfast after a dog park visit that morning. The disappointing news was that, as of 2025, National Taco Day had been moved from an annual October 4th date to the first Tuesday in October (Taco Tuesday…) and my birthday was on a Saturday. I protested and did not eat tacos!
- And, back to Miles… Our little adventure with Dahlia being in heat and Miles going bonkers led Julianne and I to decide that we needed to get him neutered. It was a tough decision as we had really hoped to breed him to another Portuguese Water Dog. Anyway, on October 9th we took him in and had the deed done. It was sad for us. And it also became a challenge. No dog park for the baby boy for a couple of weeks. And then there was the Cone of Shame. (I nicknamed him “Coney Island Boy.”) As I write this he is pretty much back to his old ways and may get a dog park adventure soon.
- Another misadventure happened last week when I picked up my Nikon and my nice 9 year old Nikkor 70-300 mm literally fell out of the mount. Looks like the plastic parts on the lens mount have cracked and chipped. Had to get a new (used one). The new one didn’t work either…having to send it back, get a refund and reorder.
And the hits keep on coming!
Amid all of that, the rollercoaster ride also had some fun parts as I did have occasion to go out and get bird photos and butterfly photos. We also took some day trips to Frankfort and the Minor Clark Fish Hatchery. I also took a trip to West Virginia with Julianne and Miles for a failed fall color viewing trip. It was still a lovely trip despite the lack of fall colors and terrible overnight experience in a run down cabin. On the way home we also got to see a lovely and brand new Patch Whisky mural in Charleston.
I hope to get back to writing more over the next few weeks. Here are a few photos from the past few months. Captions included.
Did you enjoy what you saw here? My books cover so much more.
LESS BEATEN PATHS OF AMERICA TRAVEL SERIES
You can get my books online! The series now has five books and I am working on books six and seven. Book Six will be all about murals from all over the country!! Watch for them later in 2025 or early 2026.