Smith River Gorge

During my cousin's visit we traveled over to the Oregon coast along Route 199 that runs along the Smith River. This is a beautiful river supplies by run off from the Siskou Mountains. The water is so clear that it takes a clear green color that resembles old glass Coke bottles. It was difficult to get a shot of the whole thing.

I took a series of shots moving down river. The temperatures along the water were about 10-15 degrees cooler than back at the Barn. The water was cold, but about a mile down stream the water calmed and there was a group of teenagers who were swimming.

This route also goes through the Redwood Forest. I have pictures from there as well as the coast and over the next few days, I'll post them.

Tomorrow, I'm off to visit my cousins in Santa Rosa. My landlords are taking some time off, so it will be the end of June before I get another opportunity to visit.

I haven't completely forgotten why I'm here and have produced 18 pages.

Smith River Gorge Continued

Next Chapter

I have a very kind and understanding landlord. He moved my writing table down to the lower pasture. My barnmates have been moved to another pasture and I can leave my table and chair in place. He even mowed a path so that I can walk down in my sandals without having to wade through weeds. Is he cool or what! I've included several views, so you can see where I write and the view from my table.

I took my book bag full of essentials down to my table yesterday and began a new chapter. I think this chapter is going to be about love and faith. Except the ten pages or so I wrote/received weren't exactly about love and faith, so we shall see how it goes.











I had an interesting experience with this writing. There were a couple of excerpts I thought God was wanting me to include in this current writing, but I thought we had used them already. I wasn't sure. I have read hundreds of pages of writings along with having received the many pages of this book. So this morning, I took the time to write up an outline of what I had written/received so far in this book. I think the usual process is to write the outline first, and the book second. As you can imagine, when you're writing a book with God, nothing about the process is normal. The process and this journey continues and I'm anxious to see what June brings.

Meanwhile, one of my favorite cousins is coming for a short visit next week. It will be good to see him. It will mean long talks over wine and cigars. I'm looking forward to it.

One Month

A month ago to the day, I started on this chapter. And I am happy to report that it is complete. Or at least receiving it is. This chapter ended up being 90 pages and that doubles my output to almost 200 pages. This has been a difficult chapter. I have been both emotional and pissed off while writing it. I have some work to do on editing it and printing it off. But that will wait.

My landlords garden continues to look great -- an ever changing array of color. It's another hot day in the 90's, I'm off to take a shower and take a nap. Hey, I'm retired you know!


The Journey continues.

Progress Report

It may seem that I have been goofing off too much. Photos of humming birds, trips to visit relatives and pictures posted of a close encounter. It's been awhile since I made a progress report. So, let see if I can get off the hook. (Or convince you I haven't been playing hooky.)

Before I went to Santa Rosa last weekend, I had 43 pages typed of the new chapter. I had written enough in my notebook to add a couple of more pages when I typed it up. As I sat down to write yesterday, it had been 10 days since I had last written. I just finished typing all of that up and now have 53 pages completed. In addition I have found several pertinent past writings and will be adding excerpts from them as well. I am sure this will push this chapter beyond 60 pages and maybe even 65 pages. And this chapter is not complete. Hopefully, this will prove that I haven't been goofing off. Or at the very least that I have chilled out about this book writing process.

And the latest news is that I have a new roommate. Make that barn mate. And not by choice. There is a small lizard here in Oregon called a fence lizard. It's just a bit bigger than a chameleon. He comes and goes from my foyer. The door to the main room is about an inch off the floor, so it could easily come on in. If it crawls over me in my sleep, you should be able to hear my scream in Iowa/Illinois.

Update on the humming birds. I definitely have at least a dozen now. Last night at dusk, I saw the the feeder was completed filled and there are ten spots available. There were still a couple of birds buzzing around. I continue to be fascinated by them and as you can imagine it is difficult to capture a picture of them all.

The Journey Continues.

Close Encounter

I spent the weekend in Santa Rosa with my favorite west coast cousins. Yesterday we went to Safari West where we had a close encounter with a giraffe. In this series of pictures you can see how he approached the jeep we were riding on top of. He seemed as curious about us as we were about him, and little did I know that I would get such a close up of him. What fun!

Meanwhile, it's back to writing tomorrow.

Close Encounter Continued